Until six months ago, Scott still took the trash out Sunday evenings.
He would slip into his shoes late at night, and rain or shine, would run the 36 steps down to our curb to set the can out for pick up. Even if all it contained was a couple of band-aids. I could never figure out whether he was doing it out of habit, to retain a sense of "normalcy", or to simply make a point of using the service that we cannot (yet) cancel (our local hauler has trash pick up bundled with recycling and city composting).
But one rainy Sunday evening this last January, as Scott was once again heading down the dark path to the curb, he stumbled upon a mature buck. A godsend. Scott turned around, came back into the house and decided that this whole "taking out trash" business was too dangerous ;). That's also when we decided that it would be fun to see how long it would take us to fill the 20 gallon can. Our "can" has been the paper towel section of a vintage holder since.Here is our 6 month tally.
It might seem much for those who thought that we were perfect, just as it might not seem much for those who did not think a handful of waste possible. I personally think that our level of waste is frustrating, but it is a challenge that calls for further action:
Food related items:
- 8 beer caps from a twelve pack that a friend brought: In times of financial instability, how can a man refuse the gift of beer? ;)
- 13 white wine plastic wrappers: We still have not found a decent refillable white wine and it is really hard to discern plastic from foil until you open the bottle. It should be indicated on the label.
- 2 cheese wax/crusts.
- 1 heat-damaged gasket of a jar bought at the thrift store: I had no idea the gasket was baked on until I opened the jar at home, had to force it open and had to scrape it with a knife.
- 2 top ends of Starbucks Single packets: From my visiting mother-in-law who must have taken the rest of the 2 packets with her to dispose elsewhere.
- 4 snack wrappers and 3 bubble gums given to my kids without my knowledge: Those probably are the most irritating to me. The Fiber One bar contained 23 ingredients, including high maltose corn syrup. Ugh. The Teddy Grahams contained 19 ingredients, including partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil and high fructose corn syrup. Double Ugh. As for bubble gums, they are simply plastic. Triple Ugh. I do not yet blame my eight and ten year-old children for succumbing to temptation and accepting the empty calories. For now, I blame the ignorant adults who buy and feed harmful and wasteful junk not only to their children but also to others.
Plan of Action
- Educate friends and family further about our lifestyle and eating habits.
- Educate the kids further about healthy foods.
Clothing related items:
- 18 plastic price tag holders: I can't remember the origin for eight of these.
- 2 disintegrated foam shoulder pads from a used coat.
- 2 feet of synthetic thread from an unravelling curtain.
- 6 labels removed for their itchiness: Don't you love the feel of tagless clothing?
Plan of Action:
- Propose a plastic free price tag to the thrift stores that have them.
- Apply glue to the edges of my unraveling curtain.
- Email or write to clothing manufacturers to adopt label-free clothing.
Bathroom related items:
- 8 band-aids: Like I said before, my younger son had a love for band-aids, but we're out, so we won't find those in our trash anymore.
- 2 individual plastic/aluminum wrappers from over-the-counter medication, bought a couple of years ago: A remainder of our once, unconscious purchasing.
- 1 toothbrush replacement head from Terradent: We have 2 left.
- 4 disposable eye drop tubes: Scott took our older son to the ophthalmologist and forgot to refuse...
- 1 packet of petroleum jelly: Again, given to Scott by a doctor, he forgot to refuse.
- 5 plastic cap wrappers: One from hydrogen peroxide, one from eye drops, one from contact lens solution, the three others I don't know.
Plan of Action:
- Email or write to manufacturers to replace plastic cap wrappers with paper or cardboard wrappers or simply bypass them and adopt a sealing cap.
- Remind Scott to refuse at a doctor's visit.
- Purchase compostable toothbrushes.
Miscellaneous Items:
- 1 expired credit card.
- 1 Best Buy gift card.
- 1 expired french version of the Green Card.
- 4 ski lift tickets.
- 7 irrigation system pieces.
- 1 broken rubber band.
- 1 broken pen: the last plastic and disposable one in the house!
- bits of plastic tape from a parcel.
- 1 sticker stamps sheet.
- 1 plastic wrapper of a snowboard pad.
- 1/2 plastic spoon found on the property while landscaping.
- The wrapper of a tiny Lego set, bought by Grandma for my younger son. Somehow the small sets are not fully recyclable, like the bigger ones.
