Earth and Body Friendly

Thank you to everyone who signed up to the Earth and Body Friendly newsletter for a chance to win the new Envirosax bag.

Congratulations to the winner, R.D!

I’ve sent an email to let the winner know and will be posting the prize out shortly.

The draw to win an Envirosax reusbable shopping bag is happening tonight, so if you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter yet, make sure you do it now! Remember that you can double your chance of winning if you tell someone else about it and then let me know. See more details at the original post about the competition.

Excess packaging is something that bothers me. (Especially so after readingGarbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash, by Elizabeth Royte.) Some products have more packaging than product. Not all products are so encumbered with packaging, yet some we might have to buy a lot of in a lifetime and there doesn’t seem to be an option for buying in bulk. I’m thinking of printer ink cartridges.

Printer companies are in the business of selling ink cartridges, not printers

Couldn’t printer companies come up with a way for people to buy their ink in bulk, somehow? Of course they could, but why would they? I don’t have figures, but I would bet that they make barely anything on selling the printer compared to the amount of money they make selling expensive ink cartridge after expensive ink cartridge for the life of the printer. I always preferred to buy quality, brand name cartridges and if I was lucky enough to find a discount seller, I’d get away with under $100 to get my printer pumping out colourful pages again. I was never one to believe the printer’s message that it was running low, either. I ran my printer (frugally, I will admit) for about four or five months after it began telling me it was running low. But I’ve heard stories of the newer style cartridges with computer chips that stop the printer from doing any more printing when it deems that it’s run out of ink, yet when tests have been done, the cartidges still have quite some life left in them. And what average person can tell if their printer is lying to them? You can’t see inside the cartridge.

Many people swear by refilling their ink cartidges, which certainly solves the packaging and waste issue, but you want to ensure you’re getting quailty ink so that it doesn’t ruin your printer. Others avoid the huge cost of brand name cartridges by buying generic brands, but again, you want to make sure you get quailty, and you’ve still got the issue of all that waste.

Back to old fashioned ink wells

A good friend of mine recently bought himself something for his printer which I’d never heard of previously, yet when I saw it in action, I was impressed and knew I had to get one for my own printer. It’s called a continuous ink supply systyem, or a CISS. It’s almost like an old fashioned ink well but with much more advanced technology. It feeds ink to the printer via a ribbon of skinny tubes. As soon as I had the chance, I purchased one designed for my own printer, a Canon PIXMA MP160. Since his was working so well, I bought mine from the same place: rihac.

A CISS for each printer

Each CISS, made specifically to fit your printer, comes with cartridges designed to fit in exactly the same way as the original brand name cartridges, except that each has a ribbon of tubing hanging off it which is connected to an ink reservoir. If you have a printer that takes chipped cartridges, you can elect to have the chips pre-fitted, or, if you feel game, you can save some money by removing the chips from the original cartridges and fitting them to the CISS cartridges yourself. Mine are not chipped so I didn’t have to make the choice, but I hear it can be quite tricky.

Installation is relatively easy

Since chips weren’t in the equation for me, I can only comment on how easy it is to install an unchipped CISS. Installation requires some patience, but it’s not complex at all as long as you carefully follow the instruction manual and don’t try to take short cuts. Everything you need to prepare and fit the CISS is in the box, including spares of some small items. The only thing I had to supply was a newspaper to put the CISS on during preparation, and tissues to clean up any mess. The small amount of preparation required before installing it needs to be done only the one time, as long as your CISS isn’t doing more travelling such as when it was posted to you. It was actually kind of fun playing with the supplied syringe and hypodermic needle to prepare my CISS. The needle is required to draw air out of the ink reservoirs if you need to prime the system.

After switching the travel plugs with air filters (it sounds like I’m talking about a car, now), it was ready to go into the printer. It took some fiddling around with the tubing to get the right length before sticking it down with a clip on the inside of the printer, but once that and the other clip was placed, the job was done. It took me about an hour to do it all, from the opening of the box to printing my first test page. If you do yours without the help of a five year old, you might be even quicker.

Save heaps of money

Even with the initial cost of the CISS, I’m still getting extreme value. The ink reservoirs come already filled and provide about four times the amount of ink I would get in a large capacity black ink brand name cartridge (24 mls or .81 of an ounce) and more than ten times the amount of ink I’d get for each colour in a large capacity colour brand name cartridge (only 7 mls, or .24 of an ounce, of each colour). Refill bottles of 100 mls (3.38 ounces) of each colour ink for my printer will cost me me only AUD $46.80, plus shipping. According to rihac, I would pay about AUD $1250 at current prices to get that much ink in brand name cartridges. I’m assuming their calculations are based on large capacity cartridges. My rough calculations—based on the discounted price I paid more than a year ago for a pair of large capacity brand name cartridges—show that I would have paid at least AUD $880 to get the equivalent amount of ink. Either way, the savings are massive.

