New Year...less plastic!

I haven't made a New Year's resolution for awhile now, but then today, a few things coincided to make me decide to make one (and by publicly stating it, I hope to keep it): use less plastic!

The first thing happened this morning: Chris had left open a few links concerning The Great Garbage Patch. If you're not familiar with it, it is a floating island, comprised mostly of plastic, hovering in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and San Francisco, in the Pacific Gyre (essentially a big swirl of currents, from what I gather). It is the size of Texas. TEXAS. Holy crap, that is disgusting. I watched a couple of you tube videos on it, shuddered a few times, and thought about becoming even more radical in my environmental fanaticism. Oh God, my family is really going to think I'm nuts now.

At the grocery store this morning, I was pissed with myself for having to use a produce bag. I don't use them for most produce...but brussels sprouts? Kinda necessary. When I got home, I went through my stash of plastic bags (separated into reuse or recycle) and dug out the produce bags. These went into my collection of reuseable shopping bags and will be going with me to be reused at the store, for future produce.

Then, I had in my email inbox a you tube video attached to a blog I regularly read. The video is about a woman and her family's quest to use as little plastic as possible in 2009, and the results. It's only 5 minutes, watch it and it will teach you something.

So--there it is. My resolution. I may even try to set aside the plastic I can't recycle, just to see how little I can do. Chris, you asked for it by leaving those pages up!

Things I have to do:

• figure out better alternatives to ziploc baggies and saran wrap. I could use some good suggestions here, as these are my weak points. I'm probably better than most, but...it's hard. What do you do with the pack of raw meat that you need to split?
• get Chris to regularly take our reusable bags to the grocery store (this is a hard habit to get into, and he does remember...sometimes). When he does forget them, get paper! We actually need some paper bags, b/c our wonderful friend Zeus has to have something for his waste to go into.
  
• purchase as much as possible in recyclable or compostable packaging. ie- I did switch to Tom's of Maine toothpaste in 2009 (partly b/c of the no-fluoride option, partly b/c of the aluminum tube that I can recycle). Speaking of, I just need to make my own toothpaste.
  
• guests will drink out of glasses! No more plastic water bottle packs (we only bought one of these last year, for convenience at birthday parties, and there are still bottles left).
• figure out a way to get around the plastic garbage can liner. The woman in the video says that, since her family composts, they only have "dry waste", but what about meat waste? Maybe they're vegetarians. I may need to give bokashi composting a try...
• no more cheap plastic toys!!!! Easier said than done when you have a family as enthusiastic about toy buying as mine. Things like Legos, I'm ok with b/c they last and can be sold when my kids outgrow them. Family, are you listening?

That's about all I can think of now...but I'll add more, and list any finds I may happen upon, or any brilliant ideas.

Oh, and again, family? Listening? B/c you're all reading my blog, right? For my birthday, I want prettier cloth shopping bags, cloth produce bags, glass food storage containers, stainless steel bento boxes...you get the idea. I'm serious about this. Oh, a set of stainless steel or enameled cast iron pots and pans would be nice, too, but that's kinda off topic...:)

AND CARRY YOUR REUSABLE SHOPPING BAGS!

Family fun day: block foam recycling!

Ok, weird, but we had a nice day yesterday, and it was centered around going into Vancouver to recycle a TON of block styrofoam that I'd insisted on keeping for such purposes, instead of throwing it in the trash. I wish I would have taken a picture of the collection: it was occupying a good 4' x 6' space in our garage (maybe bigger), and stacked about 4' high. At least it was there, and not in a landfill though.

If you'd like info: Clark Co. Solid Waste Calendar of Events. They do the recycling events once a month.

Chris woke up early to come with us; we got the car loaded with the foam while the kids played in the driveway. I promised them a stop at a park for complying with the drive. It was raining, hard, when we got to the collection area--I felt so bad for all those old people out, volunteering--that's some dedication to recycling.

We went to Marshal Park, which was right there, and it was still pouring; I assured a hesitant Chris they'd only play for like, 5 minutes before the rain got to them. But nooooooo...they wanted to stay out, even though they were soaking, Isaac didn't even have rain boots, Danny was wearing a fleece coat with next to no hood...when they are properly attired, at home, it is a battle to get them to go out and play in the rain!

We eventually drug them away with a promise of hot cocoa (which I was more than happy to give, so that I could have egg nog latte #2 of the season).