Week 2
Two weeks down, and unfortunately, the contents of the garbage shoebox have grown by a few items. Other than the cat litter and meat scraps we produce each week, which are the ONLY things allowed in our garbage can, we’re saving all our garbage in a shoebox. So far, the contents include: two pieces of tape, one squeaky dog toy ran over by the lawnmower, the leftover vials from Frontline flea medicine for cat and dog, and the safety seal around a bottle of contact lens solution.
The squeaky toy was a sad accident (you should have seen Kavik’s face) and the other two items seem unavoidable. Adam and I decided before we started this project that we weren’t going to be giving up medical devices, and we count contacts in this category. We haven’t yet found a replacement for our regular contact lens solution but we are looking. Does anyone know of a non-garbage-producing brand of lens cleaner? Eventually, we will have to change our contacts and will incur garbage in the form of used lenses and new lens blister packs.
As far as the flea medicine goes, we think this is a necessity for our animals’ health and well-being and for our house’s sanitation. However, I am wondering whether a natural flea medicine exists, much like citronella is naturally occurring and repels mosquitoes. Hmmm – if anyone knows of anything like this, please let me know.
In other news, we had an exciting garbage-free week! (In the scheme of things, 5 small piece of garbage in a week still isn’t too bad!). We were interviewed by two local news agencies and are starting to get a bit of publicity for our project. We’re excited about this and hope it continues so we might inspire other people to reduce their garbage, too.
A Portland TV station called KOIN Local 6 (the CBS affiliate station) interviewed us for their Generation Green report and gave us two and a half minutes on the evening news. It was a new experience being interviewed for a TV camera and we enjoyed meeting the reporter and camera woman. They spent about an hour with us last Friday. You can view the interview here: http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/generationgreen/default.aspx?articleID=11501 and it’s also posted under the “News” tab.
I was also interviewed by the newspaper Adam works for, the weekly Polk County Itemizer Observer. The article will appear in this Wednesday’s issues, and I’ll post the link once it’s published.
We also had our first garbage-free restaurant and movie theater experiences, which were quite interesting. We saw Harry Potter last Friday and because we wanted Icees at the theater, we brought our own cups. The concession stand employee was nice enough to oblige, though she clearly found our request unusual. We also bought a popcorn, which at our theater comes in a bag made from recycled paper. Nice.
This experience got me thinking, however. Why is it odd that I brought my own beverage cup to the theater? Isn’t this something American society now encourages? Many coffee stands now give discounts to people who bring their own cups; the same is true at convenience stores. Why not movie theaters?
We also ate out at restaurants several times, bringing along our own takeaway containers each time. We thought navigating a restaurant according to trash-free tenets would be difficult but it proved reasonably straightforward. Most of the trash a person generates in a restaurant is made from paper (napkins, napkin ring, chip/bread basket liner, paper towel from restroom) and if we couldn’t avoid these, they came home with us and were placed in our burn basket. We had to completely do without straws, those mini coffee creamer containers, and the individual jam containers with breakfast. If everyone did this, we could drastically reduce the amount of trash each restaurant produces.
My parents visited this weekend and brought Adam and me an anniversary present. My mom was kind enough to wrap the present entirely in paper and string – no tape, even. Thanks Mom!
I’m hard at work on the first draft of our book as well as a book proposal to send off to agents. We feel like we’re making a difference everyday, which keeps us motivated. 50 weeks to go!
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Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.
I rarely comment on blogs but yours I had to stop and say Great Blog!!
Fantastic idea – people generally produce far too much rubbish! Though, re. the cat litter – every cat I ever had went to the toilet outside. No litter required – ever! Is that not possible for your cat? No rubbish produced, no unhygenic cat poop etc laying around indoors . . . . .
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
Hi, interest post. I’ll write you later about few questions!
As far as eco-friendly flea killers go, I can recommend silica dioxide – it does come in a large (recyclable) plastic tub. You have to use it almost daily, though, and if you have a flea problem to start with it takes a long time to kill all of them.
Ahh! Before I continue reading past the first paragraph, where flea medicine waste is mentioned, let me tell you what I found last weekend. Homemade herbal flea collars. They are like a sahet shaped and sewn into collars, held end-to-end by velcro. For both cats and dogs, different sizes – of course. I’m told they last up to three months each. Lavendar is one component and I cannot recall but am happy to find out the other herbal component. I didn’t buy any as I just received my latest order of supplies.
Hi! What a wonderful project. This is so encouraging to see and I think it gives everyone hope! I just have a question about the recycled paper pop corn bag from the movie theater. How did you dispose of it? Many recycling places wont accept ‘soiled’ paper products that might otherwise be recyclable like paper plates or pizza boxes. Thanks!