Yes, VINEGAR - - in White or Apple Cider form - - goes a long way toward replacing expensive and wasteful containers of fancier (and harsher) cleaners.

First off, we all do the best we can as we try to address the dramatic dynamic of climate disruption. I figure there’s the big, global aspects that can seem beyond reach for many of us, and then there’s the low hanging fruit, as it were, which could be in our backyard - - literally.

As an end-of-summer treat, I found my way to an isolated oceanside beach and was sitting alone when I noticed, about 50 yards away on the lumpy sand near the water’s edge, something roundish with a sparkle that encouraged me to imagine a big mother-of-pearl shell. (I have enjoyed many cool shells on this sandy stretch over the years.) This item seemed larger than a normal shell, so it especially caught my eye and interest.

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. 

Whither Winter Waste?

Have you noticed that December seasonal activities generate a high degree of waste? In the spirit of these holidays we participate graciously and generously in all sorts of activities that are often festively festooned with items that likely end up in the waste stream (what doesn’t get eaten, at least).

WHAT CONTAMINATES OUR BEST INTENTIONS?

Maybe you’ve heard of “aspirational recycling,” which is when good people think they’re doing the right thing (aspiring to right action) by putting certain waste material into a recycling container because they think or expect that it is - - or should be - - included there. This usually applies to items that are less obviously NOT recyclable, such as foam pieces, ceramics, plastic plant holders, plastic straws, CFL bulbs, plastic or synthetic corks, and containers with food particles still attached. (See my handout, “What Goes Where” in the Resources section of this blog.)

I often get asked about China's recent ruling to restrict incoming recyclables, which does indeed impact our communities on this side of the Pacific. So I put together some hopefully helpful info below...

I was recently tabling at the local county fair for our Master Composting and Recycling booth, and found I could draw in some passers-by with the cold question: “Do you know what the word of the day is?” If they nibbled, I’d say, “Well, it’s actually two words: “Waste Diversion.” And maybe we’d be able to go a bit deeper into what that phrase means and implies.

Ever asked for a drink of water at an eatery and it came with a plastic straw in the glass? You probably didn’t ask for that piece of relatively rigid plastic, and it will very probably go right into the landfill trash after your nasty lips touch it, along with 500 million other such straws in America PER DAY. (Double that number for the whole planet.)