Green veggie bags

Diana | November 3, 2012 | One comment

I seldom extol the virtues of plastics, but there are always exceptions. I am a long time user of various types of green plastic ‘stay-fresh-longer’ produce bags to store my vegetables in the fridge.

The special thing about these bags is that they contain zeolite which absorbs ethylene gas…which is supposed to make your veg last longer. Looking on line, there is a wide range of opinion about whether this is true or not. Some people swear by them, others are less impressed.

Me: I am equivocal. I have used them so long that I no longer know what the counterfactual is.

So why do I like them if I am not convinced by the freshness claims?

First, I do worry (a lot) about food wastage. In western societies we waste a huge amount of food which is a big greenhouse gas problem. If you think of everything in your fridge as embodied carbon (for transport, processing, production) you may feel less inclined to waste it. Then think about the methane (a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon) that is released when wasted food ends up in landfill and your concern should grow.

So, bottom line: I hate to waste food and am attracted to anything that may limit food wastage.

Second, these bags are green. Green in colour. Colour coordination in my kitchen is important, of course, but the primary benefit is that I know these are reserved for veggies and veggies alone. So I reuse them with confidence.

Third, these are tough bags. They wash and dry very well. The Debbie Meyer site suggests that the bags are reusable 8-10 times. I suspect each of mine has been used hundreds of times. I like that longevity.

Fourth, knowing I have a bunch of these back home removes any temptation to help myself to a flimsy plastic bag off the roll in the grocery store. I always mean to have my reusable produce bags with me, but I do sometimes forget.

Fifth, the extra large bags are long enough for celery, and that’s nothing to be sneezed at!

I really believe that these bags have reduced my plastic use (and hopefully my food wastage) considerably over the years. Even though I swore, as a kid, that I would never, ever wash plastic bags (my most hated job was hanging wet bags on the clothes line), I do now. All the time. And I feel good about it.

My first bags were bought over a decade ago in the UK at Lakeland. Lakeland bags are a proprietary product made in Thailand. In north America there are a few choices: Debbie Meyer, Peak fresh, Evertfresh and I am sure some others. I can’t tell you which works best, but I can tell you that they are worth a try. I’d be interested to know if you agree.

Category: Food and drink, Food storage, Storage

Repurposing your Mason jars

Diana | October 20, 2012 | 9 comments

I am a great believer in repurposing. I cut forlorn sweaters up to make mittens and I hoard old shoeboxes in my basement in the hopes of identifying future uses.

I am also a big believer in canning, but it is a skill I have failed to nurture in myself. I make delicious tomato chutney every summer and, very occasionally, jam. But wrestling bushels of vegetables into neat glass jars is beyond me.

Nonetheless, I delight in all the Mason jars and canning accessories that appear in the stores late summer, marking the fleeting weeks of abundance here in Canada.

I use large Mason jars to store my dry ingredients (sugar, rice, nuts, etc.) and have designed my kitchen drawers with this in mind. I love the wide mouths and the easy access of the jars, not to mention the uniformity, the low cost and the squeaky clean-ness when they come out of the dishwasher.
(NB. It seems I am not alone in my love of Mason jars: see here for 31 ways to use a Mason jar in your kitchen.)

I was thrilled, the other day, to find two clever new Mason jar add-ons that substantially increase the range of possible uses for my smaller jars.

The first is the cuppow. This is a slightly raised plastic (BPA free) insert that replaces the disc lid of your Mason jar and turns it into a drinking cup. Just screw it on and you have a convenient on-the-go cup.

The cuppow comes in two sizes to fit widemouth (76mm) or regular (60mm) Mason jars. It does not close completely so cannot withstand really bumpy rides, but does a great job if you want to sip a drink in the car, for example.

I don’t love the feel of the drinking rim/spout, but I am very fussy in that regard and like really thin edges to my mugs (see my earlier recommendation for vacuum mugs). It retails for $8. The price seems a little steep as there is not a lot to the product, but it is US-made and claims to be recyclable plastic.

The second option is the reCAP, which entirely replaces your Mason lid, both disc and screw collar. It is a fully close-able pouring/drinking spout for your jars. I prefer the way this feels on my lips, but it does present a large (about quarter-sized) round hole which might be a bit abrupt for hot drinks on the go (though great for gloopy things like smoothies if you want to grab these as you head out of the house).

