Ecominded Mama

Minimizing products packaged in plastic

I took a look at my recycling bin recently and was somewhat surprised to only realize NOW, after nearly a year of consciously trying to reduce my environmental impact, that many of the products I'd bought in landfill-clogging plastic bottles could have been bought in paper packages instead. To name a few: bar soap in a paper box instead of liquid soap in a plastic bottle, and powder laundry and dishwasher detergent instead of liquids in bottles. I'm going to make an effort to choose products packaged in paper from now on whenever I have a choice.

Landscaping: Use what you have

We've been in the suburbs for just over two years now, and fixing up the yard has been on our to-do list ever since we moved. We did a lot of work last spring (tearing out dead and overgrown plants and shrubs and replacing them with healthy evergreens), but we ran out of money and inspiration when it came to choosing paving stones to separate our plants and the mulch surrounding them from the grass. We went to our local nursery, which we love the idea of (all organic, family-owned) but that seriously falls down in the customer-service department, but didn't see any that we liked. Then we went to Home Depot thinking that they'd have a larger selection, but again -- nothing that suited our taste. We pretty much decided to shelve the project, but then my husband had an idea: Why don't we collect some of the mid-size rocks that are scattered around the yard and use them? We spent about 90 minutes collecting and placing the rocks, with fantastic results (I'll post a picture in the next day or two... it's raining buckets here now). The rocks are small enough that they're unobtrusive, yet large enough to contain the mulch and provide a nice visual separation between the plants and grass. The rocks were free, and now other areas of the yard are more conducive to barefoot play -- bonanza!  

Unplug the washer and dryer

I've heard this mantra for quite some time, and have been good about unplugging small appliances when not in use -- in my kitchen, the toaster, electric water kettle (which uses less energy to heat water than using a pot on the stove, btw), and coffee pot are unplugged. My printer is unplugged; the paper shredder that sits next to it is unplugged. I use a smart strip for our entertainment center in the living room.

But I never thought about the two phantom energy loads in the basement: my washer and dryer. I generally do laundry once a week, spread over two days (so that I can allow things to dry on my clothes racks and not run out of space), but the other five days neither the washer nor the dryer are used. They're sitting idle and unplugged now... quite possibly the simplest ecominded change I've made so far. 

Ceiling fans in winter

I always thought ceiling fans were mainly for summertime use, keeping areas cool to reduce or eliminate the need for air conditioners. I heard a tip on the radio last week, though, that makes perfect sense: During the summer, set ceiling fan blades to run counterclockwise (to create a cool breeze), but set them to run clockwise during the winter (to move warm air off the ceiling and down into the room). What a simple way to eliminate the problem of heat rising!

Keep It Green Snow & Ice Melter

It seems like it's been an unusually snowy winter here for us in the northeast -- or at least that I've been doing more sidewalk and driveway shovelling than I have in prior years. We ran out of our ice melter and decided to try a new brand that claims to be eco-friendly (and pet- and landscape-friendly): Keep It Green Snow & Ice Melter. It works great -- as well or better than the conventional ice melter we were using. It was more expensive than the kind we used to buy, but unfortunately I misplaced the receipt and can't remember how much it cost or how much a comparable size container of the conventional brand costs. Amazon sells 8 pound and 40 pound jugs if your local hardware store doesn't stock it.

New uses for unwearable clothes

I'm a firm believer in donating unwanted or ill-fitting clothes to charity (along with anything else that's still usable and in good condition), but some clothes are too stained or have holes or some other problem that makes them not suitable for donating. I used to throw clothes like these away, but recently I've started recycling them, too, by using them as cleaning cloths. My husband's old undershirts are perfect for dusting and general household cleaning -- they aren't too bulky and hold up well. Hmmm, now that I think about it, I should try cutting them up and using them instead of sponges to wash pots and pans!

Scissor sharpening

We are fortunate enough to live in a town with a fantastic farmer's market, and now that it's cold it has moved indoors. We don't buy as many things during the winter markets since there aren't as many fruits and vegetables for sale, but we did take advantage of one winter vendor's services last weekend: the knife sharpener. We bundled up a few knives that we use most often, and at the last second I remembered that my everyday scissors had become frustratingly dull. I was ready to buy a new pair, but I'm so glad I didn't -- sharpening the scissors to brand-new condition only cost $5. It's true that a new pair wouldn't have cost much more than that, but why create more waste and buy more stuff when I don't have to?

Tossing the Ecosponge

I stumbled across the Ecosponge while shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and thought it looked promising (BBB doesn't sell it on their website, but I found it on Ecohousekeeping.com). I paid $5.95 for two sponges, which is significantly more than I'd pay for two disposable sponges, but the fact that they are reusable made it worth the extra money (and had the potential to be a pretty big money saver). 

