a peek inside the fishbowl

27 Dec, 2013

Deconstructing

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Misc. life

Do you know what this is? Take a guess.

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It was an orange crate (or if you prefer proper nomenclature, a crate of clementines… which are a type of mandarin orange).

I love the contents, I hate the garbage they create.

This time of year our family seems to go through a few of these every month or so. I can’t say that I mind. These little mandarin oranges are perfect this time of year – sweet and juicy – it’s practically like eating candy. And of course, as a parent, I welcome every opportunity for my kids to eat fruit. What DOES bug me however, is the waste. My purchase creates an awful lot of garbage for something that disappears so quickly.

It hurts my heart to toss these in the regular garbage. They’re just so big and bulky. Here’s something that’s good to know, even though it’s not specifically mentioned on the City of Ottawa website, the crates can actually go into the green bin, but only as long as you pull all the metal staples out and tear off the plastic netting. It took Mark ten minutes to deconstruct the one pictured above, and it wasn’t an easy process.

I suppose I could start buying clementines in bulk instead, but I don’t feel as if I’m getting a good deal that way. Perhaps further investigation is required.


3 Responses to "Deconstructing"

1 | Sarah McCormack

December 29th, 2013 at 9:44 pm

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hmm… good to know. we always burn ours in the fireplace and they make great kindling.

2 | andrea tomkins

December 30th, 2013 at 10:06 am

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If we had a fireplace we’d be burning them too!

3 | Marianne

January 3rd, 2014 at 8:52 pm

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I’ve always pulled all the plastic netting off and put them in the green bin with the staples still intact … I didn’t know they are supposed to be removed. Oops!

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My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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