April 05, 2007

Check This Out!

A town in Manitoba has banned plastic bags! Read more here.

End of Week Nine

So almost nine weeks so far. Last Saturday I actually remembered to bring my shopping bins (although I had to turn around after I had already left the house). My stash o' bags is greatly reduced, and soon I am going to have to get very creative with packaging up stinky diapers and kitty litter. Maybe I will send the diapers home with the day care kids for their parents to throw out!

I am finding myself to be so much more aware of what I am throwing in the trash and what our city does not collect for recycling. Things like plastic film and bags. Certain hard plastics. Our city only takes #1, 2, 4 and 5, so things like a coffee cup lid is not recyclable here. Hubby and I both have stainless steel travel mugs that we use for drinks from home, but we've never tried to get one filled at a coffee shop. I remember hearing that Tim Horton's won't fill them. I should try and see what happens.

So I have been thinking about things that we do in our household already to live a little more lightly. We keep in cool at night and I like it cool in the day. We turned up our air conditioning a few degrees last summer. We turn out light bulbs. We use compact fluorescent bulbs. We reuse most plastic bags and containers.

Some things we don't do that I know we should... let the car idle. Unplug things when not in use like the stereo and tv and computer and coffee maker and phone chargers and on and on and on.
One thing I recently did was purchase a giant package of paper Dixie cups for the day care kids to use. I got so sick and tired of washing cups a zillion times a day. The Dixie cups are the perfect size for little drinks, and although I feel terribly guilty about using them and throwing them out... the sanity saving factor far outweighs the guilt. I have been thinking forward to garden and yard work. Pesticides will be banned in our city in 2008. We could get a push mower.