Last week I had my intermediate presentation for this project. One of my Professors, Claus, starting talking about products that seem so natural and biodegradable (its a long word so lets call this “bdg” ), but are not because of one teeny tiny detail. He discussed teabags for example.

What is a teabag composed of?

+ tea leaves (100% bdg)

+ cloth pouch to hold the tea leaves (bdg)

+ a string (bdg as well)

+ a paper tag, usually with the company’s logo (bdg)

+ 2 staples holding the string to the tag and to the teabag (aha! not bdg)

Without the staples, the entire product could be composted. I honestly had forgotten there were even staples on teabags until Claus brought it up. Why a staple? There are a ton of alternate design solutions to attaching the string to the tag and to the teabag. You could sew it together. Tie it together with knots on each side of the string. Perhaps the string could just be a cloth strip that is an extension of cloth bag.

Above are hand-sewn silk muslin tea bags from 1903. No staples.

There are a lot of different ways to do it, but the point is why did a designer chose a certain method over another? Manufacturing? Probably. Or maybe because there is a certain tradition on how teabags should look nowadays? It is funny how some things can come full circle. The first teabags were used by silk sacks with string tied around them, which could currently be viewed as a little primitive. The teabags nowadays may be more sophisticated with its staple attachments, but are not the preferred methods when it comes to sustainability. So now, maybe tea companies will go back to sacks with ties knots on them. Does this mean we are going back to the stone ages? I don’t think so, it just means we are learning and even though our methods may get a blast from the past, we are ultimately moving forward.

What do you guys think?

All I wanted to do on Sunday afternoon was make some wine-butter sauce for my pasta. These are the ingredients I was using to make this sauce: butter, flour, white wine, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and pressed garlic. As I started cooking the sauce, these weird GREEN things started appearing… what is going on? In what sick world do those ingredients form something that is green?

This was the first attempt… so then I thought okay maybe I had some sponge residue in the pan, lets try it again. So i cleaned the pan (using a cloth this time instead of a sponge).

The same thing happened! Ok so it is definitely not the sponge. Maybe that blue spatula is somehow leaking its plastic color? If you combine the ingredients in the sauce with something blue… that could make something green? So I tried to make the sauce again but this time with a metal spoon.

Starting off again with some melted butter… all seems well at this point…

But it happened again! See those green specks? So then I thought okay… maybe it is this pan. Could this pan be leaking chemicals that are somehow turning something in this sauce green? Maybe I am being a bit paranoid, but I tried it again in a different pan.

This time I could see the garlic pieces (or lemon pulp I am not really sure) turn green before my eyes! It was kind of creepy because it seemed so unnatural.

At this point, I was really creeped out and really hungry. I settled for melted butter with black pepper. But I was still really curious as to why this would even happen? There was no way I was going to eat those green things. Could it be something in the garlic or lemon that has a weird reaction to heat or the other ingredients? Maybe it is some coating that is common on both of the pans? Could it be the metal spoon? I’m really confused. First I am going to ask around my building to see if it happens to anyone else. How can I get to the bottom of this? I’m not sure, but I’ll keep you updated. In the mean time… becareful what you eat…

Recyclable containers I have been collecting. (No not all the items were consumed by me). If friends come over to hang out, the experiment rules apply to them as well.

My little pile of garbage adding up on my kitchen countertop. Some of these are questionables… wax lined coffee cups? Thin plastic food packaging? Old tissues…

What are you supposed to do with this stuff?

Last but not least, this is the remnants of a frozen meal I baked in the oven for dinner. The container is some kind of paper product and I think the inside is coated in something so the food does not stick. Can I wash it out (ew) and recycle it? Or is this just… garbage? It was delicious btw.

I was telling my boyfriend the other day and I think the overall smell in my room is really improving! Or I am just so used to it by now… one or the other…but honestly, a little odor never hurt anyone.. maybe that’s just the compromise that you have to take to have a sustainable home? Johan, one of my studiomates, said that he does not live so far from me AND he has a compost area outside! I will definitely be contacting him so maybe I can make period trips over to his place to empty out my organic waste.