By: Kimmy Maclang
Most of the ribbons on the market today are made of petroleum and polypropylene – materials that are harmful to the environment. Consumers today rarely care about where their products come from, and what they are made of. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has continually made efforts to encourage consumers to practice the three Rs of waste management – reduce, reuse, and recycle. In addition to this, consumers are urged to buy environment-friendly products in an effort to lessen non-biodegradable waste in landfills, contributing less to environmental degradation.
This campaign by the EPA is known as “Source Reduction”, an effort through which trash toxicity that is thrown into landfills is lessened. This may be accomplished by reducing the design, production, and consumption of materials and items that are toxic to the environment. This keeps these products out of the landfills and the environment, thereby reducing the source of toxic waste. There are a lot of eco-friendly products in the market today, and supporting these products encourages Source Reduction.
Cream City Ribbon is the only company in America that manufactures natural ribbons made from non-woven cotton yarns that are grown and responsibly dyed in the US. We make our ribbons as natural as we can, using non-toxic water based adhesive. This makes Cream City Ribbon biodegradable and eco-friendly.
Imagine that the beautiful, decorative ribbon that you use for various projects right now will pile up in a landfill for centuries. Because they are made of plastic, it is not degradable, and does not decompose after a certain period of time. What kind of use would there be after your ribbons are used? None. Instead of your decorative ribbon being useful, they will end up turning into harmful and toxic decorations to the environment.
Now, imagine your gorgeous Cream City Ribbon being reused in your garden to tie up your plants. After which, you can put them in your compost bin, where it can be put to better use. A bird can find it, and use it to build a nest for her young, or it can decompose and you can use it to fertilize your plants or garden. How wonderful is that?
Composting
There are many chemical factors and processes involved in composting. Wikipedia briefly discusses “compost” and “composting” in simpler terms for us to understand.
Compost is composed of organic materials derived from plant and animal matter that has been decomposed largely through aerobic decomposition. The process of composting is simple and practiced by individuals in their homes, farmers on their land, and industrially by industries and cities.
Compost can be rich in nutrients. It is used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, and agriculture. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. In ecosystems, compost is useful for erosion control, land and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover.
Making your own compost from wastes around your home is easy. However, you must primarily follow the three Rs of waste management, and separate your waste. Below are several tips and instructions on how to generate your own compost for your garden or plants.
There are a lot of wastes that may be used for compost. However, most organizations and experts recommend the combination of green and brown wastes. Avoiding perishables such as meat, cheese, milk, fish, and cooked food is also a must, as these promote the spread of disease-causing microbes and pathogens. In addition, they bring about a very putrid odor that you may not want around your home.
Plants treated with pesticides and herbicides should not be added to your compost bin as the pesticide’s chemicals will affect the decomposition process.
Below is a list of the recommended brown and green materials according to Go Organic Gardening.com (How to Compost).
Brown materials:
· Cream City Ribbon (belongs under the “Brown” category)
· Old, brown grass, leaves and twigs
· Pet rabbit and hamster bedding (any vegetarian pet bedding)
· Some Sawdust and wood ash
· Very little pure charcoal ash (not too much, as it contains high levels of iron and sulfur)
· Straw
· Dryer lint
· Shredded pine cones and pine needles
· Shredded, non-glossy newspaper and cardboard
Green materials:
· Grass clippings
· Fruit and vegetable kitchen scraps
· Coffee grounds and filters
· Manure from vegetarian animals (cow, horse, sheep and rabbit)
· Hair
· Tea bags
· Egg shells
Top 10 Composting Tips the Cream City Ribbon Way
Tip #1. Get a compost bin. You can use old crates, or better yet, a sturdy plastic bin that has a secure lid to avoid organisms and microbes from spreading around your home environment. Of course, your bin must be placed outside, away from your children or pet’s reach.
Tip #2. Keep your compost pile in a black or dark-colored plastic bin. Put it in direct sunlight to further the composting process when it's cold. Hay bales can be used to add insulation to the pile.
Tip #3. Grass clippings add much needed nitrogen to your compost pile, however, mixing it with "brown" materials that add carbon is better, and optimizes composting. Both green and brown materials are necessary for quick decomposition, making for richer compost. Piles made up of just grass will compress, slowing down the decomposition process.
