Helga Gives Thanks

Helga enjoyed her 1st Annual Zero Waste Christmas Eve Extravaganza with 50 of her close family members and friends at her sister's family home. All party goers contributed to making this holiday an exciting success. 

• The hosts organized their beautiful home for 50 guests.

Coffee station

• Helga's siblings brought over extra dishes, silverware, and cloth napkins-- enough for 50.

Dishes, silverware, cloth napkins for 50

• Helga brought a chicken scrap bucket-- the leftover food scraps went to backyard chickens to provide nutrients for them to produce eggs.

Container for chicken scraps

Chickens eating the party scraps... Yum!

• Helga's siblings washed dishes, cups & silverware.

• All guests brought a plate of delicious food in a reusable container and then brought their own serving plate/crock pot home to wash. (This made clean-up easier at the hosts' home.)

Delicious hors d'ouerves

Fresh salad in reusable container

• There were recycling bins for bottles, cans and paper.

Recycling bin for paper

• There were buckets for corks and bottle caps to use for arts & crafts.

Wine glasses and cork container

Bottles caps for crafters

• And best of all... everyone enjoyed each others' company and their shared family mission of using resources wisely.

A very special thanks to the hosts and to Helga's wonderful extended family.

Happy New Year!!!

Helga Hosts a Holiday Regift Swap

Do you have some great items that you would like to give away to someone who would appreciate them?  Host a swap. Helga hosted a Holiday Regift Swap with 10 other chicks at the suggestion of Abbey Massaro, a Zero Waste Club Member.  Each chick brought 1-20 items and we picked names from a feather hat to determine who went first. We took turns picking until no one wanted anything else. Her guests swapped clothing, jewelry, holiday decorations, glassware, dishes and many other items that may be enjoyed or regifted. Regifting is awesome if the gift is given with love and the receiver desires the gift.
There are many types of swaps:

• Christmas Swap: decorations including ornaments, lights, gently used gift bags/tissue paper, and items to regift
• Jewelry swap--generally costume jewelry
• Theme holiday swaps such as Independence Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter---swap any decorations
• Clothing swap
• Halloween costume swap--September is a good time 
• Household item swap combined with a recipe swap
• Arts and craft swap--you may have small or large amounts of craft items that you do not need such as fabric, hot glue sticks, corks, yarn, felt, drawing paper, construction paper, etc. 
• Tool swap
• School/office supply swap
• Book swap
• Surprise swap: anything goes

Helga's Holiday Regift Swap

You may choose to set some guidelines before your swap such as..

1. For items not taken, each guest takes home what they brought
2. Or, assign a few people to take anything left to a local charity that accepts these items, or a local second hand store
3. Ask guests to bring reusable bags to place their items in
4. For large items, you may show a photo and make arrangements for pick-up or delivery at a future date
5. Know all items have value in the right hands
6. Consider having a few snacks and beverages to give it a party feel and make it an annual event.

Helga protects waterways-You can too.

 The next time you go for a walk, pick up any trash you see. Reuse an old bread bag or another bag  that you would normally throw away.  Helga used old "Nerds" and "Lemonhead" candy bags that she had from Halloween. (She gave these candies to treat or treaters because that were packaged in recyclable cardboard boxes but unfortunately the individual cardboard boxes were packaged in large plastic bags so she reused them as trash bags.) When she goes for a walk or a fly, she brings along a bag or two to pick up any trash, killing two birds with one stone so to speak. (Helga and Olga would like to revise this saying to "Waving to 2 birds with one wing. " --so much more peaceful.)

Helga and Olga reused the candy bags from 
Halloween to pick up trash in their neighborhood.

Why is it important to pick up this trash?  Trash that goes down the storm drains, flows to our rivers and streams then potentially to our oceans. Watch this video about ocean plastics:  Seas of Plastic

Storm Drain with decal. See enlarged decal above.

This is a sample of the trash picked up in my neighborhood. Although at first glance your area streets may look relatively clean, look around and you may see trash lurking. Pick it up!!!!!! (Recycle what you can before trashing the rest: in general, aluminum cans and plastic/glass bottles are recyclable while plastic cups, lids & straws are not---check your town's recycling website to find more specific information.)

