Weird Wastes - is this common?

[Ginevra]

I'm looking at a book from the library called "Shift Your Habit." It's about saving money/environmental responsibility by changing small (in most cases) things. A lot of these are old news to me because I think this way to begin with, but some were strange because I didn't think people normally do these things in the first place.  For example, in the section about celebrations and holidays, it says not to buy a cheap, plastic Easter baskets every year and throw it away (with its plastic grass), but to buy a well-crafted (preferably Fair Trade) basket that will be kept for your child throughout their childhood (with paper grass). This seems...obvious. Do people buy plastic baskets, throw them away and get another the next year? Each of my children have only had one Easter Basket. It is "their" basket.

 

The authors said the same thing about plastic Halloween candy buckets, but I didn't think people normally throw them away. Maybe if they move frequently or something, but not typically.  Life of an artificial Christmas tree - she says "six years". What? Ours is sixteen years old...and I plan to use it indefinitely. 

 

What is your experience? 

[regentrude]

Every holiday, there are whole rows of shelves at Walmart with cheap plastic baskets or Halloween bags that look as if they won't last through the one occasion, never mind that they could possibly be reused. My experience with a cheap trick-or-treat bag my first year here was such... it fell apart half-way through t&ting. Never made the mistake again. The next one lasted eight years before it fell apart.

 

From the large numbers they stock I must conclude that this is what many people buy and, subsequently, discard.

[Mrs Mungo]

I bought my kids' wooden Easter baskets when my son was 2 (they had different ones before, but the previous ones were crushed in a move), so they have had their current baskets for nearly 11 years. We've had the same Halloween buckets for about the same amount of time. Our Christmas tree is about 6 years old, but it doesn't look like it needs to be retired any time soon?

 

eta: My baskets are lined with fabric, so we don't really need grass or anything. 

[Guest]

 

From the large numbers they stock I must conclude that this is what many people buy and, subsequently, discard.

 

Hmmm. You make a good point. That seems so strange to me. 

[Mom2TheTeam]

We reuse all those things.

 

We bought our plastic pumpkins off the big rows in Wal-Mart a few years ago.  We got them for $1 or so.  We haven't had a problem with them.  One of them lost it's handle.  My husband just put a string in it.  $5 well spent for us since they have been used for 3 years and they are still perfectly fine.

[twoxcell]

We reuse our Easter baskets yearly and they all came from second hand stores, but I do think other people buy them yearly otherwise they wouldn't sell so many. Our artificial tree is about 9 years old and still fine.

[Joker]

Until this thread I never heard of anyone using the same Easter basket over and over. I don't know anyone that does that.

 

My dds have always used pillowcases as Halloween baskets.

 

We had to retire our first artificial tree after 10 years. We've had our current one for six years and I can't imagine it needing to be replaced for many more years. It's still in great shape.

[swellmomma]

Well halloween the kids use pillow cases so no baskets/buckets to throw away.  Easter baskets don't hold up here, but the same would be true if they were more expensive ones.  I buy ones made of that cheap woven wood, for like $1 Or 2 each.  Obviously they are not well made.  Often the handle breaks off before the kids finish eating all their treats, or the animals destroy it.  I do not use easter grass of any kind, I find it to be a nuisance. Artificial christmas trees we use for decades.  My first was the one we used when I was growing up, it was 20 years old when I started using it and I used it for another 5 before buying a new one.  THe new one I have been using for 10 years so far.

[Arcadia]

Some children here do not want the same Easter basket or Halloween basket/pail every year.  These kids treat the baskets as  "fashion accessories".   Their parents let them choose a new cheap one very year. My kids have the $1 kind from Walmart and  it has lasted for many years.  My  kids don't care as long as their baskets get filled with candies. My artificial Christmas tree has been bent out of shape from the rough handling but there is no need to replace it.

[twoxcell]

Our baskets aren't even technically Easter baskets they are just nice decorative metal baskets. ;) We don't trick or treat so I have no comment on that topic.

[Guest]

Until this thread I never heard of anyone using the same Easter basket over and over. I don't know anyone that does that.

