Recycling

One of the things I like most about Germany is the recycling. This may seem a little odd, but because I live in a developed country and consume my share of resources and create my share of junk, I feel pretty guilty. I am watching the end of the world as I know it, seeing the ice caps melt and the glaciers disappear, fish are being wiped out in the wild (and I still eat tuna) and the climate is whipsawing from one extreme to the other.
The least I can do is to not use air conditioning (I have a ceiling and standing fans, when necessary), hang my clothes to dry (although not sheets and towels) and recycle. This is what I have accumulated since Tuesday.

The first picture is paper, magazines and a shirt: the magazines will go to friends interested in catching up on US news, the shirt in orange recycling and the paper in paper. The next photo is 4 days worth of Grüne Punkt. That is plastics and metals and foil and certain packaging (like juice and cartons).
Below you see 5 days worth of ordinary paper recycling. Not pictured are the bowl of organic (bio) waste and the glass containers that will go, respectively, in Bio and Glass recycling containers.
It's not rocket science, so I wonder why so many people don't participate in recycling?
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Clearing out computers

Just after I agreed to be nominated as editor for the monthly newsletter of my women's group, my PC-compatible blew up. Not literally, in a puff of smoke, but figuratively, with the pop of the motherboard going crack.
This wasn't the first time. My original Dell had been one of those that caught on fire.

(The image to the right is a reference image, not my actual computer.)

My actual computer, a Dell Inspiron 9300 top of the then line, actually sparked up a flame while I was breastfeeding T2 in 2006, which I found inhibited the milk flow. Dell was very apologetic and replaced it with a 9400 and some extras. I haven't actually been using it for much for the last few years, except to sling TV to my computer through its handy HDMI port and when I needed to reference sites that don't allow me to access through my Mac (such as my husband's HR portal). I had long ago removed all data to my Mac and to back up.

The NL, however, is edited in Publisher, a strange little PC-only Microsoft program. I had anticipated being able to do some final edits and the after proofing edit at home, rather than relying on my assistant or the office (in Mitte!) computer, so I found the timing to be rather annoying. Also, watching TV on my Netbook is irritating beyond belief —I am always working on the Mac when watching TV, so I am not willing to use that HDMI port and the Netbook doesn't have one:-(.

Finally, after having the dead laptop clutter up the house for a few weeks, we took it (minus the above hard drive, because I'm not certain how to scrub it) and another dead computer (a hand-me-down to our daughter from an in-law that never worked properly) to the recycling hof, where it was eagerly taken off our hands. I hope the memory (which we did not remove) and all the other once high end bits and pieces serve someone in good stead.

The big question now is, what to do? I'm in the UK next month: shall I buy another English language laptop there? Shall I wait until May, when I am in NY at BookExpo? Or shall I get a new Mac, run PC virtually on it, and use my old Mac as a sling server/back up?

Any one have a recommendation or thought on the question?

Starting the New Year

The last month has been a whirl of activity and running, like the Red Queen, just to stay in place. So what starts the New Year better than getting rid of clutter? What I want to know is how, after getting rid of so many documents, there seem to be more still in the filing cabinet that can go? We get a good workout with the cross-cut shredder that we brought with us from the States for paperwork that needs shredding and the rest goes into paper recycling. We did this gather and shred while sipping champagne and listening to the firecarchers and fireworks going off outside, but we did stop before midnight to watch the Hoff at the Berlin Wall :-) and to see some episodes of the new (to us) series Being Human.

Masques

Thing2 loves to collect leaves and chestnuts. This leaf was gorgeous and green and absolutely huge (see her glove for size comparison). With some eye holes cut out, it was a wonderful mask and I could see clearly what the model for those lovely fabric masques I saw in Venezia (why don't we have such huge leaves in New York?). We traced the leaf on construction paper (it took two!) as well and now the original goes to recycling.

Still discarding...