It could also be used to turn a Mason jar of any size into a pouring dispenser, for example for sugar, rice or liquid honey. Its founding purpose, according to the website, was to turn a jar into a salad dressing dispenser. You can shake away and still pour with ease.

The reCAP is also BPA free and made in the US. It retails for $7-$7.50.

Both are available in Canada from a neat eco product site called Greenmunch (I should mention that they did send me free samples of both products after I enquired about them). Greenmunch also specializes in hard-to-find paper straws, another alternative to the glass straws I wrote about in the early days of my site.

Category: Food storage, Glassware, On the run

End-of-summer sunscreen round-up

Diana | October 1, 2012 | One comment

This is a guest post by Laurel Thomson

I realize that few readers are interested in sunscreens in early October, but if I don’t write this post now, if I leave it until next spring, I will have forgotten the vast majority of what I’d like to communicate (I’m even older than Diana!)

Here in Ontario it was probably the most glorious summer in recent memory, with many sun-drenched days. I therefore had ample opportunity to slather myself, and my slightly reluctant 11-year-old daughter, with sunscreen. We tried 10 different products and each of us has a favourite.

If you want more details on what to look for in a sunscreen, Diana’s old post has lots of information.

These are the products we tried:

Heiko Physical Sunscreen, SPF 30.
Approximate price: $30 for 150ml ($20/100ml)
Active ingredient: zinc oxide (non-nano).  My favourite, especially for the face. As Diana mentioned in her post, it has a slightly medicinal scent, which I actually like. It is thick, so easier for small surfaces, such as face, neck and shoulders. Takes a long time to put on my entire body, so I never bothered.

Thinksport Kids Sunscreen Benefiting Livestrong, SPF 50+.
Approximate price $16 for 3 oz ($18/100ml).
Active ingredient: zinc oxide (non-nano).
My daughter’s favourite. And it really works well. Goes on virtually transparent and, in the words of an 11-year old, “smells like heaven”. Highly recommended. Even the packaging is BPA, vinyl and phthalate-free.

Elemental Herbs Sunstick, Unscented, SPF 30.
Approximate price $8 for .6oz ($45/100ml: but it is a stick)
Active ingredient: zinc oxide (non-nano).
Excellent for the face and for a quick swipe across the nose and cheeks. I carried one with me all summer and used it on both my daughter and myself when we were out for more than a couple of hours. We love the cocoa-butter scent and the feel of it on our faces – silky smooth. It also works!

California Baby Face and Body, unscented SPF 30+.
Approximate price $40 for 6oz ($22/100ml)
Active Ingredient: titanium dioxide.
Rubs in nicely, very mild chemical scent that is not unpleasant. We both like it but the name is not “cool” for an 11-year old. My only worry is that there are some concerns about the photo-reactivity of the active ingredient, TO2, which could result in cellular changes in the skin. The jury is still out on this, however.

Beyond Coastal Natural Clear Sunscreen, SPF30+.
Approximate price $18 for 2.5oz ($24/100ml)
Active ingredient: zinc oxide.
I love this sunscreen for my body, but no one else in my family does. They complain that it is thick (it is) and leaves a white film. I have yet to see the white film on my skin, but it is definitely present on my husband’s hairy arms!!  It has a lovely, mild rose scent. The company also manufactures a product under the same name that contains both titanium and zinc, which I stayed away from given my, likely unfounded, concerns about the former.

Dr. Hauschka Sunscreen Cream SPF 20.
NB. This product is discontinued: sorry Laurie 
Active ingredient: titanium dioxide.
I love Dr. Hauschka products so I ignore my aversion to TO2 and put this on my face in the winter sun, when I want something lighter than SPF 30. It is pricey at $24 for 3.5 oz, but less expensive than many higher-end creams.

TruKid Sunny Days mineral sunscreen SPF 30+.
Approximate price $17.50 for 3.5oz ($17/100ml)
Active ingredient: titanium dioxide.
Nice product, that smells faintly like the creamsicles of my youth.  I’d love to use it, but am wary of the TO2.

ECO Logical Skin Care, all natural sunscreen SPF 30+.
Approximate price $17 for 3.5oz ($16/100ml)
Active ingredient: zinc oxide.
Claims to be unscented, but smells like rancid oil, if you ask me. Stay away!

