Tomorrow is Earth Day and it is the perfect time to make our yearly pledge to help our planet by recycling, repurposing and reusing. I’ve talked about some of these ideas before in various posts, but it has been awhile since we looked at them. So, I’ve pulled a number of ideas from several past posts, and a couple of new things for our chat today. We live in a beautiful world, and I know if everyone can do just a little, it will make a big impact. Let’s start with a lovely shot of our local apple blossoms.
At the recent Mancuso Quiltfest show in Greenville, SC, an extraordinary piece highlighted the waste we have in fiber and textiles. This exhibition piece is 189 inches wide x 98 inches high. It is covered in patchwork all in neutral tones, with heavy embellishments of fiber and plastic, much of which is dimensional, and all recycled.
It was made by Allyson Allen, and she states that we have 92 million tons of fiber and textile waste annually in our country. Everything she used in the quilt was recycled, from bed sheets to bits of lace.
Our biggest problem is plastic. It is still not well known that plastic never degrades, it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, working its way into the food chain. Plastic in the ocean is ingested by fish, which is then ingested by humans. Tiny particles can make it into the bloodstream of animals, fish and humans, and it is never excreted. Hard to believe that those delicious fish tacos could have microparticles of plastic, and we’d never know.
Marine life is threatened by the amount of plastic floating in the ocean trapping and killing sea life like turtles. Plastic in the landfill is just as much of a contaminant. Washing clothes containing nylon or polyester puts micro fibers into the local water supply that cannot be filtered out, which then work their way into our food supply. Recycling helps, but not every community has recycling, and not all plastics can be recycled.
So what can you do? To reduce the use of single use plastic bags, use your own bags not only at the grocery store, but carry them with you to the hardware store, garden center, department store, anywhere you may buy something. If you have large bags for birdseed, potting mix, or dog kibble, make your own bags with my tutorial. These bags contain plastic and nylon, so that keeps them out of the landfill, too. Bird Seed Bags.
Another idea is the Shupatto Foldable Tote, available on Milk Street. This is a clever little bag that comes very compactly rolled. The card that came with it shows how easy it is to unwrap it to form the bag with handles, then snap the tabs to make it fold up again all on its own. It rolls back up just like it came, with a snap to keep it rolled up and easy to keep in the car or carry in my purse.
Simple things like refusing a straw, or using paper plates instead of plastic ones can help. Buy and use things made from recycled materials when you can, especially for things like trash bags with recycled content. It may not be a lot in terms of individual effort, but every little bit you do is added to the little bit I can do, and our neighbors can do, adding up to big change if we all do some.
Do try to recycle appropriately. You may believe that if it is plastic, it should go in the recycle bin, but much of what we throw in there is a problem. Plastic single use grocery and produce bags plug up machinery and need special handling, so put those in the bag recycle bin at the grocery store, don’t dump them in with the plastic recycle at home. Clean the plastic of contaminants. Try not to be a ‘wishful’ recycler, and I am guilty of this one. We often make recycling mistakes that send more to the landfill than we realize.
Consider recycled batting in your quilts like Quilter’s Dream Green. Using products like this, made from 100% recycled materials, increases the market for recycled material goods so more can be re-used instead of making more plastic. This batting is a joy to use, quilts beautifully, and doesn’t shrink. Every pound of Dream Green takes TEN plastic bottles out of our landfills! The soft green color is from natural processing without harsh bleach, does not show through fabrics, and can be quilted with stitching lines 12-inches apart. It is available at many quilt shops, and through my affiliate link. Make a queen size quilt, and it takes 20 bottles out of the landfill. How many could we recycle if every person reading this post did just one quilt this year with Dream Green? Thousands!! Now, that is real impact.
When you buy new clothing, look for natural fibers like cotton and wool, without plastic fibers. As a thrift store junkie, I often wear clothing that has been given a second chance in my closet. Some of my best bargains have come from there, like sequined jackets for holiday wear, and designer duds for everyday. My favorite t-shirt is a thrift store find, with a dandelion on the front. I get more compliments on that shirt than anything else I own, LOL!!
