in.gredients Plans Nation's First No-Waste Grocery Store

Urban Patchwork Farm Plot (courtesy of in.gredients)

Every day, packaging makes up more than one-third of the 700,000 tons of garbage placed in American landfills. This summer, an Austin grocery store aims to rethink the packaging part of the equation. in.gredients will open on the corner of Manor Road and Walnut Avenue in East Austin as the first package-free and zero waste grocery store in the United States.

While most of us are familiar with the slogan “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” in.gredients founders the Lane brothers (Joseph, Christian and Patrick), Chris Pepe and Brian Nunnery, felt that precycling was the way to go. Precycling is the practice avoiding items that will generate waste in the first place, and it is much more energy efficient than recycling.

Read the rest of the article in the Austin Post.

Don't Just Recycle...Upcycle!

ZeroLandfill Austin

Many who work in design and construction businesses find themselves creating a staggering amount of waste from expired samples or unused building materials, which inevitably make their way to the dump.

ZeroLandfill collects these materials and makes them available to local artists, teachers and students who can "upcycle" what would have been garbage into arts and crafts projects.

Started in Ohio in 2006, ZeroLandfill project sites have spread to more than a dozen locations all over the United States. Since then, this national collective has repurposed over 500,000 pounds of materials back into local communities and is looking at 2012 as the year they will hit one million pounds.


Read the rest of the article in the Austin Post.

Recycling Is Not Rocket Science

The other day, I was asked to give a presentation about proper recycling in a co-working office space. My audience consisted of small business entrepreneurs and professional freelancers. Everyone had a college undergraduate degree, and it’s likely many of them also had a master’s degree. The reason I was asked to give a presentation is not because I work in the environmental industry, but because I’m passionate about recycling and being resourceful.

Recently, I heard someone use the word “eco-nerd” to refer to himself. He got excited that the Asian restaurant we ate at had real, non-disposable chopsticks. And on top of bringing re-usable bags to the grocery store, he kept track of the bulk item identification numbers on his iPhone to save paper and ink, by avoiding having to print out the adhesive labels.

My particular eco-nerdiness comes from my dedication to minimizing plastic in my life (see article about Trash Free Eating). I will wash and re-use the few plastic bags that make it through the front door of our house. I’m on about my 12th use of a microwave and dishwasher- safe to-go container that I keep taking back to a restaurant I frequent often for lunch, since it’s down the street from my office. Fortunately, they allow me to keep bringing it back, and they even offer me a 50-cent discount for my environmental consciousness.

When you’re as excited about something, as I am about reducing the amount of waste I produce as a human, it’s easy to forget that not everyone else feels the same way. Doesn’t everyone get giddy about recycling, reusing, and maybe not even using it in the first place? I discovered that the answer was no. I had also assumed that fellow college-educated, intelligent, liberal-minded, business-savvy people would be as ecologically enthusiastic as I was. But my assumption was wrong. At least in the office place.

My passion for recycling became apparent at work because I was constantly commenting on how the recycling wasn’t properly being done – sometimes, it wasn’t even done at all. The recycling bins are about ten steps from the kitchen and down a half flight of stairs. It’s easier just to throw the can or container into the trashcan next to the kitchen sink. But it’s also not that difficult to take the extra 30-45 seconds to make the short trip to the bins. (Plus, it’s a good stretching exercise for most of us who sit in a chair 6-8 hours a day.)

The presentation I gave was quite simple. I showed how only the following items are acceptable for the blue “clean paper” bin: office paper, envelopes, cardboard, cardstock, catalogs, magazines, newspaper and junk mail. The following items are acceptable for the plastic, glass, and aluminum “commingled” bin: cleaned and/or rinsed glass bottles and jars, plastics (#1 though #7), and aluminum and steel cans. This is pretty much the standard for recycling most everywhere in Austin.

I got all kinds of interesting questions during the presentation. How do you know if it’s recyclable? (Look for the little number inside a triangle, usually at the bottom of the container.) Why do I have to remove the lids and caps? (Because they are made of different material that doesn’t recycle well, or at all in some cases, plus it jams the recycling machines.) Why can’t I just put the empty beer bottles in the cardboard holder and put them in the recycler that way? (Because the recycling people ask us to separate paper and glass.) Why can’t the recycling people sort it out for me? (They ask us to do things a certain way for a reason, the same way we ask our clients to present information to us in a particular way. It makes the whole process more efficient.) The recycling bins are too out of the way. (Do I really have to answer to that?)

