Leaving Small Footprints

Using green alternatives is about making smart choices in your life about the simple things. Many times, it's the simple choices we make that can make the most difference...recycling with the blue container instead of just throwing the plastic bottle away, choosing less toxic alternative products to clean your home, ridding your life of junk mail, learning to compost, choosing to shop in local stores and buy locally produced products that reduce carbons and emissions in the transportation of products.

Learn to live sustainably – Sustainability is an idea and a movement that focuses on meeting the needs of those of us living in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Monterey County residents and businesses can visit the Protect Your Central Coast website for even more tips, facts, and resources on everyday ways to reduce waste.

The FIVE R's: Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Rot, Recycle

Now that we have fully embraced "Reduce, Reuse Recycle," there are two more “R's" to learn.

Reduce

Don’t create waste if you don’t have to.

  • Use refillable bottles instead of buying a gazillion water bottles.

  • Copy documents on both sides of the paper instead of single-sided copying.

  • Use cloth bags at stores and just say NO to paper AND plastic.

Reuse

Reuse everything you can. If it's useful to someone else, give it away. If it’s recyclable, recycle it.

  • Reuse Binders, manila folders, and shipping envelopes.

  • Clothing, toys, and gardening implements can be donated to thrift stores such as Last Chance Mercantile, Goodwill Industries, and the Salvation Army.

  • Paint can be given to the drop-off location at Last Chance Mercantile, where it is offered to folks for free.

Repair

Fix stuff before tossing it and buying new.

  • Buy a knife sharpener and revive your dull knives.

  • Clean up your rusty garden tools by soaking them in a solution of vinegar and salt for 24 hours.

    • Sharpen all of your garden tools each year before you put them away for the season.

  • Buy furniture and products that last and fix or re-finish them to give them a new look.

Rot

Kitchen scraps and yard trimmings are too valuable to bury in landfills.

  • Approximately 40% of each residential cart destined for the landfill is food, and it is bulky and heavy.

  • State law now prohibits the placement of food scraps or yard waste in the trash cart.

    • Organic materials can be placed in your green organics cart or the food scraps carts provided for restaurants.

  • Compost makes great soil; children love composting and can learn a lot about science if encouraged to participate in this fun process.

Recycle

Last but not least. If you cannot do something else with your stuff, find a way to recycle it.

Eliminating Junk Mail

Choose the mail you want; stop the junk you don't.
Junk mail is advertising of one sort or another that arrives in your postal mailbox along with the mail you want or need. It's impossible to eliminate all of it, but you can substantially reduce the amount of junk mail you receive by completing a few simple tasks.

How did they get your name to begin with?
When you purchase a product or service and give the company your name and address, you are likely being added to one or more mailing lists used for direct marketing. When you purchase something or input your information for a survey, drawing, etc., your name, address, and other contact information, as well as the type of product or service, is entered into a computer database, which they may share with other companies use to solicit new products and services to you.

General techniques for preventing junk mail:
Whenever you donate money, order a product or service, or fill out a warranty card, write in large letters, "Please do not sell my name or address." Most organizations will properly mark your name on the computer.

Product warranty cards often collect information on your habits and income to target direct mail. They are not required in most situations - avoid sending them;

On the telephone, ask, "Please mark my account so that my name is not traded or sold to other companies."

Your credit card company probably sells your name the most often. Keep reading their mailers for the proper way to “opt out” of their information-sharing programs.

"Contests," where you fill in a little entry blank, are almost always fishing expeditions for names. If you fill one out at a football game, expect to get a catalog of football merchandise within a few months. Avoid these if you don't want the mail.

First-class mail: Cross out the address and bar code, circle the first-class postage, and write "Refused: Return to Sender." It will be returned to the sender if you drop it in any mailbox.

Bulk mail: The post office throws away bulk mail it can't deliver, so returning it does no good. Bulk mail is the hardest to deal with because the USPS actively provides addresses, support, and encouragement to mailers. However, if "address correction requested" is written on the label, circle it and treat it like first-class mail.

Sexually Oriented Advertising (SOA): The only help you'll get from the Post Office in controlling junk mail is for explicit stuff. Fill out USPS Form 1500 if you wish this type of mail to stop. You define what you find to be explicit -- if it’s an automobile parts catalog, the post office won't disagree with you.

Credit Offers: The major credit agencies sell aggregate credit information to any bidder. Direct mail and credit companies generate mail based on demographics, including zip code, income band, and credit payment patterns. Stopping this is easy. You just need your address, a former address within two years, and your social security number. One call does it all for agencies Equifax, Trans Union, Experian, and Innovis. Dial 1-888-5 OPTOUT (or 1-888-567-8688) 24 hours a day.

Catalogs: Call the company's toll-free number and have the label handy. Write your instructions on the mailing label and fax it to the company. Mark "ATTN: customer service.” Tear off the label, write your instructions, and enclose it in the postage-paid ordering envelope. Mark envelope "ATTN: customer service." This method is the least effective.

Too much junk to deal with individually? Send a postcard or letter to Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 15012-0643. Include your complete name, address, zip code, and a request to "activate the preference service." For up to five years, this will stop mail from all member organizations that you have not specifically ordered products.

