We do our best as a couple to be eco-friendly. We’ve taken a few steps in recent years “to do our bit”, but sometimes trying to be green is damned difficult, expensive and soul-destroying.
So, what have we done?
Environmentally-friendly equipment
A few years ago, we were hoodwinked by a rogue salesman into buying around 10 grand’s worth of equipment to clean up our unhealthy well water, to desalinate it, to add ozone (O3) to our domestic water, an osmosis device beneath the kitchen sink to give us clean drinking water and a de
vice to disinfect our pool water so that we could use less chlorine. Oh, and a super-dooper wet or dry industrial vacuum cleaner, which is de puta madre but too heavy for my frail good lady to use.
Well, the salesman disappeared and the local company that was supposed to provide a maintenance service for all this equipment gave up the contract. As the suppliers were based in Elche near Alicante, five hours away by road, it did not really work, except at huge cost to us. We were very dissatisfied.
Then the osmosis equipment finally gave up the ghost (again!)
Two weeks ago, I chatted to an Irish neighbour who knows his stuff, and who also has such a device.
I called in at the only place I know in and around Ronda, Miguel Cabello, that sells osmosis equipment and they quoted me 1000€ !
I went online to do some research and I’m glad I did. Leroy Merlin, the French-owned DIY store had a range, both in-store and on their website, so off we trolled to Marbella and the La Cañada shopping centre where there is a branch.
Long story short we bought a state-of-the-art osmosis device, made by Philips, surely a reliable brand, and got it for the website price, 50€ cheaper!
Over two days I removed the defective "piece of s**t" supplied by the Elche company [I'm going to name and shame them - Aqualei] and fitted the new device. It works a treat.
Cutting down on meat
On Rita’s side of the family there are a few vegetarians and vegans. We are neither, but we certainly eat less meat and fish these days, than we used to.
Cows farting damage the ozone layer above the earth in a big way.
Growing our own
I have always been a keen gardener, a habit inherited from my dear old dad, I reckon. When he had no garden he had a large allotment. Then he eventually got a house with a huge vegetable garden.
Interestingly, my son Tom, has also inherited the same “tic” and has acquired an allotment near to where he lives with his wife Su and two sons in Hastings (UK).
As for me I have created several raised beds in our garden in Ronda, where I successfully grow artichokes, courgettes, lettuce, green beans, potatoes, spinach and a variety of fruits.
Plastic packaging
Our biggest category of trash is plastic packaging. And you can’t recycle it at our local punto verde.
In Germany, where we often go (Rita is German and has a large extended family), it’s normal to unpack what you’ve just bought, eg apples in a plastic pack, and leave the packaging at the check-out. I wonder how the till staff at Mercadona would react if we started doing that in Ronda .....
I found this article on Country Living magazine's website:
Can You Leave Plastic At The Till In Supermarkets? This Is What Could Happen If You Do – How To Use Less Plastic
In Heilbronn (Baden-Wuerttemberg) there is a shop where everything you buy is loose. You have to take your own bags.
Many countries now levy a charge on plastic bags at the shops. That has worked well and shoppers now routinely re-use bags they already have and take them with them when they go shopping.
Also, in Germany and other mainland European countries, all manner of containers, from glass to plastic to Tetra Paks, are recycled against Pfand (a deposit). In Spain all these things go into normal trash.
Eco-houses
I’ve already mentioned what we did in our domicilio.
But we have two other houses. Rita’s Casa Rita, where she was living when I met her 16 years ago, is very eco-friendly. During the Covid lockdowns we had all the windows and doors replaced with double-glazed units, and we installed a pellet stove. We bought state-of-the-art gas fires to add to the eco/friendliness of the house.
My do-er up-per, Casa Real, was designed to be an eco-house from the outset. double- glazed units installed, and a pellet stove.
The electrodomésticos (white goods) were all brand new and therefore by definition eco-friendly.
Many of the furnishings and fittings were “rescued” from rubbish dumps or bought from second-hand shops and up-cycled by me.
Firewood for free
We have oil-fired central heating at home, but if it’s really cold we prefer to light the chimenea. We’ve always bought leña from local suppliers, but it has become very expensive in recent years, since the Covid-19 pandemic, in fact. I’m not sure why that should have caused the price of firewood to rise so sharply. The term "profiteering" comes to mind .....
So, over the last few years I’ve been looking at a cheaper alternative, which is also more environmentally friendly. Recycling wood from the basura (rubbish tip) is a good bet. It’s free, and there’s loads of it readily available.
Old pallets and other wooden trash sawn up into “bite-size” pieces are perfect. And it stops it all going into landfill.
Okay, this type of wood burns much quicker than a cork oak log or a chunk of olive tree, but, so what, IT’S FREE!
Compost
I have two compost systems. I want to see which works best, aerobic or anaerobic.
I brought an anaerobic plastic compost bin from England. That always made great compost back there and it’s looking promising here in Andalucia also.
The only thing that concerns me here is the lack of worms, who love to dine on the kitchen waste and then “poo” it out as lovely crumbly compost.
I also built a large aerobic heap, using pallets as “walls”. This is less successful, I feel, as it’s hard to keep it moist in the hot, dry weather.
But we shall see …..
© The Crazy Guy
Links:
Can You Leave Plastic At The Till In Supermarkets? This Is What Could Happen If You Do – How To Use Less Plastic
Montejaque Metamorphosis
Acknowledgements (Photos):
Country Living
Depositphotos
Ecologia verde
Facebook
Freepik
Gardener's World (BBC)
La Caixa
Leroy Merlin
YouTube
Tags:
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