Bagging a Greenie
How large is your eco footprint?
It’s not easy being green. Especially when you live in Beijing where everything is gray. This is, however, changing rapidly. Three years ago, my green fabric shopping bags drew questionable [style-challenging] stares, as did my Crocs shoes, but that’s another story. Sure, they may not be the prettiest shopping bag on the Beijing block, but they are strong and they hold a lot. Many a shopkeeper has oohed and ahhed with envy over these bags. But the most important thing they do, of course, is eliminate my need for plastic bags – a common blight on our planet’s increasingly frail ecosystem.
Yes, the world’s oceans have become plastic soup, and we need to start fishing for shopping bags. Go to www.thegreenguide.com/strangedays/ to find out what you can do.
I’m probably not alone when I say I was delighted to find Jenny Lou’s and April Gourmet jump on the green bandwagon with their self-promoting sacks. Olé supermarkets have also followed suit, although, you do have to purchase your family’s body-weight in groceries before you qualify for a freebie. Other spots providing fabric bags upon purchase are WalMart, Carrefour, Nick’s and the Big and Little Bookshop at Lido, VanGuard supermarkets and NU2YU baby shop.
Swapping bags are not the only thing that will make Beijing greener. Of course, each one of us can make a difference, and yes yes – even the little things count. The sooner we teach our kids about the impact of their eco footprint, the better. Huddle around the computer with the kids and take this eco footprint test http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/, then talk about what changes you can make as a family. Refusing plastic bags is only one way you can add to the eco challenge, but at least it’s a start. If we all changed one small thing in our family’s lives, we’d make an impact Mother Nature herself would feel.
China has a long way to go before turning Green – the environmental atrocities I witness daily have always sort of put the kybosh on making a personal effort. After all – it’s 1.3 billion to 4. How could one little family make enough Green impact to make a difference here in Beijing, let alone in China?
Living a temporary, expat life, it’s easy to get caught in the “surreal-life” trap. Living here carries a certain dreamlike quality – that you’re not living a Real Life and that all the old rules don’t necessarily apply. Along with culture changes and major shifts in the way things are done (a lot of it taken out of our hands), it’s easy to forget about Real Life. But with the glut of Going Green programmes surrounding Earth Day on 22 April this year, my guilt levels began to rise. Why wasn’t I making an effort any more? Why was I being so slack? Why wasn’t I encouraging my children to heed the Green call that I am so gung-ho about when living in Australia?
Well, it’s time to make a stand. I have procrastinated long enough and this old-time Greenie is back on the wagon. My Green shopping bags are poised by the front door. I no longer accept plastic bags and if I forget my green bags whilst shopping, I buy a new one and absorb the cost. I turn off lights and remind the kids to the do same. I am blasting the house with a shot of aircon, then turning it off and waiting until it’s unbearably warm to repeat the same. The fridge is pulled out from the wall so it runs more efficiently, my microwave is used more than the oven, and the kettle only boils enough water for one or two cups. We have switched to energy-efficient light bulbs, are buying organic, local food, and are trying to eat with the seasons. We are eating less meat, more vegetables. We are buying less, reusing more. We are sorting items into our building’s recycling and educating ayi to do the same.
It’s working. My seven-year-old daughter is now reminding me to turn off the tap when brushing my teeth. My husband is finally remembering to turn off the energy-efficient light bulbs we’ve installed. Even my five-year-old son is dumping stuff in the recycle.
What are you doing to turn your family green?
Tania McCartney
Comments Add a public comment
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Liora - thanks so much for sharing this. I had no idea they were so dangerous (not written on the box, inconveniently!!).
I'll certainly be looking at ways to accurately dispose of these energy-efficient bulbs. An irony that something so fabulous for the planet in general can be so detrimental after its dying gasp.
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right. Which has got to make you wonder, why is Greeenpeace and all the big environmental organizations so hush hush about the mercury? And so vigorously pushing CFL's? Even halogen are more energy efficient than incandescant and safe.
But LED bulbs are the very very best. They last for EVER, and are safe for the soil. Unfortunately, except for decorative novelty LEDs at B&Q I have not been able to find them in China. I even contacted alibaba manufacturers (I have such crummy luck with them, anyway) but got no response :(
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Ok, that fact about light bulbs is really scary. I'm afraid to turn on my lights now.
