One Can Challenge: eco-disposal of pet waste

It seems fitting that we should end our One Can A Month Challenge discussing a subject that most moms would admit they talk about far more than they'd ever imagined: poop. However, we're not talking about the human variety today, rather that which comes from animals. I should also state that neither my family nor Renee's family currently have any pets. Some of them might like to have a pet of the four-legged barking variety, but they need to get over it already. Pets are lovely companions, and I fully support other people's ownership of pets, so let's figure out ways to manage all of that poop they generate!

[UPDATE: A few hours after I posted this, I spoke with Dan Clark, Wastewater Treatment Manager for the City of Portland, to get the official word on what is the safest method of pet waste disposal: flush or toss. He said that pet waste should be thrown in the garbage, not flushed down the toilet because sometimes, particularly when it's raining and the sewers are working overtime, waste will flow directly into the river bypassing the treatment plant. He said that every city has a different stance on pet waste disposal, so it's best to check with the water bureau in your area.]

Dogs: Lots of dog owners are stumped by the poop problem. What to do, oh what to do? Most municipal water management bureaus (like Washington's Snohomish County) will tell you to use one of two methods:

1) Flush the poop down the toilet. Unless you have a septic system, which probably couldn't handle it, it is generally safe to flush dog poop. Sewage treatment systems can handle the bacteria, and the end result is fertilizer.

2) Put the poop in a sealed plastic bag and throw it in the garbage.

In the first scenario, you'd probably want to use some sort of scooper, but I'm not sure whether this would work on a walk. Also, if you use a pooper scooper and need to rinse it out, do it in your backyard so that the contaminated water doesn't go down the stormwater sewer system.

In the second scenario (which most people use) the biggest conundrum is the plastic bag. You can't help but feel guilty tossing a plastic bag into the garbage can. Plus once-a-month garbage service probably wouldn't be aromatically desirable if your can is full of dog poop. (Unless you throw it in your neighbor's can!) Reusing plastic grocery or newspaper bags is more environmentally-friendly than those darned 'compostable' doogie-doo bags. Those bags do not break down in modern landfills, plus think about the energy used in manufacturing and transportation. Better to reuse an existing plastic bag that has already served one purpose.

And what about composting dog poop? You can find all kinds of arguments for and against it on the Internet just by Googling 'compost dog poop'. The biggest argument against this is that typical home compost systems do not get hot enough to kill pathogens in poop. (And you definitely don't want to be adding poop compost to your vegetable garden. Ew, ew, ew.)

One Can Challege: reducing waste from hobbies

Dictionary.com defines a hobby as:

an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.

Me? I dabble in sewing, dream about learning to knit, hang onto the occasional interesting stamp, and beat my head against the door from time to time (which might pass for woodcarving). I've failed thoroughly at cross-stitch and scrap-booking. I bought a set of crochet needles and bag of yarn at a rummage sale ages ago, but it still sits untouched in my craft closet. I obsess over making Halloween costumes for my daughters each year, but it would be a stretch to call that pleasurable or relaxing since I always run out of time, and I usually drop everything and turn it into my October occupation. So, truth be told, I have no hobbies. I write from no sort of authoritative position when it comes to reducing waste generated from hobbies. But that won't stop me. I still plan to post about reducing hobby waste today! Lucky you!!

Let's start with some of the hot hobbies: knitting and scrap-booking. Knitting seems to be an ideal hobby. It is portable. Do you see those knitters knitting all around town like I do? They can't seem to sit still for more than a minute without pulling out a knitting project and just knit-knit-knitting. I love that they also will practically unravel an entire sweater if they notice they made a mistake on one stitch (several hundred stitches back!!) Yarn is infinitely reuseable. Knitting makes for lovely, hand-crafted "made with LOVE" type gifts. So unless I'm missing a big part of the picture, knitting ranks high a low-waste producing hobby.

Healthy snack: roasted kale (really!)