I removed styrofoam, plastic bags, dirty pizza boxes, and glass bottles from the paper bin. I removed paper, soiled plastic containers, bottles still filled with (now rancid) liquid beverage, and outright garbage from the commingled bin. After the presentation, I showed a funny home video I made about the things I do at home to be more resourceful – in hopes of adding a bit of humor to my schoolmarm lesson about saving the earth. In the end, I don’t know if I was able to change anyone’s mind, or even slightly inspire someone to think about how much unnecessary waste we produce in society. Maybe everyone just went back to their desks and promptly forgot everything I said. But I did walk away with one thought – I will continue being an “eco-nerd” for the rest of my life. I figure, if I keep at it, maybe it will catch on. After all, trendsetters don’t wait for everyone else to do the same.

Not sure where to begin? Take it one step at a time. The gateway drug to living an eco-friendly, sustainable life is recycling. But recycling rules vary, depending on where you live, and even depending on the service provider. Look up the recycling guidelines for your city's waste program, or for the service your company uses. If you're at a restaurant and you don't understand what goes in the recycle bin, or what goes in the compost bin, just ask! Most likely, someone there will also be an eco-nerd, eager to answer your question.

Plastic Bags – Recycle, Reuse, or Don’t Use

Mercado Hidalgo in Guanajuato
Photo courtesy of Shand Walton (c) 2006

For being such a progressive, liberal, and environmentally friendly city, I am surprised how few people in Austin take reusable shopping bags to the grocery store. Even at the farmers market, where shoppers don’t have a choice but to carry reusable bags (or baskets), they still wind up putting their vegetables in plastic produce bags. And if you have any Latin American blood in you – you, especially, have no excuse. Our forefathers and foremothers from the homeland have been ecologically conscious since the “mercados” first existed.

I’ve been using canvas bags to carry my groceries for the past four or five years. It’s a no-brainer. All you have to do is make it a habit to take them with you every time you go to the store, or stash a few in your car, just in case you forget. Even though I’ve managed to keep the larger, handled plastic bags at bay, the smaller produce bags – as well as the infamous Ziploc bags – still accumulate by the mounds at home.

Items like bananas and potatoes never get a plastic bag. Nature gave them their own built-in features to make transportation easy. But what about green beans? Or a pound of granola from the bulk bins? You can’t just throw those into your shopping basket, so you’re forced to take yet another produce bag off the roll.

Undercover Mexican Girl's Plastic Laundry Day

After watching the documentary Bag It and writing a review of the film on Popular Hispanics, it’s been at the front of mind to buy the reusable mesh or light cotton produce bags to carry loose vegetables or bulk items such as rice, beans, and nuts. It turns out I can buy them locally at Eco-Wise on South Congress, an “Austin resource for non-toxic, recycled, alternative, earth and eco friendly, natural supplies for building and life.” If there isn’t a place near you, you can always find them online at www.ecobags.com or www.reuseit.com, or support the Bag It documentary project by purchasing them on their online store.

In the meantime, you can do what I did. Rinse them out, hang them to dry, and give them a prolonged life before they inevitably wind up at the dump, and finally, in our oceans. Or instead of throwing them away, you have the following recycling options (via the City of Austin website):

• Many Austin retail grocers such as Central Market, H.E.B., Randalls, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods collect and recycle plastic bags. Look for the specially marked containers at these stores.
• Cycled Plastics in Austin is a public drop-off for plastic, including dry cleaner bags, newspaper sleeves and plastic bags that have had no food contact and have no labels or stickers on them. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 10200 McKalla Place. 
• Many schools in Austin have organized plastic bag recycling projects. Check with a nearby school to see if you can drop off and support their efforts. 

Virginia Fleck Recycled Art

If you’re a creative type, you can make your own recycled plastic craft projects such as a throw rug, a beach bag, or a raincoat. Or maybe something a bit more artistic? Find inspiration by checking out the work of Austin-based artist, Virginia Fleck, who has been working exclusively with recycled plastic bags since 2002, creating site specific ecologically conscious art works. If you need a little help to get started, check out Austin Green Art, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about important environmental issues via hands-on, creative, community-based programming & events.