- The plastic wrapper of twine, bought 6 years ago: It's amazing how much purchasing decisions can haunt you for years.
Plan of Action:
- Contact the credit card company about using recyclable cards.
- Contact the ski resort about using a rechargeable and recyclable card instead for their lift tickets.
- Contact Lego about the non-recyclable wrapper in their small sets.
- Find package-free twine.
What's not included:
- The 6 art/schoolwork pieces, laminated by the teachers: We left them at school, and explained to the teachers that parents should have the right to choose whether or not they want to make a completely recyclable/compostable piece of paper, eternal by encompassing it in plastic.
- The candy wrappers from the Valentine's Day classroom celebration: We took them to the school principal to show her how much trash was generated per head in our kids classrooms.
- The few items that I have sent back to manufacturers with a letter of explanation, such as a broken pump to Dermalogica, toothbrushes to Radius, and a contact lens case to Complete.
- The pesky plastic wine corks, the occasional fruit or veggie stickers and the broken drinking glasses, three of which I collect for future art pieces.
What's in your bin?
What's in your bin?
What's in my bin? Not a whole lot!
ReplyDeleteA few years ago while undertaking my Industrial Design course I had to do a 'My-Stuff' journal as part of a sustainability course...and it turned on that [an energy saving] lightbulb.
The journal involved cataloging everything we owned and everything we consumed over a 2 weeks period. Energy costs associated with material extraction, manufacture, transportation and disposal were then offset against need, emotional value and usage.
By looking at the true energy costs of what I bought and used, I really began to understand how I needlessly impact our environment and wanted to change.
A now reformed shoe junky and impulsive shopper, I don't believe in retail therapy and only buy (preferably second hand) what I need. While I unfortunately don't have a food co-op anywhere near by, I make all of my food purchases based on country of origin (I live in Australia and will never buy garlic from China!), [lack of] packaging - simple things like toilet paper do not need to be wrapped in plastic, reuse and recyclability.
I also turn off everything that does not need power (like the microwave) and my husband and I share showers whenever possible.
Our long-term goal is to become zero-waste, and we aim to make as many future decisions based on that goal as possible. Meanwhile we try our darnedest to be as low-waste as possible and find we dispose of a lot of compostables =(
We do however, refrain from lining our bin with plastic bags and instead choose to use a small bin that gets rinsed out when needed.
What I really want it greater access to locally produced products that are more environmentally aware. I think the tide is starting to turn as more people begin to think about their consumables and of course it is consumer demand that drives markets - so we just have to be more demanding!
I would like to challenge everyone to catalogue their typical monthly usage to really see how much stuff they consume and look at what it is made from, where it is made, how far it has travelled and how it is disposed of. Everyone can make improvements in their consumptions - they just have to look at it and make a conscious decision about how.
Zero-waste is my long-term goal (but at least I got my mum to compost!)
Good news- I know a lot of clothing companies are starting to print directly onto the inside of clothes rather than attach tags, especially on items that are in direct contact with the skin e.g. underwear and singlets. Hopefully it will catch on to other items!
ReplyDeleteMy rubbish is certainly too large at the moment. Part of it is trying to educate my husband without being bossy or condescending. I do most of the shopping and cooking so we're pretty good but I can't wait to finish renovating so we can get our veggie garden and composting up and running.
We also put our bin out every week despite it not being full. If we don't put it out every time it's not collected when we do! (We're at the end of the street and they wont come down here if they don't have too!) The good thing is our council gives us recycling bins that are twice the size of our rubbish bins. Make so much sense. Of course recycling is the last resort and good decisions earlier on (shopping, reusing etc) makes it all so much easier.
More than in yours, but I'm still pretty excited about it!
ReplyDeleteWe just moved to CT, where the recycling is less flexible than in MD... for example, they want you to remove (and trash) the lids of plastic bottles, which we didn't used to have to do. They also won't recycle pizza boxes :(
We've been composting (even though we don't have a yard... but our neighbor gladly accepts it for his compost pile! Yay!)
