Went by the Utrecht art supplies store. Loose pencil (also china markers and colored pencils, in lieu of markers), gum erasers, metal rulers, gummed paper tape and a wide variety of paper supplies — all without additional plastic or extra packaging. Which is why I think of the art stores as good office supplies stores.
Category: In-person shopping
Brass brads keep papers together
OK: three posts in the last 2 years is a pretty poor result. I’ll try to do better. Now some plastic reduction. I bought these brass brads to keep papers together. They’re fun and remind me of elementary school book reports and high school plays. Inexpensive, reusable and not a bit of plastic.
Look, Mom, no bottles!
Good D.C. news: MOM’s Organic, a small D.C.-based grocery chain is giving up on bottled water. Details from the Washington Post, via Tapit.
Low plastic? Shop on campus
I was in Athens, Georgia last weekend for a University of Georgia alumni event. One fun thing about being in a college town is shopping for items unavailable elsewhere. (Metro D.C. is — what? — thirty times the size, but it’s easier to get beer-making supplies in Athens, for instance.) One such product line is… Continue reading Low plastic? Shop on campus
D.C. bag law, one month on
The District of Columbia law requiring a fee for disposable bags in food and liquor businesses is reducing the demand for thee bags, even if it irritates some locals. No official reports yet, but shopkeepers report half the use of disposable bags — quite an accomplishment — per this January 23 article in the Washington… Continue reading D.C. bag law, one month on
Some more facts about the D.C. bag law
The District of Columbia’s shopping bag law begins today, and I’ve already been out to pick up a few necessities, cloth bags in tow. Since I’ve heard some misinformation, I thought I would share some details about the new law. The financial impact statement for the bill compares Washington, D.C. to Seattle, Washington, which went… Continue reading Some more facts about the D.C. bag law
Produce without plastic
The forthcoming District of Columbia plastic and paper bag restriction specifically excludes bags for fruit and vegetable — perhaps out of concern that D.C. residents need no discouragement to eat their greens. But in France we saw an alternative — paper. Strong attractive paper bags — squared off, with a picture of a cheery market… Continue reading Produce without plastic
Trader Joe’s bag a win on all counts
I went at Trader Joe’s — a specialty grocery store, for those unfamiliar — a few days ago directly from work , but didn’t have my own bag. Since some of the nonwoven cloth bags (read: plastic) at home were beginning to show their age, I went ahead and picked up a large canvas bag… Continue reading Trader Joe’s bag a win on all counts
D.C. bag bill makes unanimous step forward
Good news. The D.C. Council has passed unanimously a bill that charges a five-cent fee for grocery-style shopping bads, plastic or paper, for the sake of the trash-filled Anacostia River. (Part of the collected fee will go to fund durable bags for low-income Washingtonians.) Reportage from DCist and WashingtonPost.com.
Not all reusable bags are created equal
I’ve been using reusable grocery bags for years, but not for any reason the hip or fashionable would recognize. First, I had no car for long periods in Georgia, and that meant long walk and bus waits to get groceries: overloaded plastic bags cut into your fingers. (I also used a backpack to shop.) Second,… Continue reading Not all reusable bags are created equal