H2OX2

365 Days of Trash Challenge

Julia — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:29:13 +0000

I have decided to participate in the 365 Days of Trash Challenge this week. For those of you that don’t know about 365 Days of Trash, it’s a pretty fascinating story about a guy in California who documented and saved all of his trash for one year.

Dave, aka Sustainable Dave is an award winning cameraman who wanted to see, not only how much waste one person creates but, more importantly, how much waste one person could avoid. As extreme as his experiment may seem, his approach is actually very common sense and normal. He shows that it take very little extra effort to lessen your impact on the environment.

My first step into understanding the catastrophe that plastic bottles are creating started about 1 year ago this month. In that short time, I’ve worked hard to read what I can and educate myself - although I find I’m still learning every day. I’ve gone from about 5 trashcans and 1 recycling bin down to 3 recycling bins and a trash can most weeks. For a family of 5, we’re making progress. Reading Dave’s daily account of what trash he created and what he did with it gave me really great insight into some of the basics and obscurities with recycling. (Who knew that worms would eat a q-tip?!?)

I’ll keep you posted on my week long journey. In the meantime, check out Dave’s website. You’ll be hooked!

In the meantime, I’ll recap my first three day’s of our family’s challenge in a post this evening. It’s been enlightening for us. There are already changes that we realize we need to make…

Plastic Compostable and Biodegradable?

Julia — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:38:16 +0000

An Australian Company has developed an additive that they say makes plastic completely compostable and biodegradable. Goody Environmental says that the plastic can have a shelf life of 2-3 years and that a biodegration can be set to begin within 2-3 years with a “trigger” in the additive. The plastic biodegrades and composts via UV light, Oxygen, or Aerobic Composting.

Wouldn’t it be great to think that the plastic water bottles and detergent bottles that are clogging our landfills could just disappear? Goody says on their website that it’s safe for food contact and will compost in your home composter. It all sounds so good, doesn’t it? And, I hope it is! 100% safe, non-toxic, works with all plastic expect PVC…I think it’s a really great invention. Not being a chemist, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around where all the bad stuff in plastic goes when the additive makes it biodegrade. Would I really want to spread this on my fantasy organic vegetable garden? What do you think?

Fundraising with Reusable Bottles through H2Ox2.com

Julia — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:06:38 +0000

We are currently in the process of refining our program of providing reusable bottles for school fundraisers. It’s something that we’re really excited about and several variations of the program have been very well received on a local level. In addition to being able to raise money for schools and green projects, it’s a great way to raise awareness of the growing problem that the disposable bottles create.

Personalizing the bottles with names is especially smart - no lost bottles for your little ones or mix-ups on the team!

I thought I’d share the latest ad that we’ve used in a swim meet program. We can do something for your school or team, as well! We were lucky enough to find an extremely creative local advertising pro/artist/swim dad to come up with the ad. Check out his fantastic website where he sells very hip and funny portraits.

New Ad for School Swim Team

Oregon Updates It’s Bottle Bill!

Julia — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:32:59 +0000

Oregon becomes the first state to update it’s bottle law to include bottled water! The new law takes effect on January first when anyone who purchases water in disposable containers will have to pay a 5 cent deposit to the store. As with other bottle bills, stores will only have to redeem deposits on brands that they carry.

It’s time we all step up and push our legislators to make changes in our states. Disposable plastic water bottles and sport drink bottles are an unneccessary load on our landfills and along our roadsides.

Congratulations, Oregon!

Water Bottle Christmas Tree

Julia — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:39:17 +0000

Made up of Mineral Water Bottles, this tree is featured in the window of the Montreal based furniture store domison.

Bottled Water Recall

Julia — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:57:13 +0000

Otsuka Beverage Co. Ltd, a Japanese company, has recalled eight million bottles of Crystal Geyser mineral water after receiving 75 complaints about its bad smell.

Consumers were complaining it smelled like insecticide and medicine. Apparently, the water was tested and there were no problems with it, but they believe the plastic bottles may have absorbed smells that they were exposed to.

This is just on the heels of Kirin Beverage recalling over half a million bottles of Volvic after finding that some of the bottles smelled like paint.

I may be simplifying things, but it seems logical to me that if the plastic in these disposables is “porous” enough to absorb smells, it would potentially leach chemicals into the water.

Why take chances? Drink from a reuseable metal bottle that won’t leach anything - no matter what you store it next to!

Recycling Brita Filters and More

Julia — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:56:15 +0000

Thanks to lots of pressure from consumers, Brita will start recycling it’s filters through Preserve - the household products maker that recycles Stonyfield Farms yogurt cups. Beginning in early January 2009, Whole Foods Market Stores will begin collecting them, or the filters can be shipped directly to Preserve. According to a Clorox Company news release, 100 percent of each filter will be recycled into household products. The filter ingredients will be “regenerated for alternative use or converted into energy.

This is great news for Brita users. Mine’s been sitting on a shelf for about 8 months. Because the plastic pitcher is not recyclable, I haven’t wanted to throw it away, so I’ve been hoping for a breakthrough on recycling the filters. Although it’s no secret I have huge issues with many things plastic, I purchased the Brita long before my “plastic awakening” and haven’t quite known how to handle it. I have resisted putting any plastic on our website, opting for non-leaching metal bottles instead.

Once I heard the news about the filters, I decided to email the company to find out if there’s BPA in the pitcher. THERE’S NOT, so I think I’ll pull it back out and use it. I really love my New Wave Enviro 10 Stage Filter, but unfortunately I can’t have it in my office! So the Brita Pitcher is back in action - and I have some extra shelf space!

20/20 Bottled Water Taste Test

Julia — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:13:11 +0000

A great John Stossel report that compares NYC tap water with 5 bottled waters, ranging from Evian to the Kmart brand. It’s really surprising to hear how “unsafe” people believe their water is. If they really feel that way, wouldn’t it make more sense to buy a simple filter? They’d save money and eliminate the possibility of any leaching. Do they realize that 25% of bottled water is just tap water anyway? Check out the 20/20 Bottled Water Taste Test

Bottled Water Taste Test

Julia — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:05:18 +0000

Check out this hilarious Bottled Water Taste Test by Penn and Teller on You Tube. How easily people buy into “Mount Fuji Water!”

Water Bottle Shoes

Julia — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:28:16 +0000

Sure wish he had a regular pair of shoes.