Ingrid: Recycling and swapping in the Sunshine State

Here's the scoop on recycling in the sunshine state. Most places around here have curbside recycling but if you're like me and live in a condo complex, you're on your own. So I take my cardboard, newspapers, bottles, plastic (#1 and #2), junk mail (including phone books) and aluminum to the recycling center down the road every week. There is also one store--Publix--which recycles plastic bags. I try to avoid these by using cloth shopping bags but still get a few here and there. I patronize Publix for this reason. The last time I was at the recycling center I saw a huge clump of plastic bags left there by people who had used them to drop off cans and bottles. I asked the manager if they recycled the bags. He said no. I was about to load them in my car to take to Publix but my husband intervened. (We were on the way to church.) I'll get them next time. They do not take steel cans anywhere nearby. Too bad. I just read that used steel cans are being shipped to steel mills to be melted down and reformed into car bodies and framing. Another interesting fact: Over half the polyester carpets manufactured in the US is made from recycled plastic bottles.

As for toxic waste, the St. Petersburg area has well-publicized mobile collections for paint, batteries, hazardous chemicals, electronics, etc. But, like you with the electronics, I am just realizing there is more hazardous stuff out there than I realized. We just had our thermostat replaced and the repairman handed me the old one to dispose of. "Is it okay to throw this away?" I asked. "Well, it does have mercury in it," he said!!!! And if I hadn't asked him I would have thrown it in the trash just like every other customer probably does.

We also have a Swap Shop in St. Petersburg. You can take paint, cleaners, gardening products and other household products and leave them for other people to use FREE.

More good news. I just returned from a 10 day biking trip in the Outer Banks. All our dinners were in restaurants but most of our lunches were picnics put together by our bike tour leaders. The bike tour, Sojourn Bicycling, is very low impact. They do not use paper plates and disposable tableware but the real thing. They collect the plates and silverware, take it back to the inn and wash it for the next day. I recommend them highly. They are really sensitive to Mother Earth.

It's great when families recycle. I love to see little kids at the recyling center pitching the plastic bottles in the bins. It's even greater when big business joins the effort. Last year, Nielsen Media Research, one of the largest employers in the country, started a recycling program for their 3400 employees. Employees are now recycling over 120,000 pounds of cardboard a year, office paper, aluminum, plastic bottles, CD's, cell phones, packing materials, etc. They also use recycled content toilet paper and paper towels. I'm impressed!

KT: Recycling special items

Ann Arbor seems to have a pretty decent curbside recycling program. Like a lot of people, I do an OK job at recycling the most obvious items like plastic containers with 1 or 2s on the bottom of the container, glass jars, metal cans, paper, cardboard and newspaper. But last week an e-mail came through with information about a weekend electronics and computer recycling drive at a local high school.

I had honestly never considered recycling electronics; in fact, I had just thrown out a broken CD player. I didn't have anything to recycle this weekend (probably because I had been throwing these items out), but it got me wondering about year-round recycling stations that accept these types of items. I looked into it by doing a Google search for "recycle electronics Ann Arbor," and it turns out that during business hours Monday through Friday a local recycling dropoff station recycles not only electronics, but many other items not accepted from curbside bins (http://www.recycleannarbor.org/recycling/recycling.htm).

Special items recycled at the dropoff station for no charge include cell phones, rechargable batteries and styrofoam (packing peanuts and egg cartons). They also recycle toxic items at no charge, including fluorescent light bulbs, pesticides and weed killers, paint thinners, solvents, varnishes, mercury thermometers, and other "home toxics."

The center charges a fee for recycling computer CPUs, monitors, and other computer equipment, printers, TVs, other electronics, motor oil, brake fluid, transmission fluid, antifreeze, batteries, oil filters and propane tanks. Fees range from $5 for printers, VCRs, stereos, and microwaves, to $50 for a big-screen TV. They also recycle car tires ($3 per tire) and truck tires ($15 per tire). What do you know about recycling these items in Florida, Ink?

