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: Packaging
Lesson to learn about plastic bag laws
Worth reading. “How D.C. Beat the Plastic Bag Lobby” by Lauren Markoe. (OneEarth.org, November 11, 2010)
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.
“The Story of Bottled Water”
A great video; a follow up to The Story of Stuff. The video is more than eight minutes long, so I suspect it’s use is best for those who are already convinced to make a case, rather than sugesting your indifferent friends to watch it. The matching site also has other resources, including an annotated… Continue reading “The Story of Bottled Water”
Small good news from vacation plastic-alypse
Hubby and I got back from a trip to Paris and Cologne, and boy did I blow through some plastic. I even drank some bottled water — which I’d normally not do — because the available tap options were unclear and I don’t even want to think about plastic table wear. But there are a… Continue reading Small good news from vacation plastic-alypse
The key to plastic tubs
My husband and I used to get soup from the Chinese take-out across the street almost every week. But we moved last September, and changed our usual mode of eating well before that. So how old are those plastic tubs? A year, more? They’re still fine: no cracks, stains or signs of damage. Why? A… Continue reading The key to plastic tubs
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
Bottled water makes Episcopalian agenda
An interesting item among the legislation already submitted to the Episcopal Church’s General Convention. That body meets in July. If passed the measure would resolve to “ask the Church to restrict, starting immediately, the use of bottled water at General Convention and at other Church-sponsored activities.” A045 at General Convention site
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