Picking up after Fido in a post-grocery-bag world

Angelenos who have been giving their plastic grocery bags a second life as doggie-doo pickup receptacles and trash-can liners may be wondering what they’re going to use as a replacement once the city’s ban goes into effect. The answer is simple: Try one of the many other types of plastic or packaging that come home with you from the store. During a typical grocery shopping trip, about 7% of the purchase’s environmental impact lies in product packaging, according to Bob Lilienfeld, editor of the ULS Report. Non-recyclables such as junk food wrappers are best because they would go in the trash anyway, but bread bags, cereal box liners and dozens of other plastics can do the trick.

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-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: Daniel Allen cleans up after his puppy. Credit: John Doman / Associated Press / Pioneer Press

Plastic bag ban: Pros and cons of reusable alternatives

Reusable grocery bags are becoming almost as ubiquitous as the single-use plastic bags they’re designed to replace, but the choices can be overwhelming. Canvas? Nylon? Tyvek? Hemp? Any bag that’s repeatedly reused is more environmentally friendly than single-use plastic, but the greenest choice isn’t always clear. Each material has pros and cons, and ultimately the best alternative to the single-use plastic bag is the one shoppers are most likely to remember to bring to the store.

Here's a comparison of some of the most common totes, including ones made of that felt-like fabric (called nonwoven polypropylene) that is so common:

Schoolyard trailers turned into modular homes

When it comes to energy efficiency, most homeowners focus on heating, cooling and lighting. But it may take as long as 15 years for a home's energy usage to match the amount of energy embedded in a home's construction.

This was the concept that a West Hills architecture firm embraced with research+upcycle, a modular home company that intends to reuse classroom trailers, transforming them into low-cost but high-style living space.

"We really need to rethink the way that we build homes," said Chase Anderson, who founded the company last year with his father, Robert, an architect and general contractor, and his stepmother, Petra, an interior designer. "With all the changes in the housing market and economy over the last several years, high-end, custom-built homes aren't selling." They started looking at different structures that would be inexpensive to transform into something chic.

Garbage Maven: Recycling cellphones at the ecoATM

Mobile devices are discarded more rapidly than any other type of electronics, yet only 11% of them are recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But something called an ecoATM is working to change that.

The ecoATM is a self-service kiosk that helps people dispose of cellphones and other mobile devices. The machine uses electronic diagnostics and artificial intelligence to evaluate electronics' value and pay customers on the spot with cash or credit.

The company the makes ecoATM is based in San Diego. It began rolling out its machines in 2010 and has been operating 50 ecoATMs at malls around California, including the Glendale Galleria, Westfield Century City and Westside Pavilion. Thursday marked the kickoff to another round of openings, starting at malls in Brea and Orange and continuing later this month in Baldwin, Westminster, Ontario, Burbank and the South Bay.

Recycling needs to be convenient, financially rewarding and immediate to prevent people from throwing cellphones in the garbage, ecoATM Chief Executive Tom Tullie said.

Although California is one of the few states that bans electronics from landfills because of the hazardous materials they may contain and their potential to be reused, many cellphones still end up in landfills. Recapturing raw materials such as copper and plastic saves the energy, expense and environmental cost that go into mining and processing new materials.

TreePeople to host workshops on capturing rainwater

During the wet season, the city of L.A. sends an average of 100 million gallons of storm water into the Pacific each day. That water had been handled as pollution for years, because rainwater picks up effluents that then flush into the ocean untreated.

But rainwater is also a resource that can be harvested and reused. The environmental nonprofit TreePeople is hosting workshops to teach homeowners exactly how. A March 24 event at TreePeople's Center for Community Forestry in Beverly Hills will focus on so-called waterworks, or the plumbing of rainwater catchment, including rain barrels, rain chains and downspout disconnects. Participants can buy 55-gallon barrels at a discounted rate of $100, $25 of which is tax deductible. Admission to the four-hour workshop is free, but registration is required.

