Kick the chemical habit
Household ingredients like lemon juice, salt and baking soda make great general cleaners. But there are easy ways to avoid harmful chemicals for even tough jobs. Did you know silver cleans up in an instant when heated in a pot of boiling water lined with tinfoil and sprinkled with baking soda? Or that a wet rag dipped in fireplace ash scours everything from pots and pans to the window in your woodstove and your glass cooktop?
Kick the Paper Towel Habit
Whatever happened to the ragbag? Anything — from a stained tea towel to a cotton T-shirt past wearing— can be cut up with pinking shears and used instead of paper towels. Washable and reusable, rags are economical and environmentally friendly. You’ll be amazed how easy it can be to live paper-towel free.
Kick the Bottled-Water Habit
Two-thirds of the literally billions of plastic bottles produced in North America annually end up in landfills where they leach chemicals into the earth. More and more experts, from David Suzuki to Health Canada, are telling us that just because water comes in a bottle doesn’t mean it’s better. Good-quality carbon filters on taps or in a carafe system are a better way to go.
Kick the Plastic Wrap Habit
Plastic wrap is not recyclable, is one-use disposable and some are made from PVC, the worst of the plastics. Store leftovers for reheating in covered heatproof glass casseroles (check out thrift stores), and store other leftovers in wide-mouth glass jars. Or cover bowls with a plate or re-usable elastic-sided bowl cover.
Sooke Transition Town
