September 14, 2007 by Barbara.

I read an interesting post by Katherine at From Dirt to Dish about an Eat Local Challenge yesterday and the actions she is taking to reduce her family’s carbon footprint by buying foods grown and processed close to home. It made me think of the actions that I need to take- and to also wish that the challenge had started in the summer when Ottawa is more hospitable to eating locally. Then, this morning I read Dani’s Postcard from the Mothership on facing her family’s ugly eco-truth and I decided that I could tackle the packaging problem that BlogHer Act Canada has identified for focus this month.

They are asking a few questions and also for reflection on what can be done on a personal level. I’ll answer the questions at the end.

There are quite a few posts about reducing packaging - the first of the trinity of Rs  - and so I’m going to cover reusing. I walk the fine line between keeping too much “just in case” materials and creative re-use. Reid has a little post office/theatre/grocery store from Discovery Toys. We have kept some sample packages for the grocery store part. At a garage sale recently, I saw a woman who had packaged a bunch of empty single-serving containers for just that sort of purpose. She explained that it helped justify the single-serving containers for camping.

In my world, junk mail falls into the category of packaging or at least it does in this post. I’m a shredder of mail with personal information on it. The problem is that the paper then goes to the recycle bin with so much potential left in it. Or it would if I didn’t save it ina bucket. One day recently, when Ken was out, Reid and I had a “snowfight” with the shredded paper, made a craft and then spent a bunch of time sweeping and vacuuming (fun activities for Reid). If I can rig up the frames, I think we’ll make some paper as presents for Christmas. I also asked daycare if they wanted some of the shredded paper and they said, “yes”. Daycare is really good place to send the things that have potential still in them when we are done using them.

Reid draws and paints on a roll of paper that threads through her Ikea easel. As the paper is used, I keep it in a single piece and roll it into itself. When we have a birthday or other occasion, we use the paper to wrap gifts. Even Reid received a birthday gift wrapped in limited-edition Reidie paper. For the most part, our Christmas presents going out into the world in cotton bags. I can’t say enough about bagged gifts. The appearance of the gifts under the tree is fabulous; you can have a much greater variety of bags than wrapping papers. It’s faster to “wrap” a present in a bag and it is *so* much easier to clean up after the presents are unwrapped.

Now for the questions:

1.  How many disposable plastic water bottles would you and your family have used?

We generally use very few plastic water bottles - I’m cheap as well as environmentally conscious - but we went to a cottage for Labour Day Weekend that didn’t have water that was safe to drink. A fact we didn’t know in advance and so weren’t able to arrange for large containers of water. We went through at least 12 bottles in that one weekend alone. At work, I get a plastic glass of water from Starbuck’s each morning. This needs to stop. I will have to buy a reusable metal container since I can’t count on winning the nice one being offered as a prize. I guess the packaging on it won’t be significant compared to the plastic glasses it will replace. So, I can save 3-5 plastic water bottles by being more prepared on weekend activities and 10 plastic glasses for the remainder of this month. And if I keep it up, presumably the purpose of the exercise, that would be 6 bottles and 20 glasses a month.

2.  How many disposable coffee cups do you save by bringing your own?

I bring a travel mug of coffee with me each morning but then switch to tea at the office. Most cups are consumed out of a china teapot and cup. I do go to Starbucks, though, and have gotten out of the habit of bringing my travel mug - a Chicago mug acquired at BlogHer, in fact. I’ll commit to skipping tea when I forgot my travel mug at my desk or at least I’ll commit to going back for the cup when I realize that I’ve forgotten it. If only I drank coffee, Starbucks would give me 10 cents off each cup.

3.  How many cans of pop do you save buy buying larger sizes or switching beverage choices?

Oh, on this one, I’m good. I drink maybe 2 cans of pop a month. Ken, though, is another story. I’m going to have to stick with what Janet at Three and Holding says about recycling the cans because we’re good with recycling the cans.

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September 14, 2007 by Barbara.

I was reading a legal interpretation of the part of the act, for which I’m writing a directive, Tuesday and came across the following, “Without doing violence to the meaning of the word”. I read it and continued on but had to go back. How could I leave such an imaginative phrase alone? Maybe that is typical legalese but it struck me as elegant. There are a few people who use the word “fullsome” incorrectly in such a way that they do serious violence to the meaning of the word. I’ll be able to call them on it without causing offence. (Or not ;+)

Roger called me with an invented word he’d read about in the Toronto Star that made him think of me:
Snooziasm (noun) - a strong inclination to nap
I’m not sure if I should be insulted. I might be if it weren’t an accurate word to describe an important part of my personality. I used to tell people that I didn’t sleep in but I was a napper. Now I can tell them that I’m snooziastic and if they question the word, I’ll tell them to take it up with my big brother.

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September 14, 2007 by Barbara.

Confession: I bring home the little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, etc. plus the little soaps when I stay in hotels. Not just the part bottles that I haven’t emptied but full bottles, too. In fact, I clear them from the bathroom counter each day so that I’ll get a full set of replacements. It’s a compulsion and a hereditary one. I get if from Grandma D. I don’t open the soap wrappers to the the bars can age and so last longer. This means there is hope for Reid. Maybe she’ll inherit only the need to bring home the half-used ones and *her* child won’t think twice about leaving them behind.

I read somewhere that to save money, you should use up absolutely all of something before buying another. It made me think of those shampoos and conditioners lingering in their baskets in the guest bathroom. We don’t have enough company to require that I keep the little bottles for my guests. I reached in and came out with a mini bottle of Neutrogena Clean hair conditioner. Wow, what a nice product! It lasted for 3.5 showers and it made my hair so silky soft and easy to manage. I was almost ready to buy some but then I remembered that I was supposed to be using them all up. Besides what if there is an even better conditioner hiding in the basket?

When it was time to wash Reid’s hair Wednesday night, I decided to be magnanimous and share the fabulous Neutrogena Clean conditioner. We had been using the same discount conditioner. It may have only been me, but it sure seemed *much* easier to comb Reid’s hair after her bath and the next morning I noticed that it had an extra-pretty sheen to it.

And to think I’ve been letting other people use the mini bottles all this time! Whoever decided to sell Neutragena in mini bottles made a great marketing decision. I doubt I would have tried it otherwise.

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