Do you ever wonder about napkins? It’s definitely an item that I think about constantly and I can’t tell if I’m perceived as dirty for denying them any chance I get. Napkins are seen as this free item that can be liberally obtained in any quantity, without question. Why do you need napkins? Do you spill food at every sitting, or get your hands and face dirty every chance you get?
I would like to see napkins become an item that isn’t provided unless asked for, with the business in full control of how many are disseminated. Honestly, how many times have you either taken napkins or received napkins with a meal, only to throw them in the trash after you’re done eating? They’re only napkins, right? Yes, but they are a resource that contribute to our wasteful habits.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been observing people when they get up to leave a restaurant and it never fails that unused napkins get trashed…and not one or two, but a tidy stack of them. I’m always entertained when I get to watch people figure out creative ways to use their stack of napkins before throwing them in the trash. Wipe the table down? Wipe your mouth for the third time? Blow your nose? I feel like a lot of people are one step away from saying “hold the napkins”.
Did you know that paper makes up a whopping 40% of our landfills? This is the most prevalent content disposed, and it exceeds plastic bottles, diapers, food waste and appliances combined. Think about it this way: for as long as you’ve been on the planet, paper hasn’t changed. It’s always weighed the same and taken up the same space while glass and plastics (bags and bottles alike) have lost nearly half their weight and thickness.
Some paper products such as napkins, paper towels and phonebooks are made of a minimal amount of low grade material, to the point that their recyclability is questionable, but their compostability or (better yet) overall reduction is not. Yes, it’s a low grade of paper that is most likely near 100% recycled material, but why use it if you don’t need to?
So here’s my challenge for you: Do you really need all the napkins you receive when getting your meal from the lunch truck or at a restaurant? See what happens when you pocket those extra napkins and tell the server to hold off on them from here on out. Remember cloth napkins? They still exist, seemingly at bars and a couple restaurants…that’s not a bad habit to support. If you’re at an establishment using paper napkins, ask why they can’t go with the cloth alternative.
This one might be a stretch: how about handkerchiefs? They were a trend that hung out of people’s back pockets for a while, but were they being pulled out at restaurants to wipe hands and blow noses? I doubt it. The key here is reuse.
The extreme: have you tried putting your hands into your pockets after you washed them instead of pulling 5 paper towels from the dispenser? Unless you work in a hospital, chances are you don’t need your hands sanitized and free of visible soil at all times.
Why would I pick such a trivial product to focus on for an entire article? That’s exactly why. Paper has a bigger impact than you may think, and you have the power to change that…quite simply, actually. So go for it- it doesn’t make you dirtier, it makes you a more mindful and in-tune global citizen.
I was taking a stroll and I happened to pass by a school’s dumpsters. I couldn’t help but take a look at all the opportunity that was being passed on. Don’t you think schools should be recycling, composting and donating as opposed to trashing? I mean, the students are the future and all… setting an example and being a steward in the community shouldn’t be an option.
Who knows, maybe I’m really ahead of myself… maybe not a single person at the school has ever thought about waste segregation. Maybe no one at this Philadelphia school lives in Philadelphia and recognizes that they participate in single stream recycling at home already.
Are the schools near you recycling? Composting? Donating excess supplies and lost and found never found? Are they getting the students involved?
I wonder what the waste hauler thought…maybe they never proposed providing the service anyway. Either way, this isn’t about blame as much as it’s about looking through trash and asking questions…so take my lead and go do it.
This marks my first official episode of Waste Watch!
In this series, I’m going to evaluate products based on their packaging. How much of it is recyclable? Can it be reduced or reused? I recently needed an external hard drive, and I was pretty impressed with the minimal packaging at work here.
What do you think? Check it out:
Today I’ve decided I should post a Waste of the Week that’s a bit more positive than the usual idiotic, so here’s a flick from a Target in Sacramento, CA. I’m a fan of minimal and clean design, so this obviously scores immediate points with me:
The trash can gets the “red” designation, which I’m guessing is to mean “NO” to all things not trash, which is most things. What do you really need to throw in the trash while you’re at Target anyway? It’s pretty nice of them to offer a collection station for that area as it is.
Plastic bags have been getting more attention lately, and I still question their recyclability although it has to vary from place to place like all programs do. Here in Philly, “keep it simple stupid” seems to prevail, which encourages all plastics 1-7 to be put in the curbside bin for recycling… although when you call the recycling facilities, the answer you get for plastic bags (and plastic film) is “it clogs the machines”.