Things to watch out for

1. Read ahead in the manual before you make any moves. I had a small moment of panic during the preparation phase. After removing the travel plug, as instructed, and sucking ink out of the air balance chamber, I removed the ink reservoir filler plug to squirt the excess ink into the ink reservoir as was suggested .. and only then did I see the next instruction (helpfully printed after an image on the page) which warned me, in red writing, to never have the filler plug removed at the same time as the travel plug. Since my little one was right there (and since it wasn’t devastating, but only required me to repeat the step again) my response at reading the red writing was simply, ‘Oh.’
2. Check that you have all the correct parts. Compare what you have in the box with what’s shown in the manual. One of the tubing clips already fitted on the tubing wasn’t the right type for the inside of my printer. Fortunately, an extra clip of the correct type in the small bag of spare parts took care of this and I just switched them.
3. Be prepared for a settling in time. There may be a few days or so of settling in or slight adjustment needed. I found that I hadn’t allowed quite enough length of tubing between the cartridges and the first self adhesive clip. The clip came off, causing my printer to give me a persistent paper jam error until I looked inside and found the tubing resting on some parts at the bottom of the printer. This was easily remedied by giving the tubing a bit more length and sticking the clip on again.

If you read the manual carefully, allow plenty of time to finish the job, and make sure you’re working over an easily cleaned surface, you’ll be fine. I’ve never done anything like this before and I didn’t have any troubles. I even managed to stay relatively clean and only ended up with a small amount of ink on my fingers.

A brilliant system

I wish I’d known about continuous ink supply systems a long time ago. I’ll never go back to normal ink cartridges. Even when it’s eventually time for a new printer, I’ll go right ahead and install a CISS as soon as the original cartridges start to make noises about getting low on ink.

Visit: rihac
RRP: AUD $159 (for my Canon PIXMA MP160)

Okay, so I suppose it’s not as dramatic as the title suggests, but I was just trying to catch your attention.

Using real butter is just one more way to limit and reduce your use of plastic. Using real butter, and I mean real butter in block form, means that you’re buying something with less packaging. Margarines and dairy or non-dairy spreads are usually packaged in plastic. A block of butter is wrapped in paper, not plastic. It’s also beneficial to your health (allergies aside), since the only thing in real butter is milk and sometimes salt.

For years, I bought softened butter or some other soft butter-like spread because I found it so difficult to use real butter that was rock hard from the fridge. Here are some ideas to help you use real butter more successfully:

• Plan ahead and take the butter out of the fridge about 10 to 15 minutes before you need it to allow it to soften.
• If you don’t have the time to wait, cut off thin pieces and lay them on the surface to be buttered. They’ll soften more quickly.
• Heat the butter knife by sitting it in a mug of hot water.
• If you’re using a lot of butter, mash it up in a bowl with a fork.
• Invest in a butter keeper(also known as a butter bellor abutter crock) which will allow you to keep your butter fresh while keeping it out of the fridge. I have the Norpro butter keeperand it’s great. I plan to write a review of it soon.

I received this gorgeous reusable shopping bag from Envirosax to do a review. It’s one of the new Candy bags in the geometric series. You can read the review here.

As much as I adore it, I already have quite a few of my own Envirosax bags, so I’ve decided to share the love by giving it away to one lucky reader.

To enter, just subscribe to the Earth and Body Friendly newsletter (look to the right near the top of this page). If you’re not into a bag as cool as this, then subscribe anyway, and if you win you can give it to someone as a gift!

Get yourself in the draw twice by then Twittering, Digging, Deliciousing, linking to this entry in some way or another or sending it to at least one more person by email. So that I know to put your name in the ‘hat’ twice, comment on this entry pointing to the Twit, Digg, Delicious, link, etc or cc: me (coralie@earthandbodyfriendly.com.au) on your email to a friend. Be assured that I won’t use your friend’s email address unless they also subscribe to the newsletter.

Remember that you have to be subscribed to be in the draw!

I’ll choose one name ramdomly from those on the list and announce the winner in five days on the evening (AEST) of Wednesday the 25th of February.

Good luck!

