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| Zephyrschord [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] |
The sheer amount of plastic my tiny household consumes seems totally unnecessary. Every container of hummus, every clamshell package of tomatoes, every gallon container of milk...
The one thing I do try to do is buy one squeeze bottle of, say, Dawn dishwashing liquid, and a much larger one to refill it from. I think in some small way I'm cutting down on plastic waste. But wouldn't it be better to use a dish brush and a block of something (you know, like SOAP).
But what truly enrages me is fancy plastic packaging that is deliberately designed NOT to be reuseable. My Award for Wasteful Packaging goes to SHOUT gel stain remover. It comes in a fist-sized plastic bottle with a rubber brush affixed to one end. Which works very nicely when you apply. HOWEVER. That rubber brush does not come off so you can't refill the container. That's a lot of plastic for 8 ounces of stain remover.(Runner up prize goes to toothpaste manufacturers. Have you noticed that toothpaste comes in smaller and smaller tubes? NO ONE recycles toothpaste tubes. WHY CAN'T someone invent an effective tooth powder? It should be simple, right?)
What's your candidate for a Wasteful Packaging Award? And how about suggestions to the manufacturers on how to be better world citizens... if they can make Fake Meat then why not Fake (biodegradable) Plastic?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So--there's a bottle of something, aspirin or contact lens solution or whatever. It comes in a plastic twist off container. The container goes INTO a box, a box that's way bigger then the container, and then it has a paper pamphlet of instructions, and then the box with the container and instructions inside is sealed in shrink wrap plastic. Um. When the amount of
stuff that you throw away is more than what you keep, that's a sign.Plus, batteries. In those sealed things that you can NEVER OPEN.
LUCY BURDETTE: I do hate the ones you can't open--they often come that way from BJ's or Costco. But I also hate the plastic and styrofoam packaging in Publix supermarkets. Really, we can
choose our own cucumbers, you don't have to double wrap them for us!RHYS BOWEN: I am trying hard to eliminate plastics from my life. I live in California where you now have to pay for any bag at the store. We do take reusable bags. Electronics packaging drives
me mad. Impossible to open. And the amount of waste around face products and cosmetics. Ridiculous. Unfortunately part of this is to prevent pilfering or tampering like the Tylenol tragedy.we all have to become good people!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Youngest got out of Maine Medical Center about a week ago after a four day stay - she's fine now! - and I was horrified by the vast amounts of waste generated. Everything, everything is single use and disposable. Of course, I know that's smart for a hospital - better things tossed out than possibly increasing the (already higher than it used to be) risk of infection. But it made me more determined than ever to do what I can to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Living by myself, I produce one 13-gallon bag of trash every two weeks, which I think is good, but I'd like to get it down further. Like many people, the bulk of my trash is non-recyclable plastic. Why, oh why can't manufacturers offer more recyclable packaging? I'm not talking about stuff that's bolted into three layers of plastic so it can survive the ocean voyage from China; I mean all the food products that USED to be available in glass that are now on the shelves in single use plastic. I recently stocked up for summer cookouts and bought ketchup, mayonnaise and relish. Not a single brand in my local Hanneford came in a glass bottle or jar. I would have happily paid a little extra to purchase something recyclable, but I never had the chance.
HALLIE: Here's a web site that purports to tell you how to recycle medicine bottles. But what about unused medications??
JENN McKINLAY: Everything should be wrapped like old fashioned lightbulbs. Simple recyclable cardboard container that barely keeps them from being smashed. I am trying so hard not to use plastic in my every day life, but it is EVERYWHERE.
I have great hope, however, as the BBC reported there is a female researcher in Mexico who has figured out how to make plastic like containers that are biodegradable from...wait for it...cactus. Wouldn't that be something? Non-toxic and biodegradable plastic like material from cactus? Here's the film link.DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hallie, there is a vendor at our farmer's market that sells blocks of handmade dishwashing SOAP. No packaging. I'm going to buy one next week. In the meantime, I buy
in a big bottle and refill my small one. And toothpaste, as Hank says--didn't people use to brush their teeth with baking soda? (I recently gave into a sonic toothbrush, having been encouraged by my dentist after just having a crown, ugh) and have discovered that you only need about a quarter of the toothpaste that you use on a regular brush. So surely that helps some...
I take reusable bags for groceries, and don't bag produce unless absolutely essential. I shop at the farmer's market and the local butcher. We use a Brita filter for our tap water. I just bought a S'well water bottle to carry with me in the car. Still, even though we try to be conscientious, we completely fill our recycle toter every week with the unavoidable plastic, cans, glass, and cardboard, and paper. (And I still take a couple of paper newspapers, ouch.)
And I also wonder just where exactly our recycling is going these days?
HALLIE: That's what I wonder. I wonder if any of our readers know: What happens to all that plastic we dutifully put in the recycle bin? Is it US that's dumping it in the ocean?
