About two weeks ago, I took another step in the long walk of taking responsibility for reducing waste and limiting my environmental footprint. The decision was to use a cloth (thus reusable) tote bag in lieu of the now omnipresent plastic bag for my grocery purchases. Using a tote bag was based partly on the ever-increasing amount of plastic bags I was saving for such things as makeshift lunch bags and trash bags as well as the disturbing news that sea turtles were mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish, becoming sick and even dying. I had an opportunity to see a leather back turtle that was preserved in a state park nature center and was very impressed by its size and beauty. Seeing one, even preserved, is pretty impressive compared to seeing one on television, the latter lacking the proper scale. By far the greatest hurdle other then remembering to actually carry my tote bag into the store and interrupting the sales clerk before she tucked my articles into plastic sacks was overcoming the sense that I might be walking to my car carrying something that is basically a symbol of, well, the feminine. I mean how many men do you see coming out of the store holding his little tote of goodies. It is well worth the slight building of character though when one imagines sea turtles happy that their jellyfish lunch is in fact the real thing.
Though no super hero when it comes to recycling I have tried to make it a point to at least find other uses for items that I would otherwise be tossing into the landfill. I am a big fan of Tabasco sauce and I like to buy the large bottles. Once emptied, de-labeled and cleaned I find they make good reusable containers for other homemade sauces and salad dressings. Their size and sturdiness make them good containers for cream and sauces on our camping trips also. Since they are made of glass and not made of plastic also helps with reduce dependence on petroleum-based products. On my class nights I would purchase a bottle of Snapple from the vending machine. Then there was a realization that I could keep my empty bottle and make my own tea to take to class, saving money and saving the environment both at the same time. I reuse plastic ware and other containers food comes in also. Food is another item that with imagination can be stretched as leftovers, which when collected become soups, casseroles, bread or rice puddings. Leftovers can be used for animal food and once past the edible stage used for gardening. Clothing such as old tee shirts can become work out shirts then become rags. Shirts or slacks that are still in good repair can be delivered to the Salvation Army for other people that may find a use for them. Clothing can be used in crafts, paper making, or even, maybe, the treads could be unwoven, and rewoven to make other cloth for more clothing. This may be a bit of a stretch of the imagination though. As I mentioned earlier I am no recycling hero, I do not recycle cans or bottles though it’s something that I should consider it in the future. Most of my ideas are just that, ideas or experiments, just to try and keep in the back of my mind for that maybe sometime they may come in handy.
Saving money, making my life more efficient and helping the environment. Recycling is also a good exercise in the event that there might be a time when scarcity of funds of resources or both might force the need to develop new uses for thing that would other wise be thrown away. There are trade off’s for example reusing something usually means having to clean it resulting in using more water, another resource that should not be squandered. A person can only save so many plastic bags and Tabasco bottles before they too begin to pile up and eventually become landfill. I think the benefits of less waste, less environmental impact, saving wildlife, and less oil dependence outweigh the negative aspects and although completely eliminating our environmental footprint is beyond our technology, reducing it, even if your not a recycling super hero, is a step in the right direction.
Some Interesting Websites:
Reusing old Cloths A Consumer’s Handbook for Reducing Solid Waste