Unfortunately, I don't like the sponge. First, it doesn't encourage a good lather (perhaps it's too absorbent?), so I felt like I was just washing dishes with water. Second, it wasn't good for scrubbing pots and pans, even after I soaked them in warm water to loosen the food -- it wasn't abrasive enough. Finally, I cut the outer covering of one while washing a knife and the sponge fell apart. I still have my second sponge, but it's currently out of service -- we're back to using disposable sponges.

J. R. Watkins Dish Soap

I bought the J. R. Watkins Concentrated Dish Soap (lemon scent) a few weeks back, and as silly as I feel saying this about a dish soap, I absolutely love it. It works really well, produces a nice amount of suds, and smells incredible. The scent sealed the deal for me -- I've bought a few products (natural and conventional) with overpowering and/or unpleasant fragrances, but this dish soap has a fresh, subtle scent that reminds me of, well, a margarita (which makes the chore of doing dishes just a little less onerous). Since it's concentrated, a bottle lasts a long time, which also takes some of the sting out of the price ($5.99 at Target).  

The company's products are eco-friendly as well. I'm always wary when a label describes the product as "natural," since that term has no definitive or regulatory meaning, but their products are plant-based, non-toxic, bio-degradable, dye free, and phosphate free. For a complete list of what their home care products are free of, see the list on their website.    

An end to printed magazines?

Although I've tried to cut down on the amount of mail we get, we still subscribe to six or seven magazines. There may be an end to that soon, though -- I just checked out Zinio.com, which hosts digital versions of entire magazines online. Although it doesn't have most of the magazines we subscribe to yet, I can see myself making the switch to reading my magazines online in the future. It works much the way a traditional subscription does, but you read your magazines online (page by page, just like the print version... complete with ads) and can save them in your library for future reference. It's also a money-saving idea: users can purchase back issues of magazines for really reasonable prices (like Elle magazine for 99 cents an issue). Readers of foreign magazines or expats living abroad will especially love this -- they can subscribe to their favorite magazines without paying extra for overseas shipping. It's a brilliant concept -- I can't wait to see how the site expands.

On firewood

We were lucky enough to have a fireplace in our Brooklyn apartment, but with kids underfoot we rarely used it. When we did, we usually used Duraflame-type logs. We're in the 'burbs now and have space to store firewood, but I got to thinking -- which is better: Duraflame-type logs or real firewood?

The short answer is: neither. I did some web searching, and found two relevant articles in the Ask Umbra archives. The first basically answers the question of which of the log types are better (they're both bad for the environment -- the column says it's best not to use the fireplace at all and explains why), but it also addresses the question of whether it's better to use a fireplace or wood stove to heat a house or to use the central heating system (the heating system is more efficient). However, if you do want to use your fireplace, a second column offers advice about which wood burns the best. 

How to Recycle Anything, Part 2

I posted a link to Real Simple magazine's How to Recycle Anything article a while back, which included items starting with letters A through M. Here's N through Z. 

One of the most surprising tips is related to the manila (or "goldenrod") envelopes that are common in offices. They are not recyclable because they (as well as dark or fluorescent paper) are saturated with dyes that are hard to remove. One of the experts quoted in the article, Marti Matsch, says "It's what we call 'designing for the dump,' not the environment." It never occurred to me that dyed paper would be impossible or cost prohibitive to recycle. I'm only going to buy white envelopes and paper from now on. 

More news today about BPA

I admit that I'm not comforted by the statement, but Laura Tarantino, a senior Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist, said today that "A margin of safety exists that is adequate to protect consumers, including infants andchildren, at the current levels of exposure (to BPA)." I'm not comforted because the rest of the article where that quote appears (published on Yahoo! but written by two Associated Press writers) provides strong evidence that BPA (bisphenol A) does have health consequences. I'm of the opinion that it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to health concerns -- what damage can I do by reducing the amount of plastic in our lives? -- so I've tried to switch to using glass or ceramic cups and containers whenever possible. I actually bought two 12 ounce Klean Kanteen bottles yesterday for my daughters at the Container Store and will post about how they're working out after a few days, but seeing this article made me wish I'd bought more so that I could throw away (or recycle if I can) the rest of our sippy cups.

In case you're wondering about the baby bottles or sippy cups you have at home, check page 3 of the Smart Plastics Guide (published by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) to see if yours are listed. It's also a good primer on the different types of plastics and which ones to avoid -- their catchy "With your food, use 4, 5, 1, and 2 -- All the rest aren't good for you" phrase makes it easy to remember their recommendations.  

