Green topics

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:29 am

I have a real problem with throwing away those little slivers of soap that are too small to use in the shower. For the longest time I have been tossing them into a large ziploc bag until I could figure a good way to reuse them.

I looked online today and found many great suggestions.

One is to microwave the pieces and spoon the resulting "liquid" into a form of your choice, let it cool and there you have it, a new bar of soap, large enough to use again!

I tried the micro method, but I am also experimenting with slow heating the bars on the stove in a small sauce pan. I am experimenting with adding a drop of artificial cocoanut flavoring (for the aroma).

Update later!

I will suggest to the forum staff that we add another topic corner, this one dedicated to green issues such as this.

ttf_RepublicanTbone76 · Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:39 am

Quote from: greg waits on Jul 06, 2009, 07:29AMI have a real problem with throwing away those little slivers of soap that are too small to use in the shower. For the longest time I have been tossing them into a large ziploc bag until I could figure a good way to reuse them.

I looked online today and found many great suggestions.

One is to microwave the pieces and spoon the resulting "liquid" into a form of your choice, let it cool and there you have it, a new bar of soap, large enough to use again!

I tried the micro method, but I am not experimenting with slow heating the bars on the stove in a small sauce pan. I am experimenting with adding a drop of aetificial cocoanut flavoring (for the aroma).

Update later!

I will suggest to the forum staff that we add another topic corner, this one dedicated to green issues such as this.

Can anyone say hippie? I am just messing with you. I think your carbon footprint using the microwave will outweight the waste of the soap.

ttf_Baron von Bone · Post by **ttf_Baron von Bone** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:41 am

I have a collection myself. I've been using them in the sink for washing my face and shaving (I use hand sanitizer for my hands because we're in a drought here in GA), but they keep building up faster than I'm using them. I'd thought about the nuke idea. That didn't work so well I gather?

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:21 am

Quote from: RepublicanTbone76 on Jul 06, 2009, 07:39AMCan anyone say hippie? I am just messing with you. I think your carbon footprint using the microwave will outweight the waste of the soap.

I thought about that, but hey, I am trying.

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:22 am

Another suggestion is get one of those mesh bags (for washing delicates etc), and simply tossing the soap leftovers into it. What you have in essence is a ersatz loofa with soap suds included.

ttf_JimArcher · Post by **ttf_JimArcher** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:10 am

Second the mesh bag. With two or three pieces inside, it makes lather better then a plain bar. One has to be a little careful that the smallest pieces don't crawl out of the bag with vigorous lathering.

ttf_Todd Jonz · Post by **ttf_Todd Jonz** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:27 am

I've never found this to be a problem. When the soap sliver is so small as to be essentially unusable I take a new bar of soap into the shower with me, soak the sliver in the soap dish for the duration of my shower, and press it onto the top of the new bar of soap when I'm done. When the soap dries, the sliver bonds to the new bar just fine.

ttf_JimArcher · Post by **ttf_JimArcher** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:01 am

Quote from: Todd Jonz on Jul 06, 2009, 10:27AMI've never found this to be a problem. When the soap sliver is so small as to be essentially unusable I take a new bar of soap into the shower with me, soak the sliver in the soap dish for the duration of my shower, and press it onto the top of the new bar of soap when I'm done. When the soap dries, the sliver bonds to the new bar just fine.

I used to do that but found that the pieces always came apart. In the old days they'd stick but maybe not with the modern formulas. (And the "bath size" bars are smaller than they used to be, maybe that's part of the problem.)

ttf_BGuttman · Post by **ttf_BGuttman** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:04 am

I remember there being some kind of press you could use to compress the slivers together to make a new bar.

I used to use a brush and mug to shave and experimented with using the soap slivers for my mug. Didn't work; the lather was awful.

Right now I have a small stack of slivers at the bathroom sink for handwashing.

ttf_mwpfoot · Post by **ttf_mwpfoot** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:01 pm

Quote from: JimArcher on Jul 06, 2009, 11:01AMI used to do that but found that the pieces always came apart. In the old days they'd stick but maybe not with the modern formulas.
Works fine with the old school Ivory, and that's what we use since I don't like that moisturizing crap in many soaps these days.

