recycle2shop.com

Recycling your plastic bags is a good thing - recyclers can turn them back into many different kinds of products. But if there is even 1 biodegradable bag in the mix the product is useless, after all you don’t want your new recycled plastic chair to fall apart because there is a piece of composting plastic lurking somewhere. The moral of this story, put your biodegradables in the garbage when you are done reusing them so that they can happily decompose on that landfill in the open air (well sort of).

Furthermore, did you know that supposedly biodegradable compost bags will not decompose in your compost bin - these products need direct sunlight and a few years to fall apart. Meanwhile your poor bin is clogged with plastic - the oxygen for composting is reduced, the pile cannot heat up and the moisture is trapped - making for a very smelly, unappealing mess. If you already have a ‘bin full’, the only cure is to turn the pile and pull out all those bags (don’t shoot the messenger).

Visit Gerald Harris’ blog “bowkervalleyblog” and learn about Victoria’s local and accessible walk around Bowker Valley. Gerald is an accomplished photographer and poet - what’s not to enjoy.

Recycle2shop returns to Moss Street Market on Saturday October 1 (in time for the rain, no doubt). The market continues until the end of October. Moss Street Market Christmas is December 10-11 this year.
Check our list of Christmas Fairs under the “Contacts” drop down list.

One day in August a visitor to Victoria stopped to chat recycling at Recycle2shop’s market stall on Government Street. Jim is a teacher in Montana and he told me about a Japanese scientist who has invented a machine to turn plastic trash into oil. Jim promised to send me the information so that I could share it with you guys. So here it is - courtesy of YouTube and Jim.

Victoria CRD (Capital Regional District) has the best resource for ‘where to recycle’ at myRecyclopedia with how to recycle cassette tapes (does anyone know what those are anymore?) to how to recycle your dishwasher.

I have been hoarding my plastic & Styrofoam recycle for months. Thank heavens for reFUSE in Victoria - it’s on Government Street between Chinatown and Bay Street. They take everything plastic, including waxed cartons, chip bags (with the aluminium lining) and styrofoam - as long as you take it already sorted.

My garden paths are looking quite sartorial with their latest covering of fabric remnants - saved from Recycle2shop’s bag and apron making.
Victoria Downtown Market was busy this weekend with some tourists from as far away as Texas and England.

The Gay Pride Parade started as usual from our corner on Pandora and Government Street - loved the energy as Lady Gaga’s music pounded out of the speakers. The costumes this year looked fantastic - loads of feathers of course.

Latest eco cleaning tip - olive oil with a few drops of lemon juice or essence make for a friendly furniture polish.

Victoria is now one of two communities in Canada with a Blue Community Certificate. Our city declares water a human right, guarantees access for all, further restricts and bans the sale of bottled water in city facilities and events and reolves to support public water infrastructure. Thanks to Marianne Alto and CUPE, Water Watch, and the Victoria Council of Canadians who worked tirelessly on this resolution.

Eco tip for today - instead of chemical fabric softeners - add 1 cup of vinegar and 2 drops of essential oil (lavender, lemon, bergamot etc) to the rinse cycle.

A Canadian company, Switchable Solutions, in Ontario has been formed to recycle Polystyrene (that’s coffee cups, packing trays etc) in a ‘greener’ way than is currently available. They are also saying that their process can be used to extract oil from the Alberta Tar sands without leaving tailing ponds. Wow - go Canada.
The Financial Post reports that Philip Jessop, the chemistry professor from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, invented the new technology. “Jessop said most current recycling methods need to heat solvents to make them work, while his reusable solvent only needs room-temperature exposure to carbon dioxide and air.” - Financial Post June 21 Alison Martell

Annie Leonard and The Story of Stuff Project made this great little video that reveals the real story of trash.

There are more recent videos on the Story of Stuff website that explore more of what happens to our electronics and plastics. Annie advises us to take care of our gadgets - make them last, don’t replace them.

Don’t you just love that YouTube? This one was uploaded by ‘makemagazine’ in 2008.

Just remember to put the plastic into the recycling when the project’s life is done.

PPR - the French conglomerate parenting Stella McCartney, Gucci, Puma, Yves St Laurent et al - has announced a sustainability program and will offset its 2010 carbon footprint. Now this is a good thing of course, but why start with revamping the Puma cardboard shoe box? Cardboard is a perfect recycling material - it can even be composted in our back garden pile. Puma has substituted a mix of plastic and cardboard and is calling it a revolution in packaging…does ‘Emperor’ and ‘new clothes’ come to mind here? The packaging is a lovely red colour though.