Greener Disposable Tableware

I try to limit my use of disposables as much as possible. Reusing something is, after all, the greenest option. But it’s not always practical. If I throw a kid’s birthday party with 20 guests, I need to clean up quickly and get on to the next activity. At the same time, I hate buying bags of plastic plates, knowing that they won’t biodegrade any time soon. In fact, they’ll probably still be around for thousands of years. On top of it all, they’re made from oil, a nonrenewable resource that requires intensive processing. Some plastic plates can technically be recycled, but most recycling facilities will ultimately reject and trash plastics that are greasy or oily. That makes for some pretty dim prospects for recycling plates that have come in contact with any food. All and all, while it’s really convenient, disposable tableware is basically an eco-nightmare all around.

So, I was intrigued when I found some “eco-friendly” alternatives to disposable plastics. But at the same time, I was skeptical. Could something that’s disposable ever really be eco-friendly? After digging deep into this question, I think the answer is a clear yes. In fact, I feel so good about these products that Green Irene is now offering a line of disposable tableware.

So what is this magic material? In a word, sugar – the source of many wonderful things. Green Irene’s plates, bowls, and cups are made from bagasse, a byproduct created during sugarcane processing. Before it was used for tableware, bagasse was burned as waste. Turning this waste product into something useful is much greener than cutting down forests to make paper plates. These products can be torn up and put in your indoor or outdoor composter. They can also be sent to a municipal compost facility, or recycled along with your paper products. Green Irene’s bagasse items can handle hot and cold foods, and they’re even safe for microwave use.

For more information about Green Irene’s disposable tableware, check out Ask Green Irene entry #1204. If you are not a member (which you are when you get a  Green Home Makeover or Green Office Makeover), your local eco-consultant can help you select and order Green Irene’s recommended eco-friendly plates, bowls, cups and utensils.

Rosamaria Caballero
The Original Green Irene Eco-Consultant
rosamaria.caballero@greenirene.com

Composting Made Easy

You may know there are many reasons to compost: creating rich soil that needs less chemical-laced fertilizer, saving money on gardening supplies, reducing the amount of garbage that gets mummified in landfills, saving fuel from trips to the dump, the list keeps going. Composting could have a big impact on the amount of trash we generate. A third of all landfill waste across the United States comes from garden clippings and kitchen waste. Instead of being trashed, those items could be put to use to create healthy soil. Starting a compost can be an intimidating prospect, but just a few tips can get you started in no time. 

• First you need a bin to house your compost. Green Irene offers both indoor and outdoor composters. A well-managed compost should have no smell, so housing your compost indoors won’t be an issue. 

• Some people use worms in their compost, also known as vermicompost. Worms create very rich soil, and these composts don’t have to be turned since the worms do the work for you. But you can be very successful without worms as well, so if you’re not a fan of worms don’t worry. We’ll leave vermicomposting out of the discussion here.
   
• The biggest key to composting is knowing what and how much to put in. You’ll be adding two different types of material: “greens” and “browns.” Greens are nitrogen-rich scraps like fresh grass clippings, vegetables and fruits. Browns are carbon-rich materials like twigs, dried leaves, newspapers, and hay. In general, you want have slightly more brown material than green material, although composting is more of an art than a science. 
   
• Many things in your home can be composted. In addition to the thing listed above, you can compost:
  • Tea bags (remove the staples)
  • Coffee grinds (if you use a paper filter, you can compost that too)
  • Saw dust
  • Wood chips
  • Fur/hair
  • Corn husks
  • All yard waste
     
• While you can compost many things, some things should not go into your compost. The following items will eventually breakdown, but they will take a long time and their smell may attract bugs. They’re best avoided: 
  • Grease and oil
  • Dairy products
  • Meat and bones
  • Citrus peels from lemons, oranges, etc. 
     
• Your compost should be fairly moist, about as damp as a rung out sponge. If your compost is too dry, try sprinkling it with some water. Avoid making it too wet, however. Overly-wet composts can start to smell. 
   
