New Laptop!! :) - Not mine, yet! - & suspicious amounts of housework!! hm!

My sister's bought a new laptop, so the house has been frantic.


Word of advice: NEVER buy a laptop on a Friday!!

Also, never buy a laptop on a whim! (if you can help it!:)
/& without having techie people notified in advance!/
She's had trouble uploading drivers and getting the sound to be heard, and all techie people we know were kinda busy.. My sis is kinda techie too, so she did the DIY - some of it went well, but no sound.

No surprise, many others had the same or similar experience, as found on online forums.
Hopefully the things can be resolved in a day or two.

Dad is milking the cows at Uncle's again (he's had another tiny operation & must rest for at least a week), I may even go up a few times myself again, but the memory of the terrible cold (the first time we were there) kinda haunt me still.. I do miss the cute cows & cats a bit.. :)

Sis (& the whole house) has been kinda in a laptop driver-seeking frenzy (I guess I would be too..) It's difficult to focus on other things if you have visitors (uncle &Dad) over half the day and a sister who admires your googling skills :)
/'How do you find those forums?' she says!/

Luckily, this will enable us to have each own computer to work on, so hopefully the hours can be better (& the PC turned off earlier..:) hopefully helping reduce energy & time waste.. (I know a PC AND laptop can use more energy than just one of those, but often sis & I just found ourselves procrastinating by the PC 'cause it was free'.. :) instead of properly working..so time management will hopefully be easier now.. once the drivers are installed proper..)

I am also oddly relieved that I don't have to buy a laptop now! It was driving me mad, trying to research and find the 'most zero waste' & 'low-toxic' & generally best & most affordable laptop!
/Though EthicalConsumer is kinda helpful (may be a bit dated though?) & Guide to Greener Electronics by Greenpeace offered a lot of info too! Those Guides have changed so much every few months it was difficult to tell who's actually REALLY better at any given point of time! (& it was driving me mad, kinda, lol!!/

/The terrible news of bad 'recycling' practices with regard to computers had me worried too.. For example, see this movie - quite shocking!!/
It would be MUCH easier if we KNEW exactly WHERE all our recycled stuff goes, no?
/The companies say it's all completely trackable, so why not put up little films and charts/maps and independent organisations monitoring them?/

I would be much happier to buy a laptop (or anything else) if I were sure what would happen to it afterwards!

I also had a thorough talk to myself (& did some heavy journalling) AND as a result, did immoral amounts of housework this weekend! (Okay, partly cause it was International Women's Day & I wanted to help Mom too!)

I wanted to give Mom some flowers, but Sis is allergic to pollen (or the chemicals that come with it? we live near a chemical factory, remember?) and also, Mom said it's a shame when the flowers wilt so quickly and all.. & they're much prettier outside in Nature!

Helping with the dishes (& lunch) - or other housework - is a REAL zero waste gift!! (and Mom appreciated it greatly, I think, lol! She's even written a tiny play about little kids helping their Mom as the ultimate 8th March gift when we were small - we enacted it on 'celebrations' for our street when we were kids!)

/I really hate doing the dishes, can you tell?!! :) I hate to admit, but it's true!! I'm always worried about the dishwasher liquid. We have an 'eco' one now, but it has artificial food preservatives in it, which I've been allergic to as a kiddie already!! - And that's the 'eco' one, god knows what's in the other ones!!

Also, I got really upset by any (excessive) tetrapaks garbage in the bin I might accidentally see! had a word with Sis, hopefully she'll do better now!/

- WASHING THE DISHES IS ZERO WASTE! Why? It's better than throwing them away, no?

- COOKING (FROM SCRATCH) IS ZERO WASTE! Why? Better than throwing tons of pizza boxes away, no? ('polluted' paper or cardboard is unrecyclable here. Maybe-compostable, if in small amounts & if the paper/cardboard is 'okay' - no iffy chemicals used, but still, 'zero' is better, no?)

It's making it so much easier for me to do housework, just reframing it this way..

