Re-Use

I couldn't resist snapping this photo the other day of the kitchen counter.  I recently purchased a big stack of these plastic cups to bring to the community gardens on workdays.  It's been so hot that I felt obligated to provide water for folks, especially the kids, but I was troubled by the notion of all those disposable cups being generated. So for 25 cents a piece, I bought 80 of these cups, enough to use even when we have a potluck dinner or large event for our garden families. I also got a 5 gallon water cooler and just fill it with well water from the house so no disposable bottles are generated either.  It's not a big deal for me to wash them at home and I often put them in the dishwasher- even easier.

In addition, we wash and re-use ziploc bags at our house, I'm guessing 10-15 times before they wear out.  I don't know, but we really go through them especially at this time of year when there is lots of fresh produce moving through our kitchen from garden to fridge to table or freezer.  We often stop and wonder, are there people that use these bags once and throw them away?  If we did that we would be buying a box a week.  I'm not sure if there is any health risk related to the type of plastic, probably, but they are really handy and we use, and use and use them before they give out.

Just a drop in the bucket of our environmental load/footprint, but it's one thing that reduces our trash equation.  Recycling is good, we do lots of it, but re-use is even better I think.