Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Not a Green Christmas

Not having a Green Christmas does not refer to my being eco-friendly. It refers to the fact that Vancouver Island is covered in snow. It will be the first time since 1971 that Canada, in every province and territory, will experience a white Christmas.

On the other hand I tried to have a green Christmas. I confess I have a fake mini tree which I've had for many years. My cat is 10 years old and I haven't had a real tree since she was a kitten.

I do recycle my wrapping paper. Last year I was handed all the paper my mother has recycled and now have a supply of paper, gift bags, bows, ribbon and gift tags to which I do not need to add to for many years.

I did shop. Some gifts I got at fair trade places, some at eco-friendly places and a lot on sale. Each year I try to be a more responsible consumer and do my part to cut down in some way and spend less or make a list of green gifts.

If anyone is still shopping, Juliet's Room offers lovely body butters, skin care, hand creams which are organic.

One thing I have noticed. In bringing my own bags all the time I now find I do not have bags for garbage. Unfortunately the apartment building does not compost and I still have garbage no matter how much I reduce. I've been searching for a garbage bag that will decompose quickly when it goes off to the landfill without it falling apart by the time I take it out. My paper bag solution did not work very well and I ended up with a soggy mess in the garbage can. Any ideas?

2 comments:

Paula Johanson said...

The bags that MEC uses are made from corn and will compost in a landfill. You can use a paper bag in your garbage can if you can carry the little can down to the big dumpster. The paper bag fails when it's being asked to support the weight of trash when the bag gets damp. put a flyer at the bottom of the paper bag to soak up some of the moisture.

Lou said...

Thanks Paula. I don't have any MEC bags due to not taking one when I shop there & letting the 5 cents be donated. Thriftys is now using corn bags too but as far as I know these don't decompose as quickly as we think they do. Hopefully someone will come up with a bag that does & provide community composting like Ottawa does to reduce my garbage even more.