KT: Race packets & t-shirts

I love running and get a big kick out of running races. There are so many unique races in Michigan-- this winter I ran "The Winter Wolf" in Omer, the smallest town in Michigan, in six-degree weather, at night, with a headlamp, through the woods. "Wolves" jumped out at runners at various points along the way, and finishers enjoyed homemade chili (prepared by the race director's mom) and received hand-painted awards made from logs. I often make a vacation of races held out of town. Next month, I am signed up for a race in Ottawa; while we trot along the Rideau River we'll get an eyefull of the 100,000 tulips that are part of the May Ottawa tulip festival. Trail races, road races, summer races, winter races, I enjoy them all.

But after a while, the race tee-shirts add up. And not all of them are stylish. Do I really need another race t-shirt? Nope. But they keep giving them to me, along with "goodie bags" which contain samples of products and product information from race sponsors. My last goodie bag contained a sample of some energy bars, a sample of some special laundry soap "specially formulated" to wash running clothes (give me a break), a couple of other product samples and a bunch of flyers and ads about upcoming races, and running products. I ate one of the sample-sized energy bars and the rest of the stuff went into the trash.

One of my goals for the compact was to ask some local race directors if they woud be wiling to make "goodie bags" and tee-shirts optional for registering participants. While these items should be offered to those who want them, making them optional would reduce environmental impact and it would save the race money, along the time and labor of distributing these items that many people end up throwing away.

I asked my running coach who also directs local races here in Ann Arbor about adding a check-off box on the registration form, and she was very receptive to the idea. In fact she's going to incorporate "stuff optional" into her next race. She loves the idea because it's a win-win situation from an environmental and economic perspective. She hadn't heard of any races already putting such a policy in place, however, my guess is that some races must be going "stuff optional" at this point. Hopefully others will follow!

Ingrid: No Gifts, Buried Stuff

My first "no gifts" challenge came yesterday when we received an e-mail from dear friends announcing the birth of a grandson. These are friends who instantly mailed gifts for each of our 3 grandchildren when they were born. I found an appropriate card from a small assortment I have on hand (purchased "pre-compact"). I wrote our congratulations and best wishes and briefly considered writing a note of explanation. Something like "As you see, there is no gift enclosed for Baby Brady due to my commitment to reducing the negative global impact of consumerism." Naw. Too pompous. Truth is, Baby Brady will receive an avalanche of gifts from friends like us and from a huge assortment of doting relatives. Our card and our congratulations are enough. And I feel just fine about it.

Another challenge arose in conjunction with my precious sling chair in which I hang upside down every day out on my porch. The stool I use to get into the chair is unstable, threatening to pitch me over the railing and 40 feet down. What I needed was a smaller, sturdier stool. K-Mart would have one. So would the Sunshine Hardware across the street. But no dice. No more dashes over to the Sunshine Hardware for me. I considered The Salvation Army, thrift shops, garage sales. But I might waste days and gallons of gas looking in those places. However my son and daughter-in-law live just down the street and have a big house crammed with stuff. I went over and nosed around in their garage. Sure enough, I found a small, sturdy folding table, just the right size.

When I asked if I could have it, my son agreed cheerfully. Because he didn't even know he had it! How much stuff do we all have buried under other stuff?

KT: Phosphates in dishwasher detergent

One of my goals for the Compact was to switch to earth-friendly cleaning products. I had already been using earth-friendly all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner and dish liquid. I figured that after switching to an environmentally friendly laundry soap (almost anything has to be better than what I use now-- Tide), I'd be pretty eco-friendly. To be honest, I hadn't even considered my auto dishwasher detergent until last week, after a friend forwarded a Chicago Tribune article (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0704030813apr04,1,7974586.story?ctrack=1&cset=true) about how phosphates, contained in most major dishwasher detergents, are harmful to the environment.

Apparently, the phosphates, which end up in our lakes and rivers, aggressively promote the growth of algae, which suck up all the oxygen causing fish and other aquatic life to die. Here is a statistic from the Chicago Tribune article: Just one pound of man-made phosphates washed down the drain can stimulate the growth of 500 pounds of algae downstream.