The Direct Marketing Association estimates that listing with their mail preference service will stop 75% of all national mailings. They process 50,000 requests a month, keeping requests active for five years. If you fill out the post office change of address form, the DMA will track the new address (you'll get a few months of mailings to the new address before they catch up to you). It can take up to six months for your request to be fully processed. You can also opt out online, but they charge $5. The best way is to fill out their online form and mail them a printout.

Why Buy Local?

People throughout the country are rediscovering the benefits of buying locally. Food can be fresher and tastier because of when it was picked and how it was grown. Buying local also means you are supporting local economies. Annually, Americans consume more than $600 billion in food. In most communities today, food is purchased entirely at a grocery store or market, with only about 7% of local food dollars staying in the community. The other 93% of the modern food dollar travels to pay processors, packagers, distributors, wholesalers, truckers, and fuel, to name a few that a global food system demands. When more food dollars stay in the community through local buying, communities end up with thriving main streets and local jobs. Learn more about why buying local is important. 

There are countless reasons why buying local food is a good choice.  For instance, vegetables are harvested closer to their maturity which adds to their flavor and increased nutritional value.  You support the local economy, use less fuel, create less pollution by reducing the transportation process.

It's Educational
Frequenting local markets allow you to be more aware of food seasons, where foods are grown and how to use and enjoy foods you may have never seen or attempted to experiment with in a traditional supermarket.

Reduces "Food Miles"
"Food miles" refer to the distance a food item travels from the farm to your home. The food miles for items in the grocery store are, on average, 27 times higher than the food miles for goods bought from local sources.

In the U.S., the average grocery store's produce travels nearly 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and your refrigerator. 

About 40% of our fruit is produced overseas and, even though broccoli is grown all over the country, the broccoli we buy at the supermarket travels an average of 1,800 miles to get there. Notably, nine percent of our red meat comes from foreign countries, some as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

Saves Natural Resources
When food is transported across countries, hauled in freighter ships over oceans, and flown around the world. A tremendous amount of fossil fuel is burned to transport foods such long distances, releasing carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and other pollutants that contribute to global climate change, acid rain, smog and air and sea pollution. The refrigeration required to keep our fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats from spoiling during their long journeys burn up even more fossil fuel.

Buying Local Helps Your Economy
Buying locally or directly from farmers can dramatically increase a farmer's income. Buying direct from a farmer sends 90% of those food dollars back to the farm. Increasing farm income means more money can be spent locally by the farmer to run their business and home, helping keep the local economy flourishing.

Less Toxic Cleaning Alternatives

Try these non-toxic or less-toxic products as alternatives to hazardous household chemicals. While a little more "elbow grease" may have to be used with some of these products, the benefits in terms of improved indoor air quality, decreased exposure to chemicals, fewer waste disposal concerns, convenience, and lower costs should make the switch easy.

All-Purpose Green Cleaner

Ingredients:

2 cups white vinegar

2 teaspoons of your favorite essential oil (grapefruit or peppermint smell wonderful)

6 drops of food coloring (to help remind you there is a cleaning product in the bottle)

tap water

2 tablespoons dish soap (use one with no phosphates)

Supplies: 1-gallon plastic bottle with lid (you can make smaller amounts directly into your spray bottle by cutting the ingredients by 1/4)

Instructions: Add white vinegar, food coloring, and essential oil to the bottle in this order. Fill the rest of the bottle with cold tap water, leaving about 2 inches of space at the top. Add liquid dish soap (adding soap last prevents bubbles), close the lid, and gently tip the bottle back and forth to blend the ingredients.

How to Use: Use as you would any other all-purpose household cleaner. Put it in a spray bottle and use it in the kitchen, bathrooms, and for general cleaning. It is not for use on glass or windows.


Non-Toxic Green Cleanser

Ingredients:

Borax

Coarse salt (like Morton Kosher salt)

Baking soda

Essential oil (peppermint smells great!)

Supplies:

Plastic shaker bottle (Try recycling an old parmesan cheese shaker bottle)

Plastic funnel

Wire whisk

Instructions: The amount of each ingredient will depend on the size of your shaker bottle. Pour equal parts (1/3) Borax, (1/3) salt, and (1/3) baking soda into your container. Empty into a mixing bowl and blend ingredients with a whisk to break up any lumps in the baking soda or Borax. Mix in 10-20 drops of the essential oil. Stir well and carefully pour back into the shaker container using your funnel.

How to Use: Use as you would any other mildly abrasive cleanser. The coarse salt adds to the scrubbing action, and the baking soda and Borax leave a clean finish. Use in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Shower & Tub Cleaner

Caution: The ingredients in this cleaner can leave shower and tub floors slippery! Make sure to wash down all surfaces completely after cleaning.

Ingredients:

White vinegar

Dawn dishwashing liquid (any other degreasing dish soap will work)

Supplies: Spray bottle (any size)

Instructions: Fill your spray bottle half full with white vinegar. Slowly fill the remaining half with Dawn dishwashing liquid. Fill the bottle in this order to avoid foaming as it fills. Replace the spray nozzle and shake well.

How to Use: Use as you would any shower or tub spray cleaner. Spray on the tile, sink, or tub, and scrub the entire surface. Let the cleaner sit for a while before rinsing. This cleaner is good for removing body oils that trap dirt on surfaces. The vinegar leaves a clean finish on all surfaces, including hard water deposits on faucets and handles.