Within 15 minutes drive I was able to get a week (or so)'s worth of groceries and drop off recyclables to boot. It did take some time though.
First I dropped dry cleaning plastic and hangers off at Tirpok Dry Cleaners in Flemington. Then I took batteries and used printer cartridges to Staples. I drove past the county recycling facility to drop off my old milk cartons, but it was Electronics Recycling Day and there were too many people waiting in line.
I went to Basil Bandwagon, the local natural food store, and shopped out of the bulk bins with plastic bags that I had brought with me (previously used). I bought some produce -- potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, lettuce, and broccoli. Most of the fruits and veggies had labels on each one so I passed on everything else, but I did take a melon with a label. I bought a few glass jars, even a couple that had plastic seals over the metal lids.
I was particularly delighted to find a glass jar with a metal lid of tahini. The only tahini I'd ever found before was in a metal container with a plastic lid. I'd scored garbanzo beans out of the bulk bins and now I could make hummus, which is definitely worth the work.
Later my boyfriend and I made the rounds of the Stockton Market, an indoor "farmers" market, that was much more gourmet than I usually do. More produce went into my basket -- apples and red chard, no labels, one rubber band.. A Mexican restaurant was selling homemade tortilla chips in a gallon-size Ziploc bag, which I decided I could reuse and therefore live with. I also bought some cheese and fish, wrapped in paper, but costing more money than I could justify spending on a regular basis.
Certainly I got less plastic packaging than I would normally have at the grocery store. I'm thoroughly enjoying researching and exploring this new hobby, because I recognize that at least for now, that's what it is.
Had begun a longish reply, then an errant finger touched something and the entire tab shut down. Anyway, I'll pick that thread up later once I know the comment function is working. Congratulations on your (mostly) successful shopping foray. You're definitely on your way to living a life with less plastic.
ReplyDeleteJimmy
Thanks!
DeleteSo...what I had started to say earlier is that I fear you may become a modern day Don Quixote if you are on this journey by yourself. You may spend an inordinate amount of time trying to avoid plastic, only to find that the playing field hasn't changed and will never change without a populist campaign that impacts corporate bottom lines. Corporations have no conscience; their impact on the environment is not even on their horizon unless the public and government regulation places it there.
ReplyDeleteTo that purpose, popular online petitions can help. The more logical approach would seem to be (naively) to urge legislators to enact common sense laws, followed by reasonable, appropriate regulations – regulations which balance the need for corporations to earn a profit (thereby ensuring the public has access to goods which they cherish or value) with the critical need to respect and protect our Mother Earth, without whose sustenance our species is doomed.
As I said, the more logical approach would seem to be to urge legislators to work for the common weal (and we all know how well that’s working out). So long as corporate money is allowed to control the conversation in the marketplace, the people (and the people’s children, and their children’s children, will continue to be the grist for the giant corporate mills and those that control the mills).
I don't know what "God's" purpose is, but I do believe I know how the laws of Nature work -- and they are tangible and predictable, whereas God's purpose is only speculative.
I consider myself to be a spiritual person, and am a person of a certain faith, but my innate common sense says to me, "Why make God's job (no matter how you name your god) more difficult than it has to be?" Why increase human misery for the sake of corporate profits when, with practical constraints on what is in 21st Century America, virtually unfettered capitalism, we can have the lives of quality sustainability that modern industry and technology can provide and at the same time take steps to ensure our planet will be able to sustain us as a species -- for as long as anyone is capable of imagining (or until a wayward, rogue planet [with a nod to Lars von Trier's film classic, Melancholia] ends all our worries and woes with a cataclysmic, Earth destroying BANG! ).
With uncertain hope,
Jimmy
I firmly believe that any change starts with oneself. Before I can expect the world to change, first I must change and understand that change. Then, hopefully, my voice can be heard by others. Also, I'm not alone. There is a small but growing segment of people who are trying to live plastic and waste free.
ReplyDelete