NO STRAW Saturday

Originally published Jan 11, 2014

Get your green on this new year - even if you start small. Starting this Saturday (Saturdays are one of the biggest nights of the week that people go out) when the waiter brings your drink politely refuse straw. Call it "No Straw Saturday". Or if you know it's a restaurant that gives outstraws tell the waitstaff before hand not to bring you one when she asks for your drink order. Yes I said straw. Tell her you're trying to live a less single-use and more plastic-free lifestyle.  There are 500 million of plastic straws manufactured each year. Have you seen any straw recycling centers? No. What do you think happens to them after the miniscule amount of time you spent sucking your beverage through them? They Go To The Landfill To Die A Slow Death. Not only are the effects of the straw devastating to the earth over time, so are the effects of the straw on your face over time. Sucking through a straw is like smoking a cigarette, have you ever noticed the lines above the lips of a cigarette smoker? Do you want to look like that? Of course not! Stop hurting the face of the earth by filling it with so many throwaway things and stop hurting your own face by not using a straw. It's the right thing to do - most of us only have one Earth and one face. Make the most of it.  

Reuse and save!

Then make every Saturday a "No Straw Saturday" to spread the word and work out from there.  If business owners asked first they'd be saving a penny a piece at least!

I'm not the only one to think of this, although I had the though on my own a nine year old beat me to organizing the word about it: Milo Cress If you do NEED a straw, get a reusable one or save and reuse the ones you get when you go out.  Weave yourself a nice placemat out of them. Seriously, they're made of polypropylene so they're like mini tubular CRESBI crates, why throw that kind of strength away?

Enjoy!

Dry Cleaning Bags Don't Have to Leave the Environment High & Dry

Originally published Nov 27, 2013

What's a Wannabee Tree-Hugger to do with all those nice big dry cleaning bags?  Few ideas:

 

First. Ask your Dry Cleaners to give you your clothes back "naked" without bags and then reuse your current stash to keep them clean when you're transporting - if you have a clean car you may not even need it (I have pets and kids and I don't have much of a chance anywhere in my car or house!).

 

Second, get a reusable garment/drycleaning bag like this: http://thegreengarmento.com/.  Even though most places in the USA are not hotbeds of environmentalism, businesses will work with you.  I take my reusable to go box into the grocery to get salad.  I have the deli weigh the box (because it's heavy .44 pounds but dishwasher and microwave safe!), get the salad and then have them weigh it again and put a price on it for the checker: http://www.sunsugarfarms.com/products/reusable-to-go-box  You may want to try one too if you don't already - virtually no place will take the clear polystyrene.

 

Third, dry cleaning bags are great to put your clothes in to travel, they will keep them wrinkle free in the suitcase. Or reuse them in low traffic area trash cans.  For fun keep one in the garage and throw any of your fast food containers into it.  If you like the convenience of fast food or takeout you will be saddened by how fast your bag fills up.  One third of what we throw away are merely containers.  I now take my reusable to go cup everywhere with mehttp://www.sunsugarfarms.com/products/cresbi-tumbler - you can actually get discounts on drinks this way and I also use my to go box for leftovers at restaurants of for carry out. 

 

Fourth, you should be able to turn your bags in with the Kroger-type plastic bags in their recycling bins.  Most dry cleaning bags are #4 low density polyethylene type and most plastic grocery bags are that or high density polyethylene (#2): http://ir.kroger.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=106409&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=1129819&highlight=

 

Hope this helps you all live guilt-free lives when it comes to dry cleaning bags!  And if you do buy groceries consider thinking outside the box by thinking OF a box - check out my patent-pending CRESBI crate systems: www.CRESBI.com!  - a finalist for the Cincinnati Chamber's New Product of the Year award and loved by consumers in over 30 states, Canada and Australia!

We'll Give You Credit!

Originally published Jun 01, 2013

We give you credit for trying to be "green" by purchasing a reusable bag.  Unfortunately the one you bought is probably nonwoven polypropylene and no recycling centers will take it when it falls apart and IT WILL fall apart.  (Read more here:http://www.sunsugarfarms.com/pages/recycle-reusable-bags or watch the video below!).  So now we'll give you credit to help keep nonwoven polypropylene bags out of landfills where they will be a bigger problem than plastic bags, Sun Sugar Farms is offering a credit program!  Give us your bags to weave into rugs or other useful items and we give you a discount of $0.05/bag credit towards your purchase of any CRESBI crate system!

