Happy Feast of St. Francis 

I tried thinking of a Profound And/Or Significant Subject To Post About in honor of the day, but, alas, came up short. (Gee, big surprise.) So, instead I figgered I'd share my recent investigation on how to properly dispose of razorblades! Well, y'know, it's got a bit of an environmental connection and Francis is the patron of ecology and ... and ... eh, whatever.

My recent questing was triggered last night while preparing to shave the ol' gams. I've got one o' them replaceable-blade razors, and 'twas time to pop out the old blade and put in a fresh one. As I contemplated the bitty plastic tray (properly called "magazine") full of used blades (properly called "cartridges") ready to be tossed, I wondered again if there was a better way to deal with 'em than to simply toss said Tray-O-Blades into the trash. Isn't that pushing things, safety-wise? And how environmentally-friendly is that, anyway?

I asked Husband Mike what his thoughts were, but he's in the same boat with tossing his Tray-O-Guy-Blades and had no suggestions. Off I went a-Googling and turned up the following stuff:

This site recommended keeping "an old sour cream or yogurt container handy. Put old blades in the container and pour leftover epoxy in the container." Well, that's something to consider if we ever need to ditch craft-type ones. But still, I'm not sure putting 'em in containers of epoxy is the best way to go, environmentally.

Elsewhere, found a suggestion to take 'em to a local trade metal recycler. Again, I think that applies more to the crafty kind, not the disposable, shaving-your-legs, surrounded-by-plastic kind.

This comprehensive video wasn't that helpful for me, as it pretty much said to toss the tray-o-blades into the garbage, as-is:



And I guess I shouldn't be surprised that OSHA has gone into great detail on the matter as it pertains to long-term health care facilities. Lots of references to "bloodborne pathogens".

TreeHugger shared news about the Razor Saver, whose manufacturer clams it can "sharpen your used disposable razor heads for up to 130 shaves (!); using their math, that's a 75% reduction." At least it's a plus for the environment.

Finally, I came across this Safety Razor FAQ Database, which suggested calling your local garbage/sanitation department and see what they recommend. May haps I'll try that tomorrow.

So, there ya go. And don't suggest not shaving -- I can assure you that resembling a yeti is not high on my Happy List.

Labels: random, recycling, saints, st. francis

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