Tip #4. Newspaper or plain white copy paper is great for composting. Shred it to small pieces to speed up the process (shredding them is a great way to let air and oxygen in). As such, cut your Cream City Ribbon into shorter pieces before putting them in your compost pile.
Tip #5. Keep your compost moist, but not soaked. The idea is to keep it wet (just like a wrung-out sponge or towel) to help the decomposition process. When your compost dries out, the decomposition will stop. Make sure to check once in a while, and add water when you think it’s starting to dry up.
Tip #6. Sift through it using a pitch fork or a long branch. This allows more oxygen to circulate through your pile, as the microbes that are eating away at your pile also need oxygen to survive. The more oxygen these microbes have, the stronger they become, and the faster the decomposition.
Tip #7. Keep your pile warm. A higher temperature is more conducive for microbes, and a cold climate can stop the decomposition process. If it gets colder, make sure to sift and aerate your pile.
Tip #8. Put some red wriggler worms in your pile. These worms will reside in the top six inches of your pile, and would gladly eat away at your organic compost. Ask your local gardening shops about red wrigglers.
Tip #9. Your worms love coffee ground. You can get these from your local café. They may be given out for free. Add coffee ground to your pile, and you get healthier, richer compost.
Tip #10. Finished compost is usually less than half the amount of materials you started with, but is much denser. It should look, feel and smell like rich, dark soil, and you should not be able to recognize any of the materials you put in there.
Now, you can place the finished compost to your garden soil about 2 to 4 weeks before planting. This allows the nutrients of your compost time to seep into the soil and fertilize it. This makes your soil healthier and optimal for all your garden plants.
Cream City Ribbon: Great for Your Projects, Excellent for Your Garden, Terrific for the Environment
At Cream City Ribbon, eco-friendly and cost effective ways of living are encouraged. Using Cream City Ribbon, which is made from natural cotton and with renewable energy resources, is an excellent way of starting your eco-friendly routine. Our custom ribbons are bound with non-toxic adhesive and printed with water based dyes, making it safe for your children and pets. You can’t lose with Cream City Ribbon.
Make a gorgeous handcrafted project.
Create an amazingly beautiful scrapbook.
Wrap your gifts prettily.
Make elegant handmade accessories.
Hang photos, frames, and home decorations.
Use as a gardening material to tie up your plants.
Put in your compost bin to help aerate and neutralize your compost.
With your Cream City Ribbon, you get boundless possibilities. Be bold. Explore.
At Cream City Ribbon, our mission is to be an environmentally responsible company that creates a quality natural product, provides excellent service and value to our customers and dignified work for our employees. As such, we purchase electricity from renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass. Our packaging and spools are made with biodegradable and post consumer content materials wherever possible.
Remember that without each individual’s effort, we cannot achieve the goal of having a greener and safer place for our children, and our children’s children.
Your daily efforts in practicing proper waste management and disposal are vital to nature. Encourage your family members, friends, and neighbors to do the same, and you get a cleaner, greener, and safer environment.
Create your projects using biodegradable ribbons.
Be proud of how you helped the environment by using natural ribbons.
Choose Cream City Ribbon.
Make “THE NATURAL CHOICE”.
E-mail us at ccr@creamcityribbon.com for more information, or go to our main website at www.creamcityribbon.com for orders and inquiries.
By: Kimmy Maclang
Cream City Ribbon is the only company in America that manufactures natural ribbons made from non-woven cotton yarns that are grown and responsibly dyed in the US. We make our ribbons as natural as we can, using non-toxic water based adhesive. This makes Cream City Ribbon biodegradable and eco-friendly. We encourage the practice of the three Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle. It is a great help to the environment, and is easy on the pocket.
According to Wikipedia, the waste hierarchy pertains to waste management strategies according to their desirability – (1) reduce, (2) reuse, and (3) recycle. These three are the cornerstone of environmental waste management efforts to lessen the amount of waste in our landfills and environment, and encourage citizens to be more responsible with their consumption and waste disposal.