Green Beaver fragrance-free sunscreen, SPF 30.
Approximate price $20/90ml ($22/100ml)
Active Ingredient: zinc oxide.
This sunscreen is greasier than I care for but several of my friends swear by it since it does not whiten skin at all. They use it on their kids who are indifferent to the texture. They are mostly young kids or boys. My daughter won’t go near it.

Alba Botanica very emollient Sport Sunscreen, SPF 45.
Approximate price $9/4oz ($7.50/100ml)
Active ingredients: octocrylene, homosalate, octinoxate, octisalate, titanium dioxide.
Given its chemical ingredients, it is not surprising that this product is a clear winner in the ease-of-rubbing-in contest. However, its composition is also why I do not use it. The EWG rating is 5, which is high enough for me to avoid. I suppose an upside is it does not contain the dreaded oxybenzone. So why did I try it? A friend gave me a tube. I don’t particularly care for its chemical sunscreen scent.

From Diana: A very useful set of reviews, thanks Laurie. Funny that we both worked on TO2 issues around 25 years ago.

Some of these products are not readily available in Canada, though many can be shipped here through retailers such as iHerb.com. (Use the code UQE399 to get $10 off your first order of $40 or more: shipping to Canada is only $4 for an average shipment!). 

Category: Beauty and Personal Care, Sunscreen | Tags:

Garden waste with less waste

Diana | September 19, 2012 | 2 comments

The days are getting shorter, there’s a nip in the air: autumn’s blush is with us. In the next week or so the streets of my neighbourhood will be plastered with mini advertising hoardings. Oops, sorry, I meant garden waste bags.

Did you ever wonder why these are so cheap in the stores? Indeed so much cheaper than their smaller counterparts, the indoor compost bin bags, which have altogether more limited advertising possibilities.

The fact that the bags are cheap and made from natural-looking brown paper which is, of course, going to be composted, makes it easy to use them with gay abandon.

But let’s think about that.

Yes, garden waste bags are typically not made from actual trees, but from waste products in the paper system. And it is true that they are not bleached like white paper. But paper manufacture is energy intensive….and even if more than 50% of that energy is now generated from burning waste chips and other biomass, it is still carbon generating.

Then there is the issue of transporting the finished bags. Anyone who has bought a pack of 40 bags from Costco will back me up when I say that they are heavy: indeed they need to be heavy to withstand the ravages of decaying plant material and rain (even snow…). Heaven forbid that we should be inconvenienced by a split bag.

Many bags I see here in Canada are actually made in the US (yes, we seem to have no comparative advantage in manufacturing large paper bags), so first need to be shipped up here and then carried home.

You get the picture: there is a lot of waste tied up in each, neat brown bag. And, to add insult to injury, when your nice brown bag is composted, it will release methane (as does your garden waste), a potent greenhouse gas.

So what is your alternative? First, be sure to fill your bags to the top (I can attest to the fact that the waste disposal guys will pick them up even if they are not neatly rolled over to seal them up). Then let them settle and fill them up even more. It’s amazing what you can stuff in after a couple of days on the curb, especially if your first filling consists of dry, bulky leaves (it’s always better to rake leaves when they are slightly wet).

More importantly, round up all those rigid plastic containers you have littering your backyard and bring them into service. I use recycling bins (on the off week), garbage bins (the bags can sit on the curb alone for short periods, if necessary), garden waste bins, even cardboard boxes.

In so doing, I drastically reduce my bag consumption. Not to zero, for sure. I have five large trees on my property and neither the time nor space to mulch all the leaves, so I certainly get through a number of bags at this time of year. But on an ongoing basis I manage very well with my motley selection of plastic. Not pretty, but it works.

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Category: garden, Outdoors

Glass plates: Another great alternative to plastic

Diana | September 6, 2012 | 2 comments

If I have learnt anything this week, it is that I am getting old. My youngest made her way to full-day school for the first time and tomorrow is my birthday (before you ask, I am very ancient). But what surprised me most was that when a friend asked for suggestions on baby shower gifts, I had no ready answers. Have I really moved that far beyond the baby years?

Shortly after giving her a lame, holding response, I realized what I should have recommended: Brinware plates.

I wish these had been available when my kids were in the early stages of eating food. Back then I struggled to avoid plastics and melamine. It was tough to part with those hard plastic plates that seem to do so well in the dishwasher, but when I learnt that the full name of melamine was melamine fomaldehyde and that cats, dogs and infants were suffering from melamine poisoning it became easier.

