apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Why not cancel the newspaper delivery altogether & read the news online?

Agreed! I'm also amazed by the amount of online-version magazine subscriptions too!

What about using cloth napkins? I use them at home (which begs the question about washing them -- a similar issue to cloth diapers vs disposable)

So given all the news in the media lately about plastic bags, I have a question. Ok, several:

If reuse paper or plastic, or better yet nylon or cotton bags for my shopping and decline all those new plastic bags, what do I do for garbage bags?

Is it better to buy a box of glad bags for my trash cans, or continue to accept the grocery bags and use them for trash?

Some of you will say "use paper trash bags and simply clean out your garbage can every week."

If I do that, and use a detergent of some kind to cut grease, odors, and bacteria, aren't I contributing to the chemical load in our water system?

I'm not being sarcastic or a smarty pants. I guess question that underlies these is: What behavior has the least impact? I'm not sure one way or another and would love a definitive answer. If there is one.

Great suggestions, all of these.

kimg: In response to your question: My husband and I decided long ago to forgo trash can liners. Because we compost all of our organic material (via our city's yard waste collection plan; before we moved to Seattle, we buried our compostable waste in our garden), we don't have to deal with funky food odors. This cuts most of the mess in the trash can.

Of course, now and again, some rancid cat food makes its way into the bin; when that happens, we scrub it with baking soda and vinegar. Lemon juice will do the trick, too. This way, you don't have to deal with sending harsh chemicals down your drain at rinse time. On a side note, the soda/vinegar solution works well for cleaning all kinds of things, from shower tiles to hair, believe it or not.

We still pack all of our trash to the dumpster in a plastic bag; still working on getting around that. I'm not convinced that biodegradable polymer bags are the way to go, given the toxicity of most decaying garbage. So many questions to work out.

Good luck, and keep thinking green.

While we try to be green, washing clothes in cold water doesn't do it for me. At least underwear, towels, and sheets get the hot water treatment in our house. The towels and sheets just smell better. When we lived in Albuquerque, that wasn't a problem because if you put your whites on the line they get blindingly bright. Nuevo Mexico! sigh.

I wish we could line dry, but our laundry would all end up pink, thanks to our bright red dirt!