His colleague's comment about the napkins being so unsanitary made me think about how there are still so many people who will, without a thought, grab for the paper napkins & towels all day long. Dab the side of the mouth, toss the paper. Wipe up a slight drip, toss the paper. And this is paper that can't be recycled. Cloth napkins are SO easy to come by & way more effective for nearly any job. Thrift stores are always full of colorful napkins and kitchen towels. And napkins are about the easiest thing to sew out of any absorbent fabric.
Question. I'm wondering how common this is becoming...does your city provide composting services? Seattle composts, so if you pay for yard waste removal with your garbage service, they'll also take & use your food waste. I love that. It also gives you something more productive to do with those dirty paper napkins & towels...they may not be recyclable, but they are compostable (depending on what you cleaned up).
On a related paper-saving note, we took our Christmas cards to a new level this year. We usually make our own, so this time, in honor of Larkin's Compact Project we set a rule: make them with only supplies we already have around the house--buy nothing. Luckily, we're a crafty family, so we had plenty of supplies to work with. I have the remainder of a box of 500 recycled #10 envelopes, so we started with the assumption that this would be our card size & worked out from there. It also had to be a simple design, as we send over 50 cards to family & friends scattered around the world. I think they turned out nice. If you haven't received yours yet, act surprised when you get it! -k8-
3 comments:
Kate asked:
"I'm wondering how common this is becoming...does your city provide composting services?"
Here in Evanston, IL, composting of kitchen waste is not offered. Moreover, the city has ended composting of yard waste, citing funding, odor, and rodent issues. They continue to collect yard waste, but I guess it is just... wasted.
Here in ABQ, NM the city does not compost but John and I tried composting for several years. It is so dry here there is very little break down of the product to make the compost--then again there is no mold or mildew either. We had to use lots of water from the hose and buy this product that you sprinkle on the pile and try to heat things up a bit. It worked mediocre at best. LynnA
Whole Foods Market has compostable containers for their salad bar. I have buried one in our garden to see if it breaks down over the winter. LynnA
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