Monday, February 23, 2009

*whispering hello*

Yes, I am still here...and 8 months since my last post, I'm trying to get back to business. The last 8 months have been busy ones - I got moved into our new house, started back teaching in the fall and am expecting another baby in May!
I would like to continue my novice efforts at "going green" and since I was online doing a little research today, I thought I would update the blog.
My goal for this month is to try to reduce our waste. We've been pretty darn good about recycling since we've moved. We only use one trash can a week, but two recycling bins. Our recycling service here accepts almost everything - nearly all plastic, clear glass, even cardboard and junk mail!
I saw the "one can a month" challenge on some other sites, and am doing my own spinoff of that. Since we have a child in diapers, I think one can a month is probably an unrealistic goal for us. However, I am going to try to REDUCE our trash by one can a month. I am going to monitor our weekly contributions to the landfill and try to keep each can no more than 3/4 full. After four weeks, that would mean a reduction of 1 CAN. Brilliant!

My first target for waste reduction is going to be our paper waste - paper towels and disposable napkins.
I just dug out our reusable napkins and set them in our napkin holder on the dining room table. I also put a hand towel over our paper towel rack, in the hopes that we can substitute reusable cloth more often there.

I think I am going to need a dedicated set of toddler rags in the kitchen for cleaning up my darling daughters drips, drops and drools.

Still to do:
1. Locate reusable dry-cleaning bags. I saw these in a magazine and need to find them and order.
2. Find a good solution to our Lysol wipes addiction. A good "green" disenfecting spray and a rag should do the trick...

Wish me luck! I will *try* to post updates through the next four weeks...

1 comment:

Chele said...

Welcome back to blogging Emily!

I wish our recycling center took everything..... they used to but then cut back ;-(

There is no way we could get away with 1 can a month. I'm thrilled when we only have one can a week. lol

If you put the followers link on your blog I will be one of the first to link to it so I see an update whenever I log into blogger.

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