I don’t know how this is done in Vancouver and its other suburbs, but in North Vancouver, the law mandates compulsory recycling. If you don’t, in addition to a fine, the garbage men (Sanitation Engineers, nowadays) will decline to pick up your refuse.
Continue reading “Recycling in North Vancouver”
Guest post by The Orangutan
My parents were Depression Kids; born in the early 1930’s. My maternal grandfather took several pay cuts but cherished his employer kept him employed during those tough times. My mother would retell stories from those days of visitors who came to the house seeking a meal in exchange for performing some light duty chores. As a young child she vividly remembered one stranger who ate his meal alone on the porch; when she asked my grandfather why he would not eat with the family, my grandfather replied that he was simply too ashamed to do so. Those were desperate times that lacked today’s social safety nets, and folks had to make do. And so, they did, perhaps with some hubris that would have been harder to find just a decade earlier. Seems that kind of hubris is nowhere to be found today.
Continue reading “The Art of Upcycling and Guerilla Economics”
I’ve spent most of the week at my father’s house. He’s so damn lost without mom. Been cooking, cleaning, fixing, painting, and since he can’t drive at night I drive him to the rehab-center where we spend about three hours with mom trying to cheer her up. It’s been hectic, but satisfying that we can be of service. (I have greatly enjoyed the shitfest in llpoh’s article!)
So, one day I bring home .. from dad’s house … a small trash bag to throw away. Ms Freud asks “Why?”. I tell her my parents do not have a garbage disposal service. “What??”. Yeah, that’s right. For decades … as long as I can remember, actually … my parents have been the Masters of Recycling.
EVERYTHING get recycled …. at least 97.475%. ALL metals, glass, plastic, and paper. There is ZERO food thrown away … peelings, pits, seeds, bones, …. whatever, all gets buried in a compost pile. My parents literally produce one small garbage bag the size of an office wastepaper container per month. I still don’t fully understand it, but they do it. They don’t even throw away water from the kitchen sink!! When the container needs to be changed, the old water is dumped in the yard to water the plants. “Why waste good water down the sink when the flowers need it!” I think they even recycle used toilet paper when I’m not looking.
And they re-use everything over and over. Baggies are washed and reused for about a year. lol Mom can make a roll of Aluminum Foil last half a year … she’ll just wash it down with a soapy sponge, dry it, fold it, and reuse it another 20 times. They haven’t bought a storage container (glass jar, plastic tupperware, etc) since 1963 … we get all the containers we need from the food we buy. Mom seems to like pickle jars the best cuz the glass is usually thick and that removable lid lasts forever. When my mom and dad were in better health they had a “One Mile Rule” …. generally any trip under one mile meant we left the car in the driveway and we … GASP!! …walked. So, even into her early 50’s my mom would walk to and from the grocery (to my great embarrassment) store pulling one of these;
My parents aren’t libtards. They are quite conservative. They aren’t tree-hugger save-the-whales types either. They are simply incredibly good stewards of what the earth brings forth. Everything to them is a gift and to squander it, especially by using it only once, is a Mortal Sin that will doom you to hell. I can’t imagine what America would look like if 300 million people lived like that. Can you? I’m no longer embarrassed. I am so proud of them.
How cool is this??!! I can combine my recycling story with a music video!! I know how much you love my taste in music. This is simply amazing, dontchya think???