Eco-friendly Garbage Bags
I was recently approached by EconoGreen to do a review of their garbage bags. I have to admit that I agreed to do the review with combined feelings of curiosity and trepidation.
You see I have tried ‘green’ garbage bags before and frankly… they sucked. They were thin and tore easily. I love the concept of environmentally-friendly garbage containment, but it needs to function well or nobody will buy it. Would these bags from EconoGreen just be more of the same?
I am very happy to report that these bags do not suck. In fact, if it weren’t for their EcoLogo certification, I would have guessed that there was no way that these bags are environmentally friendly. They are incredibly strong and durable. What is the EcoLogo certification? It is North America’s most respected environmental certification program which provides shoppers with an assurance that the product in question meets stringent environmental standards. Basically, it takes the guesswork out of determining ‘greenwashing’ from legitimate products.
Let me tell you what makes these bags special:
1. They are made from 100% recycled plastic.
2. They are made in North America, reducing transportation emissions and helping our local economies.
3. They can be recycled.
4. They are biodegradable.
5. Their cost is comparable to ‘regular’ plastic bags.
And drumroll please….
6. They are STRONG!
Although our family strives to be earth-conscious, we are also five human beings who do tend to generate trash. I have mentioned my seething jealousy towards my In-Law’s municipal compost program which has reduced their weekly garbage to a mere pittance. Unfortunately, we lack a municipal compost program and our waste is definitely above pittance level. And we require a strong bag to hold it all. Otherwise it would all end up blowing down the street come garbage pick-up day.
I was sent a sample of EconoGreen’s large trash bag, tall kitchen bag, lawn and leaf bag, and a large contractor bag and I would recommend any of these products to anyone. They also have garage and automotive bags, wet/dry vac liner bags and drop cloths. The contractor bag seemed especially hardy. I used mine as part of an ongoing decluttering project!
I’m not exactly sure of the science behind a plastic bag that can biodegrade. It goes against everything I have understood about plastics in general. Here is their explanation:
Our bags and drop cloths contain a unique agent that helps break down the carbon-carbon bonds in the plastic and reduces the strenth of the bag when exposed to oxygen. As the bag continues to degrade into smaller pieces, it becomes a nutrient for microbes which consume the gragments leaving behind water, carbon dioxide and reusable biomass. The process leaves behind no harmful residue or toxins.
This is where I have to trust that EcoLogo certification and be happy that there is a greener alternative to the inevitability of garbage.
I do have a bit of bad news: While these bags are readily available at Home Depots across the USA, Canadians are limited to finding them at Canadian Tires in Quebec only. They are also sold online, but can only be shipped in the US. If you are Canadian, hopefully these bags will become more readily available soon. Keep them in mind if you cross the border for a shopping trip. Stop into a Home Depot and stock up on garbage bags. Hopefully they’ll get into the rest of the Canadian Tires or Home Depots across the whole country soon.
Remember, it is always best to reduce your waste as much as possible by composting, recycling or reducing paper usage in your home. However, just about everyone needs garbage bags and these are a great environmental alternative.
I highly recommend them.
Lenten Carbon Fast: Week 2 (Shelter and Utilities)
This post originally appeared March 4, 2009.
Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com
Last week I shared with you my decision to reduce carbon this Lent, and I asked you to join me.
So how did you do?
Here is a quick run-down of the ups and downs of our attempts to cut back on our carbon emissions from transportation:
Driving. Fortunately Steve and I are able to avoid commuting emissions since we both work from home. Although we have two cars, they often stay put. Some would say we are lucky to live in a small town where it is easy to walk most places. However, we do lack mass transit and there are times when we need to drive elsewhere to get to events, certain shopping, church, etc. However, five of us from our book club all piled in a friend’s car the other night in order to carpool to a book reading a half hour away. This really wasn’t an inconvenience. It took a bit of planning and helped make the evening that much more fun. They did say they were grateful that I didn’t force them to bike.
