Eco Friendly House And Garden

Reusable bags are all around us these days – but what are the pro’s and cons?

I myself use several types of different bags for different occasions – but my friend thinks that they are the worst thing ever! Why are there so many types and why wouldn’t you like them?

Their Purpose In Life:
After listening to my friend discussing why he didn’t like my reusable bags – I asked him why they were invented in the first place. He went for the eco friendly angle – but in reality, they are just a replacement for a plastic carrier bag.

photo credit: Rachel Medina

Now I really don’t like plastic bags from supermarkets as they have no real shape, they are noisy, they tear easily, they are painful to carry if heavy and you can’t put them over your shoulder to carry. However, my reusable bags are the opposite to all this.

Bulky Jute Bag:
My bulky jute bag has great shape to it, even when set on the floor. The handles are soft and wide and just long enough to sit over my shoulder if I want to shift the weight.

It is larger than A4 so I can keep books and notes in it, and being open-topped I can easily get things out and find things as and when needed.

It does have its downsides though; firstly this open-topped feature means that security is low when I am in a crowd or when I take a rest and place my bag on the floor, and if I don’t have anything in the bag (like on the way to the library) you can’t fold it up and it tends to flap about in the wind.

Flimsy Cotton Bag:
I have several flimsy white cotton bags with various different companies advertising on the side – but all are basically the same shape and size. They are very easy to shove into my rucksac or other bags so that when finding something extra to carry they can flap open and be filled with goodies.

They are a light as a feather and so I can take all 4 out with me without them becoming a nuisance – and I am not too bothered if I carry them around all day and don’t use them.

And they can be washed.

Their downside is that they have no structure whatsoever and loading them up 1-handed can be a bit of a pain sometimes. With the extra long and thin handles (perfect for over the shoulder action) they can get all tangled up when trying to unfold and carrying them by your side is impossible – as they drag along the floor.

The Result?
Well, I just love my reusable bags (including the fact that nearly all of them were free with a promotion) and although they each have their uses – they are a zillion times better than plastic carriers – and much easier to use than a bulky rucsack with zips (and the fact that it is on your back!).

I mean, if you get them any bigger, they would just be holdalls – which are of course – reusable bags too!

I think that small reusable bags have filled a niche that needed filling – with or without their perfect eco credentials – and I would be just as happy to use a non-organic material reusable bag over a carrier anyday.

photo credit: New Internationalist

A seemingly perfect eco friendly product could have a naughty little secret……

When people see an eco friendly alternative, or a potentially eco friendly product – they might not always see the whole story – and this is where enbodied energy comes in to the picture.

Basically – there is a hidden trail of things that go into making anything – and this trail could hold some less than eco friendly pathways that you hadn't thought of before.

They aren't all bad though – they just need to be taken into consideration when weighing up one thing against the other – for example local grapes might use more energy to grow than South African grapes – even though they have used less energy to transport to market.

But to make all this easier to understand, let's look at what embodied energy really means: "…..the total energy used to create a product from scratch and then dispose of it after use".

However, when you really pick this apart it includes an awful lot of things – so lets look at those grapes now.  So, we need to grow the grapes, pick them, pack them and get them to the shop – simple?  Not very……

photo credit: martingarri

Embodied energy would include the following list of things:

1) Maintaining the vine since the last harvest – which includes feeding, watering, clipping, treating and possibly heating or covering throughout the winter – which includes all the creation of all the chemicals used from scratch, energy to pipe the water, energy to move people and products to and from the site, energy to dispose of waste products, energy to heat or create covers for plants and the energy to create and maintain the necessary tools for the job.

2) Harvesting the grapes – which includes transporting all the staff and equipment to and from the vines, including and refrigeration, storage and internal transport of the grapes once harvested.  And the energy needed to dispose of all the waste created by this process.

3) Packing the grapes – which includes all the packaging needed to wrap and protect the grapes while they are moved through the packing process (and the energy needed to make all this packaging in the first place and the energy to package the packaging and transport it to the vineyard), energy to run the machines, conveyers, and storage facilities while stored and before transportation.  And the energy needed to dispose of all the waste created by this process.

