Valdez Family Goes Green

We've been hearing a lot lately about global warming, saving the planet, etc., and I am proud to say that the Valdez Family is going green. We are doing our part to help save Mother Earth in our own little way.

Starting with...saying no to plastic. I've been using these reusable shopping bags back when we were still in Manila.

Rustan's Reusable Shopping Bag

I realized that one bag is not enough for my purchases here. I considered buying Baggus and Envirosax online, but I found them too expensive (Rustan's bag costs less than a hundred) so I asked my bestfriend Pat to send me some when my mom came over to visit. So now, I never leave home without them, especially when we're going shopping.

These bags are pretty sturdy, and a lot of items can fit inside -- more than the items shown here.

I use these bags even when we're at the department store. Sure, paper bags are biodegradable, but they are slowly starting to pile up in our stockroom so they just might eventually end up in the trash. Plus, I prefer to carry my purchases on my shoulder because I need to keep my hands free so I can hold my daughter's hand while we're walking. The only downside is, while most supermarkets here discourage the use of plastic, they still have to train their staff on how to properly load the groceries inside the reusable bags. They just throw everything inside so the items get all messed up. Tsk...tsk...

Also, we stopped buying bottled water from the supermarket. We used to consume 18 1.5ml bottles of water in a week so you can just imagine how much plastic goes to our trash. Fortunately, we came across this guy who delivers those five-gallon water bottles to our building so we asked him to send us a brochure and we immediately signed up for a Sprinkle Drinking Water membership.

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They have an ongoing promo where new members receive an electric water pump. Cool!

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The water pump makes it easy to fill our glass pitchers which we keep inside the ref so we can drink cold water anytime.

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New members receive this kit from Sprinkle. It includes a member's manual, two issues of Sprinkle newsletter, a couple of stickers and a booklet of coupons.

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Here are the coupons.

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Each coupon is good for one five-gallon bottle. It costs THB60 + 7% VAT. More expensive compared to Manila rates, but cheaper than the bottled water in supermarkets where a 1.5ml bottle costs THB10-15. Members use these to pay for their water. You can pay for them online, thru the bank or using your atm. They will send you one booklet (24 coupons). They deliver once a week and in case you won't be home on delivery day, you can just leave your empty bottle along with a coupon outside your apartment.

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It's cool to be green!