Size DOES matter...of garbage carts, that is!

Well, I did it. We switched to the smaller garbage cart. The city says it only holds 2 tall kitchen size bags... But, I figured we are up for it since the majority of our "garbage" can be recycled in some fashion:

• Organic Material --> Green organics cart (at least in Linden Hills, for now...)
  
• Recyclable plastics, glass, paper, boxboard, cardboard, etc --> Curbside recycling
• #5 plastics (tub plastics, yogurt containers) --> "Gimme 5" collection at Whole Foods or Linden Hills Co-op
• Plastic bags, plastic wrap, other plastics --> It's In the Bag collection at most grocery stores

So, what's left? Not much really. (Well, disposable diapers for one...but that's for another time.) So, the picture is what our curb looked like this morning - a non-recycling collection day though.

Wanna switch too? Just call the city of Minneapolis Solid Waste Division (311 or 612-673-2917) and request the change (and make a comment below). It'll save you $2/month too!

Plus, the little cart is just so darn cute, isn't it?! And your neighbors are bound to notice and be inspired to make the switch too!

Stay tuned...I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes!

Upcoming interesting events

Here is a small list of upcoming events that may be of interest to you. If you know of other local happenings, please leave a comment!

Backyard Harvest Informational Open House
Thursday, March 26th, 7:00pm
Linden Hills Park Building, 3100 W 43rd St W, Minneapolis
www.pricoldclimate.org/backyard_harvest_customers

5th Annual Community Garden Resource Fair
Keynote: Paula Westmoreland, Permaculture Research Institute-Cold Climate
Saturday, March 28, 2009 9am to 4pm
Unity Church-Unitarian, 732 Holly St, St Paul
www.gardeningmatters.org

Home Toxins Seminar
Saturday, April 18, 10 – 11am (childcare provided)
3033 Excelsior Blvd, G80
www.moconstruction.com
(free for first 35 registrants only)

Linden Hills Watershed Campaign kickoff
Sunday, April 19, 2-4:30 pm (free childcare provided)
Linden Hills Park Building
www.lindenhills.org

A Sense of Wonder film screening, based on the life and writings of environmentalist Rachel Carson, with Earth Day panel to follow (Panelists will include Kathleen Schuler from IATP and the Healthy Legacy coalition, and Dr. William Toscano from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health.)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
The Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church St. SE, Minneapolis
www.bellmuseum.org

Linden Hills EcoParents: Green Parties
Monday, April 17, 6:30-8:30 pm
Linden Hills United Church of Christ (42nd & Upton)

Linden Hills Festival – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Saturday, May 16, 11 am – 5 pm
Linden Hills Park
www.lindenhills.org

Living Green Expo
May 2-3 (Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
MN State Fairground
www.livinggreen.org

"One word: Plastics."

Thanks to Kathleen Schuler and all who came to last night's meeting! It was very informative and interesting. For those who were unable to attend, here are some of the things I learned about plastics:

• Safer choices for food and beverages include #1 (PETE), #2 (HDPE), #4 (LDPE), and #5 (PP). Avoid #3 (PVC), #6 (polypropylene), and many but not all #7's (other).
• Avoid using any plastic in the microwave b/c chemicals are released from all plastics when they are heated and can leach into food.
  
• Avoid using plastic containers for fatty foods.
• Many plastic cling wraps contain plasticizers (including DEHA, a hormone disrupter) and/or are made from PVC. Avoid direct contact with food, and avoid using in microwave. Glad wrap (and probably others) states that it is free from plasticizers.
  
• Avoid PVC! The manufacture of PVC is very polluting and dangerous to workers, it is the hardest to recycle, pthalates are often added to soften...

• Bisphenol-A (BPA) can leach from polycarbonate plastics, which are hard plastics (some are labeled #7-PC). But not all #7's are polycarbonate.
  
• The linings of most food cans contain BPA, so use with caution. Eden Organics canned foods do not contain BPA in the linings.

For MUCH MUCH more information to sort through this complex issues, the Smart Plastics Guide is available online from IATP. It is packed full of useful information. Other guides from IATP available for download include:

• Smart Plastics Guide
• Smart Children's Products
• Smart Produce
• Smart Meats & Dairy

Again, thanks to Kathleen Schuler from IATP for presenting to EcoParents last night! (And extra thanks to anyone who caught the reference to The Graduate in this post's title!)

Make Dirt, not Waste!

Check out Eureka Recycling's Make Dirt, not Waste site for a list of local restaurants they work with to turn their food waste into compost!

Barbette	Chowgirls Killer Catering	Gluek’s Restaurant and Bar
Birchwood Cafe	Common Roots Cafe	Red Stag Supper Club
Brasa	Fireroast Mountain Cafe	Sen Yai Sen Lek
Bryant Lake Bowl

I realize that this isn't a complete list of local restaurants composting their food waste (only those that work with Eureka), but it's a start! Make a comment if you know of other local restaurants.

