Which is Better: Glass, Plastic, or Paper?

In celebrating Earth day I thought this post will make us become a little more conscious when trowing away various packages. Compare the eco-impact of different packaging materials using this chart. For perspective: The average U.S. home burns 11,000 kilowatt hours of energy and produces 16,000 pounds of carbon dioxide through electricity use per year.

Material	Energy cost to produce $1,000 worth	Greenhouse gases produced	Amount recovered in 2007	Landfill lifespan	Alternatives
Glass containers	6,944 kilowatt hours	3,527 lbs.	28%	1 million years	Always recycle glass — otherwise your great- great-great grandkids might find a bottle you threw away.
Plastic containers (#1, #2, #5)	3,889 kilowatt hours	2,425 lbs.	14%	450 years	Reduce use of throwaways, and try to buy easily recyclable #1 and #2 plastics.
Plastic bags and film	3,611 kilowatt hours	2,270 lbs.	10%	500-1,000 years	Use canvas grocery bags; wrap sandwiches in napkins.
Polystyrene foam peanuts	3,333 kilowatt hours	2,078 lbs.	7%	500 years	Cushion fragile shipments with crumpled newspapers or magazines. Drop off excess foam packaging peanuts at your local FedEx or UPS store.
Coated and uncoated paper bags	3,889 kilowatt hours	2,381 lbs.	37%	1 month	Switch to reusable canvas bags, and always recycle paper bags.
Coated and laminated paper, including gift wrap, tissue, and butcher paper	3,611 kilowatt hours	2,151 lbs.	Negligible	2-5 months	Wrap gifts in newspaper comics pages or reusable fabric wraps.
Corrugated cardboard	4,444 kilowatt hours	2,645 lbs.	74%	1-2 months	Buy packaging-free products. Reuse cardboard boxes and compost shredded cardboard.
Steel and aluminum cans, boxes, and other containers	4,722 kilowatt hours	3,262 lbs.	54%	200-400 years	Fill reusable container at the bulk bins, and always recycle steel and aluminum containers.

Source: Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA), eiolca.net/copyright/index.html.

Earth Hour 2009 - Saturday, March 28, 8:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Take part in Earth Hour 2009 on March 28 and help save energy. Join people across the country and the world for an Earth Hour. Turn off your lights at home for an hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 28.

For further information on Earth Hour 2009, visit: http://www.earthhour.org

E.P.A. Proposal Calls Greenhouse Gases a Danger to the Public

The headline says it all: the new administration changes course and moves towards allowing EPA to regulate greenhouse gasses; you can also see the British version of the news in The Guardian, for a spicier version of the commentary. Environmental sites seem to think this is a good idea. Finally!

PS: and if you miss posts on this site, bookmark NY Times Green Inc blog and be patient; I'll be back with more some day soon...

Searching For The Perfect Sippy Cup

(a.k.a Toddler's Holy Grail)

Searching for a safer sippy cup was not as easy as I originally thought it would be. I wanted a sippy cup that can be used in the microwave as well, as this is the easiest way they warm up the milk at the day care. The best to use in microwave would be a glass-made sippy cup but there is no such thing (due to various reasons, not least toddler's ability to smash unbreakable things). I could not find a sippy cup that I could use in a microwave (I do not use plastic) and I ended up asking the teacher to warm the milk in a glass and then pour it in the sippy cup provided.

My choice was based on the fact that I do not want to use a sippy cup with plastic containing BPA and based on the choices made for bottles (I have used only glass bottles) I did not want to use any plastic at all. So I ended up reviewing the stainless steel sippy cups.

Kleen Kanteen - made from stainless steel; the lid is made from polypropylene. The toddler size is 12 oz. and it costs around $18. This is the one I ended up buying. Some problems I had with this bottle are those it dents very easily when dropped and is leaking when shaken upside down (and my kid is doing this a lot). Otherwise, my toddler liked it a lot, although it looks like he will go pretty fast through the sippy cup period since he learns and likes it more to drink from a cup.

SIGG – made from aluminum with baked enamel interior (a water-based resin which does not contain BPA) and powder paint exterior, and the cap is made from polypropylene. SIGG looks very cute and stylish. The toddler bottles are coming in 0.3 liter and 0.6 liter sizes and costs about $20.

THERMOS – made from stainless steel, thermoplastic elastomer, and polypropylene. The toddler size is 7 oz. and it costs about $15. Some friends of mine are using these for their kids and their kids are very happy with it.


Polypropylene is considered safe (although one study is questioning this fact) and there are many brands switching from polycarbonate to polypropylene. Polypropylene is labeled PP and/or #5 (its recycling number) and often you find this information on the bottom of the bottle but I saw it displayed on the bottle as well. If you plan to use a bottle made from polypropylene make sure that you never put it in the microwave to warm up liquid. Use it for water, juice or other liquids that do not need to be warm. Some examples of PP #5 brands that are making sippy cups are: Avent, Parents, Munchkin, Born free, Sassy Mam, etc. You can find more information about plastic on a post I wrote earlier.

Ways to Save the Planet

If you are looking for some tips on contributing to your green journey here are some ways. It is a very cool list with lots of easy steps to take.

National Radon Action Month

The Environmental Protection Agency declared January as the National Radon Action Month. This month is the best time of the year to test your house for radon. The movie Green Scene: Radon gives lots of information on how to test the house for radon and the reasons for testing. Radon is considered the second cause of lung cancer in Americans and it is found in many homes. You can check here to see if you need your house tested or not.

For California residents the California Department of Public Health offers a discount now - $5 a test.

Thank you!

I have not been posting for a while – the holidays rush, then the holidays blues... Even belated, I would like to wish all my readers a very happy new year with health and prosperity and, of course, with lots of changes in our green and healthy journey.
Thank you for visiting, for reading, for commenting, for critiquing, for subscribing, for mentioning me elsewhere.
Here are a few of the blogs I found mentioning 'A Bunch of Greens':

all things baby (and more, I suppose) – a family blog especially about a little boy who just turned 1. He is so handsome!
Chasing T – a family blog, especially about a cute little girl; it inspired me a lot by being such a unite family.
Viva Verde – a green blog about eco-friendly products and ways of leaving.
Life of Red – a blog about (as the title is saying) the life of Red as happening day by day.
Sally’s Friend - a personal blog about a mom and her happy moments and worries about her family waiting for a new baby.
Mama Lavender - a blog written by a homeschooling mom; blogging about happy moments with her family, multiple chemical sensitivities, health and many other things.

There are more blogs, thank you all and sorry for not being able to include you all but I will certainly do it in the near future. See you soon and often!