“Reduce”
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stresses that reduction in consumption and production is the most important step in the three Rs of the waste hierarchy. With less consumption, there are also fewer products to reuse and recycle, and less products that are disposed, which contributes less to environmental degradation.
In addition to this, the EPA further emphasizes the reduction of trash toxicity that is thrown into landfills through “Source Reduction”. This may be accomplished by reducing the design, production, and consumption of materials and items that are toxic to the environment. This keeps these products out of the landfills and the environment, thereby reducing the source of toxic waste. There are a lot of eco-friendly products in the market today, and supporting these products encourages Source Reduction.
Tip #1. Make a list of the things you NEED versus the things that you WANT. Then, make another list of the things that you ALREADY HAVE. Compare these lists, then make a final list of what you actually need to get. Buy what’s in your final list, and do not buy in excess. Control your urge to “panic buy”.
Tip #2. Get eco-friendly products versus environment-harmful ones. Make sure that your items are non-toxic. If you have plastic items, make sure to make an effort to reuse and recycle.
Tip #3. Conserve energy and resources. Do not be wasteful. Make sure that you consume what is exactly needed. There are many ways to conserve your resources and your available items. For instance: when making craft projects, make sure to measure your materials properly so that you don’t have too many scraps.
Tip #4. Remember to always “REDUCE”. Reduction is the cornerstone of environmental protection and waste management. Be mindful of your daily product and energy consumption.
“Reuse”
Reuse may be defined as the act of using materials and items in its original form over and over again, without having to process it biologically and chemically. This also helps lessen waste disposal and lessen the amount of waste and garbage in our landfills. As such, reusing items also helps you save money and conserve resources, contributing to the Source Reduction efforts of the EPA.
Tip #1. For your scrapbooking projects, make sure to reuse whatever materials you have around the home. So many art projects can be accomplished by just using whatever is available. Check out Cream City Ribbon projects that encourage reusing items around the home.
Tip #2. Dig in your closet. Check the back of your closet and drawers, and for sure, you will be able to find old stuff that you don’t use anymore. Remember that not everyone is as fortunate as you are, and that what you are not using right now may be very helpful to someone else.
Give old clothes, shoes, and toys to the less fortunate children and families. Ask your local community center about any drive or fundraiser you can participate in.
Tip #3. Sell what you can’t give away. Put up a rummage sale of all your excess clothes, shoes, toys, home décor, appliances, or furniture. Most people just throw this stuff away. DON’T. You used your hard-earned money to purchase these, and you don’t want that to just be put to waste. You can sell your used items, so another person can put it to good use. Turn your trash into cash!
Tip #4. Before throwing away items around the home, think first about what you can do with it. The back of copy paper can be used by your children as scratch paper, pages of old notebooks can be reused as a new notebook, buttons, beads, yarn, ribbons, can be used again for a new project. Be creative and explore possibilities, the Cream City Ribbon way!
“Recycle”
Recycling is the last step in the waste hierarchy, and we must remember that reduce and reuse is still best for the environment.
Tip #1. Separate your garbage. Contact your community’s recycling center or garbage collection company to determine whether they provide recycling bins. Learn about your local community’s regulations on garbage separation. You may use the following categories: wet, dry, biodegradable, non-biodegradable, and plastics. You may also have a separate bin for composting.
Tip #2. Support recycling and environment campaigns.
In practicing the three Rs of the waste hierarchy, you can help the world become a greener place. Remember that without each individual’s effort, we cannot achieve the goal of having a greener and safer place for our children, and our children’s children.
Your daily efforts to support the three Rs are vital to the success of waste management. Encourage your family members, friends, and neighbors to do the same, and you get a cleaner, greener, and safer environment.
At Cream City Ribbon, our mission is to be an environmentally responsible company that creates a quality natural product, and provides excellent service and value to our customers and dignified work for our employees. As such, we purchase electricity from renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass. Our packaging and spools are made with biodegradable and post consumer content materials wherever possible.
At Cream City Ribbon, we believe that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Don’t throw away your Cream City Ribbon scraps. Use it for other craft projects to give as gifts.
Use biodegradable and earth-friendly materials. Cream City Ribbon is made from natural cotton and bound with non-toxic adhesive. Use it to make a fabulous package or a beautiful home decoration. Then, use it again to tie up your plants. Put it in the compost bin.
