Not doing that again--sustainability in real old life

My neighbor B.P. (not to be confused with the infamous oil company) suggested at a community meeting that we needed to stretch our recycling efforts.  She demonstrated her suggestion by holding up plastic berry boxes that she stated could be washed and returned  to the store.  Audience exchanged dubious glances.  "You could also," she continued, "take them to the Farmers Market and put your raspberries in them."

I thought that was hilarious.  Then checked myself.  Wasn't it my idea back in 1998 that New Yorkers could kitchen compost with red wiggler worms?  Didn't I use similar little plastic boxes to create the "world's smallest kitchen composter."  Many laughed,  suggested it was undoable.  Challenged, especially now a resident of the most sustainably-conscious city in America, Portland, Oregon, I would try out her idea.

More than that, Saturday, June 17, 2010, would be my uber-effort on the container front.  In keeping with the local ethic and encouragement in stores, we've become more dutiful carriers of canvas bags.  Still find it a bit uncomfortable to simply drop the unwrapped aspirin bottle into my purse and not wonder if the "Thief!" electronics will sound as I leave the drugstore.  But the Farmers Market at PSU is the place to feel righteous about dispensing even with canvas:  I have seen people  do it.

You know how everyone is very polite in PDX?  That's how it was with the young man at the blueberry table.  Explained that I was just going to transfer the berries from the little green paper box to my plastic one.  "Think they will fit?" I anxiously asked Ron.  "Sure."  He's patient too.  Well, they fit but it's a trickier maneuver than I'd imagined; quickly gathered up wandering berries as the line behind me grew longer.

Lost a few berries, felt womanly righteousness.  Spent more time than usual in figuring out how to arrange food.  Took along a shoe box in the Zabar cart...yes, there is one plastic bag for the apricots/peaches.  Ran out of canvas...gets more complex around items that need to be held while selecting, then weighed on purchase.    

My message to B.P. is that the effort was informative for my future.   But  the berry-box-reuse notion is history in my house.  

Maybe B.P., a former elementary school teacher, and I (once one of those too) could do is design a class, "Transformative Sustainability," a/k/a  "Right-thinking Bagging Techniques for the  Older Person." Respectful, conscious of age-related limitations. 

Watch for an announcement in the Oregonian where a major grocer's  anti-plastic-bag  initiative hit today's front page. [Be sure to read the online comments following the story...are they what you'd expect?]

Comments

[jaykaykm]

You should watch the documentary "No Impact Man" http://www.noimpactdoc.com/index_m.php
or read his blog. http://noimpactman.typepad.com/

Although he was pretty over-the-top in his efforts at recycling and sustainability, the movie did make me think about things in my life I could change. The movie is available through Netfilx, both DVD and streaming.

And you may appreciate his efforts even more since he did all of this in New York City where he certainly didn't have the support he would have had in PDX.

[Hattie]

I'm going to watch "No Impact." Here are two uses for strawberry boxes. One I learned from my Japanese friend. Use it as a soap dish. Fasten it over the sink. You will never again have slimy soap! Of course this only works if you are very careful and possibly only if you are Japanese!
I use strawberry boxes for my hanging orchids, too. I put the orchid in, stuff in peat moss around it and hang in up with wire to the bars of my shade house.
We don't use nearly as many plastic bags as we used to. We get just enough so we have bags to clean up after the dog.

[Kay Dennison]

My "green" bags are recyclable but I use them until something gets squished in them.

[Freda]

We've got into the habit of using our own canvas shopping bags and recycling glass and paper, but everything else requires us to make a 50mls round trip. But here in the Uk we certainly have to make more effort. How about using the plastic fruit boxes as bath toys when the grandchildren come to stay!

[Darlene]

I take canvas bags to the grocery store, but inevitably buy more than I have space for and have to use their plastic ones. However, I do return them for recycling.

I do laundry in cold water and only use the air dry setting on the dryer. It takes a lot longer, of course, but I don't think the extra electricity for that does as much harm as heating the air. I recycle everything that our city approves and wish it would find a way to recycle all of the plastic.

Sometimes I wonder how my tiny way of green living helps, but I am resolved to do my part.