Use refillable water bottles, or at least refill the one-time-use disposables and use them a second time before putting them in the recycle bin. I am not advocating to get rid of plastics altogether, they are useful in many applications, but I am advocating to reduce the use of new plastic where possible, and recycle all we can. Buy only recyclable plastic items, BPA free, and advocate for others to do the same.
Lobby your favorite restaurants to stop handing out straws to everyone, dropping handfuls on a table, and instead only giving one to those who ask, or switch to paper straws. No, I am not saying that you cannot use a straw. If you want one, you should have one. What I am saying is that you should be ASKED if you want one, because many of us don’t. Every item left on a table must be thrown away after the customer leaves, whether it was used or not. So leaving a perfectly sealed straw on the table goes to the landfill, unused. Even worse are the straws put in your drink without asking. Again, the one in my drink will go to a landfill unused. Better yet, if you use straws, buy your own Reusable Straws, many come with travel cases and can be put in your dishwasher at home.
Bubble mailers that are all plastic can be recycled, but they have to go into special bins for recycling plastic bags. We have those collection bins in our grocery stores for single use plastic bags. Mailers that are made of all paper can be recycled with paper. The surprising thing concerned the mailing envelopes we use most often, a combination of paper outside and plastic bubble wrap inside. These cannot be recycled as they are. The plastic is considered a contaminant in paper recycling, and the paper is a contaminant in plastic recycling. So they get thrown into the landfill either way unless you make more effort. It means separating the paper outside from the plastic bubble wrap inside, and placing them in the proper bins. Paper goes into the paper recycle, and the bubble wrap goes into the plastic bag bins. This is a bit of a pain, as often they do not separate easily. I cut my address off this one, then tried to get the bubble wrap off the back. It wasn’t easy, and I see why people don’t bother with this. From now on, I won’t buy these mailers, I’ll get either all plastic or all paper, unless I can recycle them from a package sent to me.
At a lunch some time ago, a friend mentioned that the plastic dump in the Pacific ocean was from Asia, absolving our country in her mind of any responsibility. But, did you know that up until the beginning of 2018, 80% of our plastic recycling was being shipped to China? In 2016, 7.3 metric tons of plastic was shipped to China. So much of that huge plastic mess in the Pacific ocean is our responsibility. Early in 2018, China passed a new law that their country would no longer accept waste or recycling from international sources. So, now we have to deal with that on our own But, the US doesn’t have the means to recycle all that on its own at this point, so all that plastic that you thought you were recycling is now going to landfills. Make sure your community has recycling.
Help your local humane society and contribute to your Stashbuster totals, while recycling old t-shirts into dog beds. See my post Help for the Humane Society.
And more ways to do crate mats and beds from old sheets and batting scraps are on my post More Recycling and Repurposing.
Create yard art by repurposing something from the past with wonderful memories. Here I spray painted our wedding cake topper. See the whole tutorial on Creating Yard Art.
Use the bits and extras from your notions bins to create Alzheimer Fidget Quilts. That orange zipper, extra doilies, big buttons, and leftover patches you’ll never use can be put to good purpose rather than thrown away. See how to make these on these two posts – Alzheimer Fidget Quilts and More Fidget Quilts.
Gracie wants to know…
What do you do to recycle, reuse, and give a second life or purpose to old items?
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Find a new book to use your scraps of fabric, recycled clothing and crafts. C&T Publishing is having a Spring Fling Sale, up to 80% off selected titles, no code required. Eleven pages of book bargains on all kinds of sewing and crafting!
From My Carolina Home 
I am passionate about recycling. I refuse to accept anything in a plastic bags, I do not buy cling film since I finished my last one. Same applies to Ziplock bags, We did manage without these before, just have to be proactive and not to give in to plastics.