Focusing on "reuse"

I've focused on recycling and trying to buy eco-friendly products for some time, but I realized that I'm falling down on the "reusing" front. The "How to Recycle Anything" article I mentioned in my last post got my thinking about ways I could repurpose things, so I spent the past few days trying to come up with ways to reuse stuff. Here are a few changes I've made:

1. Use newspaper delivery bags for dog waste pick-up. I had been using maybe one per week of the blue plastic bags our NY Times is delivered in each day as a garbage bag for the car, but obviously that meant the other six were going in the garbage (our city doesn't accept plastic bags for recycling). I started collecting the bags and putting them next to the dog leash, which makes it easy to remember to take one with me when I walk the dog.

2. Reusing plastic soup containers. We're big soup eaters in our house (even during the summer), and are huge fans of the prepared soup at our local grocery store. The containers are recyclable, but I had never thought to reuse them first for leftovers or general storage. I'll think twice now before I toss them into the recycling bin.

3. Newspaper to clean mirrors. I'm not sure where I read to do this, but I know it was a trick of my Mom's: I used newspaper instead of paper towels to clean the bathroom mirrors yesterday and it worked great. It left fewer streaks and barely any lint, which is a problem with paper towels. I still recycled the newspaper, but I used it to clean the mirrors first (I'm sure it would work on glass, too).

More to come....

Two useful articles in Real Simple magazine

I'm in the middle of reading the September issue of Real Simple magazine, and I wanted to share links to two really useful environment-focused articles in the issue. Well, I actually can't find a link yet for the second item below, but I'll add it when I find it.

1. How to Recycle Anything -- This is the first of a two-part article, with information about how to recycle a sampling of items that begin with letters A through M (the second part will be posted next month). Some of the items are ones I never thought to recycle (like carpet and nail clippers), but most of the tips are actually focused on how to donate or trade unwanted items (like eyeglasses and backpacks), which are particularly helpful.

2. The best compact fluorescent lightbulbs -- Since I can't find the article on their site, I'll just tell you which bulbs they found to be the best in their "road test" of CFLs:

• Best for pendant lamps: N Vision Soft White G25 (14 watt)

• Best for floor and table lamps: GE Energy Smart 60 Dimmable (15 watt)

• Best for track lighting: TCP Springlight BR30 (14 watt)

• Best for task lamps: Sylvania Daylight Extra (13 watt) 

The Smart Strip

Like most Americans, we have an "entertainment center" in our living room -- our TV is hooked to a DVD player, external speakers, an amplifier, and a DVR cable box, which in turn is connected to a wireless router and cable modem for our computer, and all of them draw energy even if they're turned off. The energy they use is called a "phantom load," and anything with a clock (such as a microwave, DVD player, cable box), a remote (your TV, stereo, even some ceiling fans), timer (like our dish washer, which I can set to start in 2, 4, or 6 hours... nifty!), or memory (like our answering machine) creates phantom loads. (Any appliance that is continually plugged in -- washing machine, toaster, hair dryer, printer, paper shredder, electric razor, etc., etc. -- draws some energy even when off, but appliances with an "instant on" feature like one of the four categories above draw a significant amount of energy.)

According to The Green Book, "Ten percent of the electricity used in your home is burned by communication devices and appliances -- when they are turned off!" (page 36) Our electric bills were sometimes over $400 per month last winter, so saving any piece of that wasted $40 sounds like a great idea. But the solution in the book -- to use power strips and turn them off when not in use -- wasn't very practical for our entertainment unit appliances for several reasons: the major one being that the power strip for all of those appliances was behind the TV in a completely inaccessible place, but we'd also lose the Tivo-like feature of our cable box if it wasn't getting power (can't have that happen!).

So I was intrigued when I read about the Smart Strip and decided to buy one about two weeks ago. It has 10 outlets and looks pretty much like a standard power strip, but when the appliances connected to 7 of the outlets are turned off, they are truly off and draw no phantom power. One of the outlets is the "control," and when that appliance is turned off, it turns the 6 "automatically switched" outlets off, too. For us, the control is our TV -- now when I turn off the TV, the DVD player, amplifier, and speakers are turned completely off, and none of them draw power. Conversely, when I turn on the TV the automatically switched appliances turn on, too, but in stand-by mode (the same mode they would have been in 24 hours a day if using a standard power strip). There are 3 "always on" outlets, which I use for our cable box, wireless router, and cable modem, so the DVR keeps recording as we want it to and we can connect to the Internet without having the TV on. Using the Smart Strip is as simple as plugging everything in and deciding what appliance to use as the control. My only (very minor) complaint is that it makes a quick clicking noise when I turn on the TV, but that's truly the only downside I have identified so far. A+ for this device!

