Mahlum Architects

I heard on the news recently that China won’t take our plastics because it takes too much work to clean? I’ve got an idea - why don’t we all put our recyclables in the dishwasher with the rest of our dishes before we recycle it? (Including restaurants!)  Then we should recycle them locally. 

My new fav store in Ballard is the Eco Collective! They sell alternatives to every day plastic commodities like bento boxes, bamboo toothbrushes and reusable coffee filters. They have stuff for the kitchen, bath, living room and even things for your pet! I highly recommend the Seattle team to check it out! I am sure Portland has a store like...

I learned mid-week that Seattle accepts tissues, etc, as“compost” so will no longer be throwing these things in the garbage but rather the compost bin. That was a huge part of my trash this week. Some plastics I couldn’t avoid were clear tape and medical supplies - unless someone can recommend me a place to buy compostable band-aids...? 

My secret to making zero waste meals is to make handmade tofu. Almost ALL meat in grocery stores is wrapped in plastic so I buy soybeans in bulk and make tofu from it. The by-product of tofu, okara, is also great in breads and stir fry. It is also a great diet food since it is high in protein and low in calories. 

I watched the documentary film “Bag it” yesterday. Luckily bags have been banned or charged extra in most cities. But why haven’t other plastic goods not been banned yet? I propose banning paper/plastic cups next!!!! 

So many of the little things we use in our daily life contains plastic! Just the other day I discovered the sticks of my Qtips were plastic- how did I not notice this until now?!!!!

I spend an afternoon browsing through the local grocery stores looking for reusable/ silicone ziplock bags, but no luck... I will have to add to some extra packeging by ordering on Amazon... :S ... long term gains I guess...

I watched The Clean Bin Project, and was inspired by individual efforts to make small but impactful adjustments to ones own lives.

Using all the Tupperware over and over is our trick.  We bring into the store T-ware for olive oil, peanut butter, olives, soap etc.  Recently we have taken T-ware to restaurants on our bikes when we go out to dinner and put our left-overs in them instead of more plastic.

BYOC for bulk coffee beans, we go through a lot of coffee at my house and would go through a standard bag in a week or two. Almost all coffee bags are lined with plastic film and not recyclable or compostable. I'm about to embark on making home made whole grain mustard. I go through that fast and they all have the plastic seal on the jar.