Koffee K-Kups Krapping Up Landfills

 General Blatherings
Mar 012012
 

I have to confess that I’m a fan of these single-use instant coffee machines.  We used to use a regular drip coffeemaker, then tried the Senseo machine a few years ago because they appealed to our gadgety side.  It was pretty good, though you had to double-up on your “coffee pods” if you wanted stronger coffee.  Then it started to have issues and we went back to the good ol’ drip machine.  A couple of years later we spotted the Keurig machine in Costco (the one pictured here, in fact) at an unbelievable price, complete with 60 servings of coffee…so we took a chance on it and loved it.  It even came with the reusable basket for doing your own coffee, though we don’t use it often.

We’ve had it about a year, and I do think about the environmental impact now and then–these k-cup things aren’t recyclable, after all.  They’re plastic with foil fused to the top, with a filter and spent coffee inside.  (It’s a pretty ingenious little invention for making coffee, I have to admit.)  Theoretically you could rip open each one and remove the coffee and filter, but you’d still be left with the foil stuck to the plastic which is hard for the recycling machines to separate and process.  Hmmm…  I suppose we could use the reusable cup, though the coffee is much weaker unless you use a special trick.  It’s also kind of a mess to set up which pretty much defeats the convenience of the thing…but it’s cheaper than the disposable k-cups, and it’s not adding more crap to the landfills.  We do a lot of recycling otherwise, so it wouldn’t kill us to just brew our own coffee and stop being such suckers for convenience!

Keurig coffee makers allow everyone in the office to drink their favorite bean blend. Single-use plastic cups also save dainty fingers from touching used coffee filters.

The problem is those convenient and tidy plastic cups can’t be recycled and are collecting in America’s landfills, reported CNBC.

The K-cups, as the plastic containers are called, are made of a plastic shell, lined with a paper filter and topped with aluminum. Individually, the components are recyclable, but put together they can only be trashed. What’s more, the compost-able coffee grounds are trapped inside.

via Discovery News

NO BAG IS SAFE!

 General Blatherings
Nov 152010
 

Ohhh my dear Baby Jesus.  Guess what?  All those reusable grocery bags you’ve been using may actually contain lead.  From China!  Yes, instead of saving our precious Earth from total annihilation by not choosing plastic at checkout, you’ve actually been helping to KILL it.  Thanks a lot, you fuckin’ lead-spreadin’ fascist!  Way to make Mother Earth weep cold, cold tears…FILLED WITH LEAD!

I’m sorry, but this is really cracking me up.  So many people out there really get into the resuable bag thing.  I mean, they take it with deadly seriousness.  Especially here in Seattle, where the streets practically flow with granola.  I actually prefer canvas bags to plastic because they’re sturdier and hold more stuff, but most of these people smugly think that using reusable grocery bags will somehow save the Earth from utter destruction.  In fact, Seattle has even started charging people for using plastic bags instead of paper or canvas.  But this makes people feel good:  ”I’m doing my part.  I’m using canvas bags to haul my food around.  I’m saving the planet.  If you can’t do the same, fuck you and pay your plastic tax!”  Then they drive away in their rusty old gas-sucking VW van or pious Prius.

So just imagine how much hippie hand-wringing must be going on right now.  It must be pretty brutal owning a dozen canvas bags and wondering if some or all are lovingly poisoned with lead.

Hilarious!

Lead found in some reusable grocery bags is raising concerns that the toxin could pose environmental or health concerns to consumers.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is asking for a federal investigation into the reusable bags following a series by The Tampa Tribune. The newspaper found lead in bags purchased at Winn-Dixie, Publix, Sweetbay, Walmart and Target.

Reusable bags are often sold by retailers and used by consumers instead of plastic bags. They may be canvas or made of recycled plastic. In some areas, consumers are charged a fee if they use a plastic bag from a store.

The concern is that lead in bags could cause environmental problems in landfills or leach into food products that are kept in them.

“Federal agencies need to put a ban in place for reusable bags that have lead in them,” Schumer said in a statement. In a letter asking the Food and Drug Administration to open an investigation into the issue, he says, “Any situation where lead bags are coming into contact with the food being purchased by Americans needs to be immediately investigated and resolved.”

via USATODAY.com

Finally, an end to the Yellow Pages…sort of

 General Blatherings
Oct 132010
 

We Seattleites will soon be able to opt-out of receiving the Yellow Pages.  YES!  It’s about goddamn time, too–personally, I haven’t cracked a Yellow Pages since the mid-90′s.  The minute I see one on my doorstep, I walk right over and dump it into the recycling bin.  It’s obsolete and wasteful, and it needs to go.  In fact, I think they should take it one step further and send it only to those who opt-in.  Let’s find out how many people actually still use this thing.