Increasingly, there are more and more options out there for reusable shopping bags. I’ve personally tried four different types, but in my search for the perfect bag, Envirosax makes it to the top of my list.

I already own at least a dozen Envirosax bags, including one for kids (or perhaps the young-at-heart) which I bought for Riley, but when I saw the new range, Candy, in their graphic series I wanted to add more to my collection. I was fortunate enough to receive one of the Candy series for review from Envirosax. The one I was sent is Candy Bag 2 featuring large blocks of purple, checks in black and varying shades of beige. It’s bright and bold and immediately brings the 70s to mind. It seemed that in the past, some green products had a bit of reputation of being kind of daggy or hippy, but there is absolutely nothing daggy about this bag, or any of the new Candy series.

Small enough to carry with you

Rolled up, it fits neatly in my (rather small) fist and since there are no hard bits—except for one tiny, flat, button—they flatten easily so that I can quite happily carry one in my jeans pocket. I have come across bags which fold down into an even smaller package, but then those bags also open up to a smaller size.

I find Envirosax bags to be the perfect size. Envirosax claims that each bag holds the equivalent of two supermarket bags and I’d agree with that. In fact, when I take them grocery shopping (keeping in mind that I usually only have to buy enough for myself and a small child), I rarely need more than two bags. Mind you, that’s no reason to limit yourself to just two. The patterns are so gorgeous that whichever style you love, you’ll want to get the whole series in a 5-in-1 pouch. And why not, since they have many uses.

More than just groceries

They’re perfect as overnight bags. The bag Riley and I refer to as his ‘cartoon bag’ (Baa Maa & Paa) is always packed and ready to go with him for his weekly sleep over at his Nanna and Poppy’s house or when he goes to visit his Dad overnight. I have several of my bags filled with balls of yarn, waiting for the day when I start to crochet again. I always carry one or two bags in my hand bag when I’m out with Riley, for when I end up carrying the things he insisted he would carry himself.

Long handles are useful

One of the things I particularly love about Envirosax bags is that the handles are long enough to fit over your shoulder. Since they’re built strong enough to put quite a load in them, having an option other than to dangle heavy things from your elbows is a good thing. The length of the handles means that you can tie the top of the bags together to stop things falling out when they’re rolling around in the back of your car, yet they’re wide enough to not dig into your arm or shoulder when you’re carrying a fair bit of weight.

Not so sweet on ..

There are only two things that I wish could be done slightly differently:

1. The plastic tie. As environmentally focussed as Envirosax are, I wonder why they use a plastic tie to attach the swing tag, especially since the plastic tie is then attached to a piece of string which is tied around the bag. Why is the swing tag not attached directly to the string?
2. The length of the two little straps that clip together. I find that the straps that hold it all into a neat little bundle are a touch long, making them hold the bag together too loosely. But then that could be because I tend to roll up the bag quite tightly.

Neither of these things bother me terribly much.

Over all

I love Envirosax bags. They produce a quality product that looks fantastic and performs really well.

Visit: Envirosax
RRP: AUD $9.95 (please note that the prices at the links above are in USD)

Another way of limiting and reducing your use of plastic is to use your bread bags again for more bread. When the loaf is finished, simply turn the bag inside out to get rid of the crumbs and put it inside your resuable shopping bags so that you won’t forget it when you return to the bakery. If you buy your bread from the supermarket you won’t be able to do this (I don’t buy supermarket bread since I prefer my bread without all those preservatives), but if you ask nicely, most bakeries will be happy to take your bag for your new loaf.

Think of how often you buy bread. There are only two of us in my tiny household and we buy one loaf every week. That’s 52 bread bags per year. Let’s assume conservatively that that the bag might stay in good condition for just one month, then that number is reduced to only 12 bags per year. If you’re gentle with your bag, then that’s even fewer bags every year.

If you don’t buy bakery bread there are plenty of other ways to use all of those bread bags:

• They’re the perfect size to use as a bin liner for small bench-top bins.
• Carry one or two in your car or hand bag for unexpected rubbish, wet clothing, muddy shoes, nappies.
• They make great freezer bags.
• Fruit and vegetables can go in them, first at the fruit shop and then in the fridge.
• Pack your lunches in them.

Do you have any more ideas? Leave a comment to share!

I’ve added a couple of buttons/links to the top of the right column for Twitter and Facebook. You can now follow me on Twitter and join the Facebook group.

Thanks to the lovely Sheri for creating the Facebook group!