My CSA puts out a newsletter each week with recipes that incorporate some of the produce in that week's bin. One week in early summer they listed a recipe for roasted kale and claimed it's, "better than potato chips!" I hung this on the fridge and looked at it daily for several weeks before I finally worked up the gumption to actually test it out. Oh. My. God. They weren't kidding.

I have two kids. My 6.5-year old daughter is a good eater and will often try new things, while my almost 4-year old son is a bit of a challenge. Never in my wildest dreams did I think one of my kids would eat kale in any form. But guess what? Roasted kale is light and crispy and tastes like salt. I had to quickly take this photo before my daughter gobbled up THE ENTIRE PAN:

Here's what you do:

Remove the tough veins and toss the kale with a little olive oil. Roast on a baking pan at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes. Turn it and roast for another 7-10 minutes. Sprinkle with sea or kosher salt.

What you need to do is watch these little suckers as they roast, because the minute they start turning brown they get a certain burnt-kale taste that doesn't quite measure up to potato chip standards. I ate the brown ones. Go for the green. I think you could store these in a sealed container for 2-3 days.

Even if your kids don't like it, you will. Moms need a healthy snack, too!

Are you crying over new gallon milk jugs?

In a travel heavy summer, we've been drinking more milk from Costco than we normally would. Thus we've been introduced to the new gallon milk jug that was designed to cut fuel, labor, and carbon costs all at the same time. Turns out that I'm not the only one who's not too happy with its performance, however. My kids have honed their pouring skills on the "old-fashioned" gallon milk jugs. They can pour those with surprising accuracy. These new ones make me feel like I'm 4 all over again. I think I spill and dribble more milk than I get into each glass.

What remains to be seen is if the majority of milk sellers will move to this new jug to optimize efficiencies, or if they'll stick with the old one that consumers seem to prefer. No question there'll be less crying over spilled milk if they do, but more crying over the milk jug's carbon footprint.

What occurred to me last night as I was pissing and moaning about this jug is that I don't have to pour milk out of it. I can easily transfer the milk to a durable Rubbermaid pitcher and improve our milk pouring. What do you think of the new gallon milk jug?

Weigh in: Should cities ban or tax plastic and paper grocery bags?

Here in Portland we're engaged in a huge debate: incoming Mayor Sam Adams has proposed a ban or tax on disposable grocery bags. Plastic bags are made from petroleum, and paper bags are made from trees. Both the production, transport and recycling of these bags are energy-intensive and produce greenhouse gases in the process. Other cities have already gone down this path: San Francisco banned plastic grocery bags last year, and Los Angeles and Seattle have plans to follow. Many other countries have long banned plastic bags. Litter is another problem. You see those bags floating around everywhere, and they are a hazard to wildlife.

Sam Adams wants to encourage Portland consumers to carry reusable grocery bags (as no doubt many EnviroMoms already do). But many folks here are outraged. Outraged! How dare the government stick its nose into our grocery bags! I suspect that most of these folks don't believe global warming is real and are resentful that they may be forced to change their behavior.

There was a quote from one man on OregonLive: "My wife and I have three children (two are teenage boys) and we go to the grocery store every week. Those trips we can have a dozen bags. This is a great example of a politician not being in touch with the working class."

I'd like to tell this man that they could easily go from twelve plastic bags down to four reusable grocery bags. You can buy reusable bags with flat bottoms for .99 each. Adams has also proposed using a bag tax to fund a program that provides lower income folks with free reusable bags.

It took me a few months to develop the habit of carrying my reusable bags into the grocery store. I found a post I'd written in March 2007 about San Francisco's ban on plastic bags where I admit my difficulty remembering to bring my bags. But now, I never forget. I bring them everywhere -- to Powell's, the hardware store, clothing stores. It's a habit now.

