How Eco Can I Go?

So this month and next I am working on the Ditch the Disposables challenge found here.

Here's a list of challenges:

• Paper napkins to cloth napkins
  
• Paper towels to cloth towels
  
• Tissues to handkerchiefs
• Paper, plastic or Styrofoam plates to your kitchen plates
• Inexpensive plastic “Take & Toss” sippy cups to Sigg or Camelbak bottles or the Kleen Kanteen
• Disposable water bottles to (again) reusable bottles like Sigg or Camelbak
• Paper coffee cups to reusable coffee mugs like Sigg
  
• Plastic sandwich bags or paper lunch bags to reusable containers/bags
• Paper lunch bags to cloth or neoprene reusable bags.
  
• Swiffers (or similar products) to a broom and dustpan or mop (or use reusable cloths like cloth diapers/terry inserts in your Swiffer)
• Disposable dust rags to cloth rags
• Disposable diapers to cloth diapers
• Disposable wipes to cloth wipes (inexpensive plain washcloths work really well)
• Disposable feminine products (tampons, pads) to reusables like DivaCup, MoonCup, Glad Rags, Luna Pads, Pretty Pads, or New Moon Pads, among others
• Grocery store bags to reusable bags

Or, for the really adventurous:

• Toilet paper to cloth wipes/washcloths (for #1 or #2 too if you are really, really adventurous)

There are only three on this list that I have not yet accomplished -- tissues to handkerchiefs and cloth wipes instead of toilet paper and baby wipes.

I have actually been using cloth wipes for peeing for about 8 months now and absolutely love it. But for #2? I've been resisting that for awhile. No more! I'm setting up a system for that and luckily the Urban Shaman is onboard, although he did complain that the cloth felt a bit thick. I think that by having on-hand a bottle filled with water/tea tree oil/witch hazel to moisten the wipe with beforehand will do the trick. Then it will work well for all 3 of us. I have the system ready to go, I just need some more cloth wipes! But I love not buying so much toilet paper. So for this system I have the cloth wipes, a small receptacle labeled "cloth wipes" in which to throw the used wipes, and a bottle to moisten the wipes.

Also, it is odd that I use cloth diapers for Il Tonino but have always purchased the Seventh Generation baby wipes to use on him. I think it's because I never developed a good cloth wipe system in my head, even though I know it is entirely possible. For baby #2 I will be using cloth wipes for sure. But now, since he is using the potty most of the time to poop and the potties are located where the cloth wipes are, it will be easy to just use the same system for all three of us when we are home.

Moving away from tissues is actually harder for me. I have some kind of love affair with tissues. I buy them by the case because you get like 26 boxes of tissues at once and a 10% discount. Then for awhile you never run out of boxes, which is awesome. But I have been feeling guilty about the number of tissues we throw away... and now we are *gasp* down to our very last box in the house. Instead of buying more, I've dug up bandanas that we never use. They work great, but they are rather large. So I brought some cheap organic cotton handkerchiefs on the internet recently and am waiting to receive them. Am really excited to try them out. We'll see how this pans out.

I think one of the reasons I am finally able to divorice give up using tissues is because I haven't needed to use them nearly as much as I have in the past. Since I have virtually eliminated sugar from my diet in the form of cookies, cakes, ice cream, etc., as well as pasturized cheeses, I have not been waking up with a runny nose. Thankfully, dark chocolate and raw cheeses are fine! It will be interesting to test this when one of us has a runny nose from a cold.

All in all this is good. One of my goals for 2008 was to reduce the amount of packaging that I have to purchase and dispose of. Combined with not using shampoo and conditioner, I'm doing better than I expected. But there is always more -- I am already starting to think about getting a different type of composter bin and getting better at growing my own food. Maybe someday I'll even be focusing on raising chickens, LOL.