I was replacing a large, expensive part of our color laser printer today. It’s a consumable that wears out maybe every 15 months – at least for us, because we do a lot of printing on it. I was pleased to see that the company had gone to effort of using only folded cardboard as a packing material. It was origami, all these folds and tabs keeping this chunk of metal and plastic safe. Yes, there was a plastic pouch in there, but this part needs to be kept clean to work. So, here I am, suffused with a green glow (not unlike the Vegan Glow from Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World), thinking, “Hey, I can recycle all this packaging!” when I realize that I still have to throw away the old part I just replaced. There’s no note in the instructions referencing a recycling/reuse program, and I know there’s wiring and metal in there. It weighs at least 5 pounds. My glow vanished. I’ll contact the vendor Monday, but I have a bad feeling.

Kind of like the feeling I get when I walk into the large store that is a fixture of every American town. The newer ones have skylights all over, allowing the company to save serious money on electricity when the sun is shining. How green! And then I see the racks of plastic shopping bags at every checkout, most destined for the landfill, but some heading for a roadside near you. The people working the register scowl at my canvas bags, since their bagging area isn’t set up for anything besides the plastic. What I can’t figure out is why the company doesn’t encourage people to bring their own bags (and make it easier for the employees to use them), since that would save them money. But hey, at least there are skylights, right?

So when I need to rekindle my green glow, here are a few places I go online:
– A very gee-whiz technology site
– An action-oriented info and advocacy site
– A down-to-earth, fun, how-do-I-live-green blog
– Everything about recycling

See you in a fortnight!