Country Roads

Renee Kiff
Masking tape, paper money, bandages, coffee filters, lamp
shades, car insulation, egg cartons makes up a partial list of
items we all have in our homes. Adding to that, some of us have dog
beds, dust masks, plant pots for seedlings. At the hospital, there
are hospital gowns. In the classroom, hopefully, there is still a
world globe which spins.
What do all these items have in common? They are all made with
recycled paper.
Uses for recycled cardboard are just as interesting: besides the
obvious, new cardboard boxes, it can be manufactured into paper
towels, toilet paper, cat litter, fiber board and many other wood
products.
We are a family of a few, yet we collect a very large cache of
cardboard necessitating a trip to the recycler at least
monthly.
The fact that 90 percent of all products shipped in the USA
arrive in a cardboard box is no surprise to anyone. And, the boxes
usually far outsize the item enclosed. It is amusing to discover a
tiny purchase buried in the interior of a styrofoam pellet infested
box, when a smaller box would do.
We can’t change the folks who mail us the stuff, but we can make
sure the box it comes in gets recycled.
According to statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) website, which, incidentally, needs updating, “in 2009, 43
million tons of paper and cardboard were recovered at a recycling
rate of 60 percent.” However, we are still losing 25 million tons
to landfills yearly. Before it is thrown away, there are some nice
suggestions for utilizing cardboard in our lives.
A web site suggests providing youngsters with an indoor
playhouse during the winter, encouraging them to draw on the
“walls” inside and out and wouldn’t crayola flowers be cute on the
base of it? Flattened cardboard is a great protection for floors
and carpets when doing house repair or painting; broken into pieces
cardboard is food for compost bins, worm composters and is a good
kindling for a wood stove or fireplace.
Supposedly China is our greatest recycler, and it may well be,
but the last statistic I read on the internet states that we
exported 35 percent overseas in 2007. Those numbers have changed,
certainly, in the ensuing four years. The BBC (British Broadcasting
Corporation) published a report on which country was recycling the
most and the article’s date was 2005. At that point in time the
Swiss were doing the best job while the Brits were one of the
worst.
At home in Healdsburg we aren’t doing so badly as evidenced by
the overflowing debris bins up at the Sonoma County Transfer
Station. If you are a newcomer to our town and you have regular
garbage service you have no need to go there, but you should, just
to see the view. It is located one tenth of a mile from the
intersection of Healdsburg Avenue on Alexander Valley Road. It’s
the trip back down the hill that is grand. And, if we ever get our
first snowfall on the ridge east of Geyser Peak, Mt. St. Helena
rises up beyond the garbage station creating a scene of stark
difference between what Mother Nature creates and what mankind
manufactures.
While perusing internet information sites on recycling, a
perfectly wonderful idea appeared just in time for a spring
activity. If you are a teacher or parent and have a limited need
for sowing seeds, you should check it out. It looks fun and the
description seems thorough. For school gardens or children’s
gardens, it would work well. Just type in “How to create seed
starting pots from newspaper” and you will see the video presented
by eHow. The beauty of the little newspaper holder is that the
plant’s roots will escape into its permanent location with
ease.
Next time you’ve cut your finger requiring a bandage, been
stitched together by a doctor wearing hospital attire; you’re
drinking coffee brewed through a filter, enjoying a muffin costing
a dollar, reading the paper in light provided under a lamp shade,
consider the benefits given to us by one Douglas Fir tree. We need
to recycle that tree many times over, all across the globe.
Renee Kiff weeds and writes at her family farm in Alexander
Valley.