Friday, April 27, 2018

Reduce, Reuse... Repair

One of the easiest ways to reduce waste and save money is to make the most of what you have, making "Repair" one of the important eco "R"s.

My 75lb labrador, Meeko, likes to climb up me to give me hugs, meaning I have a pile of broken necklaces. (And often show up to work looking like I was mauled by a bear. :) ) I'm decently handy with a pair of pliers, but these chains were a little more delicate than I was comfortable with fixing myself.

Fortunately, my friend Abbie (thanks!) had recently inquired on a community page if anyone knew a good jeweler, and I took the recommendations she recieved to an awesome jeweler in Burien.

Thanks to Westside Jewelers for a quick (5 minute) fix to a growing pile of unwearable necklaces!

Before and after broken clasp example 1:


Before and after broken clasp example 2:

 

Now to train Meeko to hug with less claws...


Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Smart Choices at IKEA

T and I took a trip to IKEA Sunday to purchase some pieces for this closet we're building. We didn't have a specific plan to go green; we're just trying to use our space better. So, we get there, and Sunday happens to be Earth Day, and IKEA has an eco scavenger hunt going on! As we walk through the store, there are several signs about steps they are doing, and tips for us: 

1) Going LED to save energy and save $$. Yes, LED bulbs cost more up front, but for every watt saved, you spend less on your electric bill. 

 

2) Save $ and packaging by growing your own produce, and use hanging planters if you have a compact space...


 3) IKEA is using recycled wood and plastic in their KUNGSBACKA product line. 


Each of the signs points you to ikea-usa.com/people+planet to learn more. While IKEA is by no means a fully sustainable company today (all my closet items were wrapped in plastic), the site outlines extensive options of things you can do around your home, ex:
  • reduce energy and extend your clothes life with lower washing temperature
  • insulate your home with rugs and curtains
  • reduce water waste with low flow faucets
as well as their plans to improve in the coming years, ex:
  •  with a commitment to sustainable wood sourcing by 2020
  • by installing over 700,000 solar panels on IKEA buildings 
  • and simplifying product design to reduce packaging and shipping volume.
These commitments aren't surprising when you look at a history of smart changes by IKEA. A prime example is the redesign of the Expedit cube shelf in 2014, which was rebranded as the Kallax shelf.


The only difference is the chunky outer border is about 1cm thinner. This minor change really adds up when multiplied by the large quantity of units they sell: several sources state that IKEA uses 1% of the world's commercial wood supply. This change makes the shelves use less raw materials, weigh less to ship, and cost less to produce. Wins all around.

While I often talk about buying second-hand, you can also be thoughtful by selecting better products or companies with a sustainability or corporate responsibility commitment. Next time you're shopping for new products, take a look at the company's website - you may be pleasantly surprised to find a mission surrounding product design, packaging design, self-sustaining facilities, or other community initiatives to balance their footprint.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Get Active for Earth Day and Beyond!

Dear friends - Earth Day is coming up on Sunday, and it's a perfect time to get together with other Thoughtful folks in your community. Whether it's picking up litter in a public park, or creating art with reclaimed materials, or going to an educational event, there are tons of free or affordable ways to get involved.

(image from earth911.com)

In that spirit, I've started a list with these types of events that I'll be expanding on year-round. Please check out the new "Calendar" page in the menu.

First up? Watch some short nature films in a beer garden in Fremont, and $1 from each pint benefits Washington Wild! 

FRI 4/20, 7pm-9pm
Pints and Public Lands Film Fest
Peddler Brewing Company (1514 NW Leary Way / Seattle, WA)
Topics: Education, Film, Social

Check out this event and more on the Calendar Page, and please feel free to share with me any events you are aware of, and I'll be happy to add them to the list.




Sunday, April 8, 2018

Baby Steps at the Office

I'm pretty dang proud of my company's efforts. They are hosting a series of events over a couple weeks this month (one at each building) where employees can decorate a reuseable mug, and socialize the idea of not using the paper cups available in the kitchens. With over 40,000 employees at our downtown Seattle campus, these are the types of efforts that can really add up! 


Some of our satellite offices don't have disposable cups at all, and each employee must bring their own mug to the kitchen. I'm not sure how realistic that is at our HQ offices, because we have a large quantity of visitors, but this is a really good first step.

With Earth Day this month, is your office doing anything to encourage good employee habits?

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Goodbye Goo

I'm constantly bookmarking cool tips and tricks online, and eventually I get around to trying some of them. This video was intriguing, because it's a simple recipe with just 2 ingredients, and for something I could actually use: Goo Remover! This is supposed to remove challenging sticky or waxy messes:

 

Looks pretty easy, right? Well, I wanted to see for myself if it worked or was just movie magic.  Here are my items that need some label removal. The two little glass jars are pretty clean with just a little residue. The smaller plastic jar still has the majority of it's label stuck on, and the pump bottle had the label peeled off, but was almost entirely covered in label glue on both front and back.


I mixed up some of the Goo Remover (equal parts vegetable oil and baking soda), and slathered on a thick layer on each gooey surface...


... and waited. The two smaller glass jars cleaned up quite easily after about 1 minute. The plastic jar and plastic pump bottle tool a little more effort. I left the goop on for about 2 minutes, scrubbed at the labels a bit, and then added more goop for about 2 more minutes. While the residue on plastic was a bit more stubborn, the remover still did the trick!

A quick wash later (you need a little bit of dish soap to get the oil off), and I have clean, un-sticky containers for reuse.


Comparing to "Goo Gone", which goes for $7.50 for an 8 oz bottle, this mixture costs about $0.60 for the same amount. And... this mix doesn't carry a "harmful or fatal if swallowed" warning. Win-win!

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Re-PC: Recyled, Refurbished, and Retro

Electronics recycling can be quite expensive or difficult if you are going through your regular trash service. For example, at my town's recycling events, monitors and TV's aren't accepted, and other electronics incur a standard landfill fee. But many electronics can be refurbished or responsibly broken down into components for scrapping.


Re-PC is an electronics recycler with 2 locations in SoDo and Tukwila, that allows individuals to recycle electronics for free: simply drop off the items you no longer want. If you have a working item that still has value (think: laptops that are only a couple years old), you can sometimes sell them to recoup some costs.

In addition to the recycling, Re-PC is also a store where you can purchase anything from new overstock, to refurbished items that others have traded in, to as-is components.

This is absolutely an awesome option for when you don't need or want to pay for new. T purchased a cheap monitor here for our home security cameras. It was going to be sitting in a closet and used rarely, so why do we need the prettiest or best resolution, latest and greatest?

This store is also great for older models: need tapes for your mini-DV camera?


Or perhaps your new puppy chewed on your remote?



Think of all the options too for kids in STEM, computer science, or robotics classes and clubs. You can buy them all the components they need to build various projects with much less risk. Just a few examples of the components they have. Keyboards for just $2:


CPU's loaded with Windows 10 and at a deep discount:


Motherboards and processors:


Whether you are getting rid of items or shopping, an electronics recycler near you can save you $$$.