Today, NPR had a segment (“The Phone Book’s Days Appear Numbered”) about a California bill to make white page directories opt-in, the problems associated with their production and disposal and about the overall decline of the utility of phonebooks. (These are, of course, mostly paper — a valuable resource in its own right — but… Continue reading Getting rid of phone books
Category: Household
Cleaning hard plastic surfaces?
Some plastic items are very useful — or at the very least, they ought to be well cared-for so they can have a long service life. Which begs the question — how do you care for plastic when (very often) its very cheapness meant it wasn’t intended for long-term care? So, I’ll ask my scant… Continue reading Cleaning hard plastic surfaces?
Bought batteries online with less plastic
Trying to make household appliances last longer, to keep their plastic in active use and out of landfills. So when my old cordless phone’s battery wore out, I ordered one from an eBay vendor. Cheaper that way. (I care about low cost, too, to a point.) Little would I guess la_tronics — whose appeal was… Continue reading Bought batteries online with less plastic
Easy steps to help your friends use less plastic
I’m here in Washington, D.C. and quite close to the action of tomorrow’s inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth President of the United States. I can only imagine how much plastic will be used in the collective festivities. But that’s not why I’m writing. With the new Administration comes a measure of optimism, if… Continue reading Easy steps to help your friends use less plastic
Stocking stuffer: shoe brushes
Back in September, Hubby and I vacationed in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Seeing a Fuller Brush shop at an outlet mall in Reading, I stopped to see what was offered. There, in addition to two brushes made mostly of plastic, I found these US-made and evidently plastic-free shoe brushes. The small one is for daubing… Continue reading Stocking stuffer: shoe brushes
Dishwashing powder in a box
Here’s an easy one: if you use an automatic dishwasher, use powdered detergent — packaged in a pasteboard box — instead of a gel in a plastic bottle or those plastic bags filled with those preportioned plastic pillows. (What exactly happens to the plastic that “disappears” in the wash cycle?) I know, I know: I… Continue reading Dishwashing powder in a box