We also made a more conscious effort to walk to school. However, a couple of blisteringly cold days and one very slow-walking 4-year-old did cause me to pull the van out of the garage. With (hopefully) warmer weather approaching, we will be hoofing it much more regularly!
Tune up: We recently had both cars in for a tune-up and oil change and we always make sure that our tires are properly inflated.
Lightened the load: I gave our van a Spring Clean. Extra weight reduces a car’s gas mileage. With 3 children, it is easy for me to let the van accumulate all sorts of clutter. I will continue to make a point of cleaning it out weekly. Besides, it helped me find that nasty smell that had been permeating throughout the interior…
So this brings us to week #2…
Shelter and Utilities
Did you know that about a third of your household’s energy goes to drying your clothes? Heating a house is responsible for nearly 10 per cent of a person’s total carbon emissions. Up to 15% of your energy bills go to keeping your milk cold and your ice frozen. A fridge with the Energy Star label uses 40% less energy than conventional models sold in 2001. Were you aware that laptops use much less power than desktop models? The typical laptop draws about 30 watts of electricity while bulkier desktop models use about 120 watts.
*Note: Please don’t tell people that Jenni said to buy a laptop for Lent.
Below are a few ideas for how to reduce your carbon emissions through your home. Once again pick a minimum of two. If you are already doing most of these things, pat yourself on the back but see if you can stretch yourself to reduce even more for the remainder of Lent. Don’t forget to keep up the good work with your transportation habits!
1. Turn off all appliances, or pull out the plug when not in use. The easiest thing is to use power strips for multiple appliances and flick the switch when they are not in use. Even when electronics are off, they are still pulling energy if they are still plugged in.
2. Own fewer devices. Buy less electronics. Don’t zone out in front of the TV. In fact, consider cutting your viewing significantly during this time.
3. Consider buying or borrowing a device that tells you exactly how much electricity the house is using every second. Many libraries now have Kill-a-Watts that can be checked out like books. The price of these have also dropped considerably at places like Amazon.
4. Generate light, not heat, using energy-efficient lightbulbs such as CFLs. These use 3/4 less energy than standard lighting and last up to 10 times longer. So despite their higher up-front cost, they yield lifetime savings of up to $50 per bulb.
5. Hang your clothes to dry - outside in the warm weather, inside during the winter. IKEA and most hardware stores sell inexpensive indoor drying racks. If you need to use the dryer, consider wool dryer balls to help soften clothes and reduce drying time.
6. Wash your clothing in cold water and wash with a full load.
7. Use beeswax or soy candles. Any other candle is made from paraffin - a petroleum product- and does not burn cleanly. Artificially scented candles are one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution in homes.
8. Use a programmable thermostat and turn down the heat when you are not at home.
9. Consider how low you are willing to reduce your home’s temperature. A 1 degree reduction can decrease fuel needs by as much as 15 %. I grew up wearing sweaters and heavy socks in our house. It builds character.
10. Consider replacing your furnace if it is more than 20 years old. Make sure to change/clean filters regularly.
11. If you have an old fridge or freezer in the basement or garage, consider getting rid of it. They’re often power leaches. If you really do use your extra freezer, make sure it is full as this makes it more efficient. Alternatively, keep you refridgerator clear of all of those science experiments. Good air-flow in the fridge keeps it at its most efficient.
12. Consider switching to a utility company that runs alternative energy such solar and wind.
13. If you can afford it, install your own solar panels or wind turbine. Go off-grid.
Keep up the good work!! And feel free to send me any of your ideas for ways to further reduce carbon emissions from your home. Mine was a short list aimed at motivating those just beginning to understand their footprint on our Earth and some simple ways to start being a bit greener.
Filed under Carbon Fast, Easy Being Green, Green School and Churches | Comments (2)Has Your Family Been Outside Today?
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I don’t think I need to say anything more. Enjoy your weekend!!!!!
Filed under Easy Being Green, Nature | Comments (4)gDiaper Review
A couple of months ago I posted a review about the green shopping site, Green Cricket. This is a great, green shopping alternative for Canadians and I highly recommend it.
