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Waste management: from here to a 'cradle to cradle' standard

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22:15 / 12.06.07

I think there's a few in the rural areas because then they don't need power cabling & are more self sufficient, although it's equally likely my memory is shit and it's the same one. Must ask my mum... ('Hey mum, where's the solar/wind LED sign?' mum-'What? Have you been on the internet again!')

But won't the customer service people just put it in the bin anyway?

They get charged for their rubbish collection. After a few people do it a few times they're likely to act, you'd be surprised how sensitive they are to customer pressure and keen to be green looking. Nothing reinforces a complaint about useless rubbish like giving them the useless rubbish.
Also I suspect it's cheaper to use less packaging and they only do it to sell more stuff- if they think consumers will buy more if there's less packaging, they'll use less I reckon.

23:32 / 12.06.07

boar bristles and a CORRECT for Zippy!

though apparently boars are shorn like sheep?

I consulted with treehugger.com

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:37 / 13.06.07

how do you actually use that deodourant?

Um, I just pat myself with it? It basically then leaves a little bit of itself as powder behind. I think the effectiveness of this may depend on where and how much one sweats... But it's funny, now I find it very hard to imagine going back to using a spray in a can - call me an old snob, but I totally associate that with being a slightly gauche teenager, drowning myself in Lynx to try and impress the ladies, Christ...

Leigh Monster loses its cool

07:44 / 13.06.07

Whenever I go someplace and forget my toothbrush, I always find that a clean washrag seems to work just as well.

17:48 / 13.06.07

I'm thinking about creating some sort of plant based hair dye as all the pretty colors are in plastic. Probably should think of powdered medium though...for ease of shipping.

though I have no idea about the bleach part of the process being made happier.

I'm going to end up tying string in my hair aren't I? Fuck it.

18:00 / 13.06.07

Some sort of powdered plant based hair dye? Like Henna for example?

18:09 / 13.06.07

Lemon juice beaches hair, although not by a huge amount.

18:21 / 13.06.07

Lush sells henna blocks, which one can take away from the store in a paper bag, if henna is of interest.

18:22 / 13.06.07

Seeds of change the organic heritage seed company had a whole selection of flowers to grow for fabric dyes in vibrant colors. I was thinking I could hit up my chemist relatives to figure out which ones were non toxic for people to use and dye my hair. Or beet juice or something equally silly.

I've been told urine also is a bleaching agent but I'm not likely to find out.

It will be like returning to my youthful experiements with egg whites, jello, and glue to put up my mohawk. Only this time the kitchen and bathroom will be pink as well as stinky.

18:24 / 13.06.07

x-post with SN

I don't know if henna comes in fun colors. I find I still want purple hair thus the whining.

18:30 / 13.06.07

No, no funky colours that I know of.

How about grinding up artist's soft pastels, mixing them with some kind of hair-gel equivalent (I know some chem-sensitive people use a gelatine solution). You might be able to put in temporary stripes and streaks of funky colours like that?

18:38 / 13.06.07

I'll ask my SO about dyes and mordants for hair, but basically anything that will work on felt will work on your hair.
BTW Henna comes in Black - Blue - Brown - Purple - Orange - Red - Turquoise - Violet & Yellow

18:40 / 13.06.07

That link for skin painting henna really but it will work on hair.

18:43 / 13.06.07

Oh here we go- Kuria Mal Gopi Chand do henna based hair dyes, hair colors, black henna,brown henna,red henna,orange henna, mahogany henna, burgundy henna,chestnut henna,blond henna,neutral henna,blond henna,purple henna etc. although they're in India, it shows the stuff can be bought.

Ex

18:44 / 13.06.07

Boiled rhubarb root creates a rich red-gold colour, and will lighten hair. I'm not sure why it isn't more widely used - cammomile, with which I've had less succes, gets all the press.

Dig it up, boil it for four hours, strain it through some fabric and rinse your clean hair in it and leave it to dry. You can repeat it a couple of days later to enhance the effect.

18:56 / 13.06.07

yeah see most of the hennas I can get are either boring or in plastic tubes. No paper bags or bars.

I'm going to end up with beets and rhubarb reduced then mixed with clay once a month I know it. Which if one is serious about reducing carbon foot print should probably be the route taken rather than mailing henna from India.

rhubarb root? Not the stalk? Interesting...

19:04 / 13.06.07

Wow, that's awesome.