There are a couple of returning suspects to our trash that I need to find solutions for:
* the plastic bag inside the cereal box... I need to find a bulk cereal that we'll eat, and can purchase conveniently to us
* tissues (I have reusable hankies on my Christmas list, so I hope that will be resolved soon)
* the packing tape off of boxes I receive (I receive boxes in the mail for work- I reuse the boxes, but throw away the old packing tape that was used)
Always a work in progress!
i'm impressed this is the first time you've waited to see how long it takes you!! i do it all the time... albeit, it takes me a lot less time than you. i still have our garbage at 1 grocery bag a week... i can't seem to get it past that, but i hide behind the reminder that we have four under four... sometimes the temptation for the easy way out is just too great!
ReplyDeleteALSO, i cannot believe people still give that crap to your children?! my friends all know that we don't feed our children things like that, and always ask me first if it's okay. i'm shocked, really! the only ones who don't ask are grandparents... which drives me nuts... they should know better than my friends, right? or at least care more?
(the last time my in-laws visited, they bought margarine, yogurt cups, crap bread and cheese slices... i ranted for a long time... actually, i'm still ranting...)
Hi Stacey: You can take your caps to Aveda -of all places ;), compost your tissues and request paper tape for your parcels.
ReplyDeleteDasher: I look forward to finding more and more label-free clothing at the thrift shop ;)
Alison: I feel your pain!
We've just begun and thus far have gotten our trash from a super 90 glallon can to a 35 gallon can. UGH. We have a LONG way to go.
ReplyDeleteI find the hardest part is the recycling -as we have to save our trash and then ;oad it in the car and deliver it to a site that's open once a month.
Hopefully our trash will be smaller this month-we gave up beer/booze/wine to save $$$ and I have been making iced tea every day rather than buy a plastic jug of it. These 2 changes are likely 1/2 our trash (and that extra 20 pounds on my arse, used to love the evening drinks on the deck).
I have all my containers and cloth bags ready to go, but my last 3 of 4 grocery visits forgot them.
Onward march...
Hi Bea.
ReplyDeleteCould you please tell us your daily/weekly/monthly routines? How much time do you devote to preparing meals and snacks? Do you can/jar also? I do enjoy working in the kitchen and bake many things, but I still buy chips, crackers, tortillas, etc. I started canning tomatoes this summer, but if I limited what my family eat to the only things I can do in my kitchen, our diet will become very limited. I would like to hear your approach on this.
Thanks!
We're cutting down on our trash, but still needing to use one garbage bag a week. I would like to get away from using plastic garbage bags but I don't think the garbage collector would accept wet, yucky food garbage in a brown paper bag; do you have any suggestions? I use the plastic bags that claim to be 65% recycled plastic but I'd like to cut my dependence on them and eliminated waste isn't an option at this time.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteWe have slowly cut out the processed snacks and replaced them with a variety of bulk nuts, fruits, cut veggies and homemade cookies. We found out that by cutting out the trash we also eat a lot healthier. We have simplified our pantry and rely on favorite staples and these are the things that I make for lack of finding them in bulk:
I only can tomatoes (1x/yr).
I regularly make jams (about 4x/yr).
I make orange juice and cookies once a week. On a as-needed basis, I make mustard (about 3x/yr), vanilla extract (about 2x/yr), horseradish (1x/yr), and hot sauce (about 4x/yr). That's it for our kitchen homemade staples, your family needs and tastes might be different.
As for the house, I make toothpowder and housecleaner about once a month, candles and starch about twice a year.
I hope this helps!
Hello Bea,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your blog, you have inspired me to make some changes in my household. You mentioned that you make candles. I would love to learn what you do with that. I have been a Yankee Candle junkie and I need to stop with that. Thanks so much.
About the trash can liners:
ReplyDeleteWhat makes trash wet (if you eat your leftovers systematically) are compostable items such as veggies, fruit peels and egg shells. By definition, if you compost, and your trash gets dumped directly from a can into a garbage truck you do not need a liner at all. If you do have occasional meat or fish bones you can secure them in a wrapper that is already in your bin. That will work until you have found an alternative to that wrapper ;) or your city adopts curbside composting (meat and fish included).
Garbage liners, we found, was one of the easiest things to give up. We even gave them up before composting and our hauler never complained. Give it a try! you'll realize that you were throwing your money away ;)
You mean your boys don't ask for ketchup? I will try your mustard recipe soon. It's cool! Tofu is a staple at my house, so I end up with those plastic tofu packaging on a weekly basis. A bummer! I wished I could send them back to the Tofu company.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have milk delivery, so we end up with half gallon milk cartons. I use them for my soap mold, but have more than I can use. Any suggestions on what I can do with them? Such a sturdy, good material and hate to throw them away.
what do you do about ink pens? How do you freeze food items?
