#880 Oil Used Up

As we’ve discussed before, sometimes it’s hard to be environmental¾like the whole corn ethanol thing. First, it seemed like a good idea to grow corn and make it into fuel.
Then fuel prices went through the roof and everybody planted fields of corn and demand got so high corn prices went up. No one could afford to buy corn and since nobody planted other foods, they were in short supply, so their prices went up and soon there was a global food prices crisis.
It seemed like such a good idea too.
So good the feds continue to subsidize it.
(They’ll need that quick thinking when they’re in charge of our banks.)
But I keep recycling, even though I find challenges. Like peanut butter containers. They don’t have a neck so I have to throw them away. Too bad. It’s such a huge piece of plastic to waste.
Of course I have to rinse them out. But rinsing a peanut butter container takes way too much water. And scrubbing it is so icky. And my scrubber thingy takes a lot of water to rinse out afterwards too.
Nuts to that.
Cooking oil bottles are the real challenge. The used cooking oil itself is perfect for the compost bin but how do you put it in without making the bin itself permanently gunky?
Ideally, I suppose I could use an old Starbucks cup or something but do I ever remember to save one to use as a used cooking oil container for my compost bin?
Recycling takes some thinking ahead.
And I’m still left with the challenge of rinsing out the original cooking oil bottle.
The answer, again, think ahead, and be patient. Soap and soak and shake. Add a small amount of dish soap to the cooking oil bottle. Fill with water. Soak for a while. Shake the bottle. Shake it like a Polaroid picture. Pour it out and add to the recycle bin.
It’s plastic. Plastic is made out of petroleum.
Maybe some day when we run out of corn we can melt it down for fuel.
America, ya gotta love it.