It may sound silly, but it helps!! :)

PS HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, everyone!! :)
Hope you had a FUN day!!

Shocking news!!

Okay, so you guys may be wondering where I have been... Been looking at and researching other things..
BTW comments are fixed now (I think) so - happy commenting!! :)

I've been recently made aware of a great new channel for (hopefully) independent/alternative information on environment etc. here in Slovenia.
It's called Studio 12 and is supported by CEE Trust - Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe which aims to help create independent media in this region (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia).

Not only does it report of the latest developments re: Sai Baba and other spiritual themes, a whole section is devoted to environment and such!
And YES, they have TV shows about GARBAGE too!! (Now you see why I'm addicted!!:)

They invited into their studio the CEO of Slopak, the company that gathers recyclables in Slovenia. (Interestingly, the company is set-up and funded by chief-package-waste producers such as Coca Cola, beer breweries, Tetrapak, milk companies etc. - so stuff can get passed on to be recycled even if they have to pay for it - there are FUNDS set aside for this! they do not depend on the market solely, although it was easier when stuff was worth more.)

Not surprisingly, the CEO said THEY PREFER RECYCLABLES TO BE WASHED!! (which the garbage men have been wishy-washy about and never really made a clear advice) Of course it makes sense - if washed, the recyclables can be sorted much more easily, and they can wait longer for transport too (without getting smelly, mouldy or such) which makes the whole thing more economical and produces less emmissions from transport. Also, MUCH LESS chemicals are needed for washing the recyclables early after use as opposed to later having to use really strong and bad chemicals.(!)

But this isn't the shocking news yet!!
THIS is the shocking news: When asked about TRENDS worldwide, the CEO calmly talked about an interesting TREND how to 'make' waste/packaging, so they will have the best fuel effect (& will burn in a most consistent manner etc). GRR!!

This makes me wanna behave in an un-ladylike manner!!

I guess this explains all the rantings by the amazing Mrs A and the equally amazing Mrs Green!!

Here we are, thinking of how to reduce waste in ingenious ways, and they are actually DESIGNING best flammable and burnable waste - instead of focusing on LESS WASTE in the 1st place!!

I want to have a word or two with those DESIGNERS!!!!!!!

I am NOT a DESIGN Major but I have this book: Eco-Friendly Design
A friend of mine IS and she's never heard of it! (until I told her)
/Been meaning to do a review on it & will post it up when I do! - I think it is most helpful for visual-art/graphics designers, but packaging designers may find a hint or two too!!/

Maybe Mrs A and Mrs Green could invite some design college professors for a nice cuppa tea or a piece of zero waste cake?
Or maybe Poppy's protests need to be held outside a design college/University...? hmm!!

If you find a product or service (or incinerator) advertise itself to be 'green' or 'eco' and it's not - report it here: http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_complain/complaints_form/
(Found on the lovely edenbee.com)
I wish we had something like this for Slovenia-? Hey, maybe we have! Gotta check!! :)
(And while you're at it, maybe Complain to ASA about polluters adverts too?!!)

Chaos into order? Zero Waste Report #1!

Okay, so I'm still battling with Blogger (& so are some of my Livejournal friends, who haven't been able to post comments! Thanks for visiting anyway!!) - but I thought I'd just go ahead & start this thing proper.

I am learning from the lovely Danda at Dandaworld to be a bit more systematic and bring some order into this chaos!
Our household is, well, a tiny bit chaotic.

We do recycle, but hm... Not 100% of time (sometimes things like tuna tins have gotten thrown in with the rest of garbage, cause no one my Sis could be bothered to wash them up proper)

RECYCLING STATION
Our 'recycling station' - hm! We do have two (three) bins in our pretty almost-new kitchen, one for 'mixed garbage' and one for paper (that usually gets burnt in the furnace, as it's typical here). /I'm not completely happy with this, as I'm not sure how chlorine-free the paper is, especially as Sis & Dad insist on damn catalogues (while Mom & I'd love to cancel them!) and those have been known to be a source of heavy metals also! - A friend of mine who works in a Slovenian printing shop has informed me that eco-awareness there is 'disastrous'! - Maybe topic for another rant post!/
Also, the mixed-garbage bin is too big! As it has been pointed out (and observed!) the bigger the bin, the more waste may be made!
We had a smaller bin in the old kitchen, and I think less waste was made cause simply there wasn't so much place for it!

