Worst infographic I've seen in a long time

Yesterday, I was working on a new presentation and I was looking for an old infographic that I had seen awhile ago about plastic bags vs. paper bags. As I love infographics in general, I ended up clicking on a bunch that weren't the one I was looking for, but stumbled across this one that is truly hideous. It's things like this that make me realize why people find recycling so confusing. I've dissected the infographic for you below, as I don't want anyone to mistake the original for something that could be used in its entirety. Content managers-PLEASE-if you're going to write about something that is not your normal area of expertise, find someone whose area it is and have them review it!

*Some people may think I'm being overly pedantic when it comes to calling out this infographic on the basis
of using a drawing of a full water bottle. The thing is, though, that we've found time and time again
that when you use a picture like this, people will then assume that liquids are fine to throw in to curbside carts.
Let me assure you right now, liquids are never acceptable in curbside recycling carts. I also think it's irresponsible to try to have a list of "recyclable items" and use only a few pictures. This is not an exhaustive list and the lists vary by area, widely. (I've written about this extensively.) It just seems arbitrary and therefore unnecessary, to me.

You can *reuse* trophies, but I don't know anyone that recycles them. Moreover, they've just broken the cardinal rule of recycling outreach and that is to say that something is "recyclable" without qualifying how/where to recycle it. Trust me, if you don't specifically say how/where, these items are going to end up in recycling carts. There are very specific items that your curbside carts can accept (with good reasons) and if you start throwing in random items, those items are likely going to be a taking a long trip to the landfill. Also, juice boxes are acceptable in our recycling carts (but not many...) See why it's a bad idea to make generalized lists of what's recyclable and what isn't?

Ok, here's where the author *really* lost me. I believe what happened is that she read somewhere that paper can be recycled into the items listed (kitty litter, greeting cards and egg cartons.) But, then, in the translation, it became that these things can be recycled into paper.
PLEASE do NOT stick your kitty litter in your recycling cart. We CANNOT make paper out of it. We're not magicians.

I believe this table is an oversimplification of this info. The problem with any resin code info dump is that it perpetuates the myth that the resin codes tell you something useful about the type of plastic and its recyclability in your system. I've written before (a couple different times) about why this is an erroneous approach to take.

Bottom line? If you're wondering what is acceptable in YOUR curbside carts, seek out localized info. Your city or county governments should have some good info (and/or try your hauler-the company you pay to pick up these materials.) Please read infographics like the one mentioned above with a heavy dose of skepticism...

*The Reuser grumbles, "Paper from kitty litter...geez..."*

Food waste composting-same as yard debris?

Recently we had a customer write in with some questions about food waste composting. Our neighbors to the south in Portland, have had curbside food waste for a little over a year now and we get this question a lot. When is it coming to Vancouver? Why can't we just throw our food waste in the yard debris carts? 

Below is my answer to our customer. Perhaps you'll benefit from the information, as well:

The facilities that process yard debris are different from the facilities that process food waste. The process for food waste composting is much more complicated than yard debris and the established facilities where our yard debris is sent are not permitted to compost food waste. 

There has been some discussion of curbside collection of food waste, but those decisions are made at a City and County government level. What I like to say is that the City and County make the rules for waste and we implement them.

In Portland, curbside food scraps were being sent to a facility in Washington County. Unfortunately, due to many problems, this facility is on the verge of not accepting this type of waste. Food waste composting in general is a very new concept-and as such, there are still many “bugs” being worked out of the system. You mentioned waste being turned into green energy. I believe the process you’re speaking of is anaerobic digestion, but that is not being done with any of the food scraps collected in the Portland area.

My prediction is that we will someday have curbside collection of food scraps here in Clark County. However, when that will be I really couldn’t say. In the meantime, I’d highly encourage you to check out the backyard (home) composting workshops put on by the Master Composter program here. I learned everything I know about my own backyard composting by attending one of these workshops. A large portion of kitchen wastes can be composted in a home setting and someday, we may even be able to put the other food waste items (grains, dairy and meat) in a curbside cart.

I hope this helps answer your question. If anything I’ve written is not clear, please let me know and I’d be happy to elaborate.

FREE Recycling Basics class

It's time once again for the 2013 schedule of free classes. Sign up for a class.

Recycling Classes for Neighborhood Associations: Learn & Earn

Plastic Bags ~ Nursery Pots ~Aerosol Cans ~ Cardboard Boxes ~Motor Oil ~ Yard Debris ~ Antifreeze

Would you like to learn more about recycling – What goes in the cart, what doesn’t and other places where things can be recycled? Well, you can AND gain some funds for your City of Vancouver neighborhood association treasury at the same time.