Visit these restaurants - and let them know you like that they are composting!

Win Anchor glass storage containers at March 24 EcoParents!

Linden Hills Natural Home has again made a generous donation for EcoParents participants!

Three lucky meeting attendees will win an Anchor glass storage container, complete with a BPA-free lid, at the end of next week's EcoParents meeting! (They are great alternatives to plastic storage containers...and microwave safe!)

PLASTICS: what's the real scoop and what to do?
Tuesday, March 24
6:30-8:30 pm
Linden Hills Park

Guest Speaker: Kathleen Schuler, co-director, Healthy Legacy and Sr Policy Analyst at IATP.

It looks to be a very informative meeting. Hope to see you there and spread the word!

And don't forget that two other participants will win Safe Sippys donated by Bebe Babble!!


Thanks to Linden Hills Natural Home and Babe Babble for their support of EcoParents!

Upcoming HHW collection events

from Hennepin County Environmental Services:

Hennepin County and the cities of Independence, Minnetonka and St. Louis Park are sponsoring spring community collection events for county residents to safely and properly dispose of their unwanted garden and household hazardous wastes.

The collection events will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday:

• Independence: April 30 – May 2
  Independence City Hall parking lot, 1920 County Road 90
• Minnetonka: May 14 - 16
  City of Minnetonka-Public Works Department, 11522 Minnetonka Blvd.
• St. Louis Park: June 11 - 13
  Louisiana Oaks Park - south parking lot, 3500 Louisiana Ave.
  

The county will accept many household hazardous wastes, including mercury items (fluorescent bulbs and HID lamps, thermostats and thermometers); pesticides; electronics (computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, etc.); automotive wastes (fuels, fuel additives, starter fluid, waxes); aerosol cans, paint, lead-based paint chips, solvents and thinners; pool, photographic and hobby chemicals; rechargeable tools, household batteries and lead-acid batteries and gas cylinders (propane less than 40 lbs., specialty gases less than 59 lbs. will be evaluated). Items are accepted from households only, business waste cannot be accepted.

These collection events provide residents with convenient community locations to bring their problem wastes. As a year-round alternative to these collections, Hennepin County provides residents with permanent drop-off facilities located at 1400 W. 96th St., Bloomington; and 8100 Jefferson Highway, Brooklyn Park.

For a complete list of acceptable and non-acceptable items or more information on drop-off facilities, call Hennepin County Environmental Services at 612-348-3777, or visit hennepin.us/collectionevents.

Thanks to Hennepin County for being a financial supporter of Linen Hills EcoParents thought the Community POWER grant program.

Backyard Harvest Info Session, 7pm, Mar 26

Come learn how you can participate as a customer or volunteer with this community-building program in urban permaculture for food production.

Backyard Harvest Informational Open House
Thursday, March 26th, 7:00pm
Linden Hills Park Building, 3100 W 43rd St W, Minneapolis

More info at www.pricoldclimate.org/backyard_harvest_customers.

Backyard Harvest is a program of the nonprofit Permaculture Research Institute - Cold Climate.

See original EcoParents post re Backyard Harvest here.

Win a Safe Sippy at March 24 EcoParents!

Just a reminder about our EcoParents meeting next week:

PLASTICS: what's the real scoop and what to do?
Tuesday, March 24
6:30-8:30 pm
Linden Hills Park

Guest Speaker: Kathleen Schuler, co-director, Healthy Legacy and Sr Policy Analyst at IATP.

TWO LUCKY meeting participants will win a Safe Sippy stainless steel sippy cup generously donated by Bebe Babble! Thanks so much to Babe Babble!!

See you there...and spread the word!

Go green! Save Green! Two eco-saving sites

Bookmark these two sites to save some green!

Ecobunga.com: A great guide to 'green' giveaways and deals. They have a section for "Win Green" (sweepstakes, contests, giveaways) and "Save Green" for deals on eco-friendly stuff (including coupon codes, free shipping, rebates, etc...)! You can also browse by category, as well as sign-up for their weekly newsletter.

Sustainlane.com: Includes a lot of information and resources about green topics. Also has a "Green Saver" section with discount coupons on sustainable products. Features a lot of product reviews as well.

Two great resources to help you save some green while going green! (And support eco-friendly businesses as well!)

No More Toxic Tub: Getting Contaminant Out of Children's Bath & Personal Care Products

In a report publicized yesterday, more than half of the children's bath products tested were found to contain small amounts of two chemicals linked to cancer. Sixty-one percent of the products tested contained both 1,4-dioxane and formadehyde!

The report "No More Toxic Tub: Getting Contaminant Out of Children's Bath & Personal Care Products" was issued by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of nonprofit women’s, environmental, health, faith, consumer and worker organizations.