In a recent tour to the brand new state-of-the-art recycling center here, that appeared to be the case…I think. I didn’t get a straight answer for the fate of plastic bags, which to me just means that it depends on the economy of recycling them, which isn’t that good. They need to be clean, and any color but black for any effort to be made to recycle them…otherwise they’re landfill bound.
I’m surprised the hole in the top of the plastic bag can isn’t smaller, maybe in the shape of a tilde or something goofy. I had this dark thought of an unsupervised kid jumping in the container, tying ten bags over his head, suffocating and dying. That could be a fun lawsuit for profiting off an unwanted kid…I wouldn’t be surprised if this happened already in some capacity. Sadly, that is a thought in my mind, and possibly in yours.
Moving on, we have commingled recycling and finally a container to recycle your “MP3”. MP3 player, maybe? That one’s a little funny. MP3s don’t really have any value, do they? CDs? Another day. Notice that the hole on this one is really small… they don’t want people digging through there to take them out and get cash for themselves. Target makes money by sending in cell phones, ink cartridges and MP3 players…so this is most likely how they pay off the expense of the other containers…way to go Target! I’m a fan. I feel like this is where business and ethics come together to make a happy medium.
Once businesses start viewing recycling as a commodity instead of an expense, they’ll see that there’s no need to trash everything, and that they’re actually throwing away money while being ignoranuses to the public (need help with this? Hit me up). Here’s to hoping other businesses start copying what Target’s doing…get your heads out of your asses, execs of the world.
Next week, I’ll show yet another method that one ups this process in both effectiveness and public relations, while missing out on the book balancing effect of collecting profitable items (electronics). Guess what company it is before I post it and I’ll send you something.
It’s been a while since I wrote stuff on here, but rest assured I’ve been busy with the right stuff.
First off, I have an article coming out for Grid Magazine in the next few weeks, so I’ll be reposting that here obviously. Super excited about that: my first article and it’s for a magazine I actually like. Does that officially make me a writer? I feel pretty good.
I’ve also been really busy with my other website, crazyaboutcompost.com , so you should go check it out. I just finished a new experiment involving growing basil in a number of different soil types. The results were definitely not quite what I (or anyone I’ve talked to) expected. Here’s the video:
…too much fun.
I should get back in the swing of things within the next week, and I’m doing some traveling so you can be certain I’ll be uploading some waste receptacle photos. Can’t wait!
Till then, keep it trashy!
So strange, I looked outside my window this morning and happened to catch someone throwing an empty water bottle out of their car as they drove by…couldn’t be more perfect for today’s post.
I forget, did I write about plastic bottles before? I can’t remember, but they upset me on a daily basis. It’s an unforgettable item that will continue to plague us, whether in the form of plastic islands larger than Texas in every ocean, in our favorite rivers and streams to swim in, or wedged into every crack and crevice of our environment.
Diedra Krieger is a friend of mine that has been building rather immense structures out of plastic bottles for years now. When I first saw one of them, I didn’t at all think about how nice it was, to be honest. I got really bummed out that there was this ugly item in such a large quantity in front of me…which in itself can be rather beautiful…and I think it’s safe to say that that is her point (But what would I know, I can never hope to “know” an artist’s complete multi-layered approach anyway).
Seeing a giant geodesic dome of these things can invoke some strong emotions, of which you can select whether to be bummed out or rather delighted by it. I can’t say that for most art that I look at (usually just bummed). Pictures just don’t do justice of one her creations, but here’s my favorite shot:
She’s making a monster one of these from June 10th – 12th for Figment 2011, a killer participatory/interactive exhibition on Governor’s Island NY.
While I’m at it, I’d like you to check out another favorite video of mine related to our friend the water bottle. Annie Leonard, as you may know from “The Story of Stuff”, has a series of “The Story Of” videos now. My favorite of hers is definitely (you guessed it): “The Story of Bottled Water”. I love it how she manages to invoke so many harsh emotions on the Youtube comment section, people that just don’t want to acknowledge the reality at all. Anyway, here’s the video:
Does plastic waste tug at your heart strings? Or does it feel that it hasn’t made its way into your daily life yet, so it’s not a priority to confront? All is well and good if you listen to the American Chemistry Council…right. Give them a call and ask some real questions, their responses are humorous to the point of depression: (202) 249-7000
