AttemptGreen.com

I’ve recently done some transactions on Craigslist and that makes me feel pretty good. As part of our recent move, there was some extra furniture we didn’t plan on moving. Some of the furniture was nice stuff and some not as nice but since I wanted to sell the good stuff I figured I would just post all of it. Surprisingly every single piece was spoken for and I got my asking price for all but one piece. Since I was limited on time (with the sale of my house), two of the people missed showing up and I just couldn’t reschedule. After that, turns out that my husband’s cousin is just now establishing his own place since he recently graduated. So the items I didn’t move from the Craigslist posts are now being put to good use at his apartment.

The whole idea here is that when you are done with something, just because you don’t want it any more doesn’t mean that no one wants it. So instead of throwing away items you don’t want, especially those big items, see if someone else wants it. Whether it be family or a stranger willing to pay you for it, I bet you could find someone. Nothing else, consider donating items.

Beware if you start posting on Craigslist, it can be addicting. I’ve done lots more searching for things I may want for my next house. I suppose that time will come when I start buying.

There has been much debate and many studies done weighing the factors of the packaging of wine.  I find this debate to be troublesome based on the fact that when I buy a wine, I’m looking for taste, not necessarily packaging.  So I decided to do some research to see if there was some compelling reason to change my ways.

Franklin Associates has done a very informative study (search for “tetra pak”) on the comparison of glass bottles, tetra paks, and PET bottles.  Based on who paid for the study (sponsored by the manufactures of tetra pak), read the numbers carefully and with a grain of salt.  However, they make a compelling argument for tetra paks, weighing factors like manufacturing of the packaging, transportation to the winery, transportation to the distribution center, and how the product is disposed of.  With all those factors being equal, the packaging with the lower weight will always win.

As a consumer trying to make a better decision, there were some assumptions that bothered me though.  The comparison was done assuming the winery was in northern California and had to ship 1500 miles to a distribution center.  With that fact, the tetra pak beats the glass bottle hands down, as it should.  But I wanted to see if buying a tetra pak from a California winery is better than my local (Ohio) wine in a glass bottle.  Apparently this study was trying to sway the wineries to make the change, not the consumer forcing the change with buying power.

Unfortunately what I was looking for isn’t available.  So my assumption (using just my brain to come up with this) is that almost all the transportation effects on the environment have been eliminated and therefore local is a great choice.  Additionally, it has the added bonus of supporting your local economy.

My conclusions: If you are going to buy wine from a long distance winery, try to get one in a tetra pak.  I personally will stick to local wineries (and likely buy it directly from the winery).  Regardless of which way you go, always make sure you recycle or reuse the packaging.  I’ve found tons of craft projects using wine bottles and corks… Do a search and find out.