July 26, 2010
 

plastic

Wear your recycling on your sleeve

Why not take that great feeling you get from dropping off all those plastic bottles for recycling and double it by dressing yourself in clothes made from those bottles?
Not only can you get that good feeling from lessening the amount of waste on this earth, you can rest assured that you’re doing your small part to lessen the work in sweatshops across the world.

Fancy that six-pack

Is there anyone out there who still cuts up those plastic six-pack ring carriers used to hold cans or bottles in a multi-pack? It’s quite noble of you, but apparently not necessary.
The story used to be that if we let them go uncut into our garbage, and thus into the landfill, poor birds and other creatures would get their poor heads stuck in them and die a horrible, starving death. Six-pack rings today, however, are photodegradable, nontoxic and recyclable. That means they break down in sunlight. They are also approved by the EPA for packaging use.

Bottled water is the enemy

According to the Earth Policy Institute (www.earth-policy.org/): “Annual consumption in the United States in 1976 was less than 2 gallons for every man, woman, and child; some 30 years later, Americans on average each now drink about 30 gallons of bottled water a year.”

According to the institute, compared with tap water, which is delivered through an energy-efficient infrastructure, bottled water is an “incredibly wasteful” product.

BYOB!

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over 1 million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

And paper bags aren’t free of controversy: According to www.reusablebags.com, “In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year. Paper bag production delivers a global warming double-whammy: Forests (major absorbers of greenhouse gases) have to be cut down, and then the subsequent manufacturing of bags produces greenhouse gases.”

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