The chemicals are not listed as ingredients on the products and are believed to be by-products of the manufacturing process. There currently are no regulatory standards that limit formaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane or most other toxic chemicals in personal care products sold in the United States. Other nations have stricter standards. Formaldehyde is banned from personal care products in Japan and Sweden. The European Union bans 1,4-dioxane from personal care products and has recalled products found to contain the chemical.

For the study, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned an independent laboratory to test 48 top-selling children’s products for 1,4-dioxane; 28 of those products were also tested for formaldehyde. The lab found that:

• 17 out of 28 products tested – 61 percent – contained both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane; these included Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins & Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Wash and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber & Green Tea Baby Wash.
• 23 out of 28 products – 82 percent – contained formaldehyde at levels ranging from 54 to 610 parts per million (ppm). Baby Magic Baby Lotion had the highest levels of formaldehyde.
• 32 out of 48 products – 67 percent – contained 1,4-dioxane at levels ranging from 0.27 to 35 ppm. American Girl shower products had the highest levels of 1,4-dioxane.

For the complete report, click here. A list of all products tested along with complete test results are on page 9 of the report or online here.

We will be addressing personal care products (kids & adults) in an upcoming EcoParents meeting. Stay tuned!

Urban Permaculture with Backyard Harvest Pilot Project

Let Backyard Harvest plant a vegetable garden for you this year!

Backyard Harvest is now scheduling customer consultations for the fast-approaching 2009 growing season! Contact Krista Leraas at harvest@pricoldclimate.org to schedule yours today.

Backyard Harvest is a community-building program in urban permaculture. The program provides both garden fresh food and garden education for homeowners, renters and neighborhoods, as well as entrepreneurial and small scale food production training for our farmers. Our farmers contract with homeowners, renters and communities to create gardens in their backyards, maintain the gardens and harvest all of the produce weekly for each family.

The Backyard Harvest mission is the strengthen the Twin Cities local foods infrastructure one yard at a time by turning lawns into nourishing and healthy landscapes. We connect eaters directly to their food, neighbors to one another, and urban farmers to professional opportunities.

They offer three garden designs ranging from 80- to 120-square-feet with prices from $1025 to $1295. These bountiful packages include the following:

~ A comprehensive, professional garden design
~ Site assessment
~ Soil test*^
~ Compost/topsoil blend*^
~ Compost tea
~ Straw mulch
~ Plants & seeds
~ Watering system (w/ timer)^
~ 16 to 20 weeks of fresh vegetables
~ Packing/harvesting materials^
~ Garden installation
~ Personal urban farmer who will maintain the garden, harvest the vegetables & leave them at your back door
~ Garden journal with notes & communication from your farmer
~ E-newsletter from Backyard Harvest
~ Community events (e.g. celebrations, work shares, workshops)

*Negotiable and to be determined in a consultation
^One-time set-up cost. Back-to-back growing seasons patrons will have this cost waived.

Our pilot year focuses on the South Minneapolis area and on neighborhoods elsewhere within Mpls/St. Paul that have at least 5-10 yards for us to garden. We may not be able to accommodate all requests for backyard farming services.

For more information about the Backyard Harvest mission and goals, visit their website or view their online brochure.

Backyard Harvest is a project of the nonprofit Permaculture Research Institute - Cold Climate

Thanks to EcoParent Alex P. for the above info!

Rain Barrels and Compost Bins SALE

Interested in setting up a compost bin or rain barrel? Now's the perfect time--they're on SALE now through March 27th!

Compost bins are only $47 (regularly $79) and rain barrels are just $65 (regularly $115)!

Visit www.recycleminnesota.org to order yours or for more information. Pre-ordered bins and barrels will be available for pick-up at the Living Green Expo at the MN State Fairgrounds on May 2-3.

The compost bin and rain barrel sale is a project of the Recycling Association of Minnesota and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Linden Hills EcoParents is on Facebook!

I just established a Facebook group for EcoParents! If you're a FB-er, join EcoParents there too!

You'll be sure to receive updates of upcoming events and reminders of cool eco-friendly happenings! Plus, your friends will see that you've joined and perhaps we'll extend the reach of our happy little group!

I think the easiest way to find the group on FB is to just search for "Linden Hills EcoParents" and it should come up! Leave a comment or email me if you have any problems!!

It's In the Bag! (to recycle plastic bags, that is)

Despite our best efforts, we all end up with plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic film, etc... Did you know that all that plastic can be recycled??

Through the "It's in the Bag" program, that material is recycled into Trex composite decking material! There are collection sites all over the metro, including most grocery stores (Cub, Lunds, Jerry's, Co-ops, Kowalskis, Byerly's). Simply drop CLEAN & DRY accepted materials (see complete list below) into the designated collection bins, where there are picked up by Merrick, Inc. a local nonprofit that works with adults with developmental disabilities. The materials are sorted, baled & shipped by Merrick to Trex!

