Realization: Dishwashing practice makes perfect...

It just so happened that the plastic awareness challenge coincided with me running out of dish washing machine tablets/powder for the first time. Since I've been using up the products I already had before being aware of the harm they were doing, my plan is to switch to eco-friendly products (meaning what I deem to be eco-friendly, not just because it says so on the box) gradually, as I run out.

Yesterday I headed over to the local "green" store, called Ruohonjuuri, in search of something to clean the full dishwasher that was waiting for me at home. I expected, however naively, to find the perfect product there... that wasn't the case. But I did instantly want to blog about the experience because I think it reflects many choices we have to make in our everyday lives when it comes to making greener choices.

This is what I found...
(By the way, I don't know everything about toxins in these types of products but my rule was: if they don't hurt the wildlife, that's usually a good sign AND I kept an eye out for packaging because that's a big concern for me. Also, I didn't have ALL the info you see below but I got it off the company websites for you :) !)


Product #1 - Ecover

Quantity: 25 tablets
Price: 9.20€
Country of origin: Belgium
Website: www.ecover.com
Pros:
+ Cardboard box, made of 95% recycled materials
+ plant based ingredients, not based on petrochemical ingredients
+ no chemical residue left on your dishes
+ GMO enzyme free
+ no artificial fragrance
+ no phosphates nor chlorine bleach
+ optimum level of biodegradability - far exceeds legislative requirements
+ safe for all river and marine life
+ no animal testing
+ safe for septic tanks
Cons:
- Each tablet is individually wrapped in plastic (it's recyclable but you can't recycle plastic in Finland... actually I should look into this...)
- Price

Product #2 - Attitude

Quantity: 26 and 40 tablets
Price: around 12,30€ and 16,38€ (Though only $8 and $11 in Canada!)
Country of origin: Canada (to be more specific, Quebec)
Website: www.labonneattitude.com
Pros:
+ individual sachets dissolve
+ Certified EcoLogo, an Environment Canada program
+ CO2 neutral: no contribution to climate change
+ Vegetable-based / Natural / Biodegradable
+ Free of phosphate and chlorine
+ Free of color dyes and artificial fragrances
+ Pure essential oils
+ Non-carcinogenic (selected ingredients not listed on the IARC Categories 1, 2A or 2B)
+ Vegan product
Cons:
- The 26 pack comes in a thick plastic bag (to protect from moisture)
- The 40 pack came in a hard plastic box
- Price

Product #3 - Alma Win

Quantity: 25 tablets
Price: around 11€ (I don't remember!)
Country of origin: Germany
Website: http://almawin-usa.com/cms/
Pros:
+ Comes in a cardboard box
+ FREE from phosphate, chlorine and GMO
+ Excellent water softening properties
+ Sodium citrate prevents lime deposits on dishes
+ Biodegradable, natural occurring poly aspartic acid aids even dispersion
+ Environmentally-compatible mild oxygen based bleaching agents improve degradation
+ Fragranced with certified organic essential lemon oil
+ Naturally and effectively remove persistent food particles, starch and protein with proteases, not enzymes
+ Suitable for vegans
+ Not tested on animals
Cons:
- Individually plastic wrapped tablets
- More expensive than Ecover (which is packaged the same)

My decision:
I may have to shop around, so I picked Ecover (the cheaper and less-plastic-y of the bunch). In case it doesn't clean my dishes and work my way up (price-wise), I figured it was smarter to start with the cheaper option.

Afterthoughts:
Ironically, I went to a bigger grocery store after and found the same Ecover box for only €6.50. I know stores like Prisma definitely benefit from economies of scale and most of their products are not sustainable but 2.70€/box is a pretty hefty price increase. I went back to Ruohonjuuri today and apologized to the super nice sales person. They still have products you can't find elsewhere though and I plan to support them that way.
Again more irony, I realized I could've tried making the dishwashing powder myself, but I'll have to give that a try later (and post about some dishwashing- vs. dishwasher-related debates). Baby steps.

Do you have any products you'd like to recommend? Have you tried making your own dishwashing powder? Feel free to post about your experiences!

Making tough choices? Figure out your priorities.

I met my friend Donna today because I'm helping her organize a community garbage pick-up event this coming Sunday and we had some running around to do. One of the spots we ran through was Tampere's central square, which is host to a variety of festivals and different vendors throughout the summer. This is one big reason that the center has tons of garbage flying around it but there are also nice things available there. This week, the theme is French Cuisine and products!

The bakery has a line running through the square (it's run out of a truck) and other vendors are selling candy, fresh nuts or even soaps! I noticed a huge stand of French natural soaps from Marseilles and couldn't resist. I promised myself that I'd stop buying liquid soaps, in an effort to reduce waste. In addition, I've been buying only soaps without any waste at all (no packaging, no bags, etc.) They usually tend to run about 5-8euros/bar but I get such joy out of using them that I don't mind paying a few euros extra, and they last long too.

Today in the square, the soaps cost 5 euros each or 5 for 20 euros. I got so excited but there were a few things to consider:
+ no waste
+ natural soaps
+ great price
- driven in a truck from France
- production impact unknown
= how do you calculate that?

In the end, I came home with 5 bars of them and had a photo shoot! It's sometimes hard to make decisions like that but those decisions are part of every day life. I'm trying to make lots of choices at the same time, and all my intentions are good: I don't want to have a negative impact on my surroundings. But this takes some getting used to and should be done step-by-step (especially since this is in the sub-title of this blog.)

So the moral of this story, and the lesson for this post is: Figure out your priorities.

If energy and water are more important for you, focus on those. If emissions are on your mind, reduce those first. If waste is your most pressing concern, start with that. I could keep going but you get the point. So long as you're aware and you start somewhere, you're heading in the right direction.

And now for the photo shoot... (these should last me about a year!)