My dad got in touch with me recently with an interesting question. How should he dispose of his ratty, old T-shirts? Now, by the time my dad decides his shirts are ratty, they are pretty embarrassing by typical standards, so donation to Goodwill or similar is not an option. I had thought before about this issue, but hadn't had sufficient motivation to do the research. So it was with a lot of curiosity that I started looking into the world of textile recycling.
It turns out that there are two main options for reusing old, raglike clothing. The first is to donate the old clothes to a local animal shelter. Apparently dogs really like snuggling in a pile of tattered garments, and to that end, the majority of shelters will accept worn out clothes. Just call in advance to confirm.
The second option is to get in touch with your local charity donation center and find out if they accept "textile scraps" for recycling. Apparently textile recycling is a pretty big business, but the major recyclers only do commercial business. In fact, the thrift store rejects are their biggest source of recyclable textiles, and many donation centers will accept your old garments to be bundled in with their recyclable textiles. Again, just call to confirm and don't be afraid to call around if the first call is a strike out.
So what are all of these ratty shirts being recycled into? The most common end product isn't new shirts, or even new socks. It's rug pads.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Late Breaking News!
Romeo is in the compostable diapers. We expect trash quantities to plummet shortly. Now we can get back to an easier focus on what's still left in the trash!
Hidden Waste: A Long Commute
There's one type of waste that we produce more than we are comfortable producing that never ends up in the trash under our sink: fossil fuel combustion. Sergio and I both commute about twenty miles each way every week day to get to work. That's a total of eighty miles of driving each day, or four hundred miles per week, or over twenty thousand miles per year. Egad!
Since I've worked in Palo Alto, I've lived a fair number of different places.
When I lived in San Francisco, I took Caltrain to work.
When I lived in Menlo Park, I biked to work.
When I lived in Hayward, I carpooled to work.
When I lived in Mountain View, I biked to work.
Now that I live in Union City, I drive alone to work.
Because this is the first time in eight years that I have driven to work, I really feel terrible about doing it. It just isn't my nature. But, we pollute so much because we live so far from where we work, and there aren't any viable alternative methods of transportation. Biking takes over an hour each direction and involves crossing a bridge over the ocean (wind central). There is a bus called the Dumbarton Express, but it takes nearly two hours to get to work because it uses the same regular, traffic saturated streets as all of the other vehicles, plus it makes some stops along the way.
For me, there are two most frustrating aspects of the commute waste issue. First, although Sergio and I leave the same residence and travel to the same school district for employment, we start at different times (multiple hours apart) so carpooling is not realistic. But, it kills me that we aren't carpooling. Second, between when Sergio leaves (5:30am) and when I leave (8:30am) the number of vehicles on the road increases exponentially. What is a twenty-five minute ride for him is a seventy-five minute ride for me. Both directions.
So, it is with some apprehension that we have decided to move as close to work as possible. In doing so, we hope to preserve our tiny house lifestyle by finding a similar place to live in Palo Alto. Fortunately, once we move there, a tiny rental is certainly all we will be able to afford!
Since I've worked in Palo Alto, I've lived a fair number of different places.
When I lived in San Francisco, I took Caltrain to work.
When I lived in Menlo Park, I biked to work.
When I lived in Hayward, I carpooled to work.
When I lived in Mountain View, I biked to work.
Now that I live in Union City, I drive alone to work.
Because this is the first time in eight years that I have driven to work, I really feel terrible about doing it. It just isn't my nature. But, we pollute so much because we live so far from where we work, and there aren't any viable alternative methods of transportation. Biking takes over an hour each direction and involves crossing a bridge over the ocean (wind central). There is a bus called the Dumbarton Express, but it takes nearly two hours to get to work because it uses the same regular, traffic saturated streets as all of the other vehicles, plus it makes some stops along the way.
For me, there are two most frustrating aspects of the commute waste issue. First, although Sergio and I leave the same residence and travel to the same school district for employment, we start at different times (multiple hours apart) so carpooling is not realistic. But, it kills me that we aren't carpooling. Second, between when Sergio leaves (5:30am) and when I leave (8:30am) the number of vehicles on the road increases exponentially. What is a twenty-five minute ride for him is a seventy-five minute ride for me. Both directions.
So, it is with some apprehension that we have decided to move as close to work as possible. In doing so, we hope to preserve our tiny house lifestyle by finding a similar place to live in Palo Alto. Fortunately, once we move there, a tiny rental is certainly all we will be able to afford!
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