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:26 pm

Quote from: BGuttman on Jul 06, 2009, 11:04AMI remember there being some kind of press you could use to compress the slivers together to make a new bar.

I bought one on Ebay a few years ago but I think someone borrowed it. It did work pretty well.

Update: my new soap bars look like crap, but they are big enough! I had them drying on the counter on wax paper and for a second they were mistaken as homemade buttermilk biscuits. I am glad that no one took a bite. (shades of the Three Stooges

)

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:52 pm

Greg, you need to get out more.

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:40 am

I'm very bothered by the current trend for people in "civilised" countries to drink bottled water. How many joggers, tourists or even commuters sitting on a train do you now see clutching a plastic bottle of water as if a ghastly death by dehydration was only moments away?

Manufacturing these many billions of bottles is very bad for the environment. Recycling them is not a good option, being a very inefficient process, but chucking them away is infinitely worse. I've seen film showing entire beaches made up of fragments from these bottles; seabirds and other creatures are found dead with their intestinal tracts full of such fragments. Even the process of extracting mineral water can be detrimental to the community from whence it comes.

If you must, buy a couple of small plastic water bottles, then refill from the tap, keep in the fridge, and re-use over and over and over. I'm quite sure that anyone who is sufficiently affluent to afford a computer AND an expensive musical instrument or three is living within a country where it is safe to drink the water....

ttf_Russ White · Post by **ttf_Russ White** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:34 am

I avoid this issue by using liquid soap. No slivers ever.

ttf_mwpfoot · Post by **ttf_mwpfoot** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:57 am

Quote from: RedHotMama on Jul 07, 2009, 02:40AMIf you must, buy a couple of small plastic water bottles, then refill from the tap, keep in the fridge, and re-use over and over and over. I'm quite sure that anyone who is sufficiently affluent to afford a computer AND an expensive musical instrument or three is living within a country where it is safe to drink the water....
This is what we do, and agreed! Our tap water is great here in the SF Bay Area but I see bottle of water everywhere. We reuse until the bottles get too dingy and crumpled to be trusted, then we fill them 3/4 full, squeeze out most of the air, and freeze them. They are great to keep an ice chest cool. Finally, when they are truly used up we recycle them.

Reuse, reuse... We have two tiny trash bins in our kitchen and we reuse our plastic grocery bags for trash. No need to buy special bags to throw away! The small size forces us to take the trash out more often, also a good thing.

Reuse... I save jars and tin cans. With a quick scrub, food jars are usually good in our house for at least one more go around with something I've made. Cans are not so handy for me, but occasionally they are useful in the garage or garden. They are perfect to reuse for starting seedlings or painting.

This used to be so normal.

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:40 am

Good for you!

The tap water here, straight out of the tap, tastes nasty even when you run it to cold, but it's fine when it has spent a couple of days resting in the fridge.

ttf_mwpfoot · Post by **ttf_mwpfoot** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:42 am

Quote from: RedHotMama on Jul 07, 2009, 11:40AMGood for you!

It's what my parents and grandparents did, and they did it simply to be thrifty.

Maybe these crappy economic times will at least see a corresponding resurgence in these old practices.

ttf_ddickerson · Post by **ttf_ddickerson** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 7:48 pm

Take the sliver of soap and put it in your toilet and it will disolve some overnight, and the soapy water will help keep your toilet clean without having to use toilet ticks.

Works well!

Smells Well too!

ttf_Doug Elliott · Post by **ttf_Doug Elliott** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:55 pm

Quote from: ddickerson on Jul 07, 2009, 07:48PM...toilet ticks.
Do toilet ticks carry Lyme disease? Or is it Rocky Mountain Potted Fever?

ttf_Exzaclee · Post by **ttf_Exzaclee** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 9:01 pm

(hijacking thread...)

have a half used can of coke laying around? put it in the toilet, let it stay overnight. the acids will dissolve most "hangers on" leaving you with a clean bowl in the morning.

have a kid that has lost a tooth? put the tooth in a glass of coke overnight and see what's left the next day. keep your kid off the sodas...