Even though I haven't been posting, I've still been tossing things. The more ordinary– dingy t-shirts and worn out clothes– haven't made it to the camera, but here is a candy dispenser I needed to hide to ensure it would not be missed (the first try, Thing1 saw it in the trash and re-accessioned it) and some paperwork.

Normally I haven't been counting miscellaneous papers, but these were made it to paper recycling as I was consolidating two boxes into one— the U-Haul box that hit recycling was unphotograped, but had made it from Upstate NY to Downstate to a container to NRW to an apartment in Berlin and then here: it deserves its final peace in pieces.

One of the benefits of living in a city

We decided that there was no place in the apartment for this rather attractive clothes hamper, but I hate to discard something that still serves its purpose,a lthough no longer my own. So we put a note on it saying that we would discard it on Monday if no one wanted it and put it outside our building under the roof overhang (it's Berlin, it's raining).

It was gone within the hour. Win/win: someone has something to use and I don't need to add to the waste stream (although recycling of metal in Berlin is pretty easy)

Sorting

A friend just handed me two bags of clothes and shoes as hand-me-downs.

First, I go through a preliminary sort to see if anything is damaged beyond repair. Nope, D has already done that. Then I wash everything (because T1 gets contact dermatitis from scent and other laundry detergents). Then I take a look and decide what she won't like (sometimes I check in with her on that) and that goes into the donation basket.

As I was packing

for a weekend away, what could be better than getting rid of a broken suitcase?

This is not only de-cluttering, but also a comment on something I really miss: specifically, American-style customer service.

Doll Storage and Ikea

Today I pulled out two laptop power supplies that have been annoying me each time I clean under them. Both have US plugs, both could be used for the German's current laptop, both won't be as he has a power cord with German plugs.

We took these to the recycling point, but were glad to hand them off to the folks at the gate who ask for any electronics: I am very glad to not add to solid waste and if someone can take the time and energy and sell these (and by doing so, get more use out of them), I am very happy for them.
Our visit to the center also allowed me to drop the accumulation of dead batteries and empty out a drawer.

We also dropped off some cardboard boxes (T2 moved to a three point car seat this past month): we try not to overwhelm the cardboard bin in the cellar— these count because they are not ordinary refuse to us.

Finally, we went to Ikea and returned two clothing storage bags, a multi-candle holder, a light cover and a light cord: if we haven't used them now, I'm guessing we aren't going to for a while (although in the case of the light, that might not be true:we may need to re-buy it). But the German was being proactive:).

To show how hazardous it is to go to Ikea, we also picked up a bookcase while we were there. I was planning on putting it next to T1's computer desk and using it as a storage center (with rods) for her doll clothes. But once we got home (after a stop at Kaufland to do the week's shopping), I decided that the Expedit that we have in the living room could have three boxes emptied and be used for doll storage and that meant that we could return the new bookcase we had just gotten.

Does that count as a downsize when we haven't even opened the box? I'm going to say it does. And on the de-clutter side, the German bought (instead) an insert of two drawers that fits into a single box, a metal rod to use as clothing rods (after being sawed into the correct sizes) and two sets of rod ends (from Bauhaus, the German equivalent of Home Depot).

As he was putting it together today (Sunday), we discovered that the book case was a bit too hardened for the screws of the rod ends, but no matter: I know where the double-sided, good to 45 kg, tape is: score for de-cluttering drawers!

T2 is ecstatic: she just ran around gathering up all her doll clothes to hang them  and her accessories to put in the drawer.

 A very good start to the week.

Green Point... what is it, exactly?

I keep asking my husband, the German, what Green Point (Grune Punkt) is. He says that I think everything is green point and I guess I do: at least, everything that is metal, plastic, or coated paper. I am borne out in this belief because just about everything that is coated paper (boxes, in particular) has a green point symbol on it.

Last night, we damaged/broke an Ikea light. I think that the cover must be green point, as it is made of paper and metal. I don't know what I should do with the base. The German thinks I am insane and that the whole thing is garbage and that I should stop thinking everything is Green Point. Can anyone give me some guidance here?