Healthy News » biodegradable

The Milk Man

JohnW — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:34:31 +0000

Interesting article in today’s Khaleej Times about the author’s memories of visiting his grandmother in Southern India.

Seems like the milk man would bring his cow door to door and ask how many cups everyone wanted in their stainless steel containers. Then he would proceed to milk the cow right then and there.

Reminded me (when I was 4 or 5) of the milkman, who would drop off milk in big glass bottles and take the old ones to be cleaned and used again. No waste and no having to recycle milk cartons. How simple.

To reuse or recycle?

JohnW — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:27:48 +0000

I know that in most parts of the country, it’s too hot to have a picnic. However, when it starts to get cooler, here are a few tips:

Use second-hand tableclothes or fabric to replace those plastic, throw-away ones from the supermarket. Use stainless steel water bottles, sandwich carriers and fabric napkins. Even if you recycle plastic bottles and aluminum cans, it still makes sense to reuse items instead of recycling them.

A Toxic Declaration

JohnW — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 23:07:15 +0000

The federal government (Canadian, of course) declared bisphenol A a toxin today. This official declaration falls under the Canadian Enviromental Protection Act. Most of the big retailers (Sears Canada, Rexall Pharmacies and Hudson’s Bay Company just to name a few) have fallen in line and started to pull plastic products containing BPA off the shelves. Imagine if they did that at Walmart here in the states. (Yes, I shop at Walmart ). Half of the store would be empty!
If you want to start pulling items off your shelves, and replacing them with quality, non BPA food containers, water bottles and baby bottles, then check out www.HealthyKitchenware.com.

What’s that triangle mean on the bottom of my plastic milk bottle?

JohnW — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:43:59 +0000

If you’re like me, I’ll buy organic milk over the conventional stuff any day of the week. Even if it’s in a plastic bottle. Should I be buying cow’s milk in the first place? That’s a subject for another blog.

Anyway, make sure that the top is on tight and tip it over so you can see the bottom. You’ll notice a triangle with a number in the middle of it. If it’s got a 3 or a 7, don’t warm the bottle up. It’s probably using bisphenol-A, which tends to leach from certain plastic polymers.

By the way, my milk bottle has a 2 in the middle of the triangle.
Also, to be on the safe side if you have little ones crawling around, always use a glass baby bottle.

Visit the bulk food bins.

JohnW — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:32:34 +0000

Most of my dishes center around a grain (basmati rice, quinoa or couscous), that I buy in bulk. Then, I make a recipe around it. Buying in bulk is nothing new to me. Besides, there is much less packaging to throw away. According to ShifYourHabit.com, If everyone in the U.S. bought in bulk, there would be 1.1 million fewer garbage trailer trips to landfills each year. Wow, think about that!

Once you made your mouth-watering dish that your family (even the kids!) enjoyed, do not heap the left overs into the usual pale-green plastic boxes, but into this stylish glass container. After labeling it, you can stow it away in the fridge or freezer.

Water Bottles

JohnW — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:49:14 +0000

If I owned a SIGG water bottle, I don’t think that I would throw it out or send it back. (By the way, that’s on your dime). Really, it seems as though BPA is everywhere. Do you have any cans in your pantry? Guess what. The lining inside the can has BPA. Any tupperware that you heat up leftovers in the old microwave? Swimming in it. Feed your kid baby food from a jar? You know it.

According to their CEO, Steve Wasik, “all SIGG bottles made since August 2008 contain our new BPA free EcoCare liner. SIGG bottles manufactured prior to August 2008 have the former water-based epoxy liner which contains trace amounts of BPA.” You can go to www.MySIGG.com/liner to see which one you have.

If you are going to toss it, it’s 10% off on our Kleen Kanteen bottles. Hurry while they last!

You can restore the earth!

Cynthiab — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:31:09 +0000

A clean environment makes you feel good.

We can all help make the earth a better place. Plus it’s the circle of life, so you also get to enjoy the benefits of a cleaner world. What does your world look like?

This non profit organization offers easy simple ideas to make your mark!

Check out the video.

Celebrate: 66% Less Plastic Bags in China

Cynthiab — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:21:20 +0000

courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/evelynishere/

A year old ban on plastic bags in China has resulted in a 66% reduction in usage!

According to Paul Hodges Wal-Mart China is using 80% less plastic bags. Here is he the complete article.

Maybe we could do something similar here. The city of San Francisco is already doing something similar.

Plastic and oil dependency

Cynthiab — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:23:35 +0000

It is not only gasoline for your car that makes us highly dependent on foreign oil, it’s all those plastic bags!

Here is some information from the Miami Herald:

1. Plastic bags are a petroleum product and a waste of a non-renewable resource. Americans use 100 billion bags a year, requiring 12 million barrels of oil.

2. They don’t biodegrade. They photodegrade, becoming bits of plastic dust, a contaminant, and even that takes many, many decades.

3. They are rarely recycled (only about 1 percent) and become litter pollution. They sully streams and clog roadside drains. Plastic bags are a top debris item encountered during coastal cleanups.

4. They endanger wildlife, particularly sea life. Animals become entangled in them, get suffocated by them or ingest them. Every square kilometer in the ocean contains an estimated 18,000 pieces of plastic.

Those are very good reasons to reuse your plastic bags and better yet bring your bags to the store. Instead of sandwich baggies use reusable sandwich wraps.

Bring your own stainless steel containers for take out

JohnW — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:48:14 +0000

Stainless steel lunch carrier with sauce container

I just read an interesting article by Patti Roth in Green Living. It says:

“If the restaurant doesn’t like the idea of reusable containers, bring your own. Some eco-minded restaurant-goers tote around personal food storage containers to wrap up their leftovers and also use them for take-out items – just make sure the restaurant agrees to use them.”

My family and I were recently in Los Angeles. Since I love to sample different types of ethnic foods, I decided that we should have breakfast in a Korean market/cafeteria. What struck me right away was that most of the Koreans brought their own containers, (stainless steel by the way), to take their breakfast with them. Don’t ask me what I had. Without the help of an older Korean couple, I’d probably still be in line! It was delicious though. This practice of bringing your own container struck me as very common in that society. It was nothing new.

If you’re interested in following the advice in the article, we can help you get started. Check out Healthy Kitchenware for a complete line of stainless steel containers at killer prices! .