(french special forces storm the thread and remove the offending party...)

ttf_FreddyB · Post by **ttf_FreddyB** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:55 am

Quote from: RepublicanTbone76 on Jul 06, 2009, 07:39AMCan anyone say hippie? I am just messing with you. I think your carbon footprint using the microwave will outweight the waste of the soap.

Can't you say the same thing about most recycling schemes??!!??

ttf_Doug Elliott · Post by **ttf_Doug Elliott** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:18 am

Maybe, but that's no reason to not recycle. Technology gets better. And there is not an unlimited supply of raw materials, or landfill space.

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:03 am

I agree with Doug.

Recycling technology is far from perfect. Cleaning out tin cans, plastic bottles etc before recycling is a bother. Trudging over to the areas where you can recycle glass, plastics, newspapers/mags, clothes etc is a nuisance. Also, although my own block of flats isn't enabled to do so, I'm told it is a real (and smelly) pain to keep food waste separately, particularly when rubbish collections have been reduced to fortnightly. However, it's still much better than doing nothing.

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:54 pm

I use liquid body wash, but great to see ppl caring about those poor little lost soap pieces.

We use a brita filter on our tap water so as to not use bottled water.
My girlfriend owns a very popular bakery here in San Diego ( elizabethandesserts.com )and does not offer bottled water for sale (but will gladly give a recycled paper cup of free brita water).
Remember folks, most plastic is made from petrochemicals! So using less plastic means we buy less oil from overseas.

Also reg recycling, remember that the carbon footprint for mining metal ore (aluminum, etc) and drilling/transporting oil (plastics) is globally far greater than the emissions that a recycling plant puts out.

anywho my 2cents (and then some

-John

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 5:46 pm

Here's an interesting link. Disposable wooden utensils! And they don't even splinter! Just toss them into your campfire when you are finished.

http://aspenware.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=1

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:27 pm

Quote from: Dan on Jul 12, 2009, 05:46PMHere's an interesting link. Disposable wooden utensils! And they don't even splinter! Just toss them into your campfire when you are finished.

http://aspenware.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=1
Wow, thanks!
My girl wants to stop carrying plastic utensils in her bakery as they are generally not recyclable.
Thanks for the link. I showed her (she had heard of these) and she just ordered several thousand wood utensils!
aspenware should give you a finders fee, hehe.
-John

ttf_Dan · Post by **ttf_Dan** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:34 pm

Glad it helped.

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:21 pm

Take a look at this:

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/30/magazine/recycling-is-garbage.html?sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

This is obviously a very old article, and like someone said, technology keeps improving, so I wouldn't necessarily believe everything written here. However, it was interesting to me to see an article that shot down recycle with so much fervor, so I figured I'd post it here. I think about it occasionally when I throw a Gatorade bottle in my recycling bin.

ttf_evan51 · Post by **ttf_evan51** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:51 am

I'd like to see some states on direct and indirect costs and environmental impacts of recycling.

One thing I see is a wide difference in policies among different counties/municipalities and waste management companies, especially in regard to how electronics and various labeled plastics are handled are hand. There is also a huge difference in allowable recycled amounts---some are unlimited, some limit to container size.

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:35 am

This weekend, I had to go over to my trumpet player's house to feed his cat. In his village, they have a very complicated system of how to separate the household rubbish, including putting all the food waste into one bin. Unfortunately, the council doesn't empty the bins very often. The bin for food waste was absolutely seething with thousands of maggots. NOT a good system!

ttf_Driswood · Post by **ttf_Driswood** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:19 am

Quote from: RedHotMama on Aug 11, 2009, 01:35AMThis weekend, I had to go over to my trumpet player's house to feed his cat. In his village, they have a very complicated system of how to separate the household rubbish, including putting all the food waste into one bin. Unfortunately, the council doesn't empty the bins very often. The bin for food waste was absolutely seething with thousands of maggots. NOT a good system!

But by the time the maggots are finished with it, isn't there less waste?