ReplyDeleteHow do you can tomatoes Bea? Do you use a pressure cooker? It would be great if you did a post on how you do it.
ReplyDeleteI love tomato based pasta sauces and we use a lot of canned tomatoes in the winter but I'd like to stop using canned if I can. I've never tried canning and I'm nervous about trying.
Jo
Do you have a suggestion as to what to do with household chemicals (cleaners, weed-killer, bug spray, etc., you know?) that I no longer use since I've converted? I hate to give them away because that means they will be used by someone and end up impacting the environment. I don't want to just throw them away. At least I would like to recycle the plastic containers, but to do that, I have to empty them out.... how? What to do, what to do? I should have never bought them in the first place, of course but I bought them back when I was ignorant. Now they are on my shelves, what shall I do with them? Any suggestions will be much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI take such chemicals to our local hazardous waste disposal site. They even take old prescriptions and nail polish, etc.
ReplyDelete-for ink pens... look under office.
ReplyDelete-I freeze food items in french canning jars
-I will post an article on canning tomatoes in September.
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteDon't be nervous about canning. It's fun and simple. I just started doing this myself this summer, and I was a bit nervous before I did my first one and was surprised how simple the process was and how satisfying the result! Try it and you will be hooked.
I first read about your blog in the local newspaper. I am so happy I did.Thanks for all the wonderful ideas, especially the school lunch box. I have a 9 yr old boy.
ReplyDeleteI am from India, lived here in CA for the past 20+ yrs. I literally grew up reusing(95), recycling(4%) & trashing(1%). I have been trying to achieve the same here, but not yet possible. But your ideas give me hope.
Any suggestions for what to do with rubberbands. I don't have much use for them at home. I can only think of giving them away.
We are strictly vegetarians.I love to shop at Trader Joe's. But their packaging is too much. I prefer organic too, so finding veggies in bulk is not easy.
No Whole foods closeby.
And then the Indian grocery store does not sell open stock items. So the plastic packaging problem again.
But atlest my trash is now the bare min.
Mostly composting & recycling.
Where can I find those French containers/ jars you use? Thanks
I had a big ball of rubberbands, and donated it to my egg lady at the farmer's market, because she uses them to secure other people's egg containers (I refuse them). Just watch where your next rubberband comes from... it might be a good place to donate them. School, or Post Office perhaps?
ReplyDeleteTrader Joes is such a huge packaging disapointment. Great products and horrible packaging (for ex, peppers do not need to be in a plastic shell in CA). Send them an email to let them know how you feel. Many of us have stopped shopping there because of it, they need to know it.
Have you tried your local farmer's market for veggies?
Also, did you ask your Indian grocery store to carry bulk? they might be open to it.
The french jars can be found at thrift shops, the Container Store, Amazon, and select hardware stores.
Keep up the good work!
Beer caps aren't recyclable? We've started making our own beer to reduce the number of bottles we need to recycle, the difference is very noticeable. A bottle rarely goes in the recycle, and only if it gets a chip. Now we have moved on to grolsch-style bottles with attached reusable lids, but we always put beer caps in the recycle. Is it because they have a rubber seal?
ReplyDeleteBea,
ReplyDeleteWhat type of garbage service do you have? Do you only have a green bin pick-up? Do you never use the recycling bin or trash pick-up?
Hi there and thanks for your question. Our waste hauler bundles landfill, recycling and green bin (which now includes city compost) all together. Unfortunately, we can not pay seperately for the green bin which we mostly need, for tree triming and meat/fish bones (too hard to digest in our yard or worm compost). We also do use recycling pick-up for our kitchen-size bin (mostly double printed paper and a couple of white or rose wine bottles) weekly. To cancel our waste hauling service all together, I could make a monthly drop off at the local recycling center for the glass bottles (since we only generate a small amount) and I could shred paper and branches for our compost. But we would need 2 shredding machines and we have not yet made that step... Our land is quite small and I am afraid the brand shredder will be quite an eye sore.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I am very frustrated at the fact that our waste reduction efforts are not rewarded by a smaller bill. I contemplate cutting the ombilical cord everytime I get the bill and we have put serious thought into it. Will keep you posted when we do, stay tuned!
