I'm documenting our kitchen trash

We use a plastic ice cream pail under the sink for "true trash," which is anything that's not compostable or recyclable. I want to see how many weeks it takes to fill it (and yes, I will squish it down to get more in). Here's the starting point Sunday July 18.

And here's from this past Sunday.

Here's hoping I don't break any large ceramic dishes!

A visit to Moss Envy's new store

Moss Envy (formerly Twin Cities Green) moved to new digs in Calhoun Village recently, and it's a very nice space and high-traffic location for them. They carry eco-friendly gifts, furniture, home decor, kitchen supplies, clothing for adults and kids, jewelry, bath and body products, mattresses, building materials and lots more cool stuff!

Owner Ryan North says he loves the store's local merchandise and that customers are drawn to the locally made goods, too. Since he and wife Tina entered the eco-retail scene with their first store, Re Gifts, in 2006, Ryan said he's seen awareness of and interest in environmentally friendly goods grow. Read more about them and their store here.

I love these informational labels!

All you need to make your next event fully compostable!

They even carry my favorite compost bin.

Read and recycle at Wild Rumpus

I just discovered that Wild Rumpus children's bookstore in Linden Hills has a section for recycling books you don't want anymore. How cool is that! You can get cash or store credit for your books, and then the books are sold for $1. Details here.

Co-owner Collette Morgan says that the store has sold 7,973 recycled books so far this year and that they practically fly off the shelves.

The store has animals wandering the aisles (although the chickens being held by these boys weren't doing any wandering just then).

A very inviting store

Recycling mecca: A pictorial tour

The Coon Rapids Recycling Center (aka recycling mecca) is open Wed. and Sat. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. In case you can't make it there yourself, here're some pictures to give you an idea of what it's like.

Pop 12-pack boxes (these can't be recycled curbside in most cities (except ones Eureka Recycling services) because the cardboard contains a wet-strength additive)

Hardcover books (highest-quality paper makes hardcover books very valuable for recycling)

Scrap metal

Scrap metal of all shapes and sizes!

Glass bottles (separated by color), aluminum cans (steel cans go in the scrap-metal bin) and #1 plastic (black #1 plastic collected separately)

The #1 plastics bin is practically filled to the top!

#5 plastic

Plastics are sorted by type in these bins

The Baler

Plastic bags (imagine how many thousands are in each baled bundle)

Corrugated cardboard

Oil filters

Mixed paper

Plastic bags prior to being baled

Baled #5 plastics

Polystyrene foam (aka Styrofoam)

Fluorescent tubes and CFLs

A big ol' tank for used oil

Bicycles get recycled by Mr. Michael Recycles Bicycles

What goes around comes around

I think I may have mentioned that I give away hundreds of used but still useable padded envelopes via Craigslist. The envelopes come to the Star Tribune by the dozens every week, holding books, so instead of getting thrown away they get reused.


One woman who I give them to, Kristin, is always very grateful, and last week I found out she's a potter (here's her site) and yesterday when she picked up envelopes she gave me this awesome little spice jar! How cool is that?!

Reduce, REPAIR, Reuse, Recycle

These chairs broke, so they came my way for recycling. I took them apart, with the intent of the frame going for scrap-metal recycling, and the seat and back (very helpfully marked with a #5) going for plastics recycling, and then it dawned on me: wouldn't it be so much better to see if the chairs can be repaired? (Each was broken in just one place.) So that's what I did. Took them to a welding shop, and $32 later, here they are, all fixed and ready for (hopefully) years' more service.

What I learned at today's picnic

I won't make you wait: what I learned is that the composting and recycling bins have to be the same height as the trash can, otherwise people don't notice them. Everyone at today's picnic who had been alerted to the fact that we'd have composting and recycling did fine, but the few people who didn't went straight for the trash can, which was twice the height of all my bins.



Dreamy chocolate-chip cookies (the first dessert I ate)



Fabulous black cherry/rhubarb crisp



Trash from today's event with about 50 people: one diaper. Great job going nearly zero-waste, everyone!!