•  Drop off or send us your clean nonwoven polypropylene bags of any size:

   Sun Sugar Farms
   1258 Maddox Lane
   Verona, KY 41092

•  Get $0.05 credit PER BAG towards the purchase of any CRESBI crate system.  

•  Include your name, phone and email address when you drop off

•  We’ll email you a code for the amount of bags you turn in.  

A Good GREEN Investment

Originally published May 11, 2013

Just sayin'...

If you saw us on WCPO's "Try it out Tuesday" (http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/money/try-it-out-tuesday-cresbi-crates) they forgot a few things.  The $29.50 mentioned includes two collapsible, dishwasher-safe crates, PLUS a cooler insert, and an adjustable strap to carry one or both crates. CRESBI Crates will never wear out like reusable bags will, your food arrives home safe and upright, and you stay healthy since less people are handling your items! Plus you can't put your products in your bags as you shop --  with a CRESBI crate you can! This is the iphone of grocery containment!  Of course it's going to be a little pricier!  And with the Cooler 5 Pack or Colossal 6 Pack you most definitely can go FULL ON grocery shopping!  In fact, a customer in Texas got through a Walmart checkout with over $300 worth of groceries in under 3 minutes!

Plus the challenge to compare CRESBI crates to the reusable bags was originally given to WCPO's John Matarese as a topic for his "Don't Waste Your Money" segment.  Think about your next GREEN investment of your "green":

PLASTIC BAGS
Rumor has it Kroger may be starting to charge for plastic bags.  Stores in California already charge $0.05 to $0.10/plastic bag if someone forgets their own form of bag.  The average family of four uses around 15 bags a week.  Even if they reuse those bags a couple times, the bags ultimately end up in landfills taking thousands of years to degrade which is bad for the environment, in addition to your wallet.  $1.50/week x 52 weeks = $78/year. Side note: These bags cost stores between $0.01 - $0.02 to  purchase. 

CHEAP NONWOVEN POLYPROPYLENE RUSABLE BAGS
The cheap bags that sell for $0.50 (Walmart) to $1.00 (Meijers, Kroger) are actually a green farce (otherwise known as "Greenwashing").  The bags probably cost less than $0.10 for them to buy, given their large economies of scale.  Because they are so cheaply made (and can't be anything other than hand-washed) they quickly fall apart or become an excellent source of bacteria.  Average number of uses by a family of four could be between 5-10 times depending on level of care before the bags start falling apart.  They can hold more than plastic ones but at 10 bags every 3 months that could cost $40 minimum every year once companies stop giving them away as promotional items.  But the worst part is that there are only a handful of #5 recycling centers in the US so most of these grocery store and promotional corporate bags end up in landfills.  Here they take longer to breakdown than the plain old plastic bags they were meant to replace in the first place. 

CLOTH REUSABLE BAGCan hold as much as polypropylene ones but can be machine washed.  Usually $7- $10 per bag.  Expense isn’t bad as long as they are washed. Family of four would spend $70-$100/year initially.

CRATESCollapsible crates can be purchased at Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc but most are usually too big and get too heavy to fit more than one into a grocery cart. CRESBI crates are collapsible, too, but they also fit into every cart in existence and can be stacked to ensure your food doesn’t get crushed.   Plus they’re dishwasher safe and feature an extra hook for your grocery cart to keep them out of the way while you shop.  Or you can save time while you shop by opening the crates when you start and then placing your items barcode up in them.  Then the checker scans the items and never removes your products from the crate.  All but the crates themselves are made in America.  Single one time investment for a family of four: CRESBI 5 Pack& Cooler ($86) or CRESBI Colossal ($89).

But I use the bags for my pet's...

Originally published Feb 24, 2013

You have a dog.  It goes to the bathroom.  You pick up the poop with the free plastic bag that you get when you buy groceries.  I get that.  But even though you reuse those bags once they still end up in a landfill, buried in the dark, taking a long time to decompose around the perfectly decomposable dog and cat stuff.  A few thoughts to rock your dog (or cat or hamster) world:

Reuse all the other bags you get instead. Bread, bagels, donuts, vegetables, frozen foods, used ziploc bags...have you NOTICED what you throw away?  Get one of these handy bag holders, put it on your cabinet drawer and start collecting. Or if you're handy, sew a holder yourself. And what about the big dog or cat food bag itself?  Put that in a small trash can in the garage or outside and scoop all things smelly into there with a plastic cat crap scooper. Then you're just using ONE big old bag you already have anyway that you'll be throwing away. 

