A second life for your milk bags

Reuse milk bags for food storage and freezing

Of the three Rs, Reduce is the most important (by far, actually).  But Reusing is important too, and the bags that milk comes in are a great example.  They’re made of a sturdy #4 plastic so they are recyclable.  However, if sliced open at the top and washed out, they’re perfect candidates for Reuse, and that’s even better than Recycling.

For example, milk bags are great for storing food like half an onion or an open package of cheese in the fridge.  And, because they’re thick and tough, they’re excellent as freezer bags.  We use them that way in our home – for squash, beans, chilli and more – and we save because we never need to buy freezer bags.

So why not Reuse those milk bags?  You’ll save a bit of money, and do a good thing for the planet!

Is it really that urgent?

When possible, use regular mail instead of overnight courier services

I remember the bold lettering written across the last courier package I received: “EXTREMELY URGENT”.  But, honestly, the package really wasn’t very urgent.

When it comes to delivery services, it seems that many of us by default look to overnight courier services.  That’s too bad, because even though such services are very convenient, they have a huge carbon footprint.  For example, FedEx is one of the biggest airlines in the world – far bigger than Air Canada, British Airways, Lufthansa or Air France.  Instead of passengers, FedEx delivers hundreds of tonnes of packages every day.  FedEx also has nearly 100,000 delivery trucks.  So you get the picture – huge carbon footprint.  (And I don’t mean to pick on one company; FedEx’s competitors would have a similar profile.)  And much of what’s delivered truly isn’t that urgent.

So the next time you need to ship a document or package, or purchase something on line, why not reconsider whether it’s really urgent and ship via plain old regular mail?  It’s probably cheaper, and it’s definitely better for the planet.