 

My dds have always used pillowcases as Halloween baskets.

 

We had to retire our first artificial tree after 10 years. We've had our current one for six years and I can't imagine it needing to be replaced for many more years. It's still in great shape.

 

Really?? Wow. Learn something new everyday. If you don't mind, where are you (in general)? 

 

I'm a fan of pillowcases for Halloween! 

[Jean in Newcastle]

My artificial tree is 20 years old and going strong.  Perhaps they made them better back then?  

[Joker]

Really?? Wow. Learn something new everyday. If you don't mind, where are you (in general)? 

 

I'm a fan of pillowcases for Halloween! 

 

I'm in the south now. I was born in the south as well and we always received new baskets. I've not known anyone who reuses Easter baskets when I lived on the west coast or in the midwest either, though.

[Joker]

My artificial tree is 20 years old and going strong.  Perhaps they made them better back then?  

 

I think the one we have now will last at least that long. Our first one lasted through an unbelievable amount of moves in those 10 years and was just beat up apparently in some of the longer, cross country moves. We didn't get rid of the poor thing until we moved into our now home.

[Wheres Toto]

I always get the kids sand buckets for Easter baskets so they are used in their sandbox or when we go to the beach.

 

Halloween they get buckets that can be used to hold toys in their rooms and played with.  Sometimes they make it until the next year and they are used again, sometimes they aren't. 

 

We don't have anyplace to store nice baskets that would be used year after year. 

[trlt]

We have special Easter baskets that we use each year. I have mine from when I was little, my mom gave it to me a few years ago. We reuse Halloween buckets too. Our tree is 8 years old and going strong. I will cry when we have to replace it because it is the perfect artificial tree!

[kbutton]

We see a bit of both approaches--I think people like the idea that they are cheap, and they don't need to store things if they throw them out. 

 

I would say that where we live in OH, people have a really big positive spin on buying and throwing away. I have never seen so much waste in my life, truthfully. You should see the stuff people put in their trash! We definitely stand out here in that regard. We try not to generate much waste, and we try to make sure we donate used items even if it's inconvenient. You should have seen the reaction to our using cloth diapers. It wasn't just that people thought it was gross, many people thought it was unfathomable. One person who had really tight finances when her kids were little had nostalgic memories about warm diapers fresh out of the dryer, but that was about it for positive responses. The idea of most church nursery workers changing them (and we bought easy to use diapers) was not acceptable the first child around--it was almost a mentality of, "you can buy cloth diapers, but don't expect me to enable your mental illness by changing your child in the church nursery." Thankfully, a few people were really kind about changing them--they didn't care as long as they didn't have to use pins. They kind of paved the way for the others.

[zoobie]

My artificial tree is 20 years old and going strong. Perhaps they made them better back then?

Probably, like washing machines and refrigerators! We have gone through 3 or 4 artificial trees. One because it was totally cheap and the needles started falling out, leaving sad wires. One because the lights died and couldn't be fixed, then when we were going to strip those off and replace, the next year one of the circles wouldn't release the branches from the folded position. One really nice one was crushed by movers two weeks before Christmas, by which time we had to replace it with yet another totally cheap one because that's all that was left in stores! (DH is allergic to pine.)

 

Buckets I don't buy but my mother does. Every holiday. I donate or recycle. My kids have the same Easter buckets and Halloween tote bags forever.

[JustEm]

We do the cheap bucket easter baskets every year.  They are great for storage and water fun.  We do not have room to store real baskets that only get used one day out of the year.  We use pillow cases for trick or treating.

[Guest]

We see a bit of both approaches--I think people like the idea that they are cheap, and they don't need to store things if they throw them out. 

