View Full Version : A Week's Worth of Plastics
I have noticed that there is more and more plastic in our recycling bin as time goes by:
https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-waste-pollution-2018-6
Paul Newman spaghetti sauce is now in a plastic jar. I HATE it! It has ridges inside that trap the sauce. I can't heat it in the microwave...An irritant for me. More plastic. Apparently it has to do with shipping weight as well. And, the neighboring county no longer takes glass in the recycle bin.
I am ashamed at how much plastic I make in a week. I recycle all plastic and bags.......but there's sooooo much that isn't recyclable. ....... crackers, meat, cheese, labels on cans and jars, etc., etc., etc.
It seems like the more we hear how devastating plastics are to the environment, the more things are made in plastic.
With China not accepting our filthy, contaminated "recyclables", the worse it's going to get here.
I needed a preservative-free eye lubrication fluid and had to either contaminate my eyes, or get the disposible small, one-use plastic vials. I try to avoid plastic as much as I can, but it's impossible.
What will it take to get people to give a rip about our environment??
I also buy olive oil in glass from a place in California who grows their own olives. But now I see they have a "Destination" olive oil that comes from California AND other countries and it is in plastic now too.
I also see a lot of organic stuff that is in plastic. It surprises me that they care about health of people.....but not the earth's.
Be sure to call all the companies that you're unhappy with about their packaging.
Sad Eyed Lady
2-20-19, 4:52pm
It is getting harder and harder to find a place here that takes plastic, even #1 & 2. Discouraging.
I've been seeing commercials for 4Ocean (https://4ocean.com)
Looks like a great enterprise. Anyone know much about it?
SO insists that the orange juice that comes in a heavy duty plastic bottle is better than the concentrate that comes in a cardboard tube with metal lids, or even the concentrate that comes in a plastic can. This frustrates me to no end (and he knows this) both because of the plastic and because shipping energy usage is significantly higher than concentrate mixed with water from our faucet. But he's an adult so I can't really do more than express my annoyance.
There are some plastic containers that are just unavoidable, like my contact juice and SO's distilled water for his cpap, but I at least try to be mindful.
Our recycling company has stopped taking some plastics: no dairy containers, no clamshell produce containers. So our garbage is up and our recycling bin is down. So So sad! Thank you yet again, Mr President. :(
Can you imagine what will happen from China not taking our Sh*t? I always thought it might be eye-opening for everyone to be required to keep their trash on their own property/apartment/business for a couple months, in hopes of them becoming aware of what a problem it is. Since we have rural land, I'm sure it would quickly become a dump, from other people dumping their stuff on it. They already do that sometimes........mostly tires.
No matter how we try to NOT use plastics, it's impossible to cut them out. I think I would go crazy if I still worked as a nurse........all the IV bags, medicine bottles, syringes, etc. They used to burn that stuff, but I don't know if they still do.
What a mess we've created.....and to think developing countries want the same things.
Everything is scaled now to massive production and distribution. For younger folk, lettuce/spinach in a big plastic box is perfectly normal. I must be really old as I remember when Breck shampoo came in a glass bottle.
ApatheticNoMore
2-22-19, 11:00am
For younger folk, lettuce/spinach in a big plastic box is perfectly normal.
realistically otherwise they would put it in a plastic bag. I've still not found out an ideal way to store veggies in the veggie bin without plastic produce bags. Maybe there are reusable ones, I really don't know.
I also buy olive oil in glass from a place in California who grows their own olives. But now I see they have a "Destination" olive oil that comes from California AND other countries and it is in plastic now too.
CA lost 1/3 or more of the olive crop due to unpredictable weather last year (but climate change and ecological collapse will have no effect on the food system - carry on merrily everyone), that's why it's from elsewhere. Why it's plastic I don't know, possibly cheaper to ship over an ocean, but not really better for the world, they should just use glass.
SO insists that the orange juice that comes in a heavy duty plastic bottle is better than the concentrate that comes in a cardboard tube with metal lids, or even the concentrate that comes in a plastic can.
