happy earth day: put a fork in your purse
all this recent news that nalgene bottles might be leeching and not good for you is, well, not new. i mean jeez, i blogged about this in 2004. it’s sad that it’s taken the company this many years to do something when there were studies half a decade ago that said they weren’t as safe as they claimed to be.
that said, i just can’t stand drinking out of the metal ones and i’m still using my nalgene now and then when i need a portable water container, although i now mindfully avoid taking it everywhere with me like i used to, or drinking out of it all day at work. .
this earth day i am recommitting myself to my avoidance of plastics, especially non-recyclable plastics, and to also seeing what i can do to get other people to stop over-using it so much. i admit it’s difficult when you’re wanting to get food to go, or when you’re, you know, buying something, but i’ve become pretty good at just avoiding it whenever possible. resusable grocery bags, reusable coffee cups, a fork and spoon and tupperware container in my purse – a few little things and you can save a lot of landfill. it drives me crazy that i see people using the plastic to-go containers at the deli and salad bar at lunch time to walk 20 feet outside and sit and eat the salad, then throw it away when there are paper plates also available. i see this at the two places i eat lunch at most often and it just totally blows my mind, especially in places like berkeley where those same people then hop in their hybrids and drive away. one thing i’m going to do is send letters to the managers of these places and suggest they start offering ‘paper or plastic’ to their lunchtime customers. the one deli in particular that i eat at 2-3x a week just automatically puts your food into little plastic tubs unless you specifically ask for the paper boats. i bet if they just asked the customers and let them know there was an option, they’d use a lot less plastic tubs. that plastic island out in the ocean isn’t getting any smaller, folks.
this earth day, i hope everyone takes a moment to find a way to make even a small change that, over time, might mean big benefits, even if it’s just putting a fork in your bag so that the next time you grab food to go, that’s one less plastic fork.
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I think I asked you this before, but how does the Tupperware work for you? Is it for leftovers or takeout? I live next to a restaurant and have brought over my own containers for takeout, but they can’t do it bc of health code regulations.
it’s true, there is a health code regulation against putting food in personal containers for takeout(i don’t know why beverage cups are exempt from this, i’m guessing because it’s rare to get food poisoning from coffee), but a few of my favorite local restaurants will let me, and thus, i frequent them more than those that don’t. if i know i’m going to HAVE to take plastic packaging from a place when getting food, it’s actually a huge factor in my deciding whether or not to eat there. i especially do not like to eat at restaurants that don’t even have real plates/utensils if you eat in. those i avoid as much as possible. as for brining your own tupperware for leftovers – i’ve never tried packing up my own food at the table and leaving, but i’m betting most places wouldn’t say or do anything if you did.
For some reason, it never ocurred to me to use reusable untensils. I am def. brining in some to work for lunch. Thank you for the idea.
awesome!
i know it might seem that food and plastics are my “pet issues”, but well, they are, and in fact, in the face of all the problems in the world, one of the most recommended ways to actually be and feel productive is to pick a pet issue – one that you can be really active about – and focus on it. i feel i make a big difference in my own life with my food consumption choices, and so that’s what i’ve focused on. of course, there are thousands of other things you could do besides worry about plastic food containers. i know for a lot of busy people (and parents), this is maybe too hard and frustrating, but for me, it’s easy and something i like trying to work on. the point is to find something that you can do that reduces waste/promotes green living that fits your life and focus on it.
for more specifically on plastic, see Life Less Plastic!
there is a restaurant in my neighborhood (a healthy indian place) that ONLY serves their food in disposable containers – even if you’re eating in. they brag about how it’s more environmentally sound b/c it is all completely recyclable. i still find it hard to believe though that anything disposable would be more environmentally sound than having actual plates that can be washed. do you happen to know anything about that? is it possible that a recyclable container could be better than the water/soap/energy required to wash dishes?
my gut instinct is that it’s a bullshit argument – greenwashing – that they are giving to appease concerned customers like yourself. even if they do actually recycle all of the plastic containers that get used by eat-in customers (which is suspicious- does the city this restaurant is in recycle ALL numbers of plastic? i would ask them a few more questions – where do all the plastic containers go? do they separate their garbage? are they recycled by the municipality? most cities don’t, and just because a plastic is marked with a recycling number doesn’t mean that there is actually a place to recycle it. i can’t recycle yogurt containers where i live, even though they are a recyclable plastic, for example), the CREATION of plastic is a highly toxic process and IMO there is no amount of dishwashing that is going to make it BETTER to have more plastic produced in the world at this point in time (this scenario may change if we encounter severe droughts).
on the subject of whether any of this “really matters” in the face of the larger global environmental problems and in competition with expanding countries like China, the short answer is, well, no. my avoidance of plastic forks doesn’t even show up as a blip on the radar. however, as many pointed out a few weeks ago with the Tibet protests, what is perhaps the most important result of personal action is not whether or not you yourself save the oceans, it’s about raising awareness and having a collective impact. f each of us changes our lives just a little bit, that turns into a really big movement, and eventually a full cultural shift.
“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.”
–Gloria Steinem
i should have clarified – they are not plastic, they are square aluminum containers with a paper lid. there are no garbage cans in the whole place so that they can ensure that anything eaten in, gets recycled. you can look here: www.vedatakeout.com/commitment.html
i should ask them some more questions because i still can’t wrap my head around how disposable would be better than reuseable.
well, aluminum products are also incredibly toxic to produce (google “aluminum smelter pollution” sometime), not to mention that the raw material is mined, so while it’s great that they use recyclable containers for take-out, i still think it’s BS that they don’t offer a non-disposable alternative to eat-in customers. perhaps you should print them out some facts about aluminum mines, like this:
www.jbeo.com/video.htm
i also highly recommend reading this awesome little blogger piece on why we should have hope for a sustainable future