Plantable Trisquits and Recycled Scrubbies

I guess this whole "green thing" is catching on, Nabisco and 3M have started coming out with more eco-conscious products. The first is this Trisquits box I came across, that had a sheet of cardboard that had basil seeds embedded in it. You plant the cardboard and grow your own basil, as part of the supposed "Home Farming Movement" Nabisco/Trisquit has started. They're like secret toy surprises for adults who like to eat Trisquits, I guess. The connected site has tips on how to get started growing your own food. I think it's interesting that they haven't also initiated the "Home Baking Movement" and show you how to make your own Trisquits. (honestly, making crackers is hard -- I tried to bake some once and it came out okay, if you like hard tack).

Today I was at the Publix purchasing ingredients for the world's MOST EXPENSIVE stain remover; about twice a year I manage to miss a crayon in the pockets of my son's jeans before they go into the wash. This first crayon mishap of the year yielded particularly heinous blue splotches on my husband's new work shirt and I figured, if nothing else, I would save this one article of clothing that was rather expensive. Looking at the internet I found a stain removal recipe that included Tide, Oxyclean, Shout, Borax, and vinegar. I don't know about most people, but I only had the vinegar, hence my trip to the store.

While there I saw that Scotch-Brite now has scrubbies made from 50% agave plant and 23% recycled paper. Agave fibers, huh? I often fear for plants and insects when humankind finds a new use for them on such a large scale. The sponge part (with the recycled paper) is supposed to be made from "100% natural fiber." So I emailed 3M:

Hi, I just purchased the Greener Clean Scrubbers at my local Publix and was wondering where the 77% other "natural fibers" (beyond the 23% recycled paper) comes from. Also, what is the other 50% of the scrubber material made from, beyond the agave fibers? Thank you!

We'll see what response I get. I'll also update when I've actually tried the new scrubbie.

When I was checking out, the bag man (he was retired, so I don't feel comfortable calling him a "bag boy") saw the scrubbies and said, "ah, these are probably made from recycled PVC." and I said, "wow, how did you know that?" and he replied, "Um, 30 years as a chemist." I hope he's working as a bag man at Publix because he wants to.


Update: Here is the response from 3M (that was quick):

Dear Michele,

We appreciate hearing from you.

The natural fiber Non-Scratch Scrub Sponge scrubber is made from 50% agave
plant and 50% polyester. The sponge is made from 23% recycled office paper
and 77% cellulose.

Best Regards,


Colleen
Home Care Division
1-800-846-8887
www.scotchbrite.com

Ecofreek

I don't usually like taking solicited requests for reviews of any kind, but I got an email from Nicole, at Ecofreek.com, who asked for a review. My only criteria for non-annoying eco-friendly websites is that they not have ads. Ecofreek had one ad, for Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping (I think it used to be Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping, but whatever) and that was it.

It's a search engine, so you can put in any search term (I used "co-op" because, praise be, the Citizen's Co-op has finally got a storefront [but more on that later]). Not much in Florida, except a free pigeon coop, but if you choose an anywhere search you get stuff being given away as well as links to forums where people are discussing "coops." I'll have to remember to use it the next time I'm doing research for a blog post!

Need-a-Bag Project Update 02.06.10 -- oh yeah, happy new year...

Here is a bag that lasted, like, 5 seconds on the fence because...it has Noah's Ark on it! How could you not want this bag?! This is actually from last year. Geez, where has the time gone?

The market was bustling today, lots of lettuce and onions and some carrots and not so many strawberries. DG managed to snag me a box of strawberries because we had gotten to the market late and I hung bags while she went in to shop (my fault, I've been dawdling like a fiend of late). My family gobbled them up after I got back -- seems the freezes have not been kind to strawberries, among other crops, this year.

And now, the news -- Celebration! We've finally nailed down a date and time for our Need-a-Bag? Project Second Anniversary Banquet. It will be at Civilization this year which, I found out, is a co-op owned venture. It makes me want to frequent them even more than I have, which is none. This will be a time to thank the people who have helped Need-a-Bag? continue through two years of service to the Hwy 441 Saturday farmers market.

I was hanging bags this morning and a gentleman walked up and said, "are these for frees?" Haha, no, they're for free! Cute.

DG and I talked the other day about doing something crazy like apply for a grant, and then we realized we'd have to do something crazy like become acknowledged as a non-profit or something. That's too hard! I thought we should become a non-profit and then get the project signed up for the Disney volunteer service=free ticket to the parks thing, but again -- TOO HARD! I don't think I've emphasized enough how truly lazy we are, and so doing something like being officially recognized as a 501 c.3 or whatever would be disastrous to our continued willingness to do this project.

I Won!!!!!11!

I am very, very sorry. I posted a contest a couple of days ago, asking people to name the "recycle triangle" for a t-shirt. Well, the name of the "recycle triangle" is "recycle triangle." My bad. I won!

Will come up with a better contest when I'm not such a dunderhead.

Contest: Recycle Triangle name?

Don't mind me, just thought I'd annoy everyone with the spinning recycle triangle I found on the CoG's page about the Recycling Process. I will never have to leave my house again because now I can find out about all this stuff from the safety of my own home.

What is the recycle triangle called? Free Disney Wildlife Conservation t-shirt to the first person who can answer that question! W00-hoo! My first AE contest!

New Recycling Sheriff in Town

So, over the holidays my mom-in-law pointed out something in the Gainesville Sun which was great news -- plastic recycling would include everything from type 1-7! That's an amazing change from when Waste Management was our garbage collectors. Now our garbage collection is being handled by Emerald Waste, and they seem to be either every optimistic or very foolhardy in their wide selection of recyclable materials. After not finding anything on the GRU site about this, I finally called their media person (the most harried yet knowledgeable of people in any organization) who told me that refuse and stormwater are the only types of collections that are billed by GRU yet handled by the City of Gainesville. On their website I found a press release about the switch over to Emerald.

Finally, after a little more hunting, I found the website that explained in detail what could be recycled and what could not. Most of the other sites said something like, "you can recycle yogurt cartons!" That just kind of insults a soul's intelligence when you proclaim stuff like that. What if my yogurt carton is lacquered rosewood? Can I recycle that? I need hard facts, people!

Also, there was absolutely no announcement of the fact that type 3-7 plastics was possible since January of last year! That's the most shocking -- there should have been something somewhere to make people aware of this -- at least, make me aware of this!

Fascinating! Here's a video made in August of 2009 (1 month before the Sept. press release) where they say you can't recycle pasteboard (cereal boxes), even though they said you could one month later. This is really, really confusing -- I'm going to have to contact that nice lady with the Waste Watcher program to get some more info on this.