There are small bins in the toilet and bathroom too, which we thought was the 'height of hygiene' when we bought them a couple of years ago (after observing this in Uni dorms), but now I wish we hadn't bought them, as they only seem to give people incentive to make more waste - more easily!
I wish it were harder to throw away things!

Mom & Sis still insist on iffy hair products & deodorants etc with lots of throwaway packaging.. So currently I'm not focusing on those little bins, as they're not fully within my control.. /I do try to nag inform and inspire when appropriate, or just ignore.. until I have other things better under control.. or find better and alternative products they could use easily../
I started in my bathroom, where I'M in control, and am now moving on to kitchen! :)

We have a separate tiny plastic bin (with a non-tight lid) on the kitchen counter for compost/peels/ leftovers.

Then, things get taken downstairs (where the monsters are)!
Monsters, aka, all Dad's things!! (toxic poisons and all!!)
Sometimes the tins ruminate for a while on his big desk of tools, then get taken to the 'small garage', where there are boxes for this! The compost bin is there also, and a big box with plastic bottles (Sis still drinks Coca Cola! ugh!).
Truly we consume much less 'plastic food' and drinks than our neighbours, but still - I'd love to have juice etc produced at home/locally and available in glass bottles etc! We've done this at times and peach nectar was yummy!

Basically, it would be great if 'the small garage' could be organized better!!
As it is, it's also freezing cold there, so I barely tiptoe to the compost bin and put stuff in (it's later taken to the compost heap by Dad).

There are doors between the main garage and the small garage (where the car is), so the smell is not a problem. (There's no lid on the big compost bins, and well, sometimes it can smell a bit - it's still yummy food for the veggies and Dad keeps saying we need more compost - so it's very precious!)
I'm not sure if a lid would interrupt with the natural decomposing process or not, it's just always been done this way.. (On the farm where my Dad grew up they had a no-lid bucket in the kitchen 'for the piggies' too..)

So, basically this is the description of our 'recycling station'!
It kinda works for us, though some things could be improved!

LOCAL RECYCLING FACILITIES
There are big containers for recyclables (paper, plastics, tins, glass) about 200m away from our house, for all the neighbours to put stuff there.. This system works quite well, I've seen kiddies (& other neighbours) bring in stuff on wheelbarrows or even small wooden carts.. /Unfortunately not all neighbours are on board with this, but I've seen many and this gives me hope!!/

There has been some speculation whether the recyclables are really taken away separately by the waste trucks (basically people have given this as a reason not to do it!) - I always answer that in another city, when it was done, it was a pilot programme to assess how many people would be willing to recycle and it's even more important to recycle in this case!

In the summer, at times there were too many plastic bottles, and they waited outside the plastic container.. sometimes stuff got scattered around.. I guess it's important for everyone to MINIMIZE the plastic bottles in the 1st place (most stuff in them is really unhealthy for you anyway!)
This is a small town 'where village meets the town' and 'mini-markets' (with plastic food, & a plastic bag frenzy!) are 'the latest rage'! grr!!
Instead of preserving the beautiful nature, they are planning another one!! ugh
In one of them, I haven't been able to find a single thing without artificial food preservatives or excess baggage!
(They have eco bananas, but wrapped in plastic!!)