.
I gave up all bottled or concentrated orange juice....I just eat an orange every day.
Interestingly, I also have given up orange juice in cartons for oranges. They taste much better and have less sugar and more fiber than processed orange juice! Raw fruit and vegetables are not a total answer to the problem of plastic packaging, only a small step towards reducing plastic waste! These days even boxes of oranges and apples may be put on pallets, loaded onto trucks and wrapped in thick plastic for delivery. Our food coop is lobbying our wholesale supplier to find a type of plastic which can at least be recycled. There's an enormous amount of plastic that cosumers don't see because it is removed before foods are put on the shelves. It is still worth the effort to simplify one's eatign habits.
I am soooooo unhappy with the changes in recycling. (thank you Mr President for pissing off China). We use to fill our recycle bin to the top every 2 weeks. Now? Less than half.d
The only organic salad greens and spinach and tasty tomatoes and carrots here each winter are in clamshell type containers. English Cucumbers are wrapped in plastic-no options. organic chicken and ground beef? Plastic. Wild caught Pacific fish? Plastic.
My recycling center, which used to be single stream, now requires all plastics to be separated by number, as well as other metals separated from aluminum, and glass, corrugated cardboard, and paper all separate. In their news letter they basically said, coming to a recycler near you where ever you live. At least they still take most everything. I peaked into the recycling bins at an upscale Whole Foods not long ago and the amount of contamination in dedicated and well marked bins was pretty amazing.
Around here this time of year what gets me is all the gardening products that come in heavy single use bags. Compost, rock, mulch, gardening soil, and fertilizers. As far as I know, none of those bags can be recycled and there are ways to avoid a lot of them by buying in bulk, making your own compost, etc.
It is a mind bender to recall all the things that used to not come in plastic. One of the things that irks me is how detergent now comes in huge plastic bottles or in plastic pods. It is hard to find cardboard boxed detergent but I keep looking. I recently bought one of those humongous packages of toilet paper at Costco for the first time only to find out it was multiple six packs inside yet another plastic bag. We blame the corporations but we're the ones who buy the stuff.
Chicken lady
4-3-19, 6:23pm
Rogar, if those bags are type 2 or type 4, they can be wiped clean and recycled with the grocery bags at your store drop off (if you have one)
Rogar, if those bags are type 2 or type 4, they can be wiped clean and recycled with the grocery bags at your store drop off (if you have one)
Thats good to know! I buy mulch by the pick up load and get my own compost, but I am sure I will end getting something for the garden in the heavy plastic bags.
Teacher Terry
4-3-19, 9:43pm
Roger that’s a shame because it will cut down on people recycling.
If you are thinking of the strict new rules for separating recyclables, yes I don’t see the volume of traffic at the center compared to single stream. I’ve not even organized the finer points. It requires maybe 8 different storage areas or containers. I have a small garage and house, and as unmanly as it might seem, no shed. I’m also into the simple living style and it’s an increase in clutter. A person has to elevate the priority of things to adjust. But like the news letter says, there may come a time when single stream is no longer practical.
Teacher Terry
4-3-19, 11:12pm
Yeah we have small house, etc and I won’t be doing that.
Sooner or later, I feel source reduction of waste products has to replace single stream! Since China has decided not to take plastic and contaminated recyclables, that has a tremendous impact on the collection of waste products everywhere else. India has tken a similiar position as I understand it. Oh my gosh, we have met our trash and it's ours! It's time to ask our local and state governments to support new policies lie requiring industry to take back its' waste products. Countries in Europe have such regulations. It adds costs obviously but it's not impossible.
There was a news article this week about how generous the donations were during last summer's drive for water. Apparently, volunteers distributed about 988,000 bottles of water to the homeless and others. The article was congratulating the success of this drive.
Of course, water is vital and welcomed by the recipients, but my other thought was OMG - almost 1 million plastic bottles?! Can't we figure out something better, like water fountains, or free spigots to refill water jugs, or similar?
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