4) Transporting the grapes – which includes all the energy needed to chill and protect the grapes while they are in transit – this of course will include all the energy needed to fuel the transport from vineyard to warehouse and could include road, rail and ship or air freight (and of course all the energy needed to keep that transport in tip top condition for transporting the product in the first place!).  You will also need to use a small amount of energy in all the paperwork that needs to be completed as the product changes hands and moves through countries.

And after they get to the warehouse – they may be repackaged and re-loaded onto other modes of transport to go to individual shops, and then are stored, protected, chilled and moved around the stores using yet more energy.  And of course, all the energy needed to dispose of all the waste created by this process.

You then need to buy them from the shop – using the tills and bags and your car or bus for transport which of course are all made of energy – and then you use your fridge to chill them, your water to wash them and your electricity to dishwash your kitchenware and then your bin bags to dispose of the stalks and packaging (and the dustmen have to use energy in their vans to collect it!).

Is That All?

Now, obviously this is a very detailed story of a grape's embodied energy – but is very simplistic as there are many things that haven't even been calculated here!  And who want's to have to think about all of that when choosing grapes for tea?

However, there are some very simple things you can think of when choosing between 2 or more products for their eco friendly qualities – and this is one of them.

By thinking of the processes that have gone into making each of the products, you can get a clearer picture of it's qualities. 

So, yes, those local grapes did only travel 20 minutes down the road to your local market – but did they have to use tonnes of energy-rich fertilisers to maintain in a not-the-best-suited environment as well as megawatts of heating to keep them alive through the winter waiting for the next harvest!  

Or is the energy of transporting those African grapes (which were grown in a perfect environment with no need for heating or treating) less overall?

So, the concept of embodied energy can switch many 'simple' ideas on their head – but it is itself a very difficult thing to put your finger on.  As you can see from the breakdown above – there are so many factors that it may be near impossible to fully estimate!

But at least you know what it is now!

I Checked My Own Toiletries Products To Prove I was Below Average……..

……and the results were a shock to me!

Now, I hardly use any toiletries on a daily basis.  By this I mean that I don’t wear perfume, style my hair or wear make-up every day.  It’s rare to do these things once a month even – but I was still amazed at my chemical usage!

After writing my recent article: 7 Tips For Eco Friendly Health & Beauty, I went to bed as usual and actually remembered to put some night cream on my face (not something I do every night - but that night, I looked at the ingredients:

41 there were in total!  In 1 tiny product.

That is almost unbelievable for what I thought was a simple anti-wrinkle face cream – so I took a good look at everything else toiletries-wise that I had used that day:

Shower Gel:             19
Anti-Perspirant        10
Dandruff Shampoo  35
Sore Neck Cream      13
Hand Soap               28
Night Cream             41

Total:                    136 ingredients!!!!!!

10 more than the average!  I dread to think what my friends use, what with nail varnish, make-up, hair care products, perfumes, body lotions, shaving creams and cleansing products!

Surely, we are just too accepting of the advertising or the packaging on the shelf.  Why have I never wondered why these products need so many components?

I have often wondered why the food I eat – like flavoured crisps or cakes – have so many added ingredients, but never my toiletries which ultimately enter my body through my skin.  And here I haven’t included toothpaste (16) and washing up liquid (10) or the washing powder I use that stays on my clothes (15) amongst others.

But do more eco-friendly products actually have less ingredients, the same number but ‘better’ ingredients, or just less and better ingredients?

The Competition:
Well, I had a peak at some eco friendly products to compare, and here are some of the results:

Ecover Washing Up Liquid: 10
Same number of ingredients but more plant-based ingredients.  But I suppose that even daffodils are toxic to humans, right?

The Body Shop eau de toilette: 5
One of these is water (aqua) anyway, but the first (and therefore the largest) ingredient is described as ‘ethanol which has been rendered toxic!’.  However, we know it wasn’t tested on animals!