I have a package of metal straws to use at home if I or anyone wants to use one. I reuse plastic several times before disposing of it – I have no recycle center close by. I reuse plastic grocery bags for numerous things before they get thrown away. I do have some reusable bags in the car but I admit I forget constantly to bring them in the store with me so I reuse the ones I get as much as possible.
Love the idea of repurposing the large bags in to grocery bags. You used bird seed bags, I can use cat food bags. With just one kitty it will take a while to make more than one bag, but every little bit helps. Right?! Never even thought of this as an option to my recycling habit. Thanks.
Thanks for this blog Carole. There are so many little things we can do to help our Mother Earth. I have been in my “make your own undies era” for a while now, recycling old t shirts. End up with some pretty interesting pictures/words on my bum and they fit perfectly. Just sewed two grocery bags for my daughter from my stash. Aldi has no plastic bags and that is our most frequented grocery store. Love they are easy to launder. I reuse envelopes and paper printed on one side only for scrap paper or writing notes. I try not to print patterns and read from my iPad, or cut and paste to print only what I need using some of that recycled paper printed on one side.
Great post today and a nice reminder on how we can all do something to help mother earth. I recall picking up trash along the roadways for earth day when I was a kid, so we have been reusing, recycling for many years. I really dislike that small bits of plastic end up in our bloodstream, hopefully many public water systems will upgrade and filter more of that stuff out. Love the idea to make some of our own bags from bags, so cool.
Thank you for reminding us how important our waste disposal is. This has long been a worry of mine and I try daily to reuse, recycle and upcycle. It is horrifying how much we throw away, and my household is as guilty as everyone else~ a big bag of trash goes out to the garbage everyday… future generations will be impacted. I do use my own bags every time I go to the store. It is shocking how many plastic bags the grocery stores use every day! That recycled quilt is amazing!
Jenna
I’m in Massachusetts and almost all the schools near me have fiber recycle bins. It is a fundraiser also. If it is made of fabric and clean it can go in there. That is where all my little trimmings of quilt fabric goes. We have been recycling in our town for years and my kids are so used to it they are doing it in their own homes. Your info on micro plastics was an eye opener. I wonder if that is causing so many illnesses in my friends, cancer especially.
Precycle is the best learned habit. 500 million straws used daily in the US alone. Like you, I refuse them and try hard to watch servers but sometimes they slip them on the table as they walk by, as an afterthought. So frustrating.
It’s important that everyone understand that less than 6% collected plastic is ACTUALLY recycled! No matter how great you are at putting it in the bins, the impact pales in comparison. Scientists estimate that by the year 2050, the ocean will contain more plastic by weight, than marine life. How much plastic does it take to equal a single blue whale?
It’s all very frightening for the generation being born this decade!
I attended a concert 2w ago that fabulously had beverages in cans. So what do they do? Pour into a plastic cup because that’s the policy. Grrrrrrrrr
Yeah, one of my soapboxes….plastics!
All true, thank you for helping spread the word!!
I think about this problem often. This world “lived,” a long time without all of this stuff..Surely we can get back to a simpler way of living.
Thank you for this important reminder. As long as I can remember I have been hoarding canvas bags from yard sales. I knew I would need them! I have to take our trash to the dump and the plastic clam shell restaurant leftover containers drive me crazy. I take a smallish canvas sling bag with reusable lock and lock containers in the restaurant with me. We are having our yearly yard sale and are really digging deep to declutter, donate and pass on items for a second life to another family. It feels good. Keep up the good work everyone. Little piles make big piles. Small steps!
Taking leftover food containers with you to restaurants is a great idea!! I hate those styrefoam containers too, but at least our recycle center will now recycle those a few times a month. You are so right, everyone doing a little adds up to a lot.
Your blog is spot on! I think recycling and reusing needs to be top of mind to respect future generations, wildlife, etc.
