I hate throwing things out when they're broken, and my first impulse is always to fix the object in question. For instance, my fan is fixed with elastic bands, electrical tape and duct tape. It looks like something someone threw out in 1956, but it works!
With my shower curtain that I'd had for about four years, I'd repaired the rips with Scotch tape and duct tape, but these fixes weren't holding, due to the propensity of the shower curtain to get wet and compromise the stickiness of the tape, which then hung off it in soggy curlicues. Also, after trying half-heartedly to scrub the grime and slime from the bottom of the shower curtain, I finally decided it was time to buy a new one.
I'd heard about "eco-friendly" shower curtains that didn't "off gas" toxic fumes, so I went out to buy one. After all, who wants endocrine-disrupting gases insinuating themselves into the atmosphere of your home? I suspect my endocrines are already suffering from living in downtown Toronto and breathing in fossil-fuelled transportation devices.
I wasn't happy with the price of the "eco-friendly" shower curtain, but I figured I'd sacrifice money for the sake of not succumbing to phthalate-induced illnesses.
When I got home, I laboriously took down the old, ripped shower curtain and, regretfully, threw it down the garbage chute. Hanging up the new one, I noticed it had a very strong smell that I found highly unpleasant. Still, I expected this smell to diminish after a few hours.
It didn't. In fact, the awful smell permeated my whole apartment. I could have sworn I smelled it when I got off the elevator in the hallway! Drastic measures needed to be taken.
I pulled the shower curtain down off the rail, letting it fall into the tub, which I then filled with hot water and expensive bubble bath. I left the smelly shower curtain in there for a few hours before rehanging it. After it had dried off, though, it still emitted a very strong chemically odour.
I pulled the shower curtain back down and hung it outside on the balcony, hoping that maybe the "fresh" air would kill the fumes. But no, this didn't work.
That was it: I was forced to throw out the shower curtain -- that was two sent to landfill within one week -- and I bought a new benign-smelling one that had no boasts about being better for the environment. So much for my environmental cred…..
As Kermit said.....
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