Cream City Ribbon encourages the practice of the three Rs of waste management.
Create your projects using biodegradable ribbons.
Be proud of how you helped the environment by using natural ribbons.
Choose Cream City Ribbon.
Make “THE NATURAL CHOICE”.
E-mail us at ccr@creamcityribbon.com for more information, or go to our main website at www.creamcityribbon.com for orders and inquiries.
August 1 is friendship day. Make friendship bands and bracelets for your dear friends. Let the whole month of August be all about friends and the special bond you have with them. Cream City Ribbon offers ribbons made of 100% natural cotton, responsibly grown and dyed in the US with water based dyes. This biodegradable ribbon is non-woven, and bound with non-toxic adhesive.
We also have custom ribbons that may be printed on using inks that are soy based and non-toxic. You can choose what you want us to print on your ribbons, or you may write on the ribbons yourself using gel pens and sharpies, or stamp pads and ink. You may even rub on letters and use your inkjet printer for your own personalized ribbons.
Because of the unique and natural properties of Cream City Ribbon, you can curl it, tie it, shred it, fold it, cut it, quill it, or do anything you want with them. These ribbons are very strong, and have been used in various industries to tie things together for a number of years. Go ahead. Grab either end and see if you can break it.
Cream City Ribbon, given these properties, is ideal for making friendship bracelets during the month of August. Show your friends that they are special. Give them a small token of appreciation by making hand made crafts, with your own design based on how much they mean to you, or how you know them. All you need is a few yards of your Cream City Ribbon, a couple hours of your time, and voila! You’ve made your friend a bracelet to show that their presence in your life is something you treasure.
Follow these simple instructions to make your friend a band using Cream City Ribbon.
Diagonal Floss Friendship Band
Step 1. Cut about 27 inches of your Cream City Ribbon. Shred the ribbons, and making each strand about less than 2mm each.
Step 2. Tie a knot at one end, leaving around 1 to 1 ½ inches. Arrange the colors or pattern according to how you want the diagonal parts to come together. You can combine various colors and prints as you deem attractive.
Step 3. Start with strand 1. Hold the strand straight, and loop it over your finger to keep it straight. Get strand 2, and loop it over and then under strand 1 to make a knot. Pull the knot snug to make it neat. Do this one more time to make a double knot for each strand.
Step 4. Do this with the rest of the ribbons to complete a row. Note that the thickness of the bracelet depends on the number of strands you have.
Step 5. Once you have completed the row, begin the next row following step 3 and 4. Make sure that you begin the row using the first strand to the left, making double knots as you go along, from left to right. Continue doing this until your friendship band is as long as you like.
Cream City Ribbon suggests making the bracelet a third shorter than the actual length you like, as after washing the bracelet, it expands.
Step 6. Once you have achieved the length you desire, tie the end with a knot, leaving 1 to 1 ½ inches. It is even up to you if you want to braid the ends, or put a bead to hold it together.
Make sure that your knots are neat and snug, so that if your friend washes them with her while taking a bath, and the strands stretch out, the knots are still neat. The great thing about making this friendship bracelet with your Cream City Ribbon is that your friend doesn’t have to take them off.
Cream City Ribbon may get wet, or may even be washed with mild soap, but the colors won’t fade and the colors won’t rub off other fabrics. The print will not come off the ribbon once it is dry. With Cream City Ribbon, you can explore your possibilities.
This friendship bracelet was made using a printed ribbon that was left over from another project. Cream City Ribbon encourages recycling and using materials that are earth friendly. Recycling materials is a great help to the environment, and is easy on the pocket. As we celebrate friendship this month of August, let us also celebrate our friendship with nature.
This month of August, let us make friendship bracelets and bands using natural ribbons.
Show your friends you care about them and the environment.
Make your gift more meaningful with naturally beautiful ribbons.
Choose Cream City Ribbon.
Make “THE NATURAL CHOICE”.
Visit our main website at www.creamcityribbon.com for more design ideas and techniques. Order your custom ribbons online today! E-mail us at ccr@creamcityribbon.com for more information.