From all reports lately, it would seem that plastic is just about one of the most evil things ever invented, but perhaps it’s not the invention of plastic which is bad, but the way that we, as consumers, encourage the excessive production of it. Plastics certainly have a place in our lives and they perform their tasks admirably, but everyone knows that there’s far too much of the stuff and that most of it will never, ever, bidegrade completely (unless it’s one of the new breed of plastics made from plant materials such as corn starch). If it breaks down at all, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, ending up in our water supplies and, sometimes in a round about way, our food. Recent studies brought to the fore in the media are showing that the presence of Bisphenol A (or BPA) in food storage containers (particularly baby bottles) is a Very Bad Thing.

Take action

We could cry foul and petition government and big business to stop the production of all these plastics, which is a course of action that holds a lot of merit, or else we can simply vote with our wallets and stop buying the stuff. There are probably ways to live without any plastic at all, but if I adhered to that rule then I wouldn’t be typing on this laptop.

When I started to become more environmentally aware, I gradually developed a distrust of plastic. Sure, there’s still a shelf full of plastic in my home, but nowhere near as much as there used to be. I rarely use what is there and I avoid buying more of it when at all possible. Many people wonder what they would do without certain plastics in their home, such as bin liners or cling wrap. I very occasionally use cling wrap (I have yet to find a good solution for storing a block of cheese so that it doesn’t dry out), but in the last two years I’ve bought only one small roll of cling wrap and one roll of bin liners, and the bin liners were only because I needed some when I went camping.

But not all plastic is evil

Some plastic can be very useful. One example is the ‘crockery’ and eating utensils in a picnic set. Choose your plastic wisely, though. Buy products that will last the distance and can be washed and reused many times, not something that is designed to be disposable or is going to break after one or two uses. Tupperware is a great way to go. It comes with a lifetime guarantee so you can be pretty certain it’s going to last for a long time. However, only purchase Tupperware that you know you’ll use. Has one single person ever actually used the Tupperware container that was designed to hold a solitary slice of cake??

If you’re needing air-tight containers you can avoid Tupperware completely if you can’t stand the thought of going to another party or just can’t reconcile the use of that much plastic. I have quite a few of the new range of Pyrex containers that come with an air-tight plastic lid. One thing I don’t like about them is that the dark blue lid doesn’t allow me to see inside and so I forget that the food is in there until it has long since tried to return to the Earth. My solution is to simply store it upside down so that I can see straight through the glass bottom. This works well with the round containers or with foods that aren’t too full of liquid, but the rectangle containers don’t seal quite as well, so it’s best to store them right side up, or put them upside down only when holding dry or very thick foods. Of course, if you’re worried about your food coming into contact with the plastic, then you’ll have to use them right side up and just be more diligent than I am about cleaning out the fridge. Another option is to use a casserole dish with a glass lid. They’re not as air tight, but they’re fine for some foods.

Invest in some reusable shopping bags

Plastic shopping bags are rarely necessary these days. There are so many options out there that I’ll simply point you to a Google search on reusable shopping bags. Forgetting them because they won’t fit into your handbag (or else because you don’t carry a handbag) is not a good excuse since many pack down into such a tiny bundle that they’ll fit quite comfortably into your pocket. Some even come with clips to allow you to attach them to your belt loop.

So where do you start?

Here are some simple ways to begin reducing the use of plastic in your home and while you’re out and about:

• Don’t buy bottled water. Instead, carry your own in a safe plastic or metal bottle. SIGG have some great metal water bottles, as do Thermos. If you’re squeamish about refilling your water bottle at a public water source, many food places will gladly refill your bottle if you ask nicely.
• Don’t buy drinks when you’re out of the house. If you really, really want a treat, choose something in a cardboard container if they have it. Better still, wait until you get home to make your own chocolate or strawberry milk. If you’re that thirsty, drink the water from your water bottle. Not only will you save money, but it’s much healthier for you and at least you know exactly what’s in it.
• Choose recycled. If you’re having a huge party and you simply can’t deal with the dishes afterwards, choose recycled paper plates and cups instead of plastic.
• Avoid bin liners by lining the bottom of your bin with a few pieces of newspaper. If you don’t have a compost bin to put your wet food scraps into and you’re concerned about the sides of the bin becoming grotty, then wrap your food scraps and other wet rubbish in individual pieces of newspaper before placing it in the bin.
• Use lidded glass containers in the fridge instead of plastic. As for left overs on a plate, make the decision right away about whether you’ll actually eat it within a few days or if it’s just going to sit in the fridge until you feel better about throwing it out. If you will eat it, then put it into a container instead of covering it with cling wrap. If you can’t be bothered transferring it into a different container, then you probably aren’t all that keen on eating it later, anyway.
• Buy food products in glass containers instead of plastic. If the product you want only comes in a plastic container, then buy a larger version of it, or in bulk if you can. If you have an issue with handling a heavy container (for instance, if you have arthritis in your hands, or if small children are going to be using it) or if you prefer the squeeze bottle, then buy the larger version and simply wash and refill the smaller plastic container that was recently emptied.
• Buy just a few quality toys that will last the distance rather than many cheap and nasty plastic toys that will break after the first play time.
• Carry resuable shopping bags with you at all times and refuse plastic bags at the checkout. If you need encouragement to remember to use your bags, choose a reusable bag in a design you really like. My favourite ones are Envirosax. For fruit and vegetables, you can find bags made from very light-weight fabric which is see-through and adds almost no weight to the scales.
• If you have hands, use them. If you’ve bought only one or two items and your hands are otherwise empty, refuse the plastic bag offered to you at the checkout. Just carry it in your hands!