The City Council on Monday passed an ordinance allowing people to place themselves on a list to stop receiving yellow pages phone books, similar to the “no call” lists telemarketers must honor.  The measure, sponsored by City Councilman Mike OBrien, is designed to cut down on the amount of unused books circulating around Seattle. OBrien says the unwanted publications are burdensome for the city to dispose of and not environmentally friendly.

OBrien says it costs the city about $350,000 a year to dispose of unwanted books.

As of April 1, publishers of yellow pages would have to get an annual, $100 special license to do business in Seattle. The citys public utilities department would establish an “opt-out” directory for people and businesses who dont want to receive yellow pages phone books.

via Seattle PI

Tonight on ABC: “BOO!”

 General Blatherings
Aug 172006
 

The show “20/20″ is about to air a special edition called “Last Days on Earth.” Whoah, there!  These people are throwing around terms like “last days” and “armageddon” as if they were covering those silly Rapture fairytales.  The show is actually talking about natural cataclysms that could potentially wipe out the human race.  Bad choice of a title, since the program is about science.

Anyway, this stuff isn’t so farfetched…all it takes is a massive meteor, a sudden shift of the Earth’s axis, a reversal of the poles, a massive tectonic shift (all of which have already happened, by the way), or a few others nasty things, and huge chunks of the population can simply be wiped out.  Or all of it, for that matter.  This article suggests that the show will make the case that we are in complete control of the situation, and that it’s up to us to avert disaster.  Hmmmm.  Entire civilizations have vanished as casualties of cataclysmic earth changes…it’s not always a gradual thing like global warming.  What’s preventing the same sort of thing from happening to ours?  Sure, we may be able to do something about global warming (assuming it’s our doing and not just natural warming/cooling trends), but what the hell are we going to do if the poles shift and the jet stream comes down to blow us all to smithereens?  Pray to the Pope?

I hope those who survive the “last days” have decent genes…

Turn up the heat, baby…

 General Blatherings
May 032006
 

Randy sent this in yesterday:

HA!! The Bush Regime commisioned a study intended to pooh-pooh the fact that humans are contributing to global warming. But — SURPISE!! — the study AFFIRMED the phenomenon.  How are they going to spin this?

Wow.  Is this, finally, the proof?  I’m really curious as to how they’ll spin this one too.  Fox News will run a few stories debunking the data as “skewed” or “faulty”, then they’ll encourage us all to keep fillin’ up our gas-guzzlers and relax.  Oh yeah, better turn on the air conditioning, too…

Save the wetlands! Fore!

 Bullshit Detector, Idiots & Assholes (Politics)
Apr 192006
 

How does one pretend to love and protect the environment while doing absolutely nothing about it?  Why, you classify golf courses as wetlands, then proclaim that America’s loss of wetlands has finally come to an end.  Bush, ever the creative bullshitter, has done exactly this, claiming a victory for the environment.  What.  The.  Fuck. I simply don’t know what else to say…this pretty much speaks for itself.

Those of you who voted this pathetic, worthless gimp into office should be ashamed of yourselves!

Wacky budget mix-ups: the fun never stops!

 Bullshit Detector, Idiots & Assholes (Politics)
Feb 222006
 

Didja hear about that energy lab which had to lay off 32 employees due to Bush’s funding cuts, then mysteriously got its funding restored mere days before a visit from Bush on his “I’m green now, let’s celebrate alternative energies” tour?  He calls it a funding mix-up.  “Hyuk-hyuk!  Ya just never know where that money’s gonna end up, do ya?  Golly!”  I wonder if he’s ever had any of is war money “mixed up.”  Yeah, didn’t think so.

It’s just like my friend Randy commented in an earlier post:  Bush is as transparent as a window.  I wonder how you people who voted for him (you know who you are) can sleep at night knowing that you elected such a reprehensible and manipulative (not to mention dimwitted) person as President.  Sleep tight…he’s all yours.

Drillin’ Bush

 Idiots & Assholes (Politics)
Jan 172006
 

The story about Bush opening an area on Alaska’s North Slope for oil drilling is old news by now, but I had tagged it for the blog because of a couple of choice quotes:

“We’ve been left out of too much of the area with the most potential,” said Tadd Owens, executive director of the Resource Development Council of Alaska, a business association.

Judy Brady of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association said the industry could move toward drilling soon.   ”Companies won’t leave an area with that much potential just sitting there,” she said.

And there you have it:  they want their money, Nature be damned.  Remember this the next time you Bush supporters out there defend his priorities and interests.  If there was oil money to be made from the land you live on, you can bet your ass he’d sign your house away for bulldozing without a second thought.  It is, after all, only a business matter.