THE MAIN PROBLEM: Plastics from buying food!!
Many of those are non-recyclable, and even if some of them have #numbers and are theoretically 'recyclable' - hmm.. who knows? In a video on recycling in Slovenia the expert (head of recycling company) said things get sorted and some things that are impossible or 'uneconomical' to recycle proper still get 'processed for energy' - and we all know what that means!!
I've also read articles on recycling 'film plastics' (like bags or food packaging) being 'uneconomical'! - So the terrible plastics worry me tremendously & would love to find ways to shop without them completely!!
/It's been done for centuries, why not now??/

SHOPPING OPPORTUNITIES
It's not really easy to find zero waste food and other stuff in these mini-markets, still, it's partly doable.. some veggies are packed, and some aren't, depends on the veggie - and the shop also!!
There's no everyday 'farmer's market' or 'health food store' (the first ones are half-an-hour drive away) - fortunately we do have a 'fair' once a month or so..
& Luckily Sis did get the phone number of a lady selling homemade butter and cottage cheese/quark, so YAY!! The 1st Zero Waste Wahoo!! :)

We get some milk and eggs, rabbits and beef from farmers directly, so these are pretty much 'zero waste', when fresh... The stuff from the garden is also pretty much Zero Waste.. Trouble is the frozen stuff, which is partly still in the terrible plastic bags! (the rest are ex-quark/ice-cream or Tupperware/Curver containers!)
Unfortunately the 'Yoghurt Wahoo' is not such a Wahoo anymore, as Sis & Mom want low-fat yoghurt (& maybe we've all been scared a bit by a possible dioxin scare - there's a PVC window producer locally..)
So the yogurt production has dwindled... (I keep wanting to try & make yogurt out of 2-day old milk, but people keep drinking/using it away!!)

Not surprisingly, our garbage is much less than our neighbours'! Mostly 1 plastic bag a week, while the neighbours (often) make 2 full huge bins!

So, the idea is to keep minimizing garbage, finding ways to buy ZERO WASTE (YAY there's been talk of organic food baskets or such in Slovenia too!! still, there are no good eco farmers with extra food to sell locally, that we would know of.. maybe more research would be needed..) - especially meat and such...

Will be detailing the battle for this in the next blogs... (as an ex-vegetarian, I am properly terrified of handling raw meat, but if I don't do it, who will??)
My family keep bringing 'plastic meat' (wrapped in tons of plastic or worse) from the super-markets!! grr!!
Is it really impossible to get semi-organic zero waste chicken or pork? Or, uhm, sausages or similar?

Stay tuned!! :)

Why I am doing this

Well, in this blog, you will hear about some wacky stuff.

If you wonder why I'm doing it, go watch The Story of Stuff. Seriously. (free to download)

The way us humans have been throwing around resources, is scary and a bit frightening.
Another scary thing is how those valuable resources are treated then: dumped away or burnt. Causing emmissions of dioxins and heavy metals, and other cancer-causing chemicals we may not even know about... Some (like heavy metals) may cause mental health problems (which are on the rise worldwide anyway, as has been cancer!!) Dioxins and other chemicals may also cause birth defects in babies...

Even 'new technologies' like pyrolysis that claim to produce no emissions of dioxins or heavy metals are usually heavily undertested &/or the producers marketing them underplay dangers or just plain - lie.
"Waste from Energy" being 'green' is a well-marketed lie! (It is incinerator technology producing bad air with toxic chemicals+toxic remains in the ash or any fluids etc. - and truly some energy, but usually less than could be saved with recycling or using alternative products in the first place! - & much less than they would like you to believe!)

12 incinerators are planned in our beautiful Slovenia. They are called "Waste from Energy" or people claim the technology is so clean, one could drink the liquid that remains from pyrolysis! (article in Slovenian)
Yeah, right...!! Apparently sometimes the fluid or other by-products from pyrolysis are even more toxic than air emmissions from 'ordinary' incinerators!
And what happens if the plant breaks down? In Furth, Germany the whole area had to be evacuated in one of such cases because of too high emmissions!
Of course they will say these new incinerators are 'improved and better technology' - but that is what they always say! That is exactly what they said in US and Germany and elsewhere too!

You thought this could never happen to you? (I thought so too..) Well, research a bit exactly where the waste from your city goes... Or where it's intended to go... Trust me, your life will never be the same once you do...