FYI not a all screen prints and heat transfers are actually more eco friendly than labels. You have to think about inks/dyes/fumes/worker safety etc., the process as a whole.
ReplyDeleteWorking with overseas vendors is very difficult. We recently discovered instead of TYVEK (recyclable at dupont facilities :/ ) they were giving us varnished paper.
Not to mention all the customs requirements.
My Art director feels very responsible for the amount of packaging we send to the landfills. It's hard but we're working on it.
Also wanted to share this link concerned toothbrushes: http://www.preserveproducts.com/
Just a small suggestion - I saw on a knitting blog that a knitter had flattened metal bottle caps (beer caps) and used them as buttons
ReplyDeleteDo you think your children find that it's a good trade off... you know for them to become social pariahs in exchange for you indulging your obsession. Do you really view a valentine exchange as wasteful?
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if you have a viewpoint on what we are all supposed to be doing here on planet earth? In addition to counting the band-aids in our trash cans, I mean.
Do you suppose that by striving so ardently to have zero impact on landfill sites you may be having a negative impact on the people around you. Your lifestyle seems to be very austere and you seem to need to 'educate' many, many people during the week.
I notice that your child 'had' a love of bandaids. I suppose he has been educated in that regard, so that he is now a child that does not love band-aids? I was not aware that such a child exists.
I see that you have a lot of other 'education' lined up for your friends and family. Wow how thrilling for them.
Did you know that a lot of parents don't judge their children's artwork on whether it will biodegrade easily. Actually a lot of parents would treasure their childrens' artwork and want it to last forever. But you rejected your childrens' artwork because it had become the wrong kind of trash.
Seems way over the top to me. Did that artwork then become unlaminated by your action? Do you think the teacher felt sick when she threw that artwork away because she was contributing to the landfill? Or was she sad for your kids?
Thanks Anonymous for all your questions! I wonder how you even got to this blog since you do not seem to even understand the subject of it.
ReplyDeleteI can write 100 pages to answer your questions (in a book perhaps?), but would that be even worth my time? you seem so angry.
Funny you mentioned the kids artwork, our staircase is filled with them! ;)
I hope you find a voice that you can understand.
There are many blogs out there, this one might not be for you....personality is the WHOLE point of blogs, just find you match!
or even better yet... write your own blog!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the sentiments of Anonymous's post. Sometimes late at night when I am sitting in front of my giant 72" television watching an episode of "Hoarders" I will be overcome with empathy for the children that have to endure the clearly pathological behavior of their hoarding parent. The children all have the haunted look that comes from living with a parent that has come off the rails, sacrificing their family to accommodate their own obsessive compulsions.
ReplyDeleteYou are waging a war against waste in your home with a ferocity and intensity that actually pits your family against the entire world. That is a precarious place for a child.
I'm sure your intentions started off good as did that of the hoarder ordering that very first porcelain teddy bear figurine off of QVC. What could be more noble than trying to be less wasteful? And it turns out you have such skills for it, as you clearly identify in your blog! Sadly, for your children I think the only real difference between the pathological hoarder and yourself is that the hoarder is shrouded in self loathing and secrecy while you parade your white emptiness in a sanctimonious blag.
Anonymous, wow, what a rude, angry, pointless, and actually plain ignorant post from you. What is the point of you reading Bea's blog if only to attack, criticize, and judge when you really have no idea what you are talking about? Many readers, myself included, learn from Bea's creative, innovative, and tried & tested methods for living a zero waste life.
ReplyDeleteBea's talents don't rest with zero waste, she is a truly loving and amazing mother and she has raised wonderful children who are both socially and environmentally conscious.
The entire point of blogs are to share ideas with others and learn from one another. If you have nothing constructive to write about zero waste living, go back to watching to your t.v.
Bea, I have one concern about the tagless clothing. At my neighborhood thrift store, they staple the price tag (a tiny piece of paper in a pastel shade) to the clothing tag. However, when there is no clothing tag, the price tag gets stapled to the garment itself. Unfortunately, even with very careful removal, this often results in a hole in the new-to-me item, especially on knit items such as t-shirts. Perhaps I can follow your example and ask the manager to consider another method of tagging items (although I like their plastic-free method as I can recycle or compost the paper and staple.) Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI have not really had this problem (perhaps just a couple of times). If you were to contact the manager, you'd need to give him a specific alternative idea. A good idea would be a reusable price tag with a clamping system (but I have not seen anything like it) or better yet, no tag at all! just pricing based on item type (for ex. all men's shirts $5, all women's dresses $7)... the latter system is already widely used. And I believe, a great time saver for the staff.
