Enlighting tips for the holidays

Yes, the holiday season is here:
You can feel it in the air, smell it in the glorious holiday goodies in supermarkets, and yes, see it in the countless Christmas lights in the malls, in the streets (I wonder how many lights will be blinking on Policarpio St. in Mandaluyong this Christmas), and most probably in your home, too.

Certainly, ’tis the season to be even more prudent when it comes to energy consumption.

Here are some tipid/safety tips from the Philips Lighting Division:

• For safety, make sure that the Christmas lights that you will buy have the ICC (Import Commodity Clearance ) mark. It should be in sticker form and not printed in the box.

• Turn off your Christmas lights by 12 midnight.

• Use candles instead of lights for a more romantic holiday dinner.

• Or better yet, use LED (Light Emitting Diodes) candles that are battery operated.

• Use LED Christmas bulbs that consume only 1-1.5w (available in top Ace Hardware accounts).

Of course, you may have your own bright ideas. Hope the holidays are merry and bright for everyone!

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From trash to cash

Dear Consumerline:

I was looking over my old clippings and chanced upon your Sept  13, 2005 article on turning trash into cash.  I have a question: What do I do with the countless bags of plastic coming from the wet market? How do I recycle them, especially the soiled ones. (The really malansa ones that would need several buckets of clean water to clean). Granting that they are washed and cleaned, do junk shops/peddlers buy these kinds of plastic bags?

Leila Fernando-Tolosa

While it is now chic to be lugging a canvas recyclable bag to the grocery (or maybe even the wet market?) — such as what’s available at Rustan’s Supermarkets Fresh, Shopwise, SM, and even Healthy Options — plastics are still very much with us. (I guess we can never get rid of them, but of course, we can reuse them in many creative ways.)

But yes, Leila, there are junk shops that may just find some use for your malansa plastic bags. There must be one in your neighborhood. Or you can e-mail Manny Calonzo of the EcoWaste Coalition at mannyc@no-burn.org.