[Anne Gibert]

I put those plastic boxes into the plastic recycling bin, and they take them. But my latest "green" resolution is never to use the dryer again. I have a clothesline umbrella like thing and it is great now. But I am wondering what to do when winter comes. It takes all day even now in the summer for things to dry.

[Beth Reid]

Did you know that the Dollar store has 4 mesh bags for $1.? Great for produce, including berriies. Washable, light weight. There are locataed in the automotive section. Have no idea why.
I keep them in my canvas bag, on trips to the market.

[marja-leena]

Yes to all the above. Another thing we've changed is that we buy our meats (non-medicated, free range, grass-fed etc.) from a butcher shop for it gets wrapped in butcher paper - no more styrofoam trays and plastic wrap, so much better just from the health point of view as well as reducing plastic! Yeah, it's paper but not nearly as bad for the environment. Another great thing is composting - it has been part of our lives for decades already and I don't need fertilizers for my garden.

[Hattie]

We produce all our electricity and hot water. We have a dishwasher but no dryer. And we compost and mulch like mad, since we live in the tropical rainforest. We have one car and don't drive long distances very often. My husband recycles bottles, plastic, etc. And we don't have to heat and don't use much air conditioning. Aren't we perfect! Well no, because we have a condo on the Mainland and fly a lot. I think maybe we break about even on our carbon footprint. Maybe.

[m.e.]

I can't tell you how many items i've bought at the dupont circle farmers market every sunday only to have them ruined cuz i didn't go straight home with them and put them in the fridge.

blueberries seem pretty durable, ditto strawberries...but raspberries? forget it. squashed and smushed no matter what container--with plastic bags, of course, being the worst. peaches and pears?...a quick trip would save them. tomatoes...they're pretty durable, same with peppers of all kinds and bitter greens. carrots, beets, onions, cheese, & potatoes....durable.

i think if farmers want us to be serious about recycling, they should let us buy the papier-mache/wooden/stiff plastic berry boxes and take them home with us. i'd be happy to pay for them since they would prevent my paying for something that is no longer edible by the time i get home.

as far as i can see, LRH, it's NOT age-related. this bugs everyone. maybe it's conscientiousness-related. :)

[Joared]

Put in energy efficient furnace a few years ago when old one died. The high energy efficiency saved enough on monthly winter gas heating bills to offset monthly electric utility bill when we also installed A/C, another high energy efficiency unit. A few years ago more energy efficient units replaced our refrig. when it died. More recently continued energy reduction as appliances had to be replaced, washer, dryer, new oven.

Have capped water sprinklers in parkway to gradually convert yard to native desert landscaping. Have had reusable bags for grocery items since they first came out. Now news items say they're carrying germs and need to be laundered periodically. I use those little green plastic baskets to wash and drain small berries and fruits; also store small items in refrig. and elsewhere.

Our city recycles all plastic, paper and anything that can be recycled; a separate container for green. Special collection sites for batteries, old cell phones, computers, tech. stuff, other items like paints,chemicals, etc.

Am slowly replacing all the light bulbs in my house with more efficient ones as those old style burn out.

I did the worm farm in the kitchen a few years ago until millions of tiny crawling creatures appeared on top of the bed. They never crawled out, but I got uneasy, put their plastic bed outdoors. Couldn't keep the temperature stable enough for them to survive which saddened me. Besides, who cares for them if I'm away? Have the container but never got the compost bed going.

Am lucky I grew up in a home with a mother who grew up on a farm, had long ago adopted reasonable frugality and took pride in "making something out of nothing," so I've always practiced "waste not." Further adaptation now comes relatively easy to me.

[Judy Tysmans]

My "drier" is wooden--I used my grandmother's for about 30 years until it finally fell apart... bought a new one and after 5 yr. it's already falling apart :-( They just don't make things like they used to! When it's going to rain, I drag it through the door from the deck into the living room by the wood stove, and turn on the ceiling fan overnight if I'm in a hurry to make things dry.

Compost--I dig a trench in the garden, as I pour in the compost, cover it, and make the trench longer... earthworms seem happy with that arrangement! Obviously I live on "ground level," making this composting relatively easy. It certainly has made lovely black loam for growing veggies over the past 20 years of my efforts! Good exercise, too!

In summer I keep a cooler in the car if I plan to shop--apples roast in the car in just 2-3 hours... NC in summer is no joke... but you can use the closed car to dry fruit...