It's that simple!

ACCEPTABLE MATERIALS

• Plastic grocery bags
• Plastic retail bags with string ties and rigid plastic handles removed
• Plastic newspaper bags
• Plastic dry-cleaning bags
• Plastic produce bags with ALL food residue removed
• Plastic bread bags with ALL food residue removed
• Plastic cereal bags with ALL food residue removed
• Plastic frozen food bags with ALL food residue removed
• Plastic wrap from paper products (paper towels, etc)
• Plastic salt bags with rigid plastic handles removed
• Plastic stretch/shrink wrap
• Plastic zipper type bags WITHOUT rigid plastic closing mechanism

Note: All material must be clean and dry

UNACCEPTABLE MATERIALS

• Plastic bags with strings or rigid plastic handles
• Plastic bags with food residue
• Plastic soil or mulch bags
• Plastic zipper type bags with rigid plastic closing mechanism
• Plastic bubble wrap
• Plastic food containers
• Plastic bottles

Since its inception in October 2003, more than 4.5 million pounds of plastic bags and film have been recycled through the It’s in the Bag program in the Twin Cities metro area. This amount equates to approximately 750,000 square feet of Trex Company, Inc. decking! That also means 4.5 millions pounds of plastic materials that haven't ended up in a landfill or incinerator!

For more on the It's in the Bag Program, click here.

It's in the Bag is managed by Minnesota Waste Wise, a subsidiary of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Partner Organizations include Bylerly's, Cub Foods, Hennepin County, Kowlaski's Markets, Lunds, Merrick Inc., Minnesota Waste Wise, Supervalu, and Trex. Additional funding is provided by American Plastics Council, MN Grocers Assn, Pioneer Press, Target, Rethinkrecycling.com, MPCA, and Star Tribune.

Waste Reduction Ideas

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We've all heard this a million time (especially if your kids listen to the Curious George soundtrack). REDUCE is the most desirable step to pursue, and here are some tips to help you REDUCE waste:

• Purchase products that are returnable, reusable, or refillable.
• Purchase products with the least amount of packaging. Avoid prepackaged single-serving packages.
• Buy in bulk and concentrates (e.g., juice, detergent, etc...), where possible.
• Purchase quality products that can be upgraded or repaired, instead of single use or low-quality products that break easily.
• Rent or borrow instead of buying, when it makes sense.

For many more ideas and tips, check out this flier from Hennepin County regarding packaging reduction, or visit reduce.org or rethinkrecyling.com.

Sources: Hennepin County, MN Pollution Control Agency

GREAT SPEAKER confirmed for March 24 EcoParents meeting

Clear your calendar for March 24 and plan to come to our EcoParents meeting! We have lined up a FABULOUS speaker to help us figure out what we need to know to make smart choices for our families regarding PLASTICS!

Our speaker will be Kathleen Schuler, Senior Policy Analyst in the Food and Health Program for Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). You may know of IATP for their Peace Coffee in addition to their wonderful research and advocay work! Kathleen is also Co-Director of Healthy Legacy, a Minnesota-based campaign that advocates for public policies and business practices that focus on safer products and safer production methods. In addition to policy advocacy, Kathleen provides information for consumers, and has written a series of "smart" food guides about reducing chemical exposures from dietary sources. She has served as the project coordinator for the Reducing Pesticides in Minnesota Schools Pilot Project.

IATP is an internationally respected expert, and we are lucky enough to have them headquartered right here in the Twin Cities...and even luckier to have their expert available to speak to us this month! Among many other publications, IATP is responsible for the "Smart Plastics Guide," the go-to resource on the topic of plastics.

Please plan to join us for this important topic.

Tuesday, March 24
6:30-8:30 pm
Linden Hills Park Building

Upcoming Events: Rain Barrels, Rain Garden, Green Roofs

Mark your calendars for three different events that will help you protect our watershed from pollution and conserve water as well!

• Rain Gardens & Green Roofs. (March 7 or 8, 9 am) FREE, but reservations are required. Tangletown Gardens, 5353 Niccollet Ave s, Minneapolis. 612-822-4769

• Rain Barrels Made Easy (Monday, March 9, 6:30 pm). Pre-registration requested. $49 includes materials to make a rain barrel. You will leave the class with a completed rain barrel. Scott Highlands Middle School, 14011 Pilot Knob Road, Apple Valley. 612-423-7920

• Linden Hills Environment Commitee's Watershed Initiative Kick-Off. (April 19, 2 pm) FREE. Linden Hills Park. Come learn about a variety of initiatives and action steps to protect the Minnehaha Creek Watershed, and ways to get involved.