Please join us for a free recycling class at one of these times:

• 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Cascade Park Community Library, 600 NE 136th Ave. 

• 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Saturday, Apr. 6, at West Van Materials Recovery Center      

• 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Thursday, Apr. 11, at West Van Materials Recovery Center (full 2013 class schedule linked above)

City-recognized neighborhood associations who send a representative to one of these classes and publish an approved recycling article in their neighborhood newsletter can earn $120 for their neighborhood association treasury. For more information or to pre-register, please call 360-619-4122, and provide your name, neighborhood association and phone number. 

Plastic Bags ~ Nursery Pots ~Aerosol Cans ~ Cardboard Boxes ~Motor Oil ~ Yard Debris ~ Antifreeze

Get your glass straw!

Last year, I posted about how much I LOVE my glass straw. I love it so much so, in fact, that I asked for some more for Xmas this year and got them!

If you'd like to give a glass straw a try, Glass Dharma is giving away more this year.

As I've discussed before, it takes some time to create a new habit. I definitely have my bag habit down and I'm really close to having my take away container habit. Last night (and frequently lately) I've been noticing when I order water in a restaurant, they automatically put a plastic straw in the drink. My next habit to work on is to ask for water with no straw.

Green gifts-what my family got this year

First of all, yes, I know this post is ridiculously late. I hope to some day write for a living (and thus, you can expect regular content updates) but that day is not today. If you think this post is late, you should know I've been sitting on a post since August of this year and I'm thoroughly embarrassed by it, because it's a virtual home tour and the lovely people that let me in to their home were so excited about it. But...I'll get to all of these things eventually!!!

I blog fairly frequently about lessening your environmental impact around the holidays. I wanted to share with you the gifts that my family got this holiday. Everyone got at least one gift from me that had some kind of green "cred." It might have been handmade by me or by someone else or it might have been reused-come from a thrift store. Here they are:

Mom: My mom loves blue. She loves lapis, so gifts for her often are pieces of lapis jewelry. This year, when I was in Spokane on business, I stayed an extra day (had a fabulous day!) and found an artist's cooperative shop. I bought handmade lapis earrings and a blue glass pendant for Mom.

Not-husband: NH and I invested in a new bed this year as our Xmas present to each other. So, we didn't do much else in the way of gifts. I did, however, make him some handwarmers (he's always too cold and me too warm.) out of some of the fleece left over from the scarf I made (see below.)

Brother 1: I found these nerd propaganda posters from a local artist for NH and decided to get my bro one, too. He also works on cars fairly frequently, so I made him a citrus scrub as well.

The carriage that transported us around the
Wade House-a living history site in Wisconsin.

SIL 1: I found green beaded earrings that made me think of L when I was on vacation in August, in Wisconsin at a little local handmade vendor fair. She also got a scented candle that she admired while we were shopping at Check 'Em Off, Green

Brother 2: J got a handmade wooden bottle opener, purchased at Check 'Em Off, Green and some handmade seasoning blends (made by a colleague and I-we made enough for secret santa gifts and some for my bro, too.)

SIL 2: V loves foxes and I often find things for her that are fox themed. (a handmade custom hat from Etsy one year, framed fox prints the next.) Earlier this year, in one of my favorite local thrift shops, I found a fox T-shirt that I thought she might like but it was not her size. I went ahead and bought it anyway and then used a fleece sweatshirt that I gathered at the clothing swap to make the pictured scarf.

cut t-shirt panels. Was trying to decide
white vs. brown fleece.

went with the white fleece in the end.
Finished scarf

Nephew 1: C often asks for video games, so I helped buy a game but also found one of Matt Groening's books for him at a local book shop.

I decided to give the potions some names.

Nephew 2: Since my youngest nephew and niece are a bit younger, I was able to create some things for them. J got a handmade Harry Potter wand (inspired by this, but I decided to use large gauge knitting needles instead of chopsticks-bought them from aforementioned thrift shop) and also made him some "potions" in reused bottles. (I glued the lids shut, so J&L wouldn't have to worry about the bottles ever spilling.) These potions are much more interesting in real life and I was pleasantly surprised by how much J seemed to enjoy them.

J loved this hat when he saw
it at Check 'Em Off, Green

J also got a handmade alien hat made from old sweaters, purchased at Check 'Em Off, Green and some honey sticks from a local beekeeper (he loves those-also purchased at Check 'Em Off, Green.)

The wig in-process

Niece: Earlier in the year, J had received a handmade Rapunzel wig from me (for her birthday) and I also made her a tutu in pink and purple. I also had an extra "potion" on hand for her in pink and it was a good idea, since J&J are thick as thieves and when he was "mixing potions" and "saying spells" on them, she wanted in on the action.