I'm in favor of a ban on plastic bags (and don't you go substituting those ridiculous 'compostable' plastic bags either, Sam) and at least a 10-cent fee for paper bags. Build up a nice fund so that everyone can have access to reusable bags and then get rid of the paper. The Oregonian is in favor of charging a fee for plastic bags. And if people are worried about what they'll use to pick up their pet waste? Perhaps the Oregonian could start collecting all of those plastic newspaper bags they distribute every morning and make them available to pet owners. You want a bold mayor, Oregonian? Show us your bold.

What do you think about disposable grocery bags: ban 'em? charge for 'em? or neither? Have a brilliant alternative to propose? Let's hear it!

Any way to re-rubberize a non-slip rug?

We have a bunch of little throw rugs in our bathrooms that are in good shape on the rug side, but the rubber part on the underside has totally broken down making them a major slip hazard. Does anyone have any ideas on how to re-rubberize them? I tried putting an "X" of duct tape on the back of one, and it did nothing. They are super slippery, so probably not a great idea on tile bathroom floors. Any advice most welcome!

One Can Challenge: light utility items

We're getting near the end of the One Can A Month Challenge. How's it going? We've thrown a lot of info at you. If you're overwhelmed, take a step back and revisit some of the tips in a few weeks. We'll keep them up forever and ever under the category link One Can A Month. And hey -- next week we'll draw names for the winners of all that green swag! Today we're going to take a look at light utility waste: paints and varnishes, light bulbs, scrap wood and motor oil and such. Not really exciting stuff, but it's waste the typical household generates nevertheless. It's gotta go somewhere.

Light bulbs: Incandescent, fluorescent and compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are all recyclable if facilities exist in your area. I'm not sure about halogen bulbs...but I don't think they are recyclable (tell me I'm wrong, please). As most of us know, CFLs are the best bulb to use because they last like 5000 lifetimes beyond an incandescent, so you don't use as many, and they aren't as energy-intensive. They do contain a small amount of mercury, so they need to stay out of the garbage can. Lots and lots of places will recycle them, like IKEA and Home Depot. Check Earth911 for locations. In Portland, Total Reclaim and Earth Protection Services will recycle incandescent bulbs for a small fee.

Paint, varnish, etc.: I don't know about you, but I can't stand having a bunch of half-used paint cans or sticky varnish tins cluttering up my life. We cut back on paint cans dramatically by always buying small test cans of paint (Benjamin Moore and many other brands carry them) and painting patches on the walls before buying several gallons and then discovering that we hate the color! Paint, varnish, strippers (not the dancing kind) and thinners can all be disposed of at hazardous waste facilities. Don't throw it in the garbage or down the drain. Poor three-eyed fishies. Portland has a great paint recycling program that actually makes new paint from old paint (in fact I think it's the only one in the country).

Motor oil: If you change your own motor oil (you stud) then you can recycle it at just about any auto care business, like Firestone or Jiffy Lube. Some will even take old oil filters. Put the oil in a sealable container, like a plastic milk carton, and bring it in. I hate to keep using Portland as an example (but really, Portland rocks...I can't imagine why anyone would move away from here...you know who you are.) but we can recycle motor oil curbside in plastic milk jugs. (Can you do that in Minneapolis? I don't think so.) 

Scrap wood, nails, etc. There are more and more facilities accepting building materials for reuse or recycling. I've got a few rotted boards that will be heading to one this weekend, in fact. Old nails and screws and nuts and bolts are considered scrap metal, and can easily be recycled.

Pesticides, fertilizers, other icky yard stuff: I cleaned out our garden shed last year, and in a fit of EnviroMom righteousness got rid of all the Round-up and fertilizer and slug killer and basically anything poisonous and hauled it off the the hazardous waste depot. We kill weeds the old-fashioned way now: by pulling them out with our hands. (Leftover hot pasta water also works...just pour it on!) Coffee grounds work well on the slugs. We just don't buy anything that kills anything anymore. Mr. Yuk has left the building. Buh-bye.

