13
votes
Is it better to recycle or compost brown paper bags?
Paper products should always be recycled first before composting (assuming they are clean and dry). This gives them another 'go' round the system. Once composted it takes a lot more time and resources ...
10
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
To add to Terry and Darren's suggestions, I wanted to insist on the fact that modern bidet attachments are available and easily installable on a sitting water toilet without major modification.
This ...
- 3,272
8
votes
What alternatives there are to recycling paper?
I know of two things you can do with it. If they burn wood (or anything else for heat) then they can make fire bricks with it. The neatest thing I know to do with it is to make your own paper out of ...
- 676
7
votes
Are pizza cardboards stained with oil still recyclable?
There were two great related articles in The New York Times last month concerning recycling:
Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not
6 Things You’re Recycling Wrong
In the latter ...
- 171
7
votes
Accepted
Composting used white shredded paper
We put shredded paper in our compost without noticeable ill effects, for much the reasons you are thinking about it (ie, it's readily available). The laser printer toner is probably better thought of ...
- 1,307
5
votes
What alternatives there are to recycling paper?
They could put it in their garden to suppress weeds and leave it there to break down. It conserves water and keeps the soil cooler too for the earthworm population. Putting it down between the rows ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
Is there any link between deforestation and paper use?
Information
There are a variety of estimates of varying validity for total world paper usage. I'll stick with US paper usage, which is 69 million tons per year, according to the EPA (Note, I have no ...
- 1,067
5
votes
Accepted
Environmental impact of using paper towels for hand drying
I was able to find several different news articles discussing this topic:
"Paper towels least green way of drying hands, study finds" - The Guardian
"Electric Hand Dryers vs. Paper Towels" - Slate
"...
- 11.8k
5
votes
Accepted
What is the environmental impact of toilet paper processed at a water treatment plant?
In a municipal scale sewage system toilet paper is barely detectable. It gets soggy very quickly and disintegrates. There are huge problems with wet wipes, tampons and menstrual pads, however, as ...
- 1,307
5
votes
Alternative to paper towels for draining fried food?
I have not found much of an alternative to paper towels, but you could at least try the following:
Drain food that has been deep fried on a wire rack. Only after this use paper towel to soak up ...
- 111
5
votes
Accepted
Are machine-washed rags more sustainable than paper towels for any & all household messes?
Your assumption seems to be correct -- consuming paper towels demands about eight times more energy than machine-washing and hang-drying reusable rags made from discarded textiles.
In order to ...
- 2,849
5
votes
How many times do you need to re-use cloth napkins to offset their impact?
Traditionally in household use, a cloth napkin was used a week. Hence monogrammed napkin rings, so you would get your own at hte table next time. This however is an aesthetic decision.
Another ...
- 7,207
4
votes
How to dispose of coated paper take-out container
Since the original poster is in Vancouver, British Columbia, here is a response to this same question from the Recycling Council of British Columbia ([email protected])
Summary: Rinse and remove ...
- 141
4
votes
When recycling paper or cardboard, what level of contamination with (food) oils is ok?
As of January 2018 the standards for paper recycling have been tightened and even a small amount of contamination will now render paper loads inacceptable.
The main driving force here is that China ...
- 2,849
4
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
When my daughter was in diapers, we used cloth wipes for her. I bought them online, but pretty much any small piece of cloth will do. I would wet it with a spray bottle of water or a wipes solution to ...
- 241
4
votes
Accepted
Do totally Chlorine free (TCF) toilet papers exist?
The table on this Conservatree.org webpage explains that Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) means it's Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) plus it has recycled content. So all the PCF papers you found are also TCF....
- 14.5k
4
votes
Accepted
Can I recycle waxy cardboard (in Greater Vancouver)?
The City of Vancouver’s Waste Wizard says put them in the green bin. They also have a hotline you can call. Why wait for an answer here?
- 56
3
votes
Accepted
Why is hybrid packaging so frequently used to package bread?
More reasons:
The plastic makes it possible to see the bread. Shelf appeal.
The paper allows them to be bagged warm. This gives a fresh bread smell around the shelf, and it feels warm in the ...
- 7,207
3
votes
Alternative to paper towels for draining fried food?
Slices of stale bread are a good alternative. I keep crusts / the ends of loaves in the freezer and place 4 to 6 on a tray to cover the tray. You then just place your fried food on top to drain. The ...
- 131
3
votes
Alternative to Toilet Paper?
In more outhouse oriented times, folk would use old corn cobs. Giving us the expression 'corn-hole'
- 375
3
votes
Paper packaging once a day or plastic every second day?
TLDR: the packaging makes next to no difference; even a small reduction in your cheese consumption will greatly outweigh the impact of the packaging (see the table further down)
Let's estimate the ...
- 1,042
3
votes
Accepted
Is less white paper usually more sustainable?
The short answer: Yes.
The long answer:
White paper is produced by bleaching the dried pulp, whether raw tree product or recycled.
The following is reproduced from this site:
To produce a white paper ...
- 204
2
votes
Is it better to recycle or compost brown paper bags?
Something to think about; while recycling (I'd say) is the better option (as long as the paper doesn't have grease etc), a large percentage ends up in landfill.
So is it better to recycle everything ...
- 21
2
votes
Are pizza cardboards stained with oil still recyclable?
Self answer, a bit off-topic maybe (depending on whether compost is considered recycling):
If like I do, one considers composting a cleaner/higher/more efficient way of recycling, then for months (...
- 815
2
votes
Paper plates vs plastic plates in the landfill
If the plates are going to a landfill it doesn't matter. Recently in Los Angeles they had reason to dig in a landfill, and found that 50 year old newspapers were still readable. In the anaerobic ...
- 7,207
2
votes
Are machine-washed rags more sustainable than paper towels for any & all household messes?
What's unsatisfactory about the first answer is that it didn't include the same components for both terms being compared, especially the production impact and replacement rate for fabric towels.
When ...
- 21
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