Helga used this plastic container to pick up trash along a Gloucester beach and then emptied the trash into a solar compactor trash receptacle found along the street. (See below) She then recycled the cans she found. 

These types of receptacles for trash and recyclables can be found in Gloucester, Massachusetts, helping to keep their oceans clean.

Helga reused this container again to pick up trash.

Helga's 1st Zero Waste Club Meeting

Helga & Olga had their first Zero Waste Club meeting with some of their extended family to discuss how to have Trash-Free Holidays.  A great gathering is a home filled with love, caring, great food, friendship, and an MT waste basket. Here's what her humans plan to do.....

#1. Use real dishes, cups, silverware, and cloth napkins.
#2. Bring homemade food in  reusable pans or platters.
#3. Fill  their own dish with only what will be eaten or....
#4. If #3 is not followed---put that uneaten food in the compost bin  (or on someone else's plate if they're not looking.)
#5. Put all recyclables in a recycle bin.
#6. Bring a reusable container with a lid to take home leftovers.
#7. Use a reusable bag to hold anything brought to and from the gathering.
#7. Consider alternative gift wrapping techniques such as using a pillowcase, a sheet, a dish towel or washcloth, fabric, reusable gift bags or simply hiding the gift.  If paper is used, use paper from the recycling bin such as comics or magazines.   

#8. Make the party easy on the host/hostess---All guests volunteer to bring delicious homemade food and beverages, agree to wash any plates that don't fit in the dishwasher,and treat the host/hostess in such a fantastic way that the he/she can't wait to have another party!!! 

Helga & Olga's 1st Meeting

Helga's Zero Waste Halloween Tips

When Helga was a chick, she really loved Halloween. Now that Helga is beaking out the treats, she longs for a waste free event. So.....this is what she is giving out this Halloween.

#1 Every witch will receive a beautiful blade of ornamental grass to use as a broom. 

#2 Gourds will be given to those who won't throw them

#3 Coins---nickels, dimes or quarters-- to those who can make sense of them.

#4 Candy packaged in  recyclable packaging for those who agree to recycle.

#5 And despite constant requests, Helga refuses to give her feathers.

                                              Ornamental grass  (pseudo-broomsticks)

                                                      Gourds (Just plain kool with a K)

                              Coins (Teach investment strategies even on Halloween)         

                                         

                                                  Refuse, Reduce, Reuse,Recycle, Rot

                                                        Feathers (Sorry, grow your own.)    

                                                      

Helga helps clean up the CT River on 10/05/13

Helga joined 35 others at Agawam's Pychon Point to assist in the clean up of the Connecticut River. The area was quite a mess. Tons of trash was collected including 13 tires (one from an 18 wheeler), many plastic bottles, plastic bags/containers, food wrappers, assorted chairs, styrofoam cups/containers, construction debris, glass bottles and fragments.  Some of the trash was too heavy to carry up the banks or will require shovels to dig out including several more partially buried tires and a water-logged mattress with grass growing on it. This annual clean-up not only keeps the area looking beautiful but prevents trash from flowing down the river to the Atlantic Ocean.  Many fresh and salt water animals are harmed by these materials especially plastic bags. What can you do?

1.  You don't have to wait for an annual clean-up.  Simply pick up any trash you see and this will prevent it from entering our rivers and oceans.
2. Use reusable bags or boxes in place of plastic bags on all shopping trips.
3. Bring your own reusable cup when you go out for coffee or other beverages.
4. Say "no" to disposable products: All water critters thank you!!

Helga Debuts her Biodegradable Cup/Serving Bowl

Helga Debuts her Biodegradable Cup/Serving Bowl.

Calling all avocado lovers! Do you remember the first time you cut an avocado in half, removed the pit and scooped out the center? Remember how cool you thought the two cups you had left looked. Well, before you put those cups into the compost bin, use them. Below you will see two ideas:  Sour cream and chive serving bowl to use when you serve baked potatoes and a drinking cup.(You can come up with your own avocado cup idea and post it!!!) Either place them in a saucer to keep them standing upright or simply hand the cup to your guest for a refreshing beverage. Wash the avocado before cutting into them and use the cups promptly as they are biodegradable.  Biodegradable means that it will rot and turn into compost.