As the title of this blog suggests, I make a lot of chips in my workshop, but they are all just by-products. That is not to say they go to waste. We have all sorts of uses for them. Some are used as cat litter, probably not the ideal material, but they cost nothing and seem to be acceptable to the cats, and the output from the litter tray is compostable. In summer, much of my woodchip output goes on the compost heap anyway, and when mixed with grass cuttings and other organic waste they break down reasonably well. Another outdoor use is on some of the paths out back, but they rot away too quickly to be anything but a temporary solution to muddy patches. During winter I burn quite a lot of woodchips in the workshop woodstove. They don't burn that well since they compact, but if they are thrown into the back of the stove and a few sticks put on top, they burn away slowly, which is all I need once I have got my well-insulated workshop up to a comfortable temperature. Finally, I save the nice curly shavings that come from bowl turning for use in firelighting. They have lots of air space around them and need little encouragement to start a roaring fire.
By-products, however useful, are not desirable. I try to use as much of my wood supply as I possibly can for finished items. It doesn't take a very large piece of wood to make a bottle stopper, a spurtle or an inlay for a weedpot. All the chunks which are of no use are stored in feed sacks and saved for the woodstove in winter.
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Friday, September 17, 2004
Recycled Packaging
I make use of a lot of recycled packaging for shipping customer orders. I save all incoming packaging and collect more from friends and my wife's workplace.
While small items can be shipped in padded envelopes, which I have to purchase, larger items and big orders are shipped in corrugated cardboard boxes. When I get these, I calculate the cubic capacity of the box and write that on the side, then break the box down so that it can be stored flat. Then when I have an order to pack I find a suitable sized box and re-assemble it. I also use flat pieces of cardboard to reinforce the tops and bottoms of some boxes.
The packing material that I use comes in many forms. Polystyrene pellets are quite common, though they are not the most environmentally sound product because they cannot be recycled. I also use larger pieces of expanded polystyrene, the sort of stuff that electronic equipment is often packed in. I cut it down into more manageable sizes with the bandsaw, then use it to fill larger voids in your parcels. Bubblewrap is an old favourite which I normally save for wrapping more delicate items. More recently I have started to see inflatable packaging being used. This comes in the form of polythene bags full of air, which seem to be a very environment friendly solution since there is very little material used to achieve a very large amount of padding. If they aren't going to be reused they can be deflated and recycled along with any other LDPE .
One strange material I got recently was corrugated cardboard which had be cut into v-shaped pieces. It made for a quite heavy packaging, but since most Canada Post parcels have a minimum density applied to them (low density parcels are paid for by volume, not weight) , this is probably not a big problem to me.
So why do I go to all the trouble of storing and re-using recycled packaging? Well, it saves cash for one thing. For the quantities of packaging that I use, it can be expensive. But I would much rather re-use something than throw it away. I like to do my bit for the environment, and if I can use something one more time before it goes to the landfill or recycling facility then so much the better. So as long as it is clean and reasonably presentable, then I will happily re-use it.
While small items can be shipped in padded envelopes, which I have to purchase, larger items and big orders are shipped in corrugated cardboard boxes. When I get these, I calculate the cubic capacity of the box and write that on the side, then break the box down so that it can be stored flat. Then when I have an order to pack I find a suitable sized box and re-assemble it. I also use flat pieces of cardboard to reinforce the tops and bottoms of some boxes.
The packing material that I use comes in many forms. Polystyrene pellets are quite common, though they are not the most environmentally sound product because they cannot be recycled. I also use larger pieces of expanded polystyrene, the sort of stuff that electronic equipment is often packed in. I cut it down into more manageable sizes with the bandsaw, then use it to fill larger voids in your parcels. Bubblewrap is an old favourite which I normally save for wrapping more delicate items. More recently I have started to see inflatable packaging being used. This comes in the form of polythene bags full of air, which seem to be a very environment friendly solution since there is very little material used to achieve a very large amount of padding. If they aren't going to be reused they can be deflated and recycled along with any other LDPE .
One strange material I got recently was corrugated cardboard which had be cut into v-shaped pieces. It made for a quite heavy packaging, but since most Canada Post parcels have a minimum density applied to them (low density parcels are paid for by volume, not weight) , this is probably not a big problem to me.
So why do I go to all the trouble of storing and re-using recycled packaging? Well, it saves cash for one thing. For the quantities of packaging that I use, it can be expensive. But I would much rather re-use something than throw it away. I like to do my bit for the environment, and if I can use something one more time before it goes to the landfill or recycling facility then so much the better. So as long as it is clean and reasonably presentable, then I will happily re-use it.
Thursday, October 23, 2003
World Rainforest Week
Continuing my search for information I have found a few websites worthy of note.
Eco-portal.com has a whole section on forests and forest destruction. Not only does this site have a good directory of relevant websites, but also a sidebar full of links to current news items.
The Rainforest Action Network website is a valuable source of information. And did you know that this is World Rainforest Week? This year they are focussing on Indonesia and encouraging a young persons letter writing campaign against Georgia Pacific.
Eco-portal.com has a whole section on forests and forest destruction. Not only does this site have a good directory of relevant websites, but also a sidebar full of links to current news items.
The Rainforest Action Network website is a valuable source of information. And did you know that this is World Rainforest Week? This year they are focussing on Indonesia and encouraging a young persons letter writing campaign against Georgia Pacific.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Working with exotic woods - a dilemma
Most of the wood used in my shop was grown in Nova Scotia, and some from elsewhere in North America. A very small percentage though are exotic species, mainly from South/Central America and Africa. It is this last category that causes me some misgivings. Whilst it is very pretty wood, and very popular with customers, I do wonder what impact my use of this wood is having on the forests where it grows.
Some say that properly harvested woods help save the forest because it makes the local people see the value of the wood and leads to sustainable management practices. Surely this is better than burning the forests to make way for agriculture, which the local soil can only sustain for a few years. Also I have read in the past that large quantities of these timbers are used for low-grade applications such as construction (often for shuttering which is later discarded) and pallets, so does my contibution metter? Getting a balanced picture of the situation is not easy, but I think it is reasonable to conclude that rainforests are becoming seriously depleted.
Over the next few days I plan to investigate some of these issues, but in the meantime you can help save the rainforest by visiting The Rainforest Site and clicking the Save Our Rainforests button. Sign up for their daily email reminder service by following the Remember to Click link.
Some say that properly harvested woods help save the forest because it makes the local people see the value of the wood and leads to sustainable management practices. Surely this is better than burning the forests to make way for agriculture, which the local soil can only sustain for a few years. Also I have read in the past that large quantities of these timbers are used for low-grade applications such as construction (often for shuttering which is later discarded) and pallets, so does my contibution metter? Getting a balanced picture of the situation is not easy, but I think it is reasonable to conclude that rainforests are becoming seriously depleted.
Over the next few days I plan to investigate some of these issues, but in the meantime you can help save the rainforest by visiting The Rainforest Site and clicking the Save Our Rainforests button. Sign up for their daily email reminder service by following the Remember to Click link.
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