• Things biodegrade much faster when they’re hot. If you have an outdoor compost, try locating it some place that gets a lot of sun. For cooler climates, try moving your compost indoors (or into the garage) during the winter months.

A Green Irene Garden

Planting a Garden

Mary, Mary might have been quite contrary, but she knew before the Obamas did that a garden provides many benefits. Growing and cultivating your own garden grants you the ability to grow your own food while teaching you the invaluable lesson of how nature works right in your own backyard. Kids and adults alike love to observe the fruits and vegetables of their labors. Whether your garden is a fully-stocked organic vegetable patch or simply a few peppers and tomatoes in containers, gardening educates children about where their food comes from–that is, not from the store. I had the pleasure of planting a garden with my children this past weekend.  My son, who usually is loathe to lift a hand if something smells of work, declared that it was the most enjoyable activity he did all weekend, and has even volunteered to care for it from now on.

No Little Red Hens Here!

Before you plant, talk with your family about the produce that you might want to grow and eat.  How about a pizza garden, featuring tomatoes, basil, oregano, and onions? Or perhaps a Mexican fiesta patch of green tomatoes, cilantro, and jalapenos? Your kids would love a “Ratatouille” garden of tomatoes, squash, eggplant, zucchini, and rosemary. Involve your kids in planning, planting, tending and cooking, and you will be able to experience a complete journey from garden to plate. A side benefit for parents include lower grocery bills, as well as the chance that your child actually will be willing to eat (or at least try) a few vegetables.

Gardening Tips

– Water early in the morning or in the late evening to maximize water absorption.

- Consider a rain barrel.

- Keep it organic and weed by hand.

- Sprinkle coffee ground on your garden to enrich the soil

- Determine if you really need to water your lawn with Green Irene’s Soil Moisture Probe, shown at left, or Rain Gauge, shown at the right.

These items are available through ShopGreenIrene.

Don’t have enough room for a bed? Try a few pots. Other options for obtaining fresh produce and seeds include shopping your local farmers’ market, joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), or spending a few weekend mornings at a “you-pick” farm that lets you pick food yourself-who can resist delicious local berries? Another idea is to take advantage of community gardens offered by some local YMCAs and parks & recreation departments.

The benefits of growing your own food are bountiful, from saving money to the assurance that your food is safe to eat. Summer is the perfect time to start a garden, so start planting today!

Ellen Hall

Lebanon, OH Green Irene

ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com

513-932-7304

http://www.greenirene.com/CincyDaytonEllen

Green Products: From Niche Market to Mainstream

Commentary: With green products going mainstream and a White House determined to GREEN the economy, this is the right time to make the switch to more green products. Green IreneGreen Home Makeover. After your Local Eco-Consultant conducts a Green Home Makeover at your home, you can purchase recommended products right from Green Irene. You can purchase green products directly by going to SHOPGREENIRENE today! Green Irene offers a full line of green products that complements the Green Home Makeover.

Green product attributes are evolving into an important brand differentiator for consumers and can serve as a tiebreaker for shoppers evaluating similar products, according to results of a new study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Deloitte.

The organizations intercepted more than 6,400 consumers while shopping at 11 national chains and found more than half consider green attributes in their purchasing decisions. But there’s a big gap, however, between what they’re finding and actually buying. Less than half of the shoppers who looked for green products, for example, actually found them, and only 22 percent of those surveyed bought green products.

Although green attributes can sway shoppers, it’s not enough to put green products on the shelf, according to Brian Lynch, the director of sales and sales promotion at the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

“We have to better educate consumers and leverage in-store communication to make the sale,” Lynch said.

The survey, “Finding the Green in Today’s Shoppers: Sustainability Trends and New Shopper Insights,” separated shoppers into five broad categories: about 2 percent of the respondents in the survey were classified as “committed,” or those who buy based on sustainability attributes whenever possible; 18 percent said they are “proactive” and weigh environmental factors with other values most of the time; sustainable products “influence” 34 percent of respondents when all other things are equal.

A third of shoppers were neutral or unsure about these attributes. Thirteen percent of shoppers rejected or didn’t know about sustainability considerations.

