What to Look For in a Reusable Bag

There are a ton (and that’s a conservative estimate) of reusable bags on the market right now, and as you may have noticed right now, they are not all created equal. From hundred-dollar designer charity bags made from authentic third-world rice sacks, to the super-cheap and bright-colored boxy ones hanging in a row by your […]

Encinitas and the Plastic Bag Ban: Part Deux

As we may recall, last month, Encinitas became the first city in San Diego County to move forward with a ban on disposable plastic bags. Thanks to the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce’s monthly circular, Encinitas First, I can keep you posted on the latest development in our environmental saga.
Jacy Bolden, City of Encinitas Environmental Advisory […]

IKEA Goes From Tax to Ban

Maybe it’s just personal bias based on their stylish furniture and tasty meatballs, but IKEA has always seemed to have a singular sense of practical-yet-extraordinary innovation. Example #1: my ridiculous indispensable Kitchen-in-a-Box set, awesome! Example #2: over a year ago (before it was popular!) IKEA was among the first companies to start advocating reusable bags. […]

Big Trouble with Little Garbage Disposals?

Please, Please, Please Actually USE Your Reusables

As we know, reusable bags are good. Very, very good. Every time we take them out, every time we halt the production of just a few more disposable plastic bags, we are doing a service to our planet. But what happens when we purchase reusable bags, take some more free promotion bags, and then consistently […]

Getting Down With Conservation in Ithaca

With a lack of any major news (which we have to admit is better than bad news), it seems like articles relating to recycling and conservation right now are getting more and more regionally specific. Last week we visited Olympia, WA, and Janesville, WI. Today, we continue on our Eastbound journey and end up in […]

Canada Tackling the Plastic Bag Issue

It’s another slow news day on the reusable bag front, but, at the very least, Canada is trying to get things done and make some headway on the subject. Sort of. At any rate, four major retail associations in the country have banded together to endorse a plan for significantly reducing the amount of plastic […]

Everything You Wanted To Know About Where To Take Your Recycling (And Weren’t Afraid to Ask)

More about recycling? It seems to be the Topic of the Week in the news right now, and that’s always encouraging so let’s roll with it. Up in Washington it seems that quite a few people have questions about where to take their own more dubious recyclables, and The Olympian is up to the task […]

Recycling Served Five Ways

We’re all about reduction and re-usage over here, but let’s face it — with all the product already floating around out there in the world, recycling is not just encouraged, but vital and crucial and necessary. Most people know to separate out their aluminum foil and plastic bottles from the rest of their trash, but […]

American Chemistry Council Promotes Beach Clean-Up

At this point, we should all be familiar with your friend and mine, the American Chemsitry Council. Famous for taking a stand in favor of the wonderful science of disposable plastic bags, they are one of the foremost and most formidable opponents in the quest to promote reusable bags. Oh, and now they are promoting […]