Stardate: March 8, 2015
Fourth day of Lent
Forgive me friend for I have sinned. Friend I must confess three uses of plastics these past two days. One, I had a Coke in a plastic bottle at the retreat, and I was two-thirds of the way through before I realized. Two, I went to Chick-fil-a because it has a playground and I am weak and although I asked if they had any non-styrofoam cups and was told and so I did not order a drink, and I was pleased that they switched the sandwich container to cardboard, I realized that not only was my child's milk in a plastic (#2) bottle, both the lid and the chicken nugget container were also #6. And three, when ordering coffee from Starbucks, and I was pleased with myself that their cups are not styrofoam like Dunkin Donuts, I realized that that the white plastic lid is also #6.
For these, and the sin of pride that is so obviously obvious I am deeply and truly sorry.
No, seriously though, I thought #6 was just Styrofoam, but it is also the hard plastic tubs and lids I'm so used to using and thought were recyclable. How can they not be? How is it that #6 is so wide in form and function?
Although we did do one fun thing; we confused the cashier at Target mightily when we asked for no bags. She looked unsure that we could even leave the store, and made sure (surreptitiously, which I appreciated) that her manager knew we were checking out without bags on purpose. I don't know if that was to cover her butt or ours, but I appreciated the gesture from a tired, clearly near the end of her shift woman. Good on you Sheryl! You were trying hard right up to the end!
Oh brother. Spring forward? I'm losing an hour of sleep for this.
Peacefully,
Marie
Hey, Marie--
ReplyDeleteAren't the cups at Starbucks coated in plastic? One great solution there--or used to be--was to take your own cup. I've never done it, but then I rarely go there. Also... I often tell checkers that I will carry my just-purchased items without a bag. I only do it if there are just a few, mostly small items, that I can carry or put in my purse. But I can really only think of a couple times when they glanced sideways at me. Had you bought a lot of things? My mother trained us this way. Never take something you don't need. Waste is waste. (She is the oldest of ten and was born at the tail end of the Depression. And is a good Catholic! Seriously. I really think that plays a part.) I also want to share that she saves the wax paper bags from cereal boxes and reuses them to store leftover rolls she's made, and the like. The "reuse" part of Reuse, Reduce, Recycle is often mislabeled as "recycling." Pet peeve! And people RARELY talk about reducing consumption as a way to not waste. I don't even use the produce bags at the store for most fruits/vegetables. I bring the produce home and wash it, I retionalize. Drives me nuts to see people putting a bunch of bananas in a plastic bag! I mean, if anything does NOT need a bag, it's bananas. I saw a guy putting his ORGANIC bananas in a bag once, and pointed out the irony. He seemed a little baffled. lol
Now, this wax coating of fruits and vegetables is a real problem... But it's the kind of thing I dont' think about too much because there isn't much I can do about it at this point. Now they do say to peel everything. I was brought up *not* to peel--we need the fiber and some of the best nutrients are in the skin or just under it.
I didn't read the entire medical plastics post, but wanted to share that one reason I think we should use as little crude oil as possible is so that we can have IV tubing and other tools vital to the practice of medicine for as long as possible. Surely they can come up with some soy-based alternative (or something), but then we get back to petroleum-based fertilizer...
Ha ha--I wasn't going to mention it, but re-reading the comment, I feel compelled: My parents met at medical school. This is how my dots connect up--not afraid of germs (no produce bags), eating peelings for nutritive value, and wanting to maintain safe medical equipment.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I dont' know how "rationalize" became retionalize!