Bits n' Pieces, Eco Bricking,....and You.

Like many of us, I toss my plastic, cans, and glass items into my recycling and I rest assured (or HOPE), they'll be given another "life". As well as separating paper, etc. After taking a closer look at labels of items I use everyday, I'm now understanding that there are parts of those items that are not recyclable (For example, on a Coffee Mate bottle, there are two recycling symbols; one that states the bottle itself can be recycled, and the second states the plastic label is not).

The same goes for my Vitafusion bottle...

And look how tiny these logos are....I can see why these are missed, and, even if they aren't, would/do people really take the time to remove these?! In a way I do not blame them if they don't! To me, making an effort to reduce waste should include a level of convenience for the public to recycle responsibly, and not have to pick apart labels which which otherwise if left on would render the item garbage (I 'splain below). But until then, I'll do my best to work with what methods we have:

As I'm glad I caught this now, this does in fact frustrate me on so many levels, but one of which I thought all this time I wouldn't have to think twice about where this item was going. If the label is left on, to my understanding, the item cannot be recycled. So when I should have in fact, all these months,.....years,.....removed the label before putting the plastic bottle into the recycling. And that's just one example. But what happens to the label? Gets discarded into the trash. Landfill. To be sealed off from air, sunlight, water, no chance of decomposing and taking up space like all the other millions of tons of trash (not to mention RECYCLEABLES that wind up in there everyday).

As I will continue to research and see if there is in fact another recycling method for these spare parts that perhaps I missed or are unaware of (hey, there's a lot to learn!) I started looking into the concept of Eco Bricking; packing bottles with non-recyclable and non-biodegradable materials/waste to create a reusable building block. My only caveat, is the materials would most likely be packed into a bottle that can be recycled. However, considering the extent of items and pieces that cannot be recycled, I'm willing to accept the better of the two options here which means creating something that can be used over and over and for a good cause:

https://www.plastics4change.co.za/how-to/eco-bricks

Learning of this concept, I realized this can be used for all those little "bits and pieces" you wind up with, whether it be the plastic pull-tab on the cap of a water gallon, or a plastic clothing tag, or heck, the plastic seal from a ricotta container?! As long as it is clean, you can pack it into a bottle, creating your eco-brick. And if done right, you can fit as much in a 2 liter bottle as you would a 20L trash can. The idea is to make the bottle dense enough to be used as a building brick. Additionally, I can utilize this concept for those Coffee Mate and Vitafusion bottle labels I saved.

And so, it begins:

Even before I began creating my first brick, I researched how and where an eco brick can be donated. Right now eco bricks are widely used in areas of South Africa, South America, the Philippines, and several other areas for creating garden beds, fencing, furniture, and even buildings. The concept doesn't appear to be as widely used in America or the UK, but there are groups that hold workshops and events in these areas that teach others how to create eco bricks and what to do with them. So right now I'm actively researching on how I can donate mine to any of these areas, if it can be done. I'm currently in communication with an organization in South Africa on if they accept donations from the US and a blogger in the UK whose been active in this as well. I'm working with an educator on putting together a plan, where I'll be presenting this idea to some classrooms; the students will be building bricks over the course of several months, using their snack bag scraps (must be clean), foiled-lined bags, plastic pieces, anything that would otherwise be thrown out if they cannot be recycled. The bricks would then be collected at the end of the project and distributed. I also plan to present the idea to our local Lions club, if it may be possible to facilitate a drive or collection of some sort and donate bricks overseas or simply to anyone who may be able to utilize them.

I'll post any progress and updates as they come about.