Ever since arriving, we have been quite impressed by the attitude of conservation here. Coming from Colorado where we all pat ourselves on the back for being eco-friendly, let me tell you that the French are at a whole new level. Take, for instance, the size of our trash cans. They are all this size...trash is apparently very much discouraged. Then at grocery store if you don't have enough of your own bags, you pay an extra 5 cents for every plastic bag used. No "bag credits" here. All the hall lights in buildings and public spaces stay off, too (with switches to turn them on for 30 seconds at a time) so we end up walking in the dark quite often. It seems that just about all the items we buy are made in France; they've got the local thing down. And if that all wasn't enough, there are two flushing options on all the toilets. It's very impressive that this is just the way things are, even if it does take some adjusting.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Eco-friendly French
Ever since arriving, we have been quite impressed by the attitude of conservation here. Coming from Colorado where we all pat ourselves on the back for being eco-friendly, let me tell you that the French are at a whole new level. Take, for instance, the size of our trash cans. They are all this size...trash is apparently very much discouraged. Then at grocery store if you don't have enough of your own bags, you pay an extra 5 cents for every plastic bag used. No "bag credits" here. All the hall lights in buildings and public spaces stay off, too (with switches to turn them on for 30 seconds at a time) so we end up walking in the dark quite often. It seems that just about all the items we buy are made in France; they've got the local thing down. And if that all wasn't enough, there are two flushing options on all the toilets. It's very impressive that this is just the way things are, even if it does take some adjusting.
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We have dual flush flushometers over here too - I just spec-ed some on my project!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the image and insight Marg! I'll send you the contrasting images of the sidewalks of my corner of stateside suburbia come trash day. Have you noticed a difference in food and other packaging there? Thinking of you :)!,
ReplyDeleteTonin
Placer County Water Agency more or less paid us to replace our toilet with a new model that uses less water per flush. Emily talked us into one with buttons instead of a flush lever - one does 1.1 gallon, one does 1.6 gallons, and counteriuitively, both together does .9 gallons. After the PCWA rebate, the $179 toilet cost us something like $29, and they even threw in a coupon for free disposal of the old toilet at the dump. I threw it off a ledge into a glass backetball backboard, breaking both simultaneously, and it was a huge rush.
ReplyDeleteAwesome...maybe we can see if Denver Water will help us out with that (the toilet... hopefully I can then do the destruction myself).
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