ROOM FOR A PONY

Exploring what life could be like if we weren’t buried in clutter, burdened with too many possessions, and surrounded by chaos.

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Entries Tagged as 'non-recyclables'

Is your plastic rejected by curbside trash collectors? Don’t worry, it’s not about you.

March 12th, 2014 · No Comments · Plastics Recycling, Recycling, Trash Disposal

As we learned in my last post, if the recycling plant can’t sell it, they don’t want it. Why would they? So if they’re saying “NO, we don’t take x, y, and z,” it’s not because they’re being uncooperative. It’s because there’s no stable market for it. Key word: stable. They can’t take a plastic for […]

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That little recyling symbol: what does it really mean?

March 9th, 2014 · No Comments · Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling, Recycling

On plastics, you’ll see a little number in the middle of it. What that number means is a topic for a future post. It’s not what you’d think, and it’s kind of complicated. The good news is there’s only one key thing to remember:  “Just because something is recyclable SOMEWHERE, doesn’t mean it’s recyclable where […]

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“When in doubt, Throw it out!”

March 5th, 2014 · No Comments · Garbage, Recycling, Trash Disposal

I know you’ve heard that little maxim. And I’m sorry to tell you that yes, “throw it out” means into the Garbage — i.e., not the recycling. And I know that’s painful for you. You WANT everything to be recyclable — but it’s not. I used to suffer from the same illness — which by […]

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The seamy underbelly of Halloween decor

October 12th, 2013 · No Comments · Consumer Issues, Decoration Industry, Disposability, Excess of Possessions, Manufacturing

In the summer of 1975 I got a job in a factory that made cardboard Halloween skeletons. My job was to rivet the legs and arms onto the skeletal torso. As the parts came down a conveyor belt, I would grab them furtively and rivet. Then an arm and then a leg and then an […]

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New word: Greenwashing

September 29th, 2013 · No Comments · Consumer Issues, Multiple use, Toxic Waste, Trash Disposal

I’ve just found the word — I knew there had to be one — for something we’re all seeing an awful lot of these days. It refers to the attempt to make a product or company look like it’s “green” when it is so very not. Here’s a perfect example: remember checks? or as the Brits […]

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Where to get rid of Styrofoam blocks in Portland

June 13th, 2013 · 4 Comments · Disposability, Packaging, Polystyrene, Recycling, Trash Disposal

I have to admit I’ve been feeling somewhat holy about going to the trouble of schlepping our huge Styrofoam blocks out to one of the only two places in Portland that will take them. I feel less holy after what I’ve just found out. …. which I’ll tell you about in a minute. But first […]

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Why we don’t want to be inhaling or swallowing Styrofoam

June 10th, 2013 · No Comments · brain theory, Consumer Issues, Disposability, Trash Disposal

It’s not rocket surgery. All you have to do is watch the surface of any hot liquid in one of those Styrofoam cups to see it forming a slick on your drink. When every cell in my body goes “Ew!” I pay attention. I may not be a scientist, but my body knows a few […]

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Spontaneous Post-Carnage Shrines: Dead flowers and wet teddy bears

May 2nd, 2013 · No Comments · Decluttering, Disposability

I’ve become so obsessed with the waste stream that even in the midst of tragedies, my mind goes to to the garbage issues. By now the explosion debris at the Boston Marathon has been cleaned up, but I always wonder: what about these mountainous offerings of flowers and stuffed animals that accumulate in the outpouring […]

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