Circular Logic Carries the Day!
www.circularmaterials.
com.au/philosophy/
PERSPECTIVE
You may have heard of “biomimicry,” which is the emerging science that seeks to understand (rather logically, I think) how the Earth has successfully managed its extraordinarily diverse eco-systems for lo, these many millennia. With greater awareness of this dimension of our planetary existence, we can design our human-centered mechanisms with similar logic and structure, in some harmony with the natural world all around us.
The idea is that if we “mimic” the Earth, we could get things in better balance and live more sustainably. The merit of this approach seems undeniable, to me at least. As Anais Nin noted, “Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.”
One large way our planet has self-organized long before we ever showed up (and still!) is in circular patterns, such as cycles that repeat. Even the most cursory glance at our world can turn up many ways that circles effectively orient our lives (and the universe, I suspect).
Perhaps most obvious is how the four seasons come and go each year (varying in degree with latitude, of course). We even speak of the Life Cycle, which includes and transcends individual Death.
As a personal exercise, I suggest you focus a circular lens on any troubling issue and dig a bit. Like as not, you might identify a root cause that will have to do with some aspect going against the circular nature of life. I suspect the more we understand ourselves to be contained in circles, the more centered we’ll be.
Related to all this, I happened to be in Vancouver, BC, last November during the 5th annual Zero Waste Conference (ZWC) and though I did not fork over the hefty fee to actually attend (it was mostly for business and international pros), I paid attention to the publicity and reports, which got some decent press in that rather intentionally waste-conscious city. (Although I do
wonder why they don’t have better programs for soft “film” plastic recycling up there. Most grocery stores still give out plastic shopping bags!)
The 2018 Zero Waste Conference talk this year was largely about the “Circular Economy,” which I understood in concept, but never dreamed it was getting as much attention as this entire event gave it, which is noteworthy to the max.
The standard mode of a linear economy model instructs business to “take, make and throw away” or “extract, produce and discard” when it comes to natural resources. And companies generally take no responsibility for the disposal of all the material products they crank out. Shameful, really.
Whereas the circular economy promotes an ideal of bringing all waste materials back into the production cycle, more in line with the Zero Waste movement, led in our Bellingham region by the Sustainable Connections program Toward Zero Waste. 
However, overall American commitment to a circular economy concept seems to lag behind other nations, even more so as our current government works in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform network has 350 members.
There’s a good, instructive article in the Irish Times called Reuse and recycle: it’s the circular economy, stupid! that speaks of “triple bottom-line accounting [which accounts for the social and environmental costs as well as the economic costs]” and “true costs of extraction of raw materials.” Refreshing!
Another inspirational article, in The Georgia Straight, profiled the keynote speaker at the ZWC in Vancouver, Swiss futurist Gerd Leonhard, and offered this encouraging imperative: “…(T)he circular economy is an easy-to-understand idea, and one that experts suggest is fast becoming an ethical and ecological necessity.” Indeed.
GreenBiz, a website dedicated to advancing “opportunities at the intersection of business, technology and sustainability,” has a whole section of news about circular economy activities. GreenBiz also has a Biomimicry Column worth exploring.
Hopefully, we in the US can get more on board with the circular economy soon enough to make a difference. The Earth is our teacher, if we have open minds enough to be taught and humility enough to adjust.
PRACTICAL
In my last blog (about more sustainable winter holiday approaches) I touched on one way to increasingly (and creatively) embody the Zero Waste principle in your daily life: REPURPOSE items that might otherwise go toward the landfill (and/or food not to be wasted). Here are some more hopefully intriguing ideas (many inspired by the great blog Trash Backwards) to consider for repurposing various household things that we tend to just toss.
Inventively repurposing is one of the most fun aspects of Zero Waste-land!
Plastic Jug Watering Can
Get ready for Spring and create a simple device for watering various plantings by repurposing plastic jugs (of any preferred size). Get one with a relatively flat lid (juice, laundry detergent, kitty litter, etc.) and drill or poke a few holes in it and voila – – a sturdy watering “can” that isn’t in the waste stream.