Jerry Walker

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:26 am

Funny thing, the waste was way down at the bottom of the bin, but the maggots were all crawling around the rim. Yerk.

ttf_Graham Martin · Post by **ttf_Graham Martin** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 3:26 pm

How come the grocery stores can afford to give you (Ha, Ha. You think you are not paying for them?) high density polyethylene (HDPE) lightweight plastic bags but they can't afford to give you so-called environmental type bags - green bags. And are the green bags any better? The label says they are made of Poly Propylene. Is that environmentally superior to the normal plastic bags? Or is it just that you get a greater number of uses out of the green bags?

If the grocery chains are really worried about the environment, surely they would provide an environmentally friendly alternative that breaks down in weeks within a compost environment and does not leave any harmful residues in the process?

I don't think that the grocery chains in Australia give a tinker's cuss about the environment. They are only interested in profit.

ttf_evan51 · Post by **ttf_evan51** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 2:04 am

Change of subject....

CA salmon in collapse.....rivers in central California are experiencing a complete disappearance of salmon. This particular story is about a river a short distance from where I live. I've seen the salmon run many times---huge fish, moving at incredible speeds towards their spawning grounds. Then absolutely nothing. F***ing nothing. Scientists have no answers, but suggest the ladders around the dams are not allowing fish to pass, fish hatchery spawn are genetically inferior, too many fish were eaten/destroyed before reaching the ocean, they are over-fished in the ocean. This has never happened. We are facing an eco-catastrophe of possible species (ours) extinction proportions. Man's impact on the planet is devastating and growing populations only punctuate a corner we probably turned ten years ago. Entire species are collapsing, literally overnight---bees, fish, amphibians, etc..

Our "right" is too dumb to perceive the danger and our left thinks they can fix things by "voting." I find this very depressing.

Related story>: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/02/14/in-california-the-mystery-of-the-missing-fish.html Humans are such biological imperialists, to paraphrase a dear friend of mine.

Oregon, too. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/12084999086460.xml&coll=7

The Governator apologizes for destroying CA fisheries. Too little, too late---arbitrary, greed-based interventions in nature tend to turn out badly-----for nature.

ttf_evan51 · Post by **ttf_evan51** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:13 am

QuoteSpecies' extinction threat grows

More than a third of species assessed in a major international biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, scientists have warned.

Out of the 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk.

These included 21% of all known mammals, 30% of amphibians, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates.

Conservationists warned that not enough was being done to tackle the main threats, such as habitat loss.

"The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting," warned Jane Smart, director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Biodiversity Conservation Group.
Full story

IMHO, the use of the term "Green" has now come to represent an advertising campaign that cloaks the reality behind "Green technology"----i.e., at best, it merely controls the speed of the inevitable destruction of the planet due to human impacts. At worst, it gives then false impression that "Green" activities are a logical response to the destruction of the planet.

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:04 am

We recycle all we can.... but slivers of soap usually wind up going down the drain.

T.

ttf_evan51 · Post by **ttf_evan51** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:25 am

Solar panel costs falling in Europe, too.

ttf_Russ White · Post by **ttf_Russ White** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 9:45 am

There's a prime example of why the US is becoming a second rate manufacturing economy. We're falling behind in the areas that are going to create the jobs of this century. But hey, let's keep subsidizing big oil!!!!

ttf_mwpfoot · Post by **ttf_mwpfoot** » Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:22 am

I've posted it before on this forum, but homes in huge portions of this country could provide their own electricity with rooftop solar panels. We do it (we were fortunate enough to purchase a house with the panels installed) and haven't paid an electrical bill since. With "free" electricity, we've moved to using electric heat and thereby reduced our gas usage (and bill) as well.

Site-specific micro-generation is an answer that often gets overlooked: solar, wind, hydro, heat pumps, whatever combo works best at your site. I look at plans for large scale solar facilities out in the Mojave desert and huge wave generators in the Pacific Ocean and wonder if that money would be better served putting standard solar panels on x-thousand rooftops, at least first.

ttf_RedHotMama · Post by **ttf_RedHotMama** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:03 pm

My institute's new laboratory building could have had solar power. It has a huge roof facing south, perfect. It should also have been constructed to be energy-saving in every way. Instead, we have just received notification that the thing is the most expensve building on the site to run. It costs £199,000 per year. This is a complete disgrace.

ttf_Graham Martin · Post by **ttf_Graham Martin** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 3:13 am

I was heartened by a poll today on the SBS World News website:

"What issue is most important to you in the next federal election?