Ethical Superstores Lavera Anti-Dandruff Shampoo: 23
Quite a few less, but still quite high I think.  It’s vegan friendly and has some organic ingredients.  All of the ingredients were either plant extracts or not on the ‘dangerous’ list when it comes to chemicals!

Neals Yard Night Cream: 17
Well, it hasn’t got the anti-aging claims of my current face cream – but then I still think I look wrinkly – so maybe it’s not worth all the extra chemicals anyway!  Most of these ingredients are known herbal ingredients to help with skin, etc.  It all looks very nice on the packaging!

Mine has many ingredients that I cannot pronounce and includes a muscle relaxant, several known irritants, an ingredient used in paint solvents, an ingredient used to repair roofs and make basketballs, a lubricating oil and a fuel additive!

Maybe I will think twice when I buy my replacement products!  And a future article will no doubt show my findings on which ingredients to avoid in your own toiletries and cosmetics!

What about you?  What’s your worst product in terms of number of ingredients!  Add up your normal days worth and let us know!

Several continuous small steps are better than one big single one.

I have put together some simple steps in the ‘beauty & fashion’ department that can help you make a move over to more environmentally friendly products without too much hassle.  And it can be a bit of fun too.

Many people are worried about which brand of this they should chose or what brand of that is better – but really the answer is to change bits of your lifestyle not just swap one thing for another.

It is always easiest to Reduce – this is the key to sustainable and eco friendly living.  Reuse comes a close second and of course never forget to Recycle – but focus on the life cycle of the items you are buying or thinking of buying and follow it from production, through use and then to disposal.

This brings me to the first fashion tip:

1) Stop Shopping!  The greenest products and clothes are those items you already have.  They have already been made – and it’s up to you to use them or recycle them.

If you decide to become ‘green’ overnight and go and buy something ‘organic’ or ‘bio-degradable’ instead – you are wasting all the energy, transport and ingredients that have gone into the one you already have, but are going to leave on the shelf.  Wasted.

We need to Reduce our consumption, so make sure that you keep wearing all your old clothes, use the last of that old shampoo or bubble bath, and don’t throw something away because you want something new.  Or, try Tip 2:

2) Have A Swap Party. There are many people like you who grow tired of the same shoes/top/beauty products/etc – so why not give them to your friends in exchange for something they ‘don’t want’.

You could come away with a whole new outfit, and change of facial regime or some household ingredients that your friends would otherwise have wasted.  Similarly, your ‘waste’ finds a second life!

3) Simplify Your Life.  Another things to consider when going to purchase a new item, is whether you actually need it right now.  I mean, rather than buying some nutritional supplements – why not actually consider eating more healthily instead!  Buying fresh local fruit and veg produces far less waste that factory-made tablets in tiny plastic bottles!

Similarly, technology out-dates itself overnight it seems – so rather than make that rash purchase – think about ways you can make do with what you have until you really have to upgrade.  Otherwise, you could be disposing of something that was perfectly usable for something that will be out-of-date in 3 months anyway!

And, most technology and appliances come ‘eco friendly’ these days.  With low energy rating listings and reduced-chemical electronics readily available and at a similar cost to the short-use energy-hungry models we brought last time!

4) Back To Basics.  Why do we need everything so perfumed and highly specific these days?  Can’t we just use unscented nappy-sacks, hygiene products and ‘exotic’ air-fresheners?  Use natural instead: tea-tree oil, lavender, along with other plants and herbs all have their uses – and without the chemicals!

Try Aloe for sun care, oats for facial scrubs, cucumber slices for eye recovery – and many many more.  I have seen quotes that ladies apply, on average, 126 ingredients and chemicals in daily beauty regimes!  That’s amazing really – and seeing as so many of those are potentially harmful to us.

Babies are particularly sensitive to chemicals yet we use an array of man-made (and potentially hormone-affecting) toiletries for them without any real reason – other than ‘we saw the advert’ and it said ‘this does this…..’.  Well warm water and an organic cotton cloth cleans even the dirtiest of bottoms!

See Part 2 tomorrow for further eco friendly tips…….