 

I would say that where we live in OH, people have a really big positive spin on buying and throwing away. I have never seen so much waste in my life, truthfully. You should see the stuff people put in their trash! We definitely stand out here in that regard. We try not to generate much waste, and we try to make sure we donate used items even if it's inconvenient. You should have seen the reaction to our using cloth diapers. It wasn't just that people thought it was gross, many people thought it was unfathomable. One person who had really tight finances when her kids were little had nostalgic memories about warm diapers fresh out of the dryer, but that was about it for positive responses. The idea of most church nursery workers changing them (and we bought easy to use diapers) was not acceptable the first child around--it was almost a mentality of, "you can buy cloth diapers, but don't expect me to enable your mental illness by changing your child in the church nursery." Thankfully, a few people were really kind about changing them--they didn't care as long as they didn't have to use pins. They kind of paved the way for the others.

 

That would be hard for me to take. 

 

When I first used cloth dipes, I did not know a single person using them and I did get some totally incredulous looks. Church nursery - I didn't even put them in cloth for that because the nursery workers were just like you said.  My own mother, who used cloth dipes for all of us due mainly to financial necessity, could not believe I would intentionally choose cloth when we could "afford" disposables. 

 

Now that you mention it, I do see a lot of waste among people I know. The hsers are the least likely to be wasteful, but with some others...yeah, I see that. 

[Stacia]

Quill, you might enjoy the book Zero Waste Home. 

 

I think there are many who don't bother to store/keep up w/ their baskets & bags each year, instead choosing to replace them w/ the mass-manufactured cheapie items available in stores like WalMart.

 

For the items like that which we have used, we store/reuse them every year.

[msrift]

I always get the kids sand buckets for Easter baskets so they are used in their sandbox or when we go to the beach.

 

That's what we do as well - sand buckets or some other kind of needed container. Although growing up we did have one Easter basket that we used every year. I still have it.

 

For Halloween, we use reusable grocery bags. Those buckets just don't hold enough candy and little ones tend to spill the loot.

[Guest]

Quill, you might enjoy the book Zero Waste Home. 

 

I think there are many who don't bother to store/keep up w/ their baskets & bags each year, instead choosing to replace them w/ the mass-manufactured cheapie items available in stores like WalMart.

 

For the items like that which we have used, we store/reuse them every year.

 

Yes, I have that book. It's a good one! 

[Dory]

There are kids around here that use Halloween buckets, but they are few and far between. Most kids here use a reusable shopping bag, or a pillow case.

[mom2scouts]

My kids are using the Easter that I had when I was a child.  Easter baskets should last for many, many years!  I live in a university community where most of the community members are pretty environmentally aware, but the students leave unbelievable amounts of stuff behind.  We find lots of great stuff that we either use ourselves or donate to others.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

We reuse as much as possible.

[Pawz4me]

I've never bought an Easter basket of any kind.  Christmas is bad enough, I've always been determined to not give in to the awful commercialization of yet another Christian holiday.

 

For Halloween many years ago I bought each of the boys a decorated, heavy plastic trick-or-treat bag.  And we kept them for all the years they trick-or-treated.  I think they're still folded up in the pantry.

[Guest]

Speaking of weird wastes.  I don't think this is a "weird" waste, but I don't know how to get around wasting it so much.  I tend to use too many Ziploc bags.  And no, I'm not willing to wash them.  I have lots of storage containers (although frankly I hate them because they are like socks..they disappear and you can't find the lids).  I need to store stuff in the freezer, etc.  So I do need something.  Wish I wasn't throwing out so much plastic though.

 

And then foil.  I use too much foil.  But lets say you need to cover a 9 x 13 or something, I've never seen reusable heat proof lids for stuff like that.  Would be nice if there was such a thing.  I try to use the silpats rather than foil when possible.  So that's one help I suppose.  Although my silpats are looking pretty cruddy.  They don't clean up very well.

 

just rambling here...

 

I hear you on that. I have a vacuum sealing food storage thingy. It really bugs me that the bags become plastic trash. OTOH, using the sealer allows me to buy salmon on sale (not to say "cheap"), gobs of beef, etc. I can't use my food-saving strategies without the sealer, but I can't seal food without wasting plastic bags. 

 

P.S. I don't know what a silpat is. ETA: Okay, now I do. I looked it up. My MIL has one of those. 