The challenge lay in finding alternatives. Many ceramic bowls and plates have come to a sad end on the hard stones of my kitchen floor.

I didn’t know it at the time, but what I needed was a tempered glass plate with a non-slip silicone `sleeve’. Thankfully the folks at Brinware have provided us with just that option and made it pretty, to boot. The glass in the plates is not only tough, but etched with cute designs from owls (my favourite) to frogs, pandas and butterflies. And the sleeves, which can be removed for washing, come in some of my top colours: orange and green (I am hoping that purple will come soon).

Since my kids are now older, I have been using the plates without the sleeves. That frees the sleeves to be employed as useful all-purpose small toy displays and even frisbees, at a pinch. Meanwhile, the plates – which are gently curved to keep the food in the right place – wash well in the dishwasher, though without rinse-aid (which I seldom use these days) the glass does get a bit blotchy, as you might expect.

Brinware plates cost about $10 each and can be purchased on line or from various US retailers. The sole Canadian supplier is Jess’ Crunchy Store, a great little on-line business out of Kitchener, Ontario. If you act fast, Jess currently has the plates on sale at 20% off: you get two for C$17.59 (shipping and taxes extra).

If you want to reach the free shipping threshold of $79 at Jess’ store, you might also want to try the silicone placemats (also from Brinware, but I have not tried them) or the lip balm that I recommended in a recent post.

So there you have it, Alessandra, a great baby shower gift suggestion: sorry it is late.

Category: Glassware, Kids, Kitchen

Hours of fun for the whole family

Diana | August 21, 2012 | One comment

What I love about summer is having more time: for friends, for feasting and for family games.

The family game thing is tough, though: some love them, some hate them. Personally I am in the former camp but my husband is usually a reluctant participant. Not so with our new family favourite, Pucket.

We discovered Pucket in the UK this summer. It is a wooden board game that originates in France and has recently been reintroduced in the UK by a charming fellow (a supreme Pucket master) called Dave.

To win the game you have to sling all 8 of your pucks (akin to backgammon pieces) through a small opening in a barrier in the centre of the Pucket board, with a catapulting rubber band. The challenge is that your opponent will be aiming at the same hole at the same time from the other side, leading to frequent clashes (which bear names such as cardinal’s revenge and neptune’s kiss in Pucket lore).

If it sounds confusing, I assure you it is not. Try watching this youtube video of the masters at work.

Pucket’s beauty lies in its simplicity and universal appeal. In a matter of seconds anyone from a pre-schooler to a game-on granny can get going. And while each individual game lasts only a matter of minutes, Pucket is addictive (you always think you can do better) so a whole afternoon can be whiled away with serial Pucket challenges.

So, I hear you ask, what makes Pucket an eco product (that works)? The answer is a bit sketchy because, on the negative side, the boards come from India which means they consume a good deal of transportation fuel. Dave and his partner Ben are upfront about this and have chosen to respond to this issue by favouring sea transportation over air freight. They also offset their shipping emissions.

On the plus side, the boards are handmade by artisans and the company uses only fair trade suppliers (externally verified). They are doing their best to ensure that the wood that is used is sustainably sourced. And the boards should last a long, long time (assuming no destructive player rage).

Pucket is available at a number of shops in the UK and on line for delivery worldwide through the website at a cost of £40 (about $60). Delivery in the UK costs £7. Delivery to North America is a relative bargain at only £14.50 (about $23), giving you an all-in north American price of about $85 which could be worse, given the fun you will have.

And the best news is that for a limited time (until the end of 2012) ecoproductsthatwork readers can get a discount of £3.50 with the code MFPAFD, just click here to get started.

Category: At home, Toys

LOL: Lovely Organic Lollipops

Diana | July 31, 2012 | One comment

Having just spent the week with friends who don’t do dessert, I am painfully aware of my unhealthy love of sugar (and my children’s fixation on the second part of dinner). That said, I would like to sing the praises of Yummy Earth lollipops.

These are an established part of plane travel in my family and are top of mind for me today as I am writing this post in an airport. My kids are heavily invested in the belief that without lollipops their ears will explode on takeoff. So I always try to remember to throw some Yummy Earth pops into my bag. Happily, they come in packs large enough that nobody notices when I sneak a few myself…..after all, they only have 22 calories each.