ReplyDeletehave you found a compost-able tooth bush yet? Care to share the brand? ;)
ReplyDeleteI have not yet seen compostable toothbrushes on the US market, but one reader from Australia recommended The Environmental Toothbrush.
ReplyDeleteWow! I honestly have no idea how I came across your blog and besides the 2 recycling bins put out twice a month, I really have not been doing anything.... I am inspired and want to change the way we do things in our home as we are a family of five and the amount of trash we put out on the curb every week is sickening! Where do I even start? We have so far to go...and sooooo much stuff!??? I want to do this for our planet and my family but honestly I am scared and overwhelmed.... what would be the top five to ten changes we should make first?
ReplyDeleteStep 1:
ReplyDeleteReplace your disposables with reusables
-shopping tote
-mesh produce bags
-travel mug
-cloth towels
-cloth napkins
-handkerchiefs
Step 2:
Find bulk suppliers and shop with
-cloth bags
-glass jars
-glass bottles
Bea,
ReplyDeleteI am slowly reading all the back posts, and learning A LOT!! Wow! I sent you an email with a few comments today. But I wanted to post here to say how much I enjoy your blog, and I am very inspired to make changes. We have already made many changes and are using glass jars, and cloth sacks and buying in bulk!! Step by step!
Thanks Bea!
JEN C.
Where the heck can I buy reusable mesh bags???
ReplyDeleteAlso... my dad is so stubborn, it's hard to get him or my younger brother to comply with such cool changes as this.
Also, I am a today's problems conscious teenager who wants to change my family's lifestyle. I am secretly plotting (but they are very open to my crazy schemes!) to try your stuff out. So inspiring.
Also to those other anonymous commentators, I really think you do not value the life you have been given on this Earth. Otherwise you would want to protect it and love it by going ZW. Atleast, that's how I see it, but you can think what you like.
Thanks!
-Mikki
BTW ^^^^ I say "also" too much. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteBea,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your blog and am thinking of ways to improve our consumption and waste in our home.
One frustration I have while reading your accounts is the judgment you bestow onto others, such as:
"For now, I blame the ignorant adults who buy and feed harmful and wasteful junk not only to their children but also to others."
Perhaps a bit of compassion and understanding for those unlike you could help people hear your true message more clearly.
I thank you for your blog and your great, great tips. I appreciate your openness for comments.
Sincerely,
Jessica
Bea you have inspired me and I appreciate your blog. I have to say the comments are pretty darn entertaining too! I have a blog about a mom attempting to go green and I hope no one follows it because I can't handle mean comments! Keep up the blog many of us really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteI found your blog a few weeks ago and LOVE it. I have been attempting to reduce my carbon footprint for a while now, I still have a lot to do and your blog is so inspiring. My question is: I live on Long Island, NY and apparently our garbage is incinerated and used for electricity. On one hand, that beats burning coal. On the other hand, it is surprising what people throw out. They figure it will just be burned anyway, since its not like its going to a landfill. I had been to a picnic, a town function, not at someone's house, where all the beer, soda and water bottles are thrown in the trash, not separate recycling containers. I don't think people "get it", at all and I am starting to feel like any attempts I make in my own home won't matter anyway. Interestingly, we are only a few miles from the NYC border / Queens and NYC seems so much more aware of reducing our carbon footprint. I feel like I live a whole world away, how do I not get discouraged?
ReplyDeleteannoymous here again (post above)
ReplyDeleteI should clarify that the town does pick up recycling
Hi Bea:
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering if you or any of your readers know if the savon de Marseilles thar is sold at L'occitane is the same as the original which you have mentioned on your blog. Thanks.
This comment probably comes too late...But I noticed you said you had a Best Buy gift card among your trash, I think most retailers recycle gift cards. I know that the retailer I work for does. Did you try sending it back to a Best Buy?
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love your Blog! I've been reading it from the beginning and find your experiences very helpful.