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Living Greener by Gwen
Two of our faithful readers have taken up our offer to join the conversation about living greener. This week it’s Gwen Mattice, spouse of a fellow Grinnell graduate. Next time it will be Chico Hathaway, noted and very tall pickleballer.
Gwen wrote: “Sorry it has taken me so long to get you the brands of compostable bags that I am using for food waste that I take to Duluth. But first I want to give you a link to the WLSSD (Western Lake Superior Sanitary District) site that gives you more information about composting food waste: WLSSD Food Waste Information
The compostable bags must be BPI certified bags. The brands that I am using are Biobags (biobagusa.com) which I purchased from the Whole Foods Coop in Duluth and Naturbag (naturbag.com) which I got from the WLSSD Materials Recovery Center on Rice Lake and Ridgeview roads. It mentions on-line that you can pick up bags at the WLSSD-staffed drop off sites which I did.
At the Materials Recovery Center on Rice Lake and Ridgeview Road they take the following recyclables and they do NOT go by the recycling numbers but by what the item is. I am attaching a copy of the information they gave me at the booth you stop at when you drive in (see attached file below.) See the WLSSD web site for the other items they take at the recovery center (wlssd.com).
Other small things that one can do to help mitigate waste and keep things out of the landfill:
1) Need hot water from your faucet? Don’t waste the cold water that comes out first. Fill a pitcher with this water and use it to water plants, put in the coffee maker in the morning, etc.
2) (From Mike Carlson) Put the drained pasta or potato water in a container and use to water your (outdoor?) plants.
3) On a bigger scale – use a rain barrel. (We don’t and we really should.)
3) Saving trash bags…. This is dependent on how you do your trash. We collect our household trash and put it into the garage trash bin until this is full and ready to take in. So, inside my kitchen trash can I have a trash bag BUT I fill the empty chip bags, mail bags that are not recyclable and other bags that I would end up throwing away with the trash. Most trash will make it into these smaller bags, and I take these smaller bags out to the garage trash. So, I don’t have to replace my kitchen trash bag nearly as often.
4) We save hair from our brushes and dog combing to take out into the woods for critters to use. We have just been pondering about doing the same with lint from the dryer but want to research that more due to the synthetic fibers that are mixed in with that.
Thanks for writing about the things that we can do to help the environment and for all to ponder and perhaps even do!”
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Here some links that will interest at least some of you:
Coffee giant Nespresso has unveiled a new compostable range of coffee capsules that are made of paper. Using technology developed by fiber solution startup Huhtamaki, the packaging incorporates a paper pulping process and a biodegradable biopolymer lining. This keeps the coffee from oxidizing. View the article at flip.it/P2-R26
Microplastics in Great Lakes-Minnesota Sea Grant: seagrant.umn.edu.
Hold on bags discount: mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/FMfcgzGrcXkXHkVmzZXwrcMCNdMZGhpq
Organic lawn care might seem overwhelming, but it’s actually pretty simple and affordable to convert your yard or garden. Here’s where to start: View the article. flip.it/26OlK1
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Steve Aldrich is a retired Hennepin County lawyer, mediator, and Judge, serving from 1997-2010. He and his wife moved here in 2016. He likes to remember that he was a Minnesota Super Lawyer before being elected to the bench. Now he is among the most vulnerable to viruses. Steve really enjoys doing weddings. He writes this column to learn about his new home area—and to indulge our curiosities and stir our thinking.
Copyright Stephen C. Aldrich and News Herald, 2021.
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