Yummy Earth makes lollipops (with or without extra vitamin C), hard candy drops, gummy bears, sour beans and sour worms. Not only do the candies contain all organic ingredients (no nasty synthetic colours of flavourings), they taste really great. The company subscribes to a third party list of acceptable ingredients – the trunatural list – so you can be pretty confident there is nothing nasty hiding inside. And the packaging is very upfront about what the lollipops don’t contain, if you are worried about allergies.

Lollipops come in lots and lots of fruit flavours, all of which have intense flavours with just the right balance of tart and sweet. My kids have different favourites – Wet Face Watermelon and Too Berry Blueberry – but I do not discriminate myself: love them all.

Yummy Earth is a US company so I was a bit surprised to see that the candy is made in Mexico. But this is apparently because one of the founding partners is originally from Mexico. The website stresses that quality control is intense, with samples regularly sent to US labs, and that good wages are paid to workers. You can see a neat video about how the lollipop are made on the site.

Being Mexican-made does make the carbon footprint a bit higher, but the video notes that they source sugar from local mills, so that cuts down on emissions a bit (and suggests that they are aware of the energy use issues around their product). Being individually wrapped, there is a fair bit of packaging associated with the product, but this is true of most lollipops….and at least the stick is made of paper (good for removing tartar after sucking all that sugar and fruit acid).

Yummy Earth products are available pretty widely. I bought a pack last week in a grocery store in rural Nova Scotia. I often buy the large packs (previously 40+ lollies, now 50+) at the discount stores, HomeSense or Winners, so they are great value.

If you are at a loss you can always order them from the Yummy Earth site in the US or Canada or from iHerb, where you can currently get the 50+ packs for $6 which works out at a paltry 12 cents each, not much more than I remember paying for lollipop when I was a kid. And I am sure these are much better for me.

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Category: Food and drink | Tags:

Lip balm minus the plastic

Diana | July 18, 2012 | One comment

There have been huge strides in the worlds of eco lip balm over the past decade. It used to be tough to find products that did not contain petrolatum and paraffin (yukky thought these sound, they are standard in products such as Blistex) and/or did not go rancid in short order.

Now we are spoiled for choice in health and green stores and can chose between beeswax, shea butter and other more tasty-sounding things to slather on our lips. All seem to be pretty shelf stable and can be flavoured with delicious natural oils.

Even when we are strapped for time and in the super-market or mainstream drug store there is usually a Bert’s Bees product that will lubricate without the use of hydrocarbons.

Despite all this progress, one annoyance still remains. It’s the plastic that is used to package and dispense all those nice-sounding oils and waxes. If you look at the bottom of your purse or on the pocket of your winter coat, you will surely find one or two dying lip balms, just waiting to be cast into the land fill where they will wait ….and wait ….for several thousand years.

How happy was I, then, when I found Sweet Leaf Bath Co., an Ontario company that sells its lovely fair-trade beeswax lip balm in compostable paper tubes. Though these might sounds less than robust, I can assure you that they hold up really well. But they also feel like they really will decompose (apparently within 15 days), unlike some ostensibly compostable products.

The one thing that you can’t easily do with the paper tube is the equivalent of `winding down’ the lip balm in the plastic tube. Once it has been squeezed out, it stays out (unless you manually push it back in, which can get a bit messy). But, on the plus side, it is not that easy to over-extend the lip balm in the first place. I can assure you of that since my kids help themselves to my balm whenever they pass my desk and they have not yet caused any damage.

The lip balm comes in 3 lush flavours: peppermint, chocoberry and pomegranate. I like the mint best but the fruity pomegranate is also nice. I have not tried the chocomint. The website gives full details of all the ingredients.

The lip balms are available from the Sweet Leaf site at $5.50 each (payment through Paypal). Unfortunately because these are small items, the shipping and handling costs seem high relative to the item cost if you buy just one balm ($5 will cover between one and six balms). But you could purchase other Sweet Leaf products (they have a bath line too) to offset the shipping costs. However, I can’t vouch for these, having never tried them.

Another option is to buy them through one of my current favourite eco merchants, Jess’s Crunchy Shop where you can combine your order with other items and get free shipping if you exceed C$79. Or hope that you live near one of the Canadian retail locations listed under the our Company tab on the website.

And if you are feeling sore about the shipping cost, don’t forget the good news: a paper tube holds about 30% more product than a standard plastic tube. We are talking long-lasting lubrication.

(I should mention that I was sent samples of this lip balm by Sweet Leaf, but I am reviewing the product because I love it.)

