Look what I found!

I'm generally not a fan of "Big Box Stores", and much prefer to shop local boutiques and privately owned "non-chain" shops. When I have a need for a specific item, I check in at all our little local shops for that item first, and then check out the big box stores in our community. But if I can't find my needed item locally, I frequently succumb to ordering it on Amazon. Adding the cost of shipping, not to mention the waste of resources to get that item to me, does cause a twinge in my guilty conscience.

Let me digress for a moment. As big corporations and big box stores go, IKEA has been trying to improve their sustainability model since their founding in 1943 as a furniture mail order firm specializing in simple, wooden furniture. They are presently fully committed to a circular model, intending as much product as possible is made from recycled and renewable material. For instance, their 100 % cotton woven rag utility rugs are made from fabric scraps from their bed linen  manufacture.

I seldom have the opportunity to spend a lot of time by myself in an IKEA store but this week I did have a chance to browse to my hearts content. I usually head directly for the kitchen department because I just never know what new, interesting or useful gadgets might be lurking there to catch my attention.

Trying to move away from plastic in general in my life, but single use plastic specifically, I have stopped buying plastic food storage bags. Imagine my surprise to discover over the past 2 years IKEA has partnered with a company called NESTE to manufacture their ISTAD zip-loc storage bags from bio-plastic made from sugar cane. My daughter introduced me to ISTAD a couple of years ago, and after multiple uses and washings they still have not sprung a leak. I will keep using these until they are gone, but I'll try hard not to buy any more.

Ikea is also a great place to find all sorts of nice wooden utensils, fabric placemats, baskets, and long lasting glassware. But my big find this week was glass refrigerator containers!


IKEA has introduced a line of glass storage containers called 365+. They come in dozens of sizes and shapes,  have 3 different types of lids to choose from! Both  the round and rectangular shapes come in several different depths and are sold separately from the lids, so one can choose the lid most suitable for the intended use. Lids range from clip on plastic to bamboo, to glass  with a silicone gasket. You can even buy a package of different colored silicone gaskets to identify the container for individual family members, or food identification. I'm excited to find glass refrigerator dishes with silicone insert lids! I hope they keep selling them for some time in the future so I can stock up.




If you have found any all glass refrigerator storage containers, other than IKEA, I'd love to know about it! Thanks for continuing the conversation!

B.

What Would Ellen Do?

Recently a friend introduced me to Dame Ellen MacArthur. Well, not in person, but to her larger than life persona in the work she is doing internationally to help us eliminate waste. Hailing from a well educated middle class family in the English Midlands, Ellen MacArthur saved her school lunch money to buy her first boat. She was eventually able to fulfill her lifelong dream of sailing solo around the world, and  the overwhelmingly intense mental and physical challenge of that experience brought her to realize her mission in life. To get a feel for Ellen and her personality- Take a look at these two short Youtube videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooIxHVXgLbc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6MLFJDddM4 

The idea of moving away from a linear economy where everything is manufactured simply with the goal of it's usage in mind, toward developing a circular economy, where any product is designed not only for use, but for it's "after-life", challenges us to a completely new way of thinking. For instance, what if when a refrigerator is manufactured, there was a plan in place to return it for complete dismantling and reclamation of each of its components when it no longer functioned as a refrigerator? Could  the metal casing be broken down and re-used as sheet metal, or smelted down and reformed? Could the plastic insides be processed into new parts for a new refrigerator or other appliance? Could the compressor be rebuilt and given new life? In other words, what if every material going into the manufacture of that refrigerator had a predestined use for extracting every bit of usefulness from it at the end of it's life as a refrigerator?

Here is a chart the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has published which illustrates what a circular economy would look like.

What if as consumers, each time we purchase a product we consider what we will do with it when we no longer have a use for it? The onus is not just on us, although our dollars have an enormous impact on manufacturing and marketing- because we do get what we ask for- but many sectors of the economy are beginning to consider this idea. 

Here is a little clip of Dame Ellen when she was interviewed at a conference of the fashion industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh8-fBpm0v8

And speaking of fashion- not that I am such a fashion plate- but I do love jJill clothes. they fit well and wear well and I can find amazing sales in the stores or online. I have a few pieces of their clothing I have had for 20 years! However, this company which began by only manufacturing clothing from natural materials, has over the years, moved into the field of polyesters and other man-made materials for some of their styles. I recently wrote a letter to them expressing my displeasure on this subject, and guess what? I got a response back, thanking me for my insights, and letting me know they are moving back into the natural fiber arena as they are able.  So! Much of their new line is now manufactured from organic cotton!!! Check this out! 

jJill Asymmetrical drape color jacket in organically grown 100% cotton!

I am sure they didn't change their whole approach just because of my one letter. But I am sure, if I was feeling this way, many others must also have communicated their thoughts. Customer pressure works!

So what is the big deal about switching from man made fibers to natural fibers? For one thing, most man made fibers are petroleum based ( polyester os basically plastic). Man made fibers do not break down in the environment for thousands of years, if ever., while natural fibers such as cotton, wool and silk degrade very quickly.  Our ocean flora and fauna are becoming clogged with tiny fragments of man made fiber- and I don't know about you, but I do not want to eat polyester in my clams and oysters! Not to mention the hundreds of sea turtled, sea birds, whales and other fish whose bellies are stuffed with plastic bits and pieces- but that is a subject for a future blog post.

If you have an interest in joining the world wide revolution regarding how we can all strive toward a Waste Less lifestyle, so we can leave a cleaner, greener planet to our descendants, take a little time to study amazing work this amazing woman, Dame Ellen MacArther is doing through her foundation. 

https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org

I'm starting to look at my life through a different lens. Before I make a purchase I'm starting to ask myself "What would Ellen do"?

Stay tuned, and if you wish to join the conversation, feel free to comment and let me know how you are eliminating waste in your life. 

Barb