The March 25 workshop at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles will center on earthworks -- how to contour the earth to capture rain and use permeable pavement. The three-hour workshop is free, though participants will need to pay museum admission, which is $5 to $12. Registration is required.

Separating rainwater catchment into water- and earth-works sessions "helps people's heads not explode," said Lisa Cahill, TreePeople's senior manager for sustainable solutions. "It's a lot for people to take in."

During the workshops, participants will learn how to calculate the amount of rain that falls on their home during a storm and how to translate those inches of rain into gallons that can be collected. They then learn about the advantages and disadvantages of various catchment systems. Each workshop also includes information on rain gardens, native plants and pest management, Cahill said.

Gray-water workshops in L.A. teach DIYers how to recycle household water, capture rain

Rainwater captured at home as well as the wastewater from laundry machines, bathtubs and bathroom sinks hold enormous potential for reducing California's freshwater use. The question is: How exactly can homeowners tap into these alternative water resources?

This weekend, the Silver Lake nonprofit architectural center Materials & Applications will host two do-it-yourself workshops. On Saturday, in conjunction with L.A.-based Greywater Corps, homeowners can attend a Laundry to Landscape  workshop that begins with a 90-minute tutorial in the pros and cons of gray water, the legal issues, soil and health concerns, and types of gray-water systems. The talk is followed by 3 1/2 hours of hands-on experience installing a laundry-to-landscape drip irrigation line. 

On Sunday, the Beyond the 50 Gallon Barrel  rainwater harvesting workshop will show homeowners how to catch larger amounts of rain from their roofs. The workshop will provide information on where to buy the tanks, how to plumb them and where to situate them to make use of the water. 

The Laundry to Landscape workshop costs $50 to $65; attendance is limited to 20 participants. Beyond the 50 Gallon Barrel costs $35 to $50; attendance is limited to 30. Reservations are required.

"Our goal is to teach the standards to DIY people that aren't irrigation or rain-gutter pros," said Jenna Didier, who is co-director of Materials & Applications with her husband, Oliver Hess. "The workshops are for homeowners and business owners who want to take advantage of free water resources."

1619 Silver Lake Blvd., Los Angeles; www.emanate.org

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Photo: A gray-water workshop participant adjusts an irrigation valve. Credit: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

ReUse Haus, a miniature dwelling made with used materials, on display at AltBuild

When it comes to green building, energy efficiency gets most of the attention. If reused building materials are discussed, it's usually in context of de-construction, not re-construction using materials from demolished or remodeled homes.

The ReUse Haus on display at the AltBuild Expo running through Saturday in Santa Monica focuses on the reconstruction. The mini house, left, is meant to show that a recycled home "doesn't have to look like a tree house," said Ted Reiff, co-founder of the Oakland-based deconstruction firm the Reuse People.

The Reuse People provided most of the materials for the 8-by-12-foot space, including the lumber, doors, windows and decking. "Everything is reused from buildings we ourselves have taken apart," Reiff said, noting the exceptions of paint, drywall, nails and corrugated metal. 

Reiff said his firm had deconstructed more than 1,000 buildings over the last 16 years. "If all we do is deconstruction, all we'll have is an above-ground landfill," he said. "People have to start using this stuff. We just thought it would be best to show people how easy and attractive it is."

Reiff coordinated with Wally Geer, a Ventura architect certified in the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, to design the ReUse Haus. Long Beach contractor Wes Harding built it. Saturday morning, the three will conduct a panel at AltBuild titled "Remodeling With Reused Materials."

"Building with reused materials is the tail that wags the design dog. It's a reverse process from the way one ordinarily approaches design," said Geer, who sourced his materials from the Oakland and Pacoima warehouses where the Reuse People sells deconstructed materials to the public. 

"Usually, designing a project starts with a clean sheet of paper and the architect makes it happen with new materials according to the architect's vision," Geer said. Designing with reused materials is "sort of like a used building material buffet. What's there is there, and you have to pick and choose from it and put a meal together. You pick what you want and design from what you've got."

-- Susan Carpenter

Photo: ReUse Haus. Credit: Ted Reiff

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