The environmentalist inside me feels a small surge of joy when I see that there are so many options available for reusable shopping bags. One of my personal favourites is Envirosax. But what about bags actually made from recycled products? Lemon Ink makes such a bag, made almost completely from recycled materials.

I was fortunate enough to encounter the lovely Lemon Ink ladies (and their gorgeous bags) at their inaugural appearance at a local fund raising market where I was set up with my Nana May’s stall. Despite my innate desire to never be a ‘girlie girl’, I seem to have a problem with collecting bags. I spent most of the day literally starting at their stall. Not only did I fall in love with the fact that the bags are made almost completely from recycled materials, but I was enamoured with the wonderful colours and gorgeous designs.

95% recycled

The adjustable straps are made from old seatbelts, the edging from bicycle inner tubing, and the main body of the bag from truck side curtains. (You know the big trucks you see thundering past you on the motorway that have bright advertisements or pictures of products on the side? I mean the ones with the sides that look as though they’re not solid. Those sides are curtains which can be opened all the way along one side of the truck to show the inside. That’s a truck curtain.)

Even though it wasn’t such a profitable day for me at my own stall, I knew I couldn’t go home without a Lemon Ink bag. It took me a long time to choose which bag I would buy since each one is unique. Some of the images on the bags I could match to products I know. For instance, the bag I chose came from a truck carrying (or perhaps advertising) De Bortoli wines: the front features the word ‘Valley’. There was a bag right near mine, made from a different part of the same tarp, which declared, ‘Hunter’.

Messenger or hand bag style

Most of the bags are based on a messenger bag style and so can be worn across the body. Some were made with an extra strap to fasten the bag around around the hips such as a cyclist might require. The smaller bags were the perfect size to carry a decent sized purse, your keys and a mobile phone, and some makeup if you’re the type (not a girlie girl, remember?). The largest bags—the model I chose since I’m always carrying things for my son as well as myself—are built with a divider as a dedicated space for a laptop. I usually carry water with me, so I use the front space for the water bottle and other things which won’t be damaged if the bottle leaks, and the back space for everything else.

Extremely strong

These bags are about as tough as a hand bag can be. The truck curtain material is water proof and can take a heavy beating. The stitching is done with a heavy quality thread and all the points of possible stress are double stitched. The straps can carry as much weight as you can bear to carry on your shoulder since they’re made from seatbelts, which are, of course, designed to support the full weight of a human being. I know from experience that the buckles can withstand the stress of at least 15 kilograms (33 pounds) hanging from them: Riley has hung off my Lemon Ink bag while I’ve been wearing it many a time, much to my annoyance. The zip in the front pocket is very heavy duty and moves back and forth smoothly.

Good business ethics

I’m waiting eargerly for the day that they might make a backpack. When I emailed Catherine, the designer of the bags, about the possibility of a backpack, her response was that she had yet to create the perfect design. Although I was disapointed that I’d have to wait, it was comforting for me to know that she won’t release an inferior product. These business ethics carry through to how the bags are produced: made locally in my home town, Queensland, Australia, supporting work-from-home sewing contractors not sweatshop owners. Of course, with those business ethics and the amont of work that goes into collecting, cleaning and preparing the materials, these bags are not on the cheap end of the market, but for me, I’m happy to pay the right price for a product that far exceeds my environmental and ethical expectations.

As at the time of writing of this review , the site doesn’t yet have a shopping cart, but if you love to show your unique style while still being environmentally sound, just contact Lemon Ink through their website to find out what’s available.

Visit: Lemon Ink
RRP: AUD $149