Whole Life Times: Waste Not, Want Not

June 2006 | Go Greener

Waste Not, Want Not

Wander through the Main Street Santa Monica Farmer’s Market any given Sunday and you’ll find oodles of jolly visitors stuffing their sacks with succulent local produce, sipping from baby coconuts or steaming coffee mugs, or brunching on omelets, tamales and crepes. But no matter how hard you search, you won’t find a single trashcan.

That’s because the Westside market is boldly going where only one intrepid community has gone before—by committing to the credo of zero waste. Following in the footsteps of Boulder, Colorado, the Santa Monica market has traded its trash bins for composting and recycling containers, and upgraded its disposable paper and plastic products—every last plate, napkin, utensil, to-go box, ramekin, juice cup and coffee mug—to a biodegradable brand.

When ridding themselves of the remains of a mid-morning feast, market-goers are requested to divide their food waste from their recyclables and deposit accordingly. “The choice is confusing for a lot of people,” said one zero-waste volunteer. “They come to throw things away, and they’re like, huh? But when they figure it out they’re usually excited about it.”

If you’re psyched about building a world without garbage, and want to start by convincing your local market to give zero waste a try, visit sustainableworks.org for information and volunteer opportunities. —Eliza Thomas

Go Greener Tip of the Month: Get Off the Junk

Each year, 80 million trees, 28 billion gallons of water and 450,000,000 dollars is squandered carting mountains of junk mail—around 34 pounds for every American man, woman and child—to and from dumps, incinerators and recycling centers. It’s like cramming an entire tree into your mailbox annually.

But you can wrest back your time, resources and sanity from the junk monster. EcoCycle, one of the countries largest nonprofit recyclers, lists quick and easy tips for liberating your in-box on their website. Number one is contacting the Direct Marketing Association, the USA’s largest mailing list broker, and telling them to take your info off their database (212.768.7277, dmaconsumers.org). For numbers two through seven (and sweet, sweet mail relief), visit EcoCycle.org. —ET

Seeking Sweatshop-Free Clothing
from Co-op america, publisher of the National Green Pages

Dear Co-op America,
How can I find out whether the clothes at stores in my area were made in sweatshops? —Veronica M., Minneapolis, MN

Most people don’t want to buy clothes made in sweatshops—the trick is how to find out whether or not that ís the case with the stores you patronize.

Whether you shop in an independently owned boutique or a chain store, ask where they source their clothes and under what conditions the items were made. The better companies will be able to answer your questions about codes of conduct, working conditions and related issues.

Better companies purchase clothes from factories with codes of conduct ensuring worker rights (including freedom of association, freedom from harassment, fair wages, safe working conditions and protections against long hours). Independent monitors check whether companies are in compliance with the code, report violators and work with factories to improve their practices. It’s also a good sign if a company is purchasing from factories where workers are represented by an independent union and have long-standing collective bargaining arrangements in place.

As for the stores in your local mall, you can look them up on Co-op America’s Responsible Shopper website (responsibleshopper.org), which allows you to compare social and environmental information on companies selling the common consumer products. The listings include The Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch and TJ Maxx. Each company profile lists any allegations of poor labor practices that our staff has discovered. You can also discover which corporations have been linked to sweatshop abuses by checking with China Labor Watch (212.247.2212, chinalaborwatch.org), CorpWatch (corpwatch.org), and LabourNet UK (labournet.net).

While good clothing options do exist, there are far too few; we’ll need to work together to create more. Consider buying five responsible clothing items this year—from Fair-Trade (fairtradefedera tion.org), green and cooperative (greenpages.org) and union (unitehere.org/buyunion) sources. Also, write or call companies to let them know you’re concerned about their labor practices.

Bienestar International’s footwear and clothing—sold under the brand name No Sweat™—is produced by independent trade union members in the US, Canada and the developing world. The company believes that “the only viable response to globalization is a global labor movement” because “independent trade unions [are] the only historically proven solution to sweatshops.” No Sweat markets direct to consumers, relying primarily on Internet sales. The money saved on advertising goes to the workers. For more information, go to nosweatapparel.com.

Living Green is brought to you by Co-op America, a national nonprofit that provides green living, purchasing, and investing tips and resources. To join Coop America and get a free copy of the National Green Pages directory of Green businesses, call 800.58.GREEN, coopamerica.org. E-mail Living Green questions to coopamerica.org">[click to e-mail]

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