Cousin's kid: I also made hair bows for all the little girls in my life. They were inspired by this post. R got some of these, as did 4 other little girls.

some of my first hair bows (and some
rosettes I made out of scraps)

more hair clips-the pic on the right shows them all ready to go. I used some vellum map material
to cut out tag shapes and then wrote on them with Sharpie.

So, there you have it. I bought some of these items as early as this time last year. I use an iPhone application to keep track of my Xmas list and this helps me save money by not only buying things when I see them but also by buying me time to prepare thrifted items for gift-giving.

I'm very lucky to have a family that not only accepts reused/thrifted gifts, but who also buys them for me. We also use fabric bags in our family to cut down on wrapping paper waste and it's become somewhat of a "thing" to have the bags reused year after year.

Here's hoping you had a fantastic holiday season and you got some fun gifts this year. Anything you're particularly excited about? Leave a little note in the comments-I'd love to hear what you and your family do to save money or reduce waste in the holiday season.

Doggy poo-Are you being "green" by paying extra for so-called "biodegradable" plastic poo bags?

The very short answer is, "No. Don't waste your money." Use whatever you have on hand (pardon the pun) to clean up after your dog when you take her out for a walk.

I've mentioned before some of the worst things that a recycling specialist can hear. (I should do a separate post on that!) but one that crops up fairly regularly for me is, "I buy those special biodegradable doggy poo bags!" I added the exclamation point because people are usually so proud of themselves for this purchase. The truth of the matter is that the doggy poo is likely going to the landfill, correct? If it goes to the landfill, not a lot is going to happen. Landfills are created specifically for safety first and that means not a lot gets in or out of them. In other words, the conditions you need for decomposition (light, moisture, oxygen) are simply not present in landfills. So, what is Fido's poo doing in the landfill in that special bag? Much the same thing it would be doing in a plastic sack. Or a paper one. Or a plastic glove. Or grandma's china. It's just sitting there.

So, don't waste your money on biodegradable doggy poo bags. Or anything that has a claim of biodegradability that will ultimately end up in a landfill, for that matter.

One last waste-less holiday post

I quickly wanted to share this page with you from Resource Recycling. Some of these suggestions might be a little late, but I enjoy their round-up(s) of recycled content products.

In addition, don't miss my two previous posts about wasting less during the holiday season. Even if you've waited this long, some of these gifts can still be purchased/made in time for the 25th.

Waste-less holiday ideas

Did you know waste generation sky rockets around the holidays? We make about 1/4 more waste in these short cold months.

Perhaps you're already down with getting and giving presents that create less waste. After the holiday season, I plan to share some of my ideas with you of what I did this year. (Can't show you now, or the recipients on my list would know what they're getting!) but... I will share with you a whole list of ideas:

From the Natural Resources Defense Council

From World Wildlife Fund

From Changing the Present

Treehugger has their guides broken into type of gift-recipient (geek, foodie, kids, etc.)

Buy carbon offsets from TerraPass

The Daily Green has a great list of lists.

If you're wondering what I'm making this holiday season, my Pinterest board of handmade gift ideas might be a good place to start.

Happy Environmentally Friendly Holidays to you and yours!

-The Reuser

Reuse Conex wrap-up

I wanted to give you a run-down of my experience at Reuse Conex. I met lots of great people and learned about some amazing programs and businesses out there. Here's just a smattering: 

I met the lovely (and breathy!*) Nicole McGee from Plenty Underfoot. Of course, I had no idea at the time what her art was like, so I was pleasantly surprised to find her Etsy shop this morning and instantly fall in love with her items!

*She made a joke about being breathy in her presentation. I had just assumed it was because she was excited about her topic, (it happens to me-don't judge...) but I think (and she said) that it had something to do with being pregnant and due soon!

I also met John Littler from GovDeals.com and later found out we're actually neighbors! 

I learned about some great projects/businesses such as UsedCardboardBoxes.com, (just what the name suggests) ReRack (a reuse store dedicated to car bike racks) and I also met one of the GLEAN artists, Jen LaMastra. I bought a pair of earrings from her that spoke to me. (They said, quite simply, "Buy us.") I saw quite a few ladies wearing her beautiful creations at the conference. The jewelry shown at left are not the pair I bought, but I'm hoping to post a video of my presentation at some point and I did wear them for that.


I heard about a wonderful design competition called Respace by listening to Joel's presentation. I met Diane Cohen of Finger Lakes Reuse and Jenny of SCRAP in San Francisco. I was a little blown away by some of the facts presented by Scott Hamlin of Looptworks. (The one that is sticking with me is this: there is 70 times as much pre-consumer excess (waste) than there is post-consumer.) My brain is still trying to digest that information. 

