Don't dump it!

Here in our city, we are supplied with 2 crates for recycling - one for paper/cardboard and the another for other recycle items. Earlier, m noticed that I put aside things for recycling, and now he's the one patrolling what goes in the recycling bin. He excitedly points out to me the recycling logos in everyday items and asks me which crate to put it. m tells his dad, who throws recycle items in the wrong bin, that they need to be recycled. He also now knows that paper, glass, plastics and metals are to be recycled.

I'm glad that at this early age he now knows how to help the community and our environment. I hope that this sets good example to all and specially to the adults to think twice about our wastes. Remember, we are doing this for their generation and for their future children.

Recycling Near You is a great site that lets you know where you can take items that you can recycle, like car tyres, organic/plant wastes, plastic bags, etc. Some waste centres take the ff items:

Scrap Metals, Gas Bottles,Vehicle Batteries, Sump Oil, Paint, Fire Extinguishers,Expanded Plastics (Polystyrene), Glass, Bottles and Jars, Aluminium Cans, Newspapers, Office Paper
Envelopes Without a Window, Envelopes With a Window, Phone Books, Pizza Boxes (clean), Egg Cartons, Cardboard, Steel Food Cans, Steel Paint Cans (empty), Steel Aerosol Cans (empty), Grass Clippings, Small Branches, Twigs, Garden Prunings, Weeds, Leaves, Flowers, Small Timber Offcuts, Untreated Timber, whitegoods, milk crates, car tyres, Plastics marked with numbers recycling #1-7.

Tips for sustainable Christmas

Christmas is here once again. Did you know that 20% more waste is produced during Christmas time, and that's most likely from all the torn wrappers and packaging of presents. Let's try to do our bit by considering some of these tips I read from our city's newsletter.

1. Give priority to presents with minimal packaging.
2. Give a service as a gift, such as tickets, memberships or an activity.
3. Set your air conditioning thermostat at 25-27 degrees Celsius to minimise pollution.
4. Put a composter on your christmas wish list.
5. Cover your pool to help avoid losing water through evaporation.
6. Make your own Christmas decorations or invest in quality items that will last for many years.
7. Recycle pre-loved toys by donating to charity.
8. Purchase a charity gift from not-for-profit organisation like Oxfam.

Oil spray can

Cooking oil in spray cans are not only expensive and wasteful, but most importantly release CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) that destroy the protective ozone layer.

Here's what I discovered to best avoid buying oil in spray cans - an Arcosteel oil can. You pump the cap and it creates pressure to release the oil in a spray. I use it to oil my baking pans, barbeque grill, and I also use it to lightly oil the food I fry or bake. Wonderful!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We are all pampered by our modern conveniences, but do we really see beyond that short moment of comfort how these mod cons are actually contributing to the destruction of our planet? Do we know how much greenhouse gases we create when we turn on our air conditioners when we feel a little uncomfortable on a 33C day? How about the pollution in the air made from the cars we drive? Or how about the metals/plastics/chemicals wasted everytime we replace our cars or mobile phones, computers, tv and other electronic gadgets we throw just because we think they are "old". Basic living necessities, like water, are now made a "convenience" since it comes packaged and commercially available. Can you then imagine how much plastic bottles are thrown around the globe since bottled water became popular. We buy a 300ml of supposedly mineral water and consume it believing its more hygienic and purer than plain old tap water. After you drank it all, do you know what happens to the empty plastic bottle it came in? Lucky for us if it gets thrown in the recycling bin, but unfortunately the truth is billions or more of these plastic bottles (water, soft drink, etc) are thrown in non-recycling bins or sadly pollutes places, like grounds or rivers. Even if they did land in recycling centres, energy is used and pollutants created are just as much as those from manufacturing brand new plastic bottles. Perhaps it's time to think twice and see the consequences of our own selfish actions before we do anything that might harm our surroundings.

Since giving birth to my first child, I've become more aware and troubled by the state of the environment we are in. Current news on global warming, water and other resources shortage, rising pollution and nuclear wastes scare me so much and they make me worried about what our children's and their own children's world will be. My dream is for my children to live healthily in peaceful and clean surroundings, and I teach myself to be conscious of my actions to help me realise this dream. There are three R's that remind me on how to do this: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle.

Reduce:

• I simply try to use/buy/throw less things that will pollute.
• I try to want less and try to live simply.
• I say "no" to more plastic bags or "no" to bulky stiff paperbags (like those from boutiques) by fitting all of what I bought in just one bag.
• I conserve water and electricity.
• Since they outgrow toys very fast, I joined the Toy Library to entertain my boys with borrowed toys instead of throwing toys later when no longer in use.

Reuse:

• I will donate or sell unwanted goods to those who need it most.
• Before throwing something, I think of other things it can do. For example: commercial food packaging for leftover food storage; scrap paper for kids' doodling; shopping bags as bin liners or to dispose dirty nappies in (I am totally against buying Nappy Sacks, for why do I need to buy more plastic to throw?)

Recycle:

• I throw plastics, metals, paper & cardboard, rubber and glass in proper recycling bins.
• I wait for the bulk or greenwaste collection dates to ensure wastes go to the right place.
• I support or buy goods made from recycled materials.
  

Applying the 3 R's may appear like measures to save money, which is an added bonus of course, but it is not for my sole and important purpose. I am doing it simply because I would love to see my and your children's and more future generation's world as clean, abundant in natural resources, rich in species in the wild and simple as it was decades or centuries ago. In the 1940's when my parents were born, life was simpler then and the surroundings were much cleaner. Thirty years later when I was born, population grew and pollution worsened as technology and industrialisation developed. Another thirty years later when my own children were born, we are even more materialistic and 'climate change' is now a household phrase. Driven primarily by our own greed, our world is getting destroyed too fast, and the changes are happening too fast before anyone can slow down or stop them. So, what is it going to be like for another thirty years from now? I would hate to think of the worst scenarios, and only pray for the what is best for all of us.