February Change | born.in.japan

A little more than a month ago I posted about participating in the project One Small Change. The hope was that for each month leading up to Earth Day we would choose one small change to make, post about it, and then, the following month, reflect on how that change went and what the next change will be.

Our change for January was to reduce our use of disposable style plastic bags. I had hoped to make some reusable bags which totally didn’t happen, due to a babe who was sick for most of the month of January, but all is not lost.

While I didn’t have new reusable bags to use, I did find myself a lot more conscious of the consumption this month and a lot more diligent about choosing alternative storage containers (reusable ones) and also reusing different bags that we inevitably acquired through our daily life.

For example, this month we started ordering produce from a company that sends fresh, organic produce (local when possible) to your door. As part of the delivery process there are a lot of bags. Two large sacks that the fruits and vegetables come in and smaller sacks to hold various items. Rather than disposing of the sacks, I have reused them. All of them.

The larger sacks have become trash bags. The smaller ones have been used to store vegetables and fruits. I have been rinsing and reusing them from week to week to store other produce and such as well.

While I would still like to get around to making some reusable bags since they are oh-so-cute and practical, I am still happy with the mindfulness that I gained throughout the month and that we did make a reduction, albeit a small one, in our use of disposable products (we didn’t buy any new ones!).

With the month of January now over, and February already underway (really, it’s already the 3rd?!), it is time to pick a new change for a new month. This month I would like to start recycling (or reusing) as much of the paper that comes into our home as possible. Chicago is notorious for having less-than-desirable recycling practices, so I would like to try to seek out alternative places and ways to recycle the paper that we do want to discard or seek ways to reuse it in projects around our home. I’m really looking forward to this challenge and I will update you next month with how it went.

http://www.hipmountainmamablog.com Hip Mountain Mama

So glad to hear Jan went well! Although you didn’t have time to make those bags, you still made a great effort in this area! We seem to have so much paper around our house it is crazy! We use a piece of paper until it is done (meaning, if I make a list on a piece of paper, the back will be used for artwork, then the entire piece of paper used for my 3 yr old to practice cutting, etc.) then we recycle it. Good luck with you change…I look forward to hearing how it goes!
Suzy

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http://ontopoftheworldblog.blogspot.com Ria

One thing I’d like to try where paper is concerned is to make my own paper from flyers that come in the mail. If the flyer isn’t shiny, you can rip or cut it up into colour groups, soak the scraps and turn them into mush, then spread that paper mush over a fine wire screen or something until it dries. Then you’ve got your own handmade paper, which you can either use, or sell to scrapbookers to make a little extra cash. (Scrapbookers, I’ve found, really like the feel and look of handmade paper like that.)

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