One Less Thing in the Trash Can
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
A big part of this journey I’m on is about eliminating the idea of waste. Waste is a human construct. In nature nothing ever gets wasted. In fact, the thing we humans view as prototypical waste, feces, is one of the most valuable resources in nature. If I had to pinpoint the day the train we’re all on ran off the tracks, it would be the day we came up with the idea for disposable products: plastic sporks, batteries, styrofoam cups, diapers, razors, and toothbrushes. From a marketing and sales aspect this is genius, but looked at from any other angle this is just plain stupid.
I recently discovered a viable alternative to tossing old sponges in the trash can. It’s called the EcoSponge (there are many others of this ilk; this just happens to be the one I’ve tried), and it does just what it purports to do: last. It’s made out of a durable fabric, something called viscose, so that it won’t fall apart like the average kitchen sponge. Even better, you can wash it. If hand washing a sponge seems redundant to you, you can also throw it in your washing machine. Sure, it costs five bucks, but like so many other “green” investments (photovoltaics, tankless water heaters, metal roofs) it will more than pay for itself over the course of its lifetime. It’s this type of thinking we need to start using when tapping into our power as consumers.
The many problems created by our throwaway society have been well documented by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their book Cradle to Cradle, and they even offered a solution, designing products that can be fully reabsorbed by nature. I’m not sure if the EcoSponge quite meets that standard, but if it lasts a year or two and prevents me from throwing twenty or thirty sponges into the trash I will have to count it as a success. Only time will tell.