At the
beginning of the year I had a few people over to the house and we served some tasty treats and coffee. I set up a coffee station by the pot, we had a little bowl of sugar, some Equal packets, little moo cow of milk and spoons to mix it all together.
People like to use spoons to stir their coffee... and eat soup... and ice cream... Me, I'm not too much of a spoon user. WHAT! I don't like spoons??!!! I really think that spoons have a time and place. For example, you're at a birthday party, there's cake and ice cream, you always get a spoon.. have to eat cake with a spoon. Nope, not me, I am 100% for the fork. I would MUCH rather eat ice cream with a fork than cake with a spoon. I know, no one really gets it. Not even me... But since the whole lactose intolerant thing popped up it really is better for everyone that ice cream stays out of my life. Really, you'd appreciate it.
Back to the spoons. After the event Kev decided that we used too many spoons. I asked, "Today or in general?" Apparently he feels we wash too many spoons. I said OK, why don't we use 1 spoon, rinse it off and put it in a special place. We'll know that's the "coffee spoon". Note to self... maybe I can buy a spoon rest, I bet there are cute ones out there, maybe I'll find one with monkeys on it. No, he thinks we need stirrer sticks. Really, we can't rinse off 1 spoon? I guess not, so off to SAM's Club we go. For those of you who know me, you know if my intense dislike of WalMart. Sam's is another story, you have to pay to belong, so it's almost like a belonging to a country club, but without the golf course.
So, off to get 1000 Ziploc baggies, 2000 Tums, an office chair and...
5000 coffee stirrers... I reminded Kev that there are only 2 of us, I buy my coffee at work and we don't supply a continental breakfast buffet to weary
travelers. He divided 5000 by $8.98 and came up with .00179 cents per stick. Apparently the unit cost made it far too good a deal to pass up.
You'll notice the date on the box. That's the day we brought them home. I want to track how long it will take us to use them all.
I've become a little more environmentally conscious this past year and I feel a little guilty about all the little black sticks we throw away. So, I was thinking that perhaps there was some way to "re-purpose" the stirrer stick. I mean, we can't put them back to the way they were before they became stirrer sticks, if we throw them away, they're still in the landfill... Thinking, thinking... maybe they could be woven together to make a ghetto trivet. How about heated and stretched to a really fine string and made into a scratchy sweater. Stick puppet theater on a boring night?? Yea, none of those really worked for me either. If anyone has a suggestion, I'm all ears! If you'd like some stirrer sticks of your very own to re-purpose, I'd be happy to send some your way!
Enjoy!
Lara
2 comments:
you know, I want you to be proud of me, every time kevin has mentioned this I've bit my tongue instead of saying "but, but, but, that's so bad for the earth!" really, yes, the stirrers aren't ideal, but they are a teeny piece of puzzle so don't feel too bad, my fork-lover friend. :)
did you know that americans throw away 138 billion straws and stirrer sticks a year? (http://www.50waystohelp.com/)
well, for starters, can you reuse some of them? I realize you have FIVE THOUSAND of those little buggers, but you could rinse and reuse. though if he wasn't up for it with the spoon, well, maybe not.
thinking thinking...what about using them for, say, filler inside of a vase of fake flowers?
someone made a coffee stirrer chandelier http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/05/28/recycled-coffee-stirrer-lamps-from-touch-collective/
I found a lot of options for crafts too--use 'em to spread glue, line up wicks in candles, etc.
but everywhere I looked, even this recycling database http://www.world.org/weo/recycle say you're kind of out of luck.
I'll keep thinking though. maybe make the trivet thing but use 'em as rug pads? something for outdoors? tie them in knots and they'll be cat toys?
I'll keep thinking...
This was the funniest thing EVER. Laughed my you-know-what off! I want to meet your husband someday. ..........I am still smiling thinking about your ginormous box of stirrers....!
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