Bamboo Fencing
Don’t just moan about (and chuck) overly prolific bamboo! Harvest (or find) some stalks and cut them into a custom length, plus a long rod or two, and weave them together using some kind of unused (repurposed!) cord, such as electric wiring, to create a decent garden or landscaping border.
Or use a long bamboo stalk to hold back its still living (and growing!) compatriots along walkways, such as I did in my side yard, as shown. For holding the horizontal stalks, I broke down Xmas wreaths and captured the nice green wire that held them together, which was perfect for securing the retaining bamboo rod. (Meanwhile, I composted the wreath greenery and used the interior round metal frames for a hanging art project.)
Banana Peels!
Just a few Trash Backwards suggestions for getting extra mileage out of bananas:
- Shoe Polish: Did you know banana peels (on the inside) make a great shoe polish? Just rub it around your shoe and then buff it with a white cloth.
- Teeth Whitener: Rub the inside of your banana peel on your teeth to whiten them. (Apparently, the manganese, magnesium and potassium helps whiten the enamel of your teeth.)
- Silverware Polish: Blend banana peel with water and use on your silver to take the polish off with a soft cloth.
- Meat tenderizer: Add a banana peel to your next roast and it’ll add just enough moisture to ensure that roast doesn’t get too dry.
- Bruise Patrol: Banana peels on the inside, if rubbed on a bruise, will aid in making it disappear.
- Splinter Removal: Banana peels help ease splinters out of your skin. Place some peel on a splinter with athletic tape for a while and then just ease the splinter out.
- Dry Skin Cure: If you have psoriasis, try rubbing the inside of a banana peel on your affected areas twice a day and you’ll see the dry scaly skin dissipate.
- Banana Peel Message: Leave a message for your child on their banana peel by pricking out letters with a toothpick; the skin will bruise and there will be a dark brown note for your sweetie by lunchtime.
Plastic “Zipper” Bags
A big pet peeve of mine is how many perfectly good zipper-style bags get tossed, as if they were single-use items. Uggh! I have rescued and cleaned up so many that I have almost a life-time supply now. Treat them just like your reusable glass containers and extend their lives!
Here are some other intriguing ways to repurpose bags (with thanks to the blog one good thing by Jillee):
- Stick a wet sponge inside a sealable bag and use as a freezer pack. You save tossing out an old sponge at the same time.
- Put a couple of plastic bags over your hands to use as gloves when working with especially messy foods.
- Cover your car’s side mirrors and/or windshield wipers with plastic bags when it’s really cold to keep ice and snow from accumulating on them.
- Put small leftovers from soap bars into a plastic bag. When the bag is full, you can melt the pieces together to create a new bar of soap!
- Fill a plastic bag with distilled white vinegar, then tie it around your shower head to remove soap scum and mildew.
- When mailing packages, avoid bubble wrap, etc., by inflating sealable plastic bags to use as padding. (Close the zipper around a straw and suck out the air just before completely sealing.) Use this trick when packing away breakable tree ornaments as well.
- Punch holes in the non-zippered side of a plastic bag and put it in your three-ring binders to hold pens, pencils, small scissors etc.
- Put instruction manuals in plastic bags and tape them to the backs of the corresponding appliances.
- Corral board game pieces with plastic bags so things aren’t missing when you want to play your favorite game.
- Pack shoes in plastic bags when you travel to keep them from getting scuffed and to keep other items in your suitcase from getting dirty.
I keep rolled-up holiday ribbons in a zipper bag, where they are visible, hold their shape well, and are readily accessible for reuse.- Double up sealable bags (a stronger one on the outside) to make perfectly good freezer bags. (Expensive store-bought freezer bags are just a bit thicker than normal ones, anyway.)
- Carry empty zipper bags with you and use for take-aways in eateries instead of getting your leftovers wrapped in hard plastic or styrofoam.
FINER POINT
Washing out plastic bags to reuse them may seem like a chore, but it’s really just like any other noble habit that you get into: it gets easier the more you do it! And it makes a difference. Monica at The Yummy Life gives a great pep talk about this process, with very helpful tips!
Many thanks for your good efforts!