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I am adding LED bulbs to the shopping list... post-China, of course.
Why is it so hard to find this stuff here? Probably a daft question, especially as it took me three years to find a green bag.
Maybe it will be another three years before LEDs are available here.
Let's hope it's sooner.
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pjsheeps, don't worry so much. The mercury does not leach out unless it gets broken. Geesh, take a chill pill.
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I hope you were being facetious, that's why my tone was so weird. No, seriously, best to keep the boxes and lo, those many years later, dispose of the CFL bulb in it.
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haha. I was. Thanks for the info lioralourie!
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hi i'm just getting into recycling and the first thing i notice about this article is that it's listed in the family section. why?
how can you find out more? my building doesn't have a recycling bin. as far as i know, none of my friends know how they can get more involved in recycling their waste. where can i take my empty plastic bottles and magazines and newspapers? can i recycle my toilet paper? i'm aware that the shou po lanr de ren sell theirs to factories for re-use, but what about the individual?
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YES, absolutely, this green issue should be posted in every section on the CW website. It was listed in the family section because being green applies to families as well as individuals.
Families, individuals, colleagues and friends can all become involved by asking these questions and then setting out to find the answers. Why not be the first in your building to question the fact that there is no recycling bin? What a privileged position you would be in to inaugurate such a facilty.
It's thrilling to watch China evolve into a greener space, even in the short time I have been living here... Let's hope the information, facilities and opportunities to recycle and promote ecologically-sound practises in this enormous country continue to power along as rapidly as the GDP.
CW editors, bloggists and other readers unite - let's answer some of these questions!
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hi, pekingrags no you cannot recycle toilet paper. It is made to break down in the water recycling process and is not so problematic on that end (ewww, bad pun, sorry). It's the production that is problematic for the environment (energy, bleach and chemicals like dioxin which are carcinogens, packaging, distribution).
There is a small but growing movement (again, sorry) to use "Family Cloth" as they call it, or a modified version of it.
Here's how it works, cut up an old pair of pants, boxer shorts, flannel baby blankets, you get the picture. Anything soft and absorbant--worn out flannel is excellent. Dut them into approx. 3-4 inch rectangles or squares. Then use in place of T.P.
We use a "modified" version whereby we all use cloth for pees (men this is not usually an issue) and we use T.P. for BMs. Babies we just rinse in the sink with mild soap if necessary. (easier if you do the Chinese method of pottying, which is also somewhat of a trend in the U.S. where they call it EC or Elimination Communication! )
We already had several cheap plastic stackable "shelves" that were not solid on the trays but are a plastic mesh. Perfectly air ventilated for drying wipes. Top rack for clean wipes, and bottom for dirties, and the little rack fits perfectly between the toilet and the wall.
Anyway, We use about 1/8th of the T.P. we used to. Less frequent trips to the grocery, less money in Vinda's pocket, and that much less production. I am trying to start a revolution!
For laundering, they can go in with the regular clothes wash, in a zippered laundry bag. It's not like diapers which are thick and breed bacteria in the hours before they dry/are washed. The wipes have very little urine, they dry quickly and therefore there is no odor.
If you are a germophobe you can use Tea Tree Oil or a touch of bleach, or wash on really hot, but I have found that a lightly warm wash with the normal clothes gets them clean and fresh smelling. Best to do a cold prewash of the load first, though. Also best to lay them flat to dry, in little stacks of 5 or 6 tall. They are easier to store and use.
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Batteries have to be disposed of in a hazardous waste facility, some can be recycled, I think.
Every apartment complex (well, every one I've lived in in China, that makes just 5...) has had a bin to collect used batteries.
Check at your management office, or the guard's entrance to your compound. The word for battery is
電池 电池 diàn chí =battery
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Compact Fluorescents are a big controversy. Each bulb contains a whopping 4-5 mg of mercury.
One bulb (new or used) is enough to contaminate 16,000 square feet of soil. If one breaks in your home you should look up on the internet SAFE DISPOSAL METHODS so you don't ingest mercury or spread it around even more. Never vacuum, it'll disperse the mercury droplets. Use gloves and never ever deal with it if you are pregnant.
Imagine all those broken bulbs in the ground. All that mercury going into our food...just a matter of time.