19:05 / 13.06.07

googling henna I found this poem.

14:28 / 16.07.07

Water. Drinking water to be specific.

I've been doing a lot of research on bottled/tap/bubblah/filtered. The results seem to indicate bottled has a high carbon footprint, may not be much better than tap as it isn't closely regulated compared to the highly tested munipcal sources, and is far more expensive then I had realized in terms of resources. Oh and is usually in plastic. I've been using glass bottles of water for the last few months but after reading about the enivornmental cost of shipped/trucking water it seems foolish. Do I really need fizzy water shipped over from Italy or even from NY? Er, no.

My concerns are fluoride and chlorine as well as general ick. So my research seems to indicate Reverse Osmosis filtration is the way to go and I'm looking at countertop options as I live in an apartment.

Also in other news I'm thinking of dying my hair back to human default colors using henna, anyone had experience of putting henna in on bleached/weird color hair?

16:36 / 16.07.07

I have a reverse osmosis under-sink system but it's not my best friend at the moment. Not zero-waste either, as there are waste filtration units every six months.

Landlords were okay with us getting it as the only damage was installing a small extra tap in the corner of the kitchen sink. A friend of mine got one with a service contract and I think that might be the way to go!

I wonder from time to time about whether there's a danger of accidentally demineralising myself from using RO water for cooking and drinking, so I try to keep a decent mineral content in my diet.

16:41 / 16.07.07

Can I ask why you are unhappy with it atm?

05:59 / 02.09.07

Apologies Inkwitch, I hadn't seen your query until today.

The RO system - it just tastes odd from time to time, and I suspect without any proof that it might be from a bloom of microbes in the water supply that then get trapped before the first filter phase.

Did you see the news that Hebden Bridge, a small town in Yorkshire, has gone 'plastic bag free' as of yesterday?

That's the kind of progress I really like. It is important to do the small acts if possible individually because they add up, but structural changes towards cradle to cradle standard really make me happy.

11:17 / 03.09.07

I'm not big on posting - but this thread has inspired me.

I recycle. Use green bags. Purchase fresh fruit and veges. Use my engery efficent washing machine/fridge/lighbulbs. Yeah, I feel pretty good about myself.

Then I read this thread.

Clearly what contribution I make towards 'saving the environment' is not enough. In reality, I am being lazy. I picked the easy path, because to be frank, its not that hard to use green bags, throw the glass bottles into the recycling bin or buy a washing machine which uses less water.

I have to say thankyou to apt plutology for starting this thread, because now I know I can do better. And most importantly, I want to do better.

22:38 / 04.09.07

I freakin' love my RO filter. Had it for a while now and we lug it out of the cabinet, attach it to the faucet, fill two large glass mason jar inspired beverage decanters (one for in the fridge one for the counter) and then put it away. We do this maybe once or twice a week and it takes about 20 minutes to fill up the half gallon containers. I paid the extra cash to get a faster flow rate. Oh and we are delighted not to be buying bottled water for the foot print, plastic or otherwise, and not having to carry water home every other day. Huge difference.

Having not yet gone to Lush-land I have a locally made shampoo bar that works really well. I found a metal recyclable tube of toothpaste from Switzerland until I can figure out how to make some that isn't horrible. The henna product I went with so far is ok but I'll plan to pick up some block henna when I go to Lush.

I purchased some really nice glass and metal jars made in the USA. I've been taking them to the local Indian curry shop and picking them up a day or two later rather than using their to go plastic containers. this has the added bonus of getting us the fresh homemade style food the chef makes for himself and then we have it in our fridge for whenever we need it. It works out to be about 5$ a portion which is insanely cheap for around here.

With a little bit of wrangling with my new land lord I've got the kitchen compost pile up and running for the garden.

also my part of New Hampshire is doing Slow Food Month. We're all trying to support local farmers.

08:33 / 10.12.07

A couple of articles by Paul Goettlich, the first is his answers to 'why' get plastics out of your diet, and a second by popular demand which is more about the 'how': glass, stainless steel and so on.

Also there's a blog which people might find of interest, plasticfree, by a woman who took a pledge to stay plastic free for 90 days at the beginning of 2007.

08:28 / 06.01.09

Random but, just realised it's possible to use a bit of loofah to wash pots and crocks, instead of plastic washing up brushes and plastic pan scrubbers.

Loofah! It's a vegetable, it biodegrades.

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