Definitely feeling some manic craftyness today! Let’s see if I can harness it and get some good work done:
Materials I’m “worried” about – plastic and metal. Both seem to be abundant in waste piles. Plastic: packaging, consumer goods, pretty much everything, actually. Quick list as I’m looking at the items on and around my desk at work (yes, I’m doing this at work. Don’t judge):
- sunglasses
- container that my lunch was in
- cup
- disposable forks and spoons
- thin wrapper around forks and spoons
- wrapper for paper towels
- plastic grocery bags
- the container our water is in (for the water cooler)
- shelves
- trash can
And that just represents items within grabbing distance of my desk in a small (3 employees total), relatively environmentally friendly, fairly new business. Just imagine what the Big Boys are churning out.
What do we do with all of these items when we no longer need them? Some things, like the forks, run their life cycle within minutes. We use them once, and chuck them. Others like the trash can and shelves can take longer. There are so many different compositions of plastic that recycling them doesn’t make intuitive sense. There would be no net gain.
(or maybe I’m wrong? http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A45553)
I’m no expert. I’m just one crafty person. What can we do with these items to keep them out of the landfill? *
- plastic wrappers and bags – fused plastic, spiral cut to turn them into yarn, what else?
Examples: http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html
and http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_needle_arts/article/0,,DIY_13768_3059465,00.html
- trash can – drill holes in the bottom, paint the outside, instant planter. Can’t say I’d want it in my garden, but whatever.
- things with food residue always frustrate me. The energy and water used to effectively clean them probably outweigh the benefit gained by not throwing them away. Gonna skip this one for now
- sunglasses – if lenses are broken/scratched: prop at a theater, or punch out the lenses and make your own using colored plastic wrap and some DIY goodness. If the frame is broken…..yeah, no clue. I would love to see an artist take 200 pairs of broken sunglasses and turn it into something amazing. Any takers?
* About the landfill comment: It’s my tendency to focus on/obsess over keeping items out of the landfill because I’m crafty and I long ago pegged this as the arena in which I personally could actually make a difference. However, realistically, I know this isn’t our most pressing environmental concern. Everything is connected, all environmental problems overlap in some way, yes, I know, but there are plenty of other issues that rank way about the whole “OMG we’re running out of landfill space!” thing. If I want to be a good environmentalist (and I really hate that word, but I’ll save that rant for another day), I should focus on what reason and fact tell me is important, not what my ego wants to be important so that I can feel useful :-p
I’m maintaining this blog as a way to help people become less wasteful. I guess you could say I’m more concerned with consumer habits than with what happens to the items after they discard them. So many of our current environmental problems stem from our insatiable appetite for new products. If I can figure out ways for people to take pride in old, second-hand, hand-crafted, or refurbished products, maybe we can get rid of the “if it’s brand new, disposable, and convenient, it must be good!” mentality that got us in so much trouble in the first place. It’s splitting hairs, I know, but it’s the best I can do right now.
Issues I want to tackle in later posts:
- the historical roots of the “if it’s brand new, disposable, and convenient, it must be good!” mentality
- we have this tendency to refer to what “people” do or think. I want to see a clearer breakdown. What percentage of Americans buy new vs. used, breakdowns along class lines, etc. We can’t fix a problem until we understand exactly what is going on
- the effects of word choice on the environmental movement. Environmentalists: Essentially on the defensive? Read an awesome book about this in college, would like to renew the debate.
- I had more but I’m winding down the ramble and I lost my train of thought.
Things I want to understand more clearly:
- how exactly our economy is “based” on consumption, plus any possible ideas for change that won’t knock us flat on our financial asses
Forgive the rambly format, and comments are welcome!
~MaggieCraft
Posted by maggiecraft 
Posted by maggiecraft 
Posted by maggiecraft 