Green cleaning tips from the queen of "good things"

I admit it, I like a lot of the crafts, magazines, and books that Martha Stewart produces. She seems snooty and stuffy on a personal level, but I like her general "homemade is best" philosophy and her focus on simple things.

I've been curious about her new magazine, Body+Soul, and the accompanying website, Whole Living, but haven't spent a lot of time looking through either one. I subscribe to the Whole Living newsletter, though, and yesterday's had some really great green cleaning tips that I wanted to share. I haven't tried most of these yet, but I wrote a few down that I'm going to try the next time I clean my bathroom (which, I'll be honest, should really be today but won't be). Each photo and tip leads to more related tips, so it's a lot to take in if you read through all of them. I'll try out a few and will post back on what works and what doesn't.

Clothesline tips

It's been about a month since I started using my clothesline regularly, and I've figured out a few things that have made it easier to continue using.

• Dry clothes for about 5 minutes to remove wrinkles before hanging on the line. I was a little frustrated in the beginning by how wrinkled the clothes were (it has been breezy at best, but never windy on clothesline days so far), but I learned that if I dry them in the dryer for just a few minutes the clothes are not wrinkled.
• Hang clothes from the top or bottom, not the middle of the garment (as I did in the top picture... sorry it's so fuzzy!). This probably is obvious to some, but it wasn't to me -- I started out hanging clothes so that they were folded in half over the line. I know now that if I hang just a portion of the garment over the line (clipped with clothespins) and have the majority of it hanging down one side (as I did in the bottom picture) the clothes dry much faster.
• Socks take forever to dry outside. Hang them on the inside rack instead. Ditto for towels.
• If you don't have a huge line and have to hang some things inside, hang the clothes inside that will take longer to dry and the ones that will dry faster outside. That way you're pretty much guaranteed that the clothes outside will dry by the end of the day, and it's not a problem if the inside clothes take longer to dry.   
• Dry everything for about 5 minutes in the dryer after they've dried outside to remove stiffness. Our clothes smell great when they come off the line, but because there's hardly any wind, they're stiff. I put them in the dryer again for just a few minutes, and they're pretty much as soft as I'd expect them to be if I dried them start to finish in the dryer.

Paperless bills

We switched to paying all of our bills electronically via our bank's website several years ago, but we were still getting paper bills each month. I "organized" them in a pile as they arrived and sorted and paid them on the first of each month. I was nervous to switch to paperless bills -- not for any security reason (which I know some people have concerns about), but because I was afraid that if I didn't have paper bills in my pile I might forget to pay one. I decided in early July that that was a pretty lame reason for not making the switch to paperless bills, so I gradually switched all but one of our bills to paperless (our water utility doesn't offer them yet) over the course of the month.

It was easy to do. I went to each company's site individually, created an account if I didn't already have one, then elected to receive an email notification each month rather than a paper bill. As I said above, all but one utility offers paperless billing, which I'm certain is primarily driven by cost savings for them (not having to print and mail bills), so they promote the "service" prominently on their home pages. Two companies had incentives for making the switch to paperless bills -- my electric company donates $1 to plant a tree and my credit card company makes the last seven years of statements available online for free. WOW. I do like the tree-planting incentive, but it should really be 10 trees rather than $1 for a portion of a tree. But I digress.

So as the first of the month approached, the emails started coming in. All of them had some way of indicating that they were legitimate emails -- my name was listed and/or the last few digits of my account number or something similar -- and typically a link to the company's site where I could view the bill. (If you're nervous about the security element, you can go to the company website by typing the address into your browser and logging in to view the bill rather than clicking on the link in the email.) I set up a folder in my email account for bills, and "filed" them as they arrived: my virtual pile. Then on the first of the month, I went through the emails and paid our bills as usual. I just went back and double-checked that I'd paid everything I should have, and I did. I guess I can live without my paper pile after all!

The next phase of this change will be switching our various statements (bank, 401ks, etc.) to paperless, which I'm going to try to do as they arrive.   

   

Cooking with lids

This is such a simple change that I'm embarrassed to say that it hadn't occurred to me until I read Harold McGee's The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitchen article in the New York Times. According to McGee, water in a pot with a lid on it can be brought to a boil in less than half the time it takes in a pot without a lid, which means you use less energy to heat up the water. Once the water is boiling, you can also turn the flame down (if you have a gas stove, as I do) -- food cooks in the same amount of time whether it's in slightly boiling water or rapidly boiling water.

I read the article back in January, and I've tried to cook with a lid whenever possible since then. It's a habit for me now -- tonight when I made dinner, I didn't even think about putting on the lid... I just did it. I have noticed a difference in how quickly things cook (it may not be twice as fast for all things, but it is definitely faster), and I've also noticed another upside: keeping the heat inside the pot means the kitchen stays cooler and it doesn't get steamy.