Here’s help to do little things that make a big difference! Comments and counsel from Jaco ten Hove, Master Composter and Recycler, Bellingham WA

BLOG LIST (all introduced briefly below)

  • BLOG LAUNCH. Why Bother?

  • Can You Say Waste Diversion?

  • The Spoils of Recycling:
    WHAT CONTAMINATES OUR BEST INTENTIONS?

  • “What Goes ‘Round…”
    Circular Logic Carries the Day!

  • Holidaze, Parties,
    and Gifts—Oh, My!

  • On At Least Trying

  • Fork the Straws!

  • The China Dynamic of 2018

BLOG LAUNCH. Why Bother?

First off, we all do the best we can as we try to address the dramatic dynamic of climate disruption. I figure there’s the big, global aspects that can seem beyond reach for many of us, and then there’s the low hanging fruit, as it were, which could be in our backyard - - literally.

I was recently tabling at the local county fair for our Master Composting and Recycling booth, and found I could draw in some passers-by with the cold question: “Do you know what the word of the day is?” If they nibbled, I’d say, “Well, it’s actually two words: “Waste Diversion.” And maybe we’d be able to go a bit deeper into what that phrase means and implies.

Can You Say Waste Diversion?

The Spoils of Recycling

WHAT CONTAMINATES OUR BEST INTENTIONS?

Maybe you’ve heard of “aspirational recycling,” which is when good people think they’re doing the right thing (aspiring to right action) by putting certain waste material into a recycling container because they think or expect that it is - - or should be - - included there. Noble as this wishful thinking might be, it can often lead to contamination of not just the immediate items but also of an entire batch…

“What Goes ‘Round…”

Circular Logic Carries the Day!

You may have heard of “biomimicry,” which is the emerging science that seeks to understand (rather logically, I think) how the Earth has successfully managed its extraordinarily diverse eco-systems for lo, these many millennia. With greater awareness of this dimension of our planetary existence, we can design our human-centered mechanisms with similar logic and structure, in some harmony with the natural world all around us. 

Holidaze,
Parties,
and Gifts—Oh, My!

Have you noticed that December seasonal activities generate a high degree of waste? In the spirit of these holidays we participate graciously and generously in all sorts of activities that are often festively festooned with items that likely end up in the waste stream (what doesn’t get eaten, at least).

On At Least Trying

We are caught between a rock and a hard place, my friends, knowing how much waste material is polluting our world, and how seemingly insignificant our own actions might feel in the face of this enormous garbage onslaught. What’s a waste-conscious person to do? How do we avoid an immobilizing resignation at the sheer size of this dilemma?

Fork the Straws!

Ever had a drink of something at an establishment and it came with a plastic straw? You probably didn’t ask for that piece of relatively rigid plastic, and it will very probably go right into the landfill trash after your nasty lips touch it, along with 500 million other such straws in America PER DAY. (Double that number for the whole planet.)

The China Dynamic
of 2018

I get asked about China's 2018 ruling to restrict incoming recyclables, which has indeed impact all our communities on this side of the Pacific...