According to the survey, it makes the most sense to target the “proactive,” “influenced” and “unsure” categories of shoppers for marketing. Green shoppers come with many desirable characteristics: they are loyal, less price sensitive and tend to shop more frequently.

However, a new Havas Media study of more than 20,000 consumers found most are skeptical of green marketing claims despite their interest in purchasing environmentally responsible goods and services, the New York Times reported.

Excerpted from Environmental News Network.

Why Going Green Today Is Important

There are many reasons why we need to move to a greener world as a society. In his most recent book titled Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, Lester R. Brown not only outlines the facts about increasing consumption and degradation of natural resources, including its consequences, but also lays out a plan for reversing escalating negative trends. The problems described below conform a strong reason why homes and small businesses should do as much as they can to reduce their footprint regardless of the economic benefits they may accrue by doing so. An easy way to take quick action is to sign up with Green Irene for a Green Home Makeover or a Green Office Makeover, services that will help you take specific steps to reduce your footprint, in many cases while saving money.

A Civilization in Trouble

The world is currently facing a backlog of unresolved and sometimes worsening social and environmental problems. These include:

• Rapid population growth, which threatens to increase consumption rates and therefore resource degradation;
• Falling water tables and drying rivers, leading to a global freshwater crisis that will just get worse with climate change;
• Shrinking forests, which not only reduces what’s available for future use, but also affects biodiversity and its impact on human systems;
• Eroding soils and increasing deserts, which are leading to the loss of agricultural land and putting pressure on food prices globally;
• Collapsing species stocks, especially fisheries and species of great value to ecosystem stability. In turn, this leads to deterioration of ecosystem services, including water filtration, climate regulation, food provision, flood control, and materials provision; and
• Climate change, which not only threatens to force species to extinction, but also harm human civilization in significant ways, such as by flooding major coastal cities, impacting agricultural output, spreading infectious diseases, and increasing storm-related damage.

The Way Forward

The only way to avert these and many other problems our own activities are causing, we need to take decisive action ourselves. We need the government to shape the path towards a greener future, but we also need to make changes ourselves to reduce our footprint on the planet. That’s where Green Irene comes in.

Green Irene is ready to help American homes and businesses go green. Our trained eco-consultants are equipped to provide you with the necessary information and guidance to implement specific measures in your home and/or business to go green while saving money. Going GREEN is no longer about just reducing your footprint for the sake of future generations; it’s also about saving money now!

Green Irene also has a full support team that is ready to answer any questions you may have. We do the necessary research for you to implement changes to go green and provide clients access to our comprehensive online greenbase, Ask Green Irene. The time could not be better to take action. Going green today is responsible and strategic as it will help you save money in these difficult times. So, don’t wait any longer, go green today with Green Irene!

Rosamaria Caballero Stafford
Co-Founder and the Original Green Irene

Going Green

What does it take to go green? The first step is to build awareness, and those who build enough of it arrive there from different paths. For some, repeated stories in the media of climate change influence their perspective. For others, it may be a personal conviction for human or nature’s rights. Yet for others, the shift comes from dealing with a personal illness – a child with asthma or Aspergers, a parent with Alzheimers, or a spouse’s cancer – that raises questions about how human actions impact our health. Whether the journey begins from an isolated experience or results from a confluence of factors, in the end it is about getting there (thinking green) and wanting to make changes that matter.

The second step – action – can be more of a challenge. Even after we pledge to become better environmental stewards, taking the initiative can be overwhelming, especially when your efforts may be belittled by those around you. When that happens, you can become defeated by the perceived futility of your individual impact. This is where Green Irene can be a valuable support network. Not only can the Eco-Consultants provide actionable and effective ways to green your home or small business, Green Irene also provides assistance and encouragement through its Ask Green Irene service. Green Irene is creating a community through which you can sustain your own sustainability efforts. With this type of support, you’ll soon find that going green is really pretty easy.

If you’re interested in learning more and Going Green with Green Irene in Cincinnati, Ohio, contact:

Ellen Hall

http://www.greenirene.com/CincyDaytonEllen

ellen.cincydayton@greenirene.com
513-932-7304