Day 65 of our Green Year: Reusable Vegetable Bags

Here we are with only 300 days left in Our Green Year, and we have decided to continue our quest to banish plastic items from our house with the banishment of plastic bags for vegetables. We banished plastic bags very early on in Our Green Year, and now we are getting rid of those plastic bags that we keep vegetables in from the store to home and in the fridge, before throwing them out.

These are just as bad for the environment, and they are only used for slightly longer than plastic bags. Instead, Layla and I have decided to do the following with our vegetable bag needs. Since we are trying not to use items like plastic wrap and plastic bags, we won't be getting those bags at the grocery store and reusing them.

1. Use paper bags, like what you have for mushrooms at the grocery store if we don't have anything to put our fruit in.
2. Get a small mesh vegetable bag that can hold everything from apples and oranges to nectarines and honeydew melons.
   
3. Buying bags that have been made from recycled goods. The RDKB here sells bags that are made from recycled juice containers, they look great and are awesome to use.

One of our Green Friends, Mother's Going Green (http://www.mothersgoinggreen.blogspot.com/) did a blog this week about the types of plastic that are used in the world. Each bag has a symbol (much like the recycle symbol) with a number in it. I took note today of what number is on the plastic bags at the store. For that type of plastic, Mother's Going Green said it was made of high density polyethylene, which is used in everything from milk containers to cereal box liners. It is apparently safe to use, but that is not conclusive. Regardless of the health issues that may be related, it takes 1.75 kilograms of petroleum to make just one kilogram of high density polyethylene. With higher prices for oil these days, don't be surprised if you suddenly have to start paying for those bags.

Got any suggestions for what we can use? Send us an e-mail at crwbaird@gmail.com or leave us a comment!

Day 62 of our Green Year: Plastic Wrap Elimination

Did you know that oil prices are going up? Unless you live under a rock on Mars, you probably do. Well, when oil prices go up, so does absolutely everything else with oil and oil byproducts with it. Most are made from petroleum based products and that is not only bad for your pocket book, but for the environment as well. Typically, plastic wrap is made from polyvinylidene chloride, or polyvinyl chloride (which both end up getting in close contact with your food.
These chemicals are very toxic when they are produced, used and incinerated. Now, they are very rigid plastics, so those who manufacture plastic wrap will put in phthalates, which can cause hormonal disruption, development problems, and oh ya, that also comes in close contact with the food you eat.

As a result, Layla and I are banning plastic wrap in our house. No more of it at all. We came to the conclusion of why we would ban plastic bags, but have plastic wrap that is only used for awhile then thrown away. So, we are getting rid of plastic wrap for that reason, as well as the environmental impact it causes when it is made, and the horrible impact it has on our bodies when we ingest food that has been in contact with these chemicals for hours, or days.

Instead, we are choosing to use some alternatives.

1. One thing we do is take dishes and use those as containers. They are not perfect, but they do work okay. This means taking a bowl and putting it over a plate of food, or using another plate as a lid on a plate of food. This is simple, we can keep doing it and it is environmentally healthy.
2. Reusable containers are a great fit. We already have some for take out and Subway, so we are going to get some more and use that for food in the fridge. Also reusable, so that is a big plus.

For now, we are going to hold off on aluminum foil. We banned aluminum cans, and having aluminum foil seems like a step in the wrong direction. Layla and I think just using the containers and other dishes should work fine for us instead.

Thank you as well to Darren at the Weekender for doing a story on Our Green Year in an upcoming issue of the paper.