[suzybluecheese]

Speaking of weird wastes.  I don't think this is a "weird" waste, but I don't know how to get around wasting it so much.  I tend to use too many Ziploc bags.  And no, I'm not willing to wash them.  I have lots of storage containers (although frankly I hate them because they are like socks..they disappear and you can't find the lids).  I need to store stuff in the freezer, etc.  So I do need something.  Wish I wasn't throwing out so much plastic though.

 

And then foil.  I use too much foil.  But lets say you need to cover a 9 x 13 or something, I've never seen reusable heat proof lids for stuff like that.  Would be nice if there was such a thing.  I try to use the silpats rather than foil when possible.  So that's one help I suppose.  Although my silpats are looking pretty cruddy.  They don't clean up very well.

 

just rambling here...

 

I'm with you about wasting the Ziploc. I hate having to buy them, so, of course, I hate throwing them away. I use mason jars for freezing some things.  I just have to remember not to fill them up to high if it is a liquid like broth.  I freeze home grown peas and beans this way. Some plastic bags I mark what was in them, store them in the freezer, and then reuse for the same purpose.  This would mostly be homemade biscuits or some fruit.

[dbmamaz]

I did wash ziplocs for a while (or, really, my ex did), but it just was such a PITA.  I never celebrated these holidays as a kid, and we dont really do easter.  i did buy a halloween bucket once.  it was a dollar and lasted years.  My first xmas tree lasted about 15 years and was just horrid, so i bought a new one 2 years ago.  But i lived on a commune for a while and just hate wasting anything . . . idk

[Julie Smith]

Before reading on I have something to say about Christmas trees.

 

When I was first together with dh hhis family had a meter tall Christmas tree. It was artificial and they had had it for years and years.

 

I made Charlie browns tree look great.

[Ellie]

Until this thread I never heard of anyone using the same Easter basket over and over. I don't know anyone that does that.

 

My dds have always used pillowcases as Halloween baskets.

 

We had to retire our first artificial tree after 10 years. We've had our current one for six years and I can't imagine it needing to be replaced for many more years. It's still in great shape.

 

Horton, we are sisters with a different mother, lol.

 

Our Christmas tree is pushing 20 years old.

[Ellie]

Speaking of weird wastes.  I don't think this is a "weird" waste, but I don't know how to get around wasting it so much.  I tend to use too many Ziploc bags.  And no, I'm not willing to wash them.  I have lots of storage containers (although frankly I hate them because they are like socks..they disappear and you can't find the lids).  I need to store stuff in the freezer, etc.  So I do need something.  Wish I wasn't throwing out so much plastic though.

 

And then foil.  I use too much foil.  But lets say you need to cover a 9 x 13 or something, I've never seen reusable heat proof lids for stuff like that.  Would be nice if there was such a thing.  I try to use the silpats rather than foil when possible.  So that's one help I suppose.  Although my silpats are looking pretty cruddy.  They don't clean up very well.

 

just rambling here...

 

Ziploc bags are my friend. :-)

 

I use the reuseable storage containers. I don't lose the lids; I lose the containers. o_0

 

There are covers for baking dishes, but I don't know if they are heat-proof. I should check on that.

 

You use silpats to cover dishes? Or to bake on? I have discovered parchment paper and will often bake cookies and whatnot on that. Love it.

 

[Ellie]

  For example, in the section about celebrations and holidays, it says not to buy a cheap, plastic Easter baskets every year and throw it away (with its plastic grass), but to buy a well-crafted (preferably Fair Trade) basket that will be kept for your child throughout their childhood (with paper grass). This seems...obvious. Do people buy plastic baskets, throw them away and get another the next year? Each of my children have only had one Easter Basket. It is "their" basket.

 

The authors said the same thing about plastic Halloween candy buckets, but I didn't think people normally throw them away. Maybe if they move frequently or something, but not typically.  Life of an artificial Christmas tree - she says "six years". What? Ours is sixteen years old...and I plan to use it indefinitely. 

 

What is your experience? 