Green Cricket sent me some gDiapers to review and I happily said yes because I had seen them in stores and was curious.
First, let me give you a bit of background on my diaper history. I used cloth diapers exclusively with my daughter, Katelin, until she turned one. At that point, I was working again and the poops were a lot bigger and a lot stinkier than I was willing to have anyone other than me deal with. My son, Jack, was in cloth until about 9 months. To be blunt, his poops were monstrous and I was a wimp and just couldn’t cope with cloth.
Then Tom was born. Already a touch overwhelmed at this unexpected blessing in our life, I was quickly blogged down with dirty laundry and a messy house. The cloth diapers didn’t even last a month and were shipped off to my niece and her new little baby boy. I at least wanted them to be used.
Enter gDiapers. These sounded like a miracle to me. Basically, they consist of a cloth outer wrap, a plastic liner and biodegradable inserts. The inserts can either be composted or flushed. The starter pack also comes with a plastic stick that helps with the flushing part. I’ll get to this little detail in a minute.
The diaper wraps are very cute. There are 2 in each starter pack along with 10 inserts. Mine are orange and off-white. They wash very well and still look quite new even after a couple of months of use. Once you purchase the starter kit, the inserts are a bit pricier than regular diapers, but not by much. A pack of 40 inserts costs $24. This is one of those situations where helping to reduce my footprint on the earth is worth the few extra bucks to me. At $36, the starter kit is certainly less expensive than the initial investment of cloth diapers. However, cloth will save you money in the long run.
I have a hard time getting out to my composter in the winter, so I have tended to flush my inserts. This has caused a few problems and made my husband a bit grumpy. I have also noticed a lot of signs in public restrooms lately asking people to please not flush diapers so I am guessing that my potties are not the only ones that are plugged. There is definitely an art to getting the insert to flush properly. Make sure you read the instructions that come with the diapers and use that little plastic stick that I previously mentioned.
These diapers need to be changed more frequently than regular disposables. Tom has often soaked through the cloth wrap. However, this can also work in your favour as you begin potty training. I’m waiting for Tom’s ‘Aha Moment’ to dawn any time now. I am really ready to be done with diapers!
Are you thinking of getting gDiapers? Here is my list of Pros and Cons.
Pros:
1. Very cute
2. Much more earth-friendly than regular disposables
3. Easy to use
4. Safe on your baby’s skin (no nasty chemicals)
5. Provide a good alternative if you are simply not able to cope with cloth
6. Less of a start-up cost than cloth
Cons:
1. You will have plugged toilets; I recommend composting whenever possible.
2. Pricier than disposables
3. Not as absorbant as disposables
I think that everyone should evaluate their family life and make a decision based on that. Diapers are not a one-size-fits-all prospect (pardon my pun). My own example gives testament to that. What worked for my first-born did not work for my third.
If you don’t think that you can handle cloth diapers but don’t want to see countless disposables enter the landfill, gDiapers would be a good product for you. They are well made and I would recommend them to anyone.
Have you had any experience, positive or negative, with gDiapers? Leave me a comment and let me know.
Filed under Easy Being Green, Reviews, Shopping | Comments (8)Taking Paperless One Step Further
This post is part of the Moms’ 30-Minute Blog Challenge over at Steady Mom.
As I stumbled downstairs this morning to make a pot of coffee in hopes of getting my brain to begin functioning properly, I realized that there was one paperless aspect of our kitchen that I failed to mention in my last post (an amazing thought considering that I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet).
Behold! The reuseable coffee filter!
Your coffee maker may have actually come with one of these, which you immediately ignored and went out to purchase the traditional paper filters. In case you threw yours out, you can buy one of these in the grocery store for less than $10. It is easy to care for- just dump the used grounds in the compost and give the filter a quick rinse. You will save money and the planet before you’ve even had your first cuppa joe each morning.
Once you’ve used it, you’ll wonder why you ever used paper in the first place.
Filed under Cleaning and Organization, Easy Being Green, Saving Green | Comments (8)
