2008
you are the color and you are the number
maura @ 4:09 pm
I am becoming more and more incapable of throwing anything into the trash. Not that I’m hoarding things, merely that I hate hate HATE putting something into the garbage bin because I know that’s a one-way trip to the landfill and I cannot abide it.
Usually this isn’t too much of a lifestyle cramp. We have a garbage disposal, and everything plant-based that doesn’t go in there goes into the compost barrel in the courtyard. The city has a pretty kickass recycling program which takes care of paper, glass, metal and some plastic. We can recycle much of the rest of the plastic in our lives at the food coop, which is a little bit of a pain but happily they recently extended the collection hours. Electronics go to the electronics recycling events held every month or so by the Lower East Side Ecology Center. Usable clothing/linens we’re not wearing/using go to the Goodwill. Also, for the next couple months there’s a textile recycling table at the farmer’s market near us for all the unusable stuff which I am completely excited about! Everything else gets sold on ebay or at our annual stoop sale or freecycled. Yes, I am a recycling nerd.
The problem is the items made of multiple materials. To wit: today’s struggle with the xmas wreath. I am thinking of writing a letter to LL Bean, which will go something like this:
Dear LL Bean,
Thank you for making such a beautiful holiday wreath. It brought lovely smells and holiday cheer to our house around Christmas.
However, I wonder if you would consider making a wreath solely out of compostable organic materials? Today I spent an enormous amount of time and effort trying to separate the compostable parts of the wreath from the reusable/recyclable parts. I was able to pry the greenery from its metal frame, but was unable to free the pine cones from the wire that held them to the jingle bells and Christmas balls. I hate the thought of sending pine cones to a landfill when they could be composted, and the Christmas decorations reused.
Please give it some thought.
Yours truly,
Stinky Hippie