 

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Category: Beauty and Personal Care, Skincare | Tags:

Terms of Entombment: Keeping your cool without air conditioning

Diana | July 10, 2012 | One comment

This is a guest post from Amélie Crosson

I grew up in Washington, D.C.: a sweltering soup from June-September. My husband grew up in Ottawa: a sweltering soup from time to time in July. It’s normal that we should have different approaches to summer living — and air conditioning.

As far as I’m concerned, living in Ottawa is like inhabiting a binary universe: a city of Winter and Not Winter. So when summer finally comes I expect Ottawans, including my husband, to welcome and relish hot weather. Yes, it’s hot. Isn’t it great?

Um, No.

While most Ottawans are uniquely stoic about -30C weather, when it comes to +30C, not so much. Some people retreat to their lakeside cottages, a very sensible approach if available. Others retreat indoors and turn on the air conditioning.

Both my husband and I hate air conditioning. I hate the artificial chill, the smell and the roar of it. I’m as likely to sigh in bliss exiting an air-conditioned building as others are entering it. His objections are environmental. So we both agree that air conditioning is a technology of last resort, to be used only when octogenarians are visiting, children disappear for extended periods to friends’ air-conditioned houses, or night three of no sleep threatens to push our cranky quotient toward marital break-up.

To delay the moment, my husband has a house cooling strategy that is meticulous in its execution. His first line of defence against heat and humidity is to lock them out. We adopt a vampire-like existence. Doors, windows and blinds are only opened at night and closed back up in the early hours before the sun burns off the coolness of morning. His usual admonishments about turning off lights take on a sterner tone. Without even realizing it we speak with hushed voices as if our breath might heat up the house. Use of the stove and oven is discouraged in favour of whatever can be grilled outside.

It can be a harsh regime: no one likes living in a tomb, especially when it feels like you’ve just emerged from the long, dark life of enclosure imposed by winter. Can’t we just be hot? And how are we supposed to cook pasta on a grill? Entombment is one thing, carb-deprivation is a sacrifice of greater magnitude.

But his approach is undeniably effective. Our house, through entombment, lots of insulation, a thick canopy of mature maples and ceiling fans, is a delightfully cool oasis. And at night and in early morning, with the windows thrown open, we can hear the cicadas, the cardinals leading the birdsong chorus, and squirrels chittering their strategy to lay waste to our lilies once and for all. They are the beautiful sounds of summer, unless, of course, they are drowned out by the drone of the neighbour’s air conditioner…

Category: At home

Ant invasion

Diana | July 4, 2012 | 2 comments

It’s summer. It’s hot. And I don’t know who is happier: me or the ants.

Though I am known for my love of heat and humidity, it is possible that the ants would take the prize – were it not for the new ant remedy that I am zealously employing. Together with a tube of caulking, it seems to be keeping the nasty little things under control. The cat’s bowl is no longer a feasting station and even my outside ants have moderated a bit.

So what is the secret? Sweetness and borax.

There are several recipes on various websites for home-made ant killer. The one I am using is quick, easy and cheap to make. It consists of:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons of borax

You just boil everything together for three minutes and then place in suitable containers (lids, pots with holes) in your trouble spots. I actually make half quantities as it goes a long way and lasts well in a jar. 

I am not quite sure I have the consistency right. Some websites suggest dipping cotton balls in the solution and leaving these out, but my gloop is too syrupy to do that. And I don’t see hoards of ants sucking it down as others claim to do, but it still seems to do the trick. So far my cat does not seem to have been tempted to chow down on it.

In case you are wondering what borax (sodium borate) really is, see here. It is a `salt of boric acid’ that comes from dried up lake beds. It is not generally very irritating to humans but, nonetheless, it is not something that should be treated casually. Within the last two years the European Commission categorized it as a substance of very high concern for its possible negative effects on fertility. And Health Canada warns against its use in cosmetics, as I mentioned in my posting on moisturizers.

It is typically sold for laundry and cleaning purposes and is marketed as an eco product, despite its toxicity. If you are still comfortable with using it (I have to admit that, in the battle against ants, I am), it is available in bulk in a number of eco stores or, in Canada, through the well.ca website for $10.79 for 2kg (that would kill a lot of ants).

FYI: most commercial ant traps use boric acid as their weapon too. They just charge you more to put very tiny amounts of it in dinky metal or plastic containers that will end up, sooner or later, in the land-fill.

 

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