Ridwell - a great service to share

Our family purchases minimally packaged items, composts food waste and recycles the glass, plastic and paper accepted by city recycling.  And of course, I upcycle. Despite these efforts, we are left with difficult-to-recycle items such as batteries, multi-layer plastic and electronic devices.

Manufacturers ultimately need to become responsible for the disposal of what they create. However, we are a long way from that becoming a reality and it is up to the consumer (me) to make these choices. About a year ago, I became aware of a service called Ridwell when I saw neighbors' boxes out and conversations appeared on the local zero-waste Facebook pages.  Four months ago, I signed up for Ridwell.

Ridwell offers specialty recycling in metropolitan areas such as the Twin Cities, Seattle and San Francisco. There are different options for pricing. The highest tier in my area costs $24 a month (pick up every other week) and includes multilayer plastic, styrofoam, light bulbs and batteries. Users can also select one featured item for each pickup. Metal bottle tops, cords and cables are regular options. Ridwell also offers special categories periodically. 

One of the things I realized in the first weeks of using Ridwell is that there are free local drop-off options for many of the items Ridwell accepts. Prior to signing up for Ridwell, we took plastic bags to Target, batteries to Ramsey County Hazardous Waste, e-waste to Repowered and clothing to Goodwill.  We had also been purchasing Terracycle boxes for multi-layer plastic.  For us, having those items picked up regularly has been really nice. We no longer arrive at Target and say "Darn, I forgot those bags."  For those who are more cost-conscious, the monthly fee may not warrant using Ridwell. 

Ridwell is not single sort and is best for the motivated.  Ridwell provides labeled reusable bags to place items in. My family has difficulty distinguishing between plastic film and multi-layer plastic. I have carefully read the directions. so I have less of an issue. My teenager complains about this. I retort, "Blame the manufacturers for this problem, not Ridwell."

Another recommendation I have about Ridwell is to share. We signed up for the unlimited plan because it accepts the largest variety of items. But it is hard for only our family to fill up the bin. Two neighbors regularly drop off multi-layer plastic and styrofoam. I will also put out a call on Facebook if we have room in our featured item bags.

I also appreciate the text message reminders about pickups and their monthly dashboard. I haven't forgotten to put out my bin.

A family member who also uses Ridwell has complained that if Ridwell cancels a pickup, they still charge you, but we haven't yet experienced this.  

My verdict is Ridwell is a helpful service we will continue to use, but you can strive to be zero waste without.  

Mending a towel

Sewing is an imminently practical art form. It allows you to fix what you have and make what you want to your specifications. This is the first of two posts about what you can do with a towel that is starting to show wear. These projects are both simple, perfect if you are just starting to sew with a machine. And most of us will have material to work with. 

Towels often wear out first around the edges. Often when this happens, the rest of the towel is still in pretty good condition. You can fix the towel fairly quickly and easily.

This is the beach towel I mended today. You can sees strings hanging off and the frayed edges.

 

I started this project by using a seam ripper to take out the edging that was still intact. I then trimmed off the fraying part with a rotary cutter. You could use scissors as well. 

Then I took the towel to my sewing machine and sewed a zig zag stitch up both sides of the towel, backstitching at the ends so the stitching does not unravel.  This towel didn't have any holes in them, but on other towels I just worked a zig zag stich back and forth over the hole to patch it up. 

I have done this with several towels in the last couple years. There will be some fraying at the edges until it reaches the zig zag stitch, but the stitch will prevent it from fraying more and will allow you to use the towel for a few more years. 

Why upcycling is my art form

I have always had a need to physically create things. Over the years I have cycled through different arts and crafts. I landed on cooking as one of my art forms - it is useful and doesn't lend itself to having a pile of unfinished projects (a weakness of mine). More recently I have added sewing to my repertoire. 

A more typical way of approaching sewing is to first decide what you are going to make, then second to purchase a pattern or an online tutorial, and last purchase the fabric and other supplies you need. While sometimes I go that route, I often take a different approach. I wait until materials (often used or new materials people don't want ) come into my life and then I decide what I am going to make. 

I have chosen to do this for many reasons and one of them is that we are extracting resources at a rate that is simply not sustainable.  We use items for short periods of time and then we are done with them. 

This video The Story of Stuff addresses our linear production model and the model's true costs. The model has resulted in environmental degradation, unsafe and unfair working conditions and oodles of stuff we have to dispose of in some way and that way is always problematic.  

That is why I upcycle.