According to the article, the highly-rated phosphate-free dishwasher detergent brands include Seventh Generation, Ecover Natural and Trader Joe's. I picked up some TJ's brand detergent and it works just as well as Cascade, which I was using before.

In case the link to the Chicago Tribune article does not work, you can search for it online "Banned in Chicago. . . but available in stores. Phosphates were outlawed in '71, but Daley isn't enforcing dad's law with dish detergents" The author is Michael Hawthorne, and it was published on April 4, 2007.

Ingrid: Florida produce

I have been investigating my produce options down in Florida as well. You would think living down here that I would be awash in local produce. There are lots of oranges, grapefruit and strawberries but the produce stand across the street carries spinach and greens from California (hardly local). She says she sells local "whenever possible" but I think I'll try the Saturday market in downtown St. Pete. I used to shop there and stopped because of the drive (about 15 minutes). I'd love to find some greens that are local. Asparagus season is just over here so that's out but there are still lots of green beans and zucchini. My husband and I have given up grapes but he will never give up bananas.

KT: Michigan produce

So today I checked to find out when I can expect to start buying my produce locally. As I suspected, it will be a while: very end of May, beginning of June. [Mom: what are you eating down in Florida? What do you plan to do when you get back up to Michigan?] Right now, the People's Food Co-op in Ann Arbor sells Michigan apples. Well, I guess I'll start with those. I do happen to love apples. I also telephoned farmers Paul and Anne at the Community Farm of Ann Arbor (http://www.communityfarmofaa.org/) who provide produce from their farm for the entire summer for a flat fee. The produce is delivered to the Ann Arbor farmer's market every saturday for pickup. It's a lot of produce (and over $900 for the season, which isn't bad all told but a lot to fork over all at once), so I'm planning to split it with a friend. Going to the farmer's market every Saturday, will also be a great habit- easy to pick up other locally produced items (honey, eggs, meat...).

KT: Why I'm doing this...

Not long after the holidays (January, 2007), I read an article by Michael Pollen in the New York times called "Unhappy Meals" (http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87) about the disconnectedness of American consumers from the food they eat. Pollen makes the point that our decisions about what to eat are not guided by cultural values and traditions, like in most other countries, but by the media, nutrition researchers, and how they act synergistically to shape our perceptions about what we should eat.

[ASIDE: This quote really resonated with me -- I'm a nutrition researcher myself-- about the pitfalls of trying to isolate single health-promoting components in food, as opposed to a whole-foods approach:

"It's also important to remind ourselves that what reductive science can manage to perceive well enough to isolate and study is subject to change, and that we have a tendency to assume that what we can see is all there is to see. When William Prout isolated the big three macronutrients, scientists figured they now understood food and what the body needs from it; when the vitamins were isolated a few decades later, scientists thought, O.K., now we really understand food and what the body needs to be healthy; today it's the polyphenols and carotenoids that seem all-important. But who knows what the hell else is going on deep in the soul of a carrot?"]

Pollen's article really started me thinking about the industrialization of our food and the price we pay for being so far removed from the food chain-- from a taste, health, environmental and economic standpoint. The article lead me to some other reading about the Slow Food movement (a reaction against Big Food and fast food that started in Italy but has spread across the world), which inspired me to make a small change in my own life-- I gave away my microwave. To be honest, this wasn't an enormous sacrafice; I hadn't exactly been living on microwave dinners. But I felt like I was, in a tiny way, taking a stand against Big and fast food.

After liberating myself from my microwave, I felt lighter and liked the idea of simplifying my life... I got rid of my TV, just to see how much I would miss it. I didn't. And my living room no longer had a television as it's centerpiece-- even when it was off, it had been the focus of the room (and now that space is filled with magazines and clutter, which isn't really a ton better, but conceptually it works for me).

My mom told me about the "The Compact," (see http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/) an agreement to buy nothing new except essentials, in an effort to confront consumerism and also to reduce environmental impact. She proclaimed that she planned to make her own compact and do it for a year. A year! I thought it was a great idea, but that was too big of a commitment for me. I talked her into trying it out for three months together. She agreed and here we are, on day 1.