 

When I was growing up, my grandparents bought me an Easter basket in a cellophane bag every year. I'm sure those baskets were tossed (they were not plastic, though. I've never seen a plastic Easter basket.) We didn't do Easter baskets for my dc, so I'm safe there, lol. FTR, Longaberger designs and markets a different Easter basket every year. I bought them for my dds for three years, but neither appreciated Longaberger baskets so there you go. :-)

 

Like Horton, my dc used pillowcases for trick-or-treating.

[regentrude]

Speaking of weird wastes.  I don't think this is a "weird" waste, but I don't know how to get around wasting it so much.  I tend to use too many Ziploc bags.  And no, I'm not willing to wash them.  I have lots of storage containers (although frankly I hate them because they are like socks..they disappear and you can't find the lids).  I need to store stuff in the freezer, etc.  So I do need something.  Wish I wasn't throwing out so much plastic though.

 

And then foil.  I use too much foil.  But lets say you need to cover a 9 x 13 or something, I've never seen reusable heat proof lids for stuff like that.  Would be nice if there was such a thing.  I try to use the silpats rather than foil when possible.  So that's one help I suppose.  Although my silpats are looking pretty cruddy.  They don't clean up very well.

 

I use containers for storage and freezing that had food in them and would otherwise be thrown away. Fage Greek Yoghurt containers are fabulous, since they have transparent lids. I have a stack of identical containers and identical lids, and if one gets lost, no big deal.

I do wash the gallon ziploc bags I use for freezing bread.

 

I try to reuse aluminum foil as much as possible.

[GSOchristie]

We bought nice things like stockings, Easter baskets, Halloween bags, Valentine pouches, from Pottery Barn. It was a one time investment, and I intend to keep them forever :).

[Mergath]

We keep it simple and skip Easter all together.  We're not Christians, and I can't bring myself to get on board with a rabbit bringing a giant basket of candy.  Dd has enough holidays that involve mass sugar consumption. :P

 

When I was a kid, I had a cheap plastic Easter basket that I used every year until I outgrew the holiday.  And we used the same Christmas tree for sixteen of the seventeen years I was at home.

[Cammie]

We all have ceramic Easter baskets that we use every year - they are lovely and precious and part of our tradition as a family.

 

We have cloth Halloween bags that have been used for many years.

 

Our Christmas tree is the first artificial one I have ever owned - bought it before moving to India.  It is over 8 years old now and the only problem is one strand of the prehung lights no longer lights up - but we just threw more lights on the tree and it looks great!

 

Living in India there is very little waste.  When we are done with something it goes to someone who works in our house for their family or children.  If they don't want it, it will get taken by the people who do the lawns or collect the trash.  SO little actually gets thrown away.

[VeganCupcake]

I have noticed several people in my area listing their pre-lit trees on yard sale pages (sometimes for free), saying some of the strands of lights are burned out. I know lots of people love prelit trees, but that seems to be one problem with them, making them a bit more disposable, I suppose?

 

I grew up with a mother who rationed Ziploc bags and was really into reusable storage, so it's funny to watch my siblings and me gleefully use a variety of sizes of Ziplocs pretty freely. It feels so decadent. :lol:  I do wash mine and reuse them, though.

[Cosmos]

And then foil.  I use too much foil.  But lets say you need to cover a 9 x 13 or something, I've never seen reusable heat proof lids for stuff like that.  Would be nice if there was such a thing. 

 

Do you have any flat cookie sheets with no sides? We have one flat that's the same size as a 9x13 pan and it's perfect for covering the pan. Either to cover it while it bakes or for storing it in the fridge. Actually, it's great for the fridge, because the sheet is hard, so I can put another pan on top of it. I do this all the time at the holidays when I need to put several pans in the fridge at once. If I need to take the pan somewhere, like for a potluck dinner, I put a rubber band around to hold the pan on.

 

I use (and reuse) foil too, but this one cookie sheet reduces our foil usage by quite a bit.

[TrixieB]

Really?? Wow. Learn something new everyday. If you don't mind, where are you (in general)? 

 

I'm a fan of pillowcases for Halloween! 