Furnace air filters: This one is a stumper. We use a few huge filters in our ancient though excellently-functioning oil burning furnace (I know -- gasp!) each year, and there's not much you can do except toss them. OK -- we could invest in a new fandangled furnace or rip out our floors and install radiant heat, but it's just not in the budget right now (if ever). Trash. Sniff.

This is not the most exciting stuff in the world. To be honest, I'm a little bored right now. Anything else in this category you're stymied by? Next week we'll talk about sexier subjects like pet waste and hobby-related detritus! I'm getting all worked up just thinking about it.   

Don't eat watermelon alone!

We seem to be having a later than usual harvest this year in the Portland Metro area due to a late spring front, so I'd guess we are still a few weeks away from the heavenly watermelons from Hermiston, Oregon. Not surprisingly, I've been seeing "Personal Watermelons" in my local grocery store since about May.

I won't go so far as to say a personal watermelon is a crime against humanity, but they are just WRONG.

In our NWEI "Menu for the Future" discussion group, one of our first exercises was to recall a childhood memory about food. One that occurred to me was a particularly memorable post t-ball game party when my  brother and I were young. It was in our backyard. It was summer. We had a whole mess of people over. We had watermelon. We spit the seeds and teased each other about watermelons growing in our stomachs if we accidentally ate a seed. This is how watermelon should be eaten. A watermelon is a reason for a party.

Don't eat watermelon alone.

Creative (and cheap) clothes line solutions

A few days ago Becky sent us some photos of a clothes line she rigged up using an old baby gate. She lives in a condo with her family, so she doesn't have a lot of space or a yard to work with. She wrote:

So I have been trying to figure out how I can rig some sort of clothes line for some time now. I also didn't want to spend anything and today I finally realized how I could manage this. A long time ago we hung some candle lanterns from a large support beam on our deck. Since they were already there, I used these loops to attach some bungee cords that I found in my garage, 2 in each loop, and the other ends I attached to my baby gate. We never use this gate and so I am glad to finally be getting its $20 worth out of it. I hung our clothes all around the edge and for the rest I draped over an expandable rack that we already had. Anyway...I know this was a random e-mail, I was just so excited to have finally found a solution and thought that you would understand my excitement.

Yes, Becky, these are the kind of emails that make Renee and I cluck like chickens. We totally understand your excitement, and you actually inspired ME to finally rig up my own clothes line. First, check out Becky's photos:

 

This is a thing of beauty. Free, functional and friendly to the environment. Love it!

One Can Challenge: laundry room

If you've got kids, you've got laundry. Loads and loads of it. I even had a terrible moment of horror at a party the other night when my 3-year-old ran up to me, and slapped a big bear hug on me and my shirt -- right after she'd be finger painting. So as much as I try to keep myself clean and not wash every item of clothing after just one wearing, sometimes things are out of my control. The good news was that it was washable kid paint, and the miracle... she had washed her hands first!! So I ended up wet but not painted. That's why you'll see me wearing that same t-shirt today.

But back to the subject at hand: the laundry room. Hopefully, there isn't a ton of waste coming out of most laundry rooms, but like always, there's ways to REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE.

Shall we begin?

Detergents, spot treatments, laundry boosters, fabric softeners. There's a lot of potions involved in washing clothes. Or, there can be. For about a year now, I've been using a BioKleen laundry powder to do our laundry. We used to use a liquid, and I stopped since it seemed like there'd be a larger transportation footprint on a liquid than a powder. The BioKleen powder we use is highly concentrated. It's packaged in a cardboard box, that can be recycled, inside a plastic bag that can be reused. It uses such a tiny bit for each load, I think I may be using this same box of laundry detergent for several years. When I used liquids, they seemed to run out a lot faster. There are some liquid formulas that are also highly concentrated, so while I'm not a user of these, they are probably a better option if you prefer liquids.