Another thought: BUY some compostable dog bags.  Yes, buy.  Because as California goes, so goes the nation - just slowly and kicking its feet - so you might as well get used to it.  In many cities in California you have to BUY a plastic bag at a hefty price if you forget your reusable. Google this company's products and you'll find a plethora of places selling them: biobag 

And finally: the very cheapest thing to do: start a secret compost hole and then use pet waste for flower gardens and your lawn (not your vegetable garden because of possible bacteria).  Even if your subdivision bans anything that makes sense like gardens and compost piles, you can still dig a hole behind a bush, dump all the crap there, and keep it covered with a green or brown trash lid inverted with mulch on it.  And the cat litter?  It's just clay or silica or other BETTER tremendously earth-friendly stuff.  Put it in the hole to return it to the earth it came from.  Here's a great article on an even better way to create one:"Can I compost pet waste?" from Colleen Vanderlinden in About.com.

So, forget the bags at the grocery store and get some CRESBI crates for your groceries, there are plenty of other excellent alternatives for all the crap in your life that your little buddies deal out.

A Seed Distribution Fee? Seriously?

Originally published Nov 11, 2012

For every 2 Pack of CRESBI crates sold I was going to give a seed packet to a deserving big city elementary school in the Cincinnati area, which is just over the river about 25 minutes from Sun Sugar Farms.  When I called the state of Ohio to see if there was anything special I needed to do I was told that there would be a $40 fee for "seed distribution".  Are you SERIOUS?  You're going to charge me to donate my stuff to help your schools grow fun nutritious food that kids might like that would get them eating healthy?

So I'll be giving my extra sunflower, pumpkin and edamame seeds to Northern Kentucky places.  Last summer during the first week of the harvest we had only 40 pounds of edamame - not enough for Green Bean Delivery (which needs 80 minimum) and too much for Kremer's Marketand Raymond's Hong Kong Cafe.  So we donated it to Piner Elementary, a school in a rural community still recovering from a devastating tornado last year.  The kids' reaction to the new food was great and you can check out the video at www.edamameusa.com!

Can CRESBI crates save your marriage?

Originally published Oct 15, 2012

Tired of fighting over how HE tries to save time carrying all the grocery bags in at once but crushes the food and how SHE tries to save the environment by using those cheap reusable bags but it wastes money because they quickly fall apart?  The CRESBI crate system could be the answer to your marital troubles!  This durable, revolutionary system for carrying your groceries is smart, flexible, protects your food and saves you time at the store and at home.  Every system includes a custom strap that has an extra hook on it that can be used to connect to your grocery cart to keep the crates out of your way while shopping.  It fits and stacks in every type of cart out there and it even can be used at carousel type checkouts like at Meijer's and Wal-Mart by placing them where the plastic bags holders are.  It's recyclable and dishwasher safe and it just might really save your marriage!

Cheap Reusable Bags Are Worse Than Plastic Ones

Originally published Sep 15, 2012

So you've spent a couple bucks on the "reusable" canvas-y looking bags near the checkout aisle.  Then you forget it the next time you shop so you buy a couple more.   Everything seems fine until you use any one of these bags more than a couple times or for something more substantial than a short loaf of very soft bread.  Then they rip.  Now what?  If you throw it away it can take as long or longer than the plastic ones took to degrade.  Can you recycle it? Nope, not unless you have a #5 recycling center for polypropylene products.  Plastic #5 is the same type of plastic that bottle caps are made of and we all remember we're not supposed to leave those in the normal recycling bin, right?  The different plastics melt at different temperatures so they need to be recycled separately at most recycling facilities and the caps can become projectiles when the machines are crushing the plastics at the sorting facility. Although a few major cities now take both bottles and caps, as do some places like Aveda stores (http://www.aveda.com/index.tmpl) and Whole Foods (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/) accept these plastics for recycling, you can always go to http://search.earth911.com/ to find a #5 recycling center near you.  Or just buy a CRESBI crate.  It is a #5 plastic but it'll last a heck of a lot longer than the cheap "reusable" bags flooding the market and soon to be flooding the landfills.