 

My dad's philosophy was that we kids should take pillowcases trick-or-treating, and that we should not come home until the pillowcases were full.  Supposedly that is what he did as a child, so it's the "correct" way to trick-or-treat.  Mom never let us do it.  Can you imagine HOW MUCH CANDY that would be?  :eek:

 

Maybe the pillowcases were smaller in the olden days!

[TrixieB]

My artificial tree is 20 years old and going strong.  Perhaps they made them better back then?  

 

I think they did.  Our tree (just celebrated its 15th Christmas) is in great shape.  It looks just as good, if not better, than the trees I saw displayed at Sears last month. 

 

[Lara in Colo]

I use containers for storage and freezing that had food in them and would otherwise be thrown away. Fage Greek Yoghurt containers are fabulous, since they have transparent lids. I have a stack of identical containers and identical lids, and if one gets lost, no big deal.

I do wash the gallon ziploc bags I use for freezing bread.

 

I try to reuse aluminum foil as much as possible.

 

DD had a heck of a time finding the ACTUAL sour cream the other day.  LOL

 

I did catch myself deciding what size yogurt to buy based on what size plastic container I needed.

[Lara in Colo]

These ROCK!! I bought them for my friends this Christmas, I don't know if they have them for larger things, but for regular bowls they are great!

http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Viancin-1002-Lily-Medium/dp/B007NJ1MQC

 

Look---- for large pyrex dishes

http://www.amazon.com/Charles-VIANCIN-Banana-Silicone-Suction/dp/B00AGP86VE/ref=pd_sim_k_4

 

[Slartibartfast]

We keep it simple and skip Easter all together.  We're not Christians, and I can't bring myself to get on board with a rabbit bringing a giant basket of candy.  Dd has enough holidays that involve mass sugar consumption. :p

 

When I was a kid, I had a cheap plastic Easter basket that I used every year until I outgrew the holiday.  And we used the same Christmas tree for sixteen of the seventeen years I was at home.

 

A rabbit doesn't bring baskets full of candy in our house. It brings little stamps, hair things, wooden toys, small jewelry, finger puppets, play food made from yarn or felt, bath bombs or soaps. There might be one or two lindor balls or ghirardelli squares but that's probably about it.

 

Since dd was little my Easter baskets have been supplied by Etsy or things I made myself. I might not be as green on other holidays but I have managed to keep Easter mostly handmade items. :)

[Slartibartfast]

I saw this pattern for these cute little bowl covers 

 

http://thecottagemama.com/2011/05/color-my-summer-purple-potluck-bowl/

 

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

DD had a heck of a time finding the ACTUAL sour cream the other day.  LOL

 

I did catch myself deciding what size yogurt to buy based on what size plastic container I needed.

My dad opened his margarine container of leftovers one day to find. . . margarine!  His co-workers laughed and laughed and then shared their lunch with him.  

[Melissa in Australia]

We don't do any of those celebrations, so we don't have any of those baskets or trees.

 Do I win the environmental award? :leaving:

[Joyofsixreboot]

We have garage sale purchased cheap Easter basket and Halloween buckets that my 21 and 19 yo used and we're still using them.  It never occurred to me to throw away a perfectly good item.  I do get a real tree every year but maybe the baskets cancel it out?  Hey, I'm helping some tree farmer, right?  And the charity I buy it from right?  Right? :001_smile:

[Lolly]

Pillow cases for Halloween. Those silly buckets don't hold enough and the candy spills out too easily! Reused Easter baskets. My kids have had two. A small one when they were small; a larger one as they got older. Christmas trees, we just purchased a new artificial tree this year. The old one was 25. It was not in good shape! I do think the tree purchased makes a difference. The old tree was quite expensive, we inherited it from the in-laws. The one we had before it only lasted about 6 years; it was a cheaper model. We purchased a cheaper one again this year. The $ just don't make sense to buy the better tree/we can get 6 trees for the price of the one higher quality tree. Waste-wise the $ tree would be a better choice; though there is no guarantee that it would last as long as that last one!