Amazing service and knowledge! We have never been happier with any other realtor. She was always there with answers, no matter what the situation was. Paige made us feel very happy with our purchase and we can't wait to work with her again!
- Ryan and Christina McKenzie
Saving the planet can start with plastic
Saving the planet can start with plastic
Stefanie Fraser
CanWest News Service
OTTAWA -- You blue-box everything you can, take a basket or a reusable bag when shopping and send your old clothes to the Sally Ann. You also use biodegradable cleaning products and are even thinking about ditching the car and taking up cycling.
Is there more you should be doing?
Probably, but saving an entire planet by yourself can be overwhelming, so I suggest you start small.
For example, a 75-year-old neighbour began her battle to save the environment with tin cans. She bakes small cakes and muffins in soup cans and reuses larger ones as storage containers for odds and ends. Those she can't use she crushes with her sturdy, leather brogues and packs the crushed cans neatly into the recycling box.
My own particular bugaboo is plastic. I hate seeing discarded plastic all over the place -- in empty lots, by the roadside, in parks, flapping away on bushes and in trees.
I try hard to reuse my plastic containers, bags and wraps over and over.
HERE ARE A FEW PLASTIC-REUSING IDEAS:
- Years of working for a technology association provided me with loads of large, tough, resealable plastic bags initially used for storing computer parts. I use them to store seasonal sweaters and footwear.
- I turn dry-cleaning bags into wreaths during the holidays. They're weatherproof, lightweight, easy to store, and my friends just love getting one.
- If you buy salad fixings and other produce in clear plastic tubs, it's easy to wash them and use them to store winter gloves, scarves and hats or hold craft supplies.
- If you've got a bead hobbyist in your home, clear plastic egg cartons are perfect for keeping beads and bead accessories separate and visible.
- I have a candy container made from rigid plastic that I use to keep my jewelry neat and tidy.
- Transform plastic peanut butter jars into miniature greenhouses for starting your summer garden. Just place a seedling into the lid of the jar and then flip the jar over it.
- I don't like to use plastic jars as food containers, but I do store tea-lights and bulk candy in them.
- If you've done as much as you can, and still have plastic left over, recycle what you can in your blue box. For the plastic you can't put into the box, food banks, charity shops and organic food stores will welcome your dry-cleaning and plastic bags, as well as washed containers.
Visit my website www.recycle-eh.com for more tips for reusing plastics.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
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