Too many old plastic bags? Fuse ‘em!

Filed Under environment, random | 2 Comments

Some of our commenters the other day said that they recycle their plastic bags after they use them. This got me thinking. What the heck are plastic bags recycled into? Well, it didnt take me long to find out. The answer?

More plastic bags.

Shocking, isn’t it? It’s not as bad as it sounds though! Many companies and people recycle them into reusable bags. As Martha Stewart would say (I can’t believe I’m quoting Martha!), it’s a good thing.

The coolest part of my lil investigation is that you can actually recycle your flimsy grocery bags into strong, reusable bags yourself by fusing them together! In fact, Etsy Labs has a whole tutorial on how to do this. Here’s what you need:

Plastic bags
An iron (and ironing board)
Parchment paper
A well ventilated area (seriously, ventilation people! You can’t fuse plastic bags if you’re passed out from the fumes!)

…you didn’t really think I was going to reproduce the entire tutorial here, did you? No way - this is all from Etsy Labs and they get the credit for this awesome plastic bag fusing tutorial.

In the US, Target is recycling their own plastic bags. Well, sort of. Their recycled bags are being sold in their US stores - the actual recycling of said bags happens in…Vietnam?

Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of recycling? OK, well not the main purpose of recycling itself, but at least one of the purposes - to cut down on unnecessary emissions produced by factories and transport vehicles. How efficient is it to collect the bags in North America, send the bags to Vietnam for recycling, and them bring ‘em back?

Maybe I’m wrong about this because I do see that the recycling project is being done in partnership with Terracycle, a very cool recycling/re-purposing company. I’ve known about them for some time now - they have a great program where if you collect things like empty beverage bottles and send them to Terracycle they will donate money to charity! The bottles are cleaned and filled with organic fertilizer - “Worm Poop” - and then sold. Their recycling facility is in New Jersey.

My final note for the day - sure, plastic bags suck. But without them, there wouldn’t be that great opening scene in American Beauty, would there?

It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and… this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… and I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.

UPDATE:

Scroll down to the very bottom of this post at From My Bottom Step for links to resources regarding knitting plastic bags!

Thanks for reading! Did you know you can get Five Blondes delivered (semi) daily? Just click for our RSS feed. See you soon!

Nov

22

Five Busy Blondes

Filed Under Family, environment, erica, furniture, internet, life, personal, photography, thoughts, university, writing | 2 Comments

Wow, not much going on as of late! Finals are coming up for those of us in school…naturally an important time of year. Micaela celebrated her birthday earlier this month with a new Lululemon sweater which I have yet to see, but am already very jealous of! Paisley - I love paisley! Kate and Scott are obviously back from their honeymoon, but seem to be having the same kind of difficulties that D and I are having getting telephone and internet service worked out at their new house. Who knew the real world would be this difficult? Leah’s birthday is coming up - always a party - and I hear that Lauren is getting snowed on in Ottawa and is planning to head to Tremblant soon?!? Luck-yyy!! By the way, Lo, I see that Allison Forsyth is sitting out the ski season - there’s a spot on the national team open for ya!

D and I went to Pier 1 Imports last weekend - I was there to browse, D was there to buy a coffee table (even though we have 2 already - long story) despite my insistence that we did not need a new one. I was holding out just fine…until he pointed out a red and brown wood chest with inlaid flowers on the side…possibly the coffee table/storage unit of my dreams. Browsing turned into buying and we now have 3 coffee tables (though one is destined for the woodpile at the farm).

Now all we need at the new apartment is a rug for in front of the gas fireplace! I love this design for a rug - in fact I would buy that one except it is a coconut fibre doormat. I guess I will continue my search!

I”m always looking for a creative output, and I love computers, so I’ve decided that my next ‘project’ (as in, the project I will take up when I no longer have to spend evenings at school!) will be a blogging project. Or, rather, a continuation of THIS blogging project. I want to use the Wordpress CMS and design our own, unique theme for the site! This goes along with a side project that I can’t mention right now. I am excited to get started on it and have found some great resources already, such as those on Lorelle’s blog. I know that there are many super cool free Wordpress themes available on the net, but designing one myself will give me so much more satisfaction in the end, and also skills to build on.

Speaking of designing and skillz, we’ve not shared this photograph on the blog and I think we should because it is absolutely beautiful. These are our Oma’s hands as she works on Kate’s wedding dress - she hand-stitched thousands of beads, crystals, and sequins onto the dress over the summer! I like that the photo highlights her own wedding ring. She and Opa will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in January - and we’re having a big party to celebrate next summer!

Oma’s Hands

Sep

7

Have You Bought Any Crap Lately?

Filed Under environment, erica, humour, thoughts, weird | 1 Comment

Credit: The Onion

FENGHUA, CHINA—Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets, expressed his disbelief Monday over the “sheer amount of shit Americans will buy.”

OK, it’s The Onion, but isn’t there some truth to it? As a society, we have soooo much stuff! I have things I can’t bear to throw away, although I have no idea where/when I got it. Then, when I do decide to throw it away, I feel guilty for helping fill some landfill somewhere.

”I hear that Americans can buy anything they want, and I believe it, judging from the things I’ve made for them,” Chen said. “And I also hear that, when they no longer want an item, they simply throw it away. So wasteful and contemptible.”

Essentially…yes. Unless it can be sold on E-bay. Which creates packaging waste and has a bigger carbon footprint than you might imagine, considering the exhaust from vehicles used to transport the item to its destination.

Maybe it’s time to simplify.