23% Health & education
22% Immigration
26% Economy
29% Climate change"

And just out of interest, do you know how turning the lights off to save the planet for Earth Hour got started? Those of you who don't know might be quite surprised when you find out.

ttf_Graham Martin · Post by **ttf_Graham Martin** » Tue May 18, 2010 3:02 am

There is no chance that I will be around in 2050 but the thought of a world with seas that have no fish is kind of sad.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1259412/Ocean-fish-could-vanish-in-40-years:-UN

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Fri May 21, 2010 12:52 pm

Is anyone on here into backyard composting? I have really gotten deeply involved in this and it has turned out to be very satisfying.

Last year we bought a big free standing plastic composter, with doors on the bottom (all four sides). Theory is, when the compost is ready, you open the doors and scoop the nice sweet end result out and there you have it.

It doesn't work that easily unfortunately. Of course you have to stir up and turn over the material a lot to circulate it. Not doing this makes the whole process take a lot longer.

In the meanwhile I have been doing a lot of research and am now about to start practicing "bio-degrading", utilizing half buried containers with holes punched in the bottom. This allows works to come up and get involved!

The other option is to buy the real compost worms (red wigglers among other names), which are the most aggressive and productive worm for this application. And I can set up a system in the garage.

Time will tell, but for now I am going for the backyard method. I will say this, that there is something very satisfying about smelling that sweet loam that is the end result of composting.

And a side benefit is that our household kitchen waste is reduced by about 75% or better.

Go green!

ttf_mwpfoot · Post by **ttf_mwpfoot** » Fri May 21, 2010 1:02 pm

We have a freestanding plastic ventilated compost bin that kitchen and yard cuttings go into but it needs to be periodically "tossed" which isn't easy within the plastic confines. Plus raccoons and other critters can (and do) get right into it if they smell something that they like.

I think a rotating or tumbling barrel composter is the slickest setup, I want. Dump new stuff in, give it a spin, done!

ttf_Russ White · Post by **ttf_Russ White** » Sat May 22, 2010 6:36 am

I made mine from salvaged cinder blocks. I can turn it quite easily with a pitchfork, and get great results. The dogs keep the racoons at bay, and the chickens love to root around in it.

ttf_sdjazz · Post by **ttf_sdjazz** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:49 pm

We have one in our garden, basically a small enclosed area made of that composite fence material and an oil pan covering it. Everything compostable goes in it. It is even more effective than my dad, who takes everyones' leftovers to work.

ttf_anonymous · Post by **ttf_anonymous** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 6:13 pm

This idea is ingenious! But I don't use that soap anymore...my parents buy the stuff in the bottle

ttf_Another Dave · Post by **ttf_Another Dave** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 9:49 pm

Quote from: RepublicanTbone76 on Jul 06, 2009, 07:39AMI think your carbon footprint using the microwave will outweight the waste of the soap.
Wow, I know I'm late to this party, I somehow missed this thread.

My wife likes to give away soaps that she has molded. At fist, using the microwave method, she kept warping the plastic molds. Then she learned that the soap gets way too hot that way. Heating in a double boiler on the stovetop is the ticket. You can control the temperature and don't invest any more energy than needed.

Her friends love receiving them.

ttf_Graham Martin · Post by **ttf_Graham Martin** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 3:12 pm

I heard some interesting news today resulting from a survey by the CSIRO. They found that wind speeds 10m above the ground have increased by 10K/hr over the last two decades. This is very good news for wind farmers and alternative energy generation. But it is just another nudge to the climate change doubters. The cause is the that the circulation of air worldwide has changed due to climate change and Australia just happens to be a beneficiary. In other countries the news may not be so good.

ttf_sly fox · Post by **ttf_sly fox** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 3:18 pm

in our church the choir loft is always hot. it is also the highest spot in the entire church generally accessible to folks.

I repeatedly deny the rumour that it is only hot when I happen to be trying to sing.

some folks don't believe me.

being of Irish ancestry and an attorney by profession seems to give some people the impression that I talk too much and that I'm full of hot air to boot.