55 Gallon Barrel Bag Cover

There have always been concerns about keeping 55 gallon drums containing your emergency water storage outside. The drums are subject to UV ray, rain, dirt, dust and insects that may directly or indirectly affect the content of the barrels. This is where the barrel bag cover comes into a very good use.

Why we should have barrel bag cover when storing a 55 gallon drum outside:

- Made of sturdy and durable nylon, ensuring long term use.
- Easy and effective; simply slip it over the drum and pull the draw string underneath to secure it to the barrel.
- Contents will be safe to consume as there will be no dirt or debris coming in as we open the cap.
- No one should know that the thing in your back yard is water storage drum.

The barrel bag cover is now at introductory sale price and free shipping at Bay Tec. Save money and save your drums with barrel bag covers. Available in grey and black colors.

Video of the Week: How to Install A Bulkhead Fitting on 55 Gallon Drums

The following is an instructional video we made on how to install a bulkhead fitting on 55 gallon drums and/or other sizes. It's useful when you want to make your own easy dispensing water storage or rain barrel. Check it out.

Weekly Trivia on Plastic: What Recycled Plastic Can Be Turned Into

Not every news about plastic is necessarily bad. Today's recycled plastic can be turned into so many useful things; from plastic chair to clothes. Check out some of interesting trivia about recycled plastic's possible new life.

• 5 recycled plastic bottles can be made into fiberfill for one ski jacket.
• 1050 recycled milk jugs can be turned into 6 ft plastic park bench.
• 25 recycled plastic soda bottles can be made into one fleece jacket.
• 35 plastic bottles can be recycled into fiberfill for one sleeping bag.
• 35 plastic bottles can be made into 1-square yard of polyester carpet.
• 14 plastic bottles can be recycled into a T-shirt

14-recycled plastic bottles T-shirt

As you might have noticed by now, a lot of those recycled things mentioned above are made from plastic bottles. Besides reducing the use of plastic soda bottles in our life, it's also a great idea to recycle them into T-shirt or carpet. All it takes is just participating in the recycling movement by sorting garbage even at the act of throwing them away and sending them to the nearest recycling curb. Easy.

Preserving Food: 5 Gallon Buckets vs 55 Gallon Drums

One might wonder, if we can preserve food in 5 gallon buckets, why not in a bigger bulk inside 55 gallon drums? Well, we theorically can. But in practice, it will be quite hard to keep food for 5-20 years in 55 gallon barrels in a normal household. Here are some of the reasons.

If you are new to food preservation, read some of our previous articles here, here, here and here.

The major reasons why we love preserving food in 5 gallon buckets:

1. 5 gallon pails are a lot cheaper than 55 gallon barrels.
2. We can store different foods in different pails. With barrels, you will need to store the same type of food in one whole barrel.
3. 5 gallon buckets are easier to move, especially when there are stairs involved. Imagine storing wheat in 55 gallon drum (about 380 lbs) and in the next 5 years you decide to move to another house. However, if you insist on storing in 55 gallon barrels, make sure you have one of these drum trucks or dollies.
4. If there is any occurence that bugs ever get into your storage container - mylar bag leaks or other reasons - imagine how devastated you will feel to have the whole VERY expensive 55 gallon drum of grains spoilt.
5. Let's say it all works fine with storing foods in 55 gallon drums. The next question is, how can you finish consuming the huge amount of food once the mylar bag is opened? Unless you have a big family of 15, you're a farmer or you're in some kind of factory, chances are you are going to end up with spoiled foods before it's all used up. Grains, however, are more easily stored and kept so long they are kept dry.

It is still possible to store dry foods in 55 gallon barrels. It is, in fact, a great way to store foods when you're involved in its production (i.e. farm) or some food manufacturing company. We will have another post shortly on how to store bulk dry foods in 55 gallon drums. Keep coming back often to our blog for more and happy food preserving!

Video of the Week: Sustainable Cardboard Chair and Desk

Ever wonder what to do with the large moving boxes or other shipping boxes that you've received from ordering something and just piling at the corner of your garage dusting? Well, don't throw them away! You can always make them into cardboard chair and desk, like the video below shows. No glue, tape or other materials needed. Just fold them right and voila.... a sustainable desk and chair in seconds. When not in use, simply unfold them and enjoy the extra space.

Uploaded by james1983id on 30 Jul 2008

Designed by James Schaffroth in summer transfer foundations at RISD. No cuts, no glue, no tape. Can support 200+ pounds

News: FedEx Freight to Increase Shipping Rates

A press release from FedEx Freight was just out today, announcing that they are going to increase their shipping rates by 6.9% effective tomorrow, July 9, 2012. Read more here.



multi-depth box

If you use FedEx Freight, now is the good time to check out their new prices and how these affect your own shipping costs. Should the news be of a significant change for your revenues, some of the following suggestions might be applied:

• Use the proper shipping box to ship your goods. Make sure they are of the right size (not too small and not too big).
• If your shipping carton is too big; you're likely to be overcharged due to the height and volume of the packaging. If this is the case, cut the sides of the carton, leaving enough flaps to close it, and reduce the size of the package. Even a better idea is to use Multi Depth Boxes, where the height adjustment can be easily applied without wasting time in measuring the boxes.
• Still consider using the corrugated sheets to protect your content from rough handling and uneven weight.

Proper shipping is needed to build trust between you and your clients. Yet, we still need to do it smartly by not getting caught into shipping overcharge cases. Always evaluate it from time to time and add the right shipping cost to the purchase that your customers make.

How to Get Rid of Stain from Plastic Food Storage Container

Do you have plastic food container that has colored stain on its walls that you can never clean? You'd be surprised how easy you could actually do it. Simply by using the things available in every household, you can remove the stains from your plastic food boxes in no time. .

Baking Soda
 

Plastic Food Storage Container

One of the most natural things we can use to clean the plastic containers is baking soda. Simply sprinkle some baking soda on the place where it stains, then scrub it gently with a sponge. The baking soda can easily remove stubborn stains on plastic boxes as well as unwanted odor from the previous stored food stuck on the plastic.

Vinegar

Like baking soda, (white) vinegar is a natural cleaning product that can remove stains and odors. Make a solution of white vinegar and water with the ratio of 1:1 and soak the stained plastic food container in it. Leave it like that for 30 minutes, then rinse it well with cold water.

Dishwashing Soap

Coat the plastic food storage container with diswashing soap and let the soap seep through the plastic pores to remove the stain for 30 minutes. Scrub it with soft cloth and rinse it with water.

It is super easy to get rid of stubborn stains from plastic food storage containers. Try one of those methods above and stop throwing away these stained plastic food containers to the landfill. Decolor them and reuse them instead.