Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Who's in for May?

It's May -- who's in for reusing, reducing or recycling something?

A quick re-hash of the very loose guidelines for this project:

* No item is too big or too small to be your Reduce, Reuse or Recycle. Perhaps this is the month where you decide to re-use a Ziploc sandwich bag a few times. It counts!

* You don't have to jump in every month. If you do, cool. I would love the company, and welcome your tips and creativity and inspiration.

* You don't have to nail all three things -- Reducing, Reusing and Recycling -- every month. If you do, great. Because -- again -- I would love the company. But maybe some months, you're not up to thinking about how you really should turn that collection of Corona bottles into salt and pepper shakers in time for next year's Cinco de Mayo party.

* The point is for us to put our collective brains to use, and get a mental grip on our material worlds.

So this month's goals for me ... I'll be reducing our yard's overall water demands through a combination of raised beds, mulching and xeriscaping, I'll be reusing the plants we're unearthing when we do front-porch demolotion, and I'll be recycling our demolished materials. That's the plan, anyway.

Comments

[drunken monkey]

I'm moving this month, so I feel like I'll finally be able to step up my participation. I'll recycle the mounds of paper I'm sure to get rid of, and then our moving materials once we're unpacked. I'll reuse the boxes I've been saving for some time now to pack things in. And I'll be reducing the sheer number of things I own through a tough purging process, with the aim of keeping things a bit less cluttered in the future. I plan to get rid of stuff via donations and Freecycle.

[drunken monkey]

I'm moving this month, so I feel like I'll finally be able to step up my participation. I'll recycle the mounds of paper I'm sure to get rid of, and then our moving materials once we're unpacked. I'll reuse the boxes I've been saving for some time now to pack things in. And I'll be reducing the sheer number of things I own through a tough purging process, with the aim of keeping things a bit less cluttered in the future. I plan to get rid of stuff via donations and Freecycle.

[molly]

My son is getting bigger and I am going to take an active step in trying to reduce the number of plastic toys we buy for him. I realize this is a losing battle but at least I am going to try to buy more wooden toys. I was lucky that a friend has given me a baby swing and rocker. I did break down and buy an all plastic exersaucer, which made me start to think I need to start seeking out alternatives.

I am going out to buy more cheap washcloths to reuse instead of using baby wipes. What a giant waste! Plus one washcloth will clean what it takes 15 baby wipes to do. (Will have to keep some for travel and away from home diaper changes but at least it is a step.)

The husband and I are getting serious about recycling some of our clothing. The new place we rented has no closet space so we need to re-evaluate our clothing. Does he need his t-shirt collection of now defunct dot coms he got for free at conferences during the tech boom? Do I need 20 black t-shirts? How about all 10 pairs of black loafers? What about the various suits I own? Will I ever accept a job that requires me to wear a suit and high heels again(I pray not!)? Will look into charities like Dress for Success etc.

[KatieM]

My goal this month will be to use fewer plastic bags - ziploc baggies in particular. We picnic almost every day the weather permits so I need a nice compact reusable food transpoting system to replace my plastic bags inside of plastic bags system that I am currently using.

molly - cloth wipes aren't to hard to handle away from home. Just keep them dry in your bag with a small bottle of soapy water to wet them when you need them. Particularly easy of you use cloth diapers because you just wrap them up in the dipe and tote them home to wash. I only use disposables for faces now - I've been on the same travel-pack for 3 months!

[Ellen]

My big plan for this month is to use scrap lumber from our basement renovation to build some trellises and a compost bin for my garden.

It's also my goal to get a couple of canvas bags in the car to be used at the grocery store.

[Tracy]

I'm back in for May, after a spectacular lack of participation for March and April. We're going to reduce our usage of household water, now that the weather is warming up and Texas is getting back to drought season. We're going to re-use our plastic/paper bags from the markets (and I'm trying to reduce there with cloth bags too). We're going to recycle the lumber from our fence which blew down (that decision was made for us!).