Comments on: Zero Waste: Precycling

By: Mrs Green

Mrs Green — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:34:03 +0000

What a brilliant topic; and one close to my heart.

One of my favourite zero waste gifts is my time.

Most of us are happy to find money to use to buy something for people, but often it’s the ‘time’ gifts that have real meaning.

By giving of ourselves (and it seems our most precious resource is our time in our fast-paced lives) we give so much more thought to our gift AND there is nothing for landfill at the end of it.

For my neighbour, in her 80s and now living along, she loves company – so I will visit her and give her an hour or so of my attention and validation.
For my friend who has three young kids and gets no space for herself, I’ll baby sit so she can take a walk without having to worry.
For my husband, I’m going to give him a full body massage.
For my daughter, who is eight, we’ll spend quality time together going for walks and doing crafty stuff…

Thanks for the book recommendation; I’ve not read it.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:38:08 +0000

While I know that ordering things from Amazon is not always the most green option, they are doing some great things in the area of packaging. They offer certain products in what they term frustration free packaging. Basically, they parter with manufacturers and get products in minimal packaging that are often shipping ready. This way the items can ship and reside in the same package and they don't have all the extra packaging you find in most all products these days. As a bonus you don't have to struggle with all those annoying twist ties or plastic molded things that just get everyone upset. Anyway, just one more small way to avoid excess packaging this holiday season.

By: sheri

sheri — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:54:26 +0000

I use brown paper for wrapping paper that can be recycled and instead of ribbons I use yarn that I then knit into Christmas washcloths for gifts. I don’t use gift tags but instead write in colorful ink on the brown paper. This year I am sending Christmas postcards instead of cards so they require no envelopes.

By: Elyse Eisenberg

Elyse Eisenberg — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:46:04 +0000

Tip: Check out products/companies that partner with Terracyle– an innovative organization that makes new products out of used packaging. They really recycle! For instance, the cereal company Bear Naked works is one of their many partners– http://creativedelites.com/2009/12/08/new-food-stuffs-tried-at-whole-foods-market-89-vanilla-almond-crunch-granola/

By: Dennis Salazar

Dennis Salazar — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:57:44 +0000

The idea of pre-cycling is an excellent one I agree with completely but let’s face it, it is not always possible or practical, especially in the area of packaging.

When pre-cycling is not a viable option, we strongly believe in buying and using packaging products with as much recycled content as possible, especially PCW. We also make sure everything we use is recyclable and we make sure to do so. Combined with a sincere effort to resuse everything possible, we can minimize our negative impact on the environment, especially during this holiday season.

Dennis Salazar
President/Founder
Salazar Packaging, Inc.