Another reason I'm doing this is for my Granny. She's an awesome lady who has been a cleaning lady most of her life and started writing poetry in her old age, when retired already! She is one of the awesomnest people I know!!
She also had cancer, and has been battling with heart disease, and other problems.
Together with her, a lot of my relatives live in the city where the first 'official' municipal waste incinerator in Slovenia has been built.
They are liberal, wacky, creative, a lot of fun - and I LOVE them dearly!!
Yes, they do like some unhealthy food now and then, but the city they live in has been subjected to A LOT of chemical pollution as it is, they don't need this new source of pollution!!
Bad air has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and a lot of other health problems!

Some will say, 'Oh but recycling causes bad air and toxic chemicals too.'
Whereas landfill and incinerators both cause bad air and toxic chemicals AND waste of resources, (in most cases) recycling is still better because at least the valuable resources are used for new things.

Where recycling is dirtier or impossible, or people say it's 'just unprofitable': JUST SAY NO!!!!
Very likely, alternative products or services exist, that will be much healthier and more environmentally friendly!!

IDEALLY, all products and services, shops and factories were designed in a way that leaves little room for refuse... But lots of room for creativity, reuse and sustainability.

A horrible fact is, I LOVE MY STUFF!! I want it to be well-built, to last for a long time, I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to techie stuff etc.. I'd be happy with upgrades and knowing end-of-cycle the stuff will be made into more good stuff, not just thrown away...

Besides, going ZERO WASTE is FUN!! It's an ADVENTURE!!! :))
You never know what you'll come against next!! ;)

A huge waste container near Granny's place in the city taught me one thing: garbage (if mixed together) will smell.
But, a garbage heap can also be a source of all sorts of treasures. When we were little, we loved reading the excellent comic books someone had left by the container, or play with awesomely-looking bits of fabric Granny had found near the container one day too.. On another occasion, us kids found lovely thrown-away bags we used for years to play 'postman' or do mini-theatre (or fashion shows) with!

This is a blog about MINIMIZING WASTE in the 1st place.

Our ancestors have lived without tons of plastic bags for eons.
On farms, and in Nature, 'waste' is not truly waste, but a valuable source for new life..

One day, I would LOVE to live on a farm too, so it's best if I start practising now!! :)

People in deserts live with MINIMIZED possessions, and in the Western civilisation our possessions sometimes drag us down or unable us to live in our own houses, or go where we want to go! When does STUFF become CLUTTER and when is it better to just let go? And be free?

Not far from where I live, a beautiful PARK with lots of amazing flowers was built where there used to be a 'village dump'! The site was cleaned up by volunteers years ago and turned around completely..

Could this be done on a larger scale? Could the world be turned around completely? - No idea, but the journey itself is FUN!! And I've already met some AMAZING people on the way!! /& if you never try, you never know.../

Besides, if nothing else, by not making waste it's not affecting my grandma's & my relatives' & friends' health - or anyone else's!!

Imagine a world that is - ZERO WASTE!
People all over the world, connected in their daily efforts to make less waste!!! In a sustainable, healthy way...
USA - Canada - Europe: UK - Italy - Slovenia - ....?? well, people in Asia and Africa probably do this out of necessity already, and it's pretty much done in Germany, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries, NewZealand and Holland have apparently officially gone zero waste - still, would be interested if anyone is doing it per blog!
(will be keeping a list of countries!! - still looking to list people from other EU countries, Australia and the islands, Latin America, Asia or Africa (or Antarctica) doing this!! :)) Tell me if you know anyone!!)

Let's make parks with flowers and trees, gardens and zero waste shops, parties, picknicks & trips with yummy healthy food, and have fun & a healthy life & make friends ZERO WASTE STYLE!!!!!!!!!!!

(PS Can you think of any other reasons to go Zero Waste? I will try to keep track! In fact, there are more reasons why to do this, than against! I can only think of two reasons why not to do this: cause it's 'difficult' and for being 'plain lazy'! uhm, and they are not really good reasons for doing anything!! :))