I am lucky to live in a county that mandates recycling paper, plastic and many other materials. Plus, private parties are seeking out metals, cloth and select other substances.
I went to all glass food storage and drinking glasses awhile ago. I cringe seeing people microwaving their food in plastic containers because I suspect the plastic somehow gets into the food.
Thank you for highlighting Earth day and all your solid suggestions!
Jo Anne
I really enjoyed this particular blog, Carole. I’m always looking for hints or hacks related to recycling household items. The bird seed bag turned shopping bag really grabbed my attention. Though not related to recycling, I also enjoyed the older referred to post about labeling the “tomato” pincushion with needle size.
Carole, your post is spot on and educational. Plastics are impacting our lives without us paying attention. There are many things we can do to help our earth if we just do it and not become lazy and complacent. Thank you!
It’s good to spread the word. We have a shop where you have your own container weighed on entry, then you go fill it with which ever product and you only pay for the contents. Makes unpacking the groceries so much easier!
I make all my grocery shopping bags also smaller ones for purchasing fruit and vegetables.
We only put our rubbish bin out once a month because we feel we are pretty good at our recycling now. So not much goes to the landfill. But, of course, everybody must do their best to put right this terrible situation that we have produced. Big question, will we ever get rid of this scourge of plastic??!!
I also advocate NO insecticides or pesticides.
Happy Earth Day,
Mary :))
Woodridge Illinois is one of the leaders in recycling since the 90’s. We had to take our “stuff” to town and sort it there, my husband would go to several homes along the way and pick their’s up too. They now come with the truck the same day as trash pick up. I notice more recyling bins than trash each week which is a good sign. We were the family that was famous for using “everything but the Moo!” Thanks for the reminder that we need to protect this fragile planet.
You’re preaching to the choir here. LOL I’ve been recycling everything I can since Earth Day was founded & we hounded our legislators to provide us the ability to recycle. My mother laughed at me collecting cans & bottles – she said that went out of style once “the war was over” (WWII) and everything went back to normal! Our garbage company picks up our recycling every week and allows us to pay by the bag for trash. So useful for a household that only has a bag every 4 – 6 weeks & the majority of contents of that bag are generally the packaging we are unable to recycle. I recently saw a newsbrief that many people have become so used to disposable plastic shopping bags that they buy & throw away the reusable bags. It’s disappointing that some people still don’t believe in caring for our Earth and do believe that all recycling is just landfilled anyway so why bother. Best we all can do is set a good example & keep doing our part.
Retail stores in New York can no longer use plastic bags except for certain products, such as produce and meat. Our trash hauler accepts all plastic with recycle symbols 1-7, but I suspect only 1 and 2 are actually being recycled. I use glass storage containers and save the quality plastic takeout containers to send leftovers home with guest. I save the water from the dehumidifier in recycled gallon water jugs and use it to water my outdoor plants during the summer season. My too small to save fabric scraps and trimmings are given to a local group that uses them to stuff items they make for nursing homes. Our trash hauler just distributed new recycling totes that are just like the trash totes, but a little smaller with a blue top. They keep the recycling dry on rainy days and keep the wind from blowing paper around.
Happy Earth Day! Thank you for all of the wonderful, information. I also try to use and wear all-natural fiber fabrics.
This is an excellent and very timely post, Carole. I think you’re right about plastic — it’s probably one of the worst of the offenders and it is everywhere in our lives with packaging, especially. Happy Earth Day.
This Earth Day post is my favorite of all your posts, and I’ve been reading/following for years. Thank you for the information and practical ideas.
Thank you for all this great information! Here in Washington state we’ve been using reusable bags for a few years. I’ve started buying them when we go on vacation to use other places as well. And it’s a good souvenir. Nothing makes me smile like my bags from Hawaii’s Foodland grocery store – especially on a rainy winter day!
This is a fabulous idea!! I have a bag from Selfridges in London, and I smile every time I see it. I wish the whole country would follow your lead and ban those single use plastic bags.