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting. It was a great conference! 

Where Reuse and Social Media Meet

Greetings, friends!

I've been asked to speak on social media at a conference at the end of this week. 
This post will probably be pretty short on pics, but long on good content, so read on!

In preparation for my presentation, I decided to try to find some examples of how other companies are using social media to promote reuse (my presentation topic.) Lucky for me, one of the first companies I looked at was iFixit. I found they were doing an excellent job and decided I wanted to ask some more in-depth questions of them. 

My presentation is pretty short, so I won't have an opportunity to cover nearly as much ground as I'd like. (The talk will pretty much be some good examples followed by some bad examples with time for questions from the audience, hopefully...) However, after Elizabeth from iFixit took the time and energy to answer my questions, I wanted to post* the exchange here to share it with anyone interested in a little more information. I added a few comments here and there. My commentary is in purple. 

Q: Is social media part of anyone's job description? Part of everyone's?

As an entirely online company, our social media presence is really important. Pretty much everyone at iFixit is involved in interacting with customers online. iFixit has approximately 50 employees, all of whom are expected to have active profiles on iFixit.com and interact with users on iFixit Answers. Our guide writers make all our guide content and interact with users in the comments. In addition, we have Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus pages, on which about 5 or 10 of us post. A couple employees manage our YouTube page, creating video teardowns and guides. Our CEO, Kyle, did an AMA (AMA means "ask me anything") on Reddit this summer after the Retina MacBook teardown took off. We also use an inter-office social media network, Yammer, to communicate.
That's a big part of why all iFixit employees are required to take a grammar test as part of the hiring process (Kyle talks about it here.) Employees make up the face of the company.

Q: How do you determine how much time to spend on social media? Do you try to quantify ROI?

We don't have any ROI quantification for social media as of yet. Personally, I try to keep it to well under 10% of my time spent working. But I don't know for sure about other employees; we don't have specific guidelines. It varies, of course, based on the buzz: right after the Retina MacBook teardown, for example, we were all spending far more time than usual on social media.

Q: Does your company have an internal social media policy?

Not really. Our handbook says this:
"Good writing is credibility. In blog posts, in tweets, in emails, on our web site, our words are all we have. They are a projection of our company. For better or worse, people judge us if we are sloppy writers."

Pretty much any time I give a talk on social media, I'm asked about company-wide social media policies. I do have one that I would feel comfortable sharing. However, this morning, it eludes me. If you're interested, contact me and I will get it to you. You can also do a search for social media policies online-from your favorite company or local jurisdiction. In addition, I would also whole-heartedly agree with the tenet that good writing = credibility!

Q: What is the largest benefit you believe your company gets from social media? Largest drawback?

Benefit: We are sustained financially by online word-of-mouth. Site traffic and personalized interactions with customers mean sales.
Drawback: On a few rare occasions, the site has been brought down when we were unprepared for so much traffic from social media.

Q: Regarding the "stories" section of your website: How do you collect/post these? Are they moderated before posting?

I assume you mean the stories section on iFixit.com. (I did.) When users receive a purchase, we send them an email to make sure the package arrived safely, to provide them with a link to the relevant guide for the part they bought, and to encourage them to submit their repair story. These stories are not moderated. All stories that are submitted with a picture end up on that site, even if the picture is unrelated. Stories submitted without a picture are still live online, but they're not linked from anywhere (you can access them by iterating the story number in the URL, e.g. http://www.ifixit.com/Story/4122). We may someday do something with the non-picture stories, but our programmers are busy with other projects for now.
We have a "repair stories" category on the blog too, but those are all employee-written blog posts.

Q: Anything else you want to say about the role of social media in promoting reuse?

Many of the terrible things we're doing to the environment as a society are out of consumers' immediate hands—I can't snap my fingers and make mining and manufacturing sustainable. But we can limit how much we're contributing to that mining and manufacturing, by keeping our stuff working for longer. Realizing what power we do have requires a shift in our cultural attitude, which means reaching a lot of people. Social media is really good at reaching a lot of people.

Online communities can change attitudes toward repair and reuse. Many of our users come to the site after posting pictures of a broken phone screen on Facebook—their friends say, "Hey, you don't need to get a new phone. You can fix that yourself for cheap. Check out iFixit.com." 

Hope that helps and that your presentation goes well!

Best,
Elizabeth Chamberlain
Writer, iFixit.org

I want to thank Elizabeth profusely for her time and insights. I hope the presentation goes well, too, Elizabeth! Maybe I'll get to meet Kyle at the conference.

*I took a few liberties with the text of the original email-mostly adding in links and fixing any dead grammar I created in the process.