Multimedia artwork by Bonnie Monteleone, Plastic Ocean from the What Goes Around, Comes Around collection
The care of the earth lies with each of us. It's easy to feel powerless and inconsequential when we see the government enacting greener policies at a snail's pace (or worse - reversing progress), or consider developing nations with insufficient environmental standards, or contemplate huge multi-billion dollar companies that make their money in the destruction of the earth and the exploitation of its resources. To be certain, all of these things have a huge impact on the health of the earth and climate change in particular, but the reality is that the little things that most of us do every day have a dramatic impact as well. Mile-wide islands of floating trash are fouling the oceans. Landfills contaminate groundwater and release greenhouse gases as garbage decomposes. The wildlife consume or become entangled in trash, in many cases leading to death. Much of what we throw away takes thousands - literally thousands - of years to decompose. We need to realize that there is no magical place called "Away" where these things go - when you put something into the trash, it's going into our earth, accumulating, and snowballing into a major problem.
Consider how much you throw away each week? Multiply that by 52. How old are you? How many years has this been going on? Wow. That's a lot of trash. And that's just you and your family.
Over the next few weeks I'll be writing about simple things you can do every day that truly impact the health of the earth and the animals - ourselves included. Because you don't need to wait for your city to ban plastic bags or styrofoam packaging or bottled water to stop using them. You don't need to wait until the situation becomes dire to start preventing catastrophe.
Today's topic: Bags.
Consider how much you throw away each week? Multiply that by 52. How old are you? How many years has this been going on? Wow. That's a lot of trash. And that's just you and your family.
Over the next few weeks I'll be writing about simple things you can do every day that truly impact the health of the earth and the animals - ourselves included. Because you don't need to wait for your city to ban plastic bags or styrofoam packaging or bottled water to stop using them. You don't need to wait until the situation becomes dire to start preventing catastrophe.
Today's topic: Bags.
Although I will completely acknowledge that plastic bags are about a million times worse than a paper bag, I'm also going to make the case against paper bags as well. The widespread use of paper bags contributes to the decimation of our forests and the production of toxic waste during paper processing, not to mention the use of extreme quantities of water. Oh, but the bags your grocer uses are made from post-consumer recycled content? Yes, that's much better, however the recycling process still uses harsh chemicals and a lot of water and energy. So I would encourage you to work to eliminate the use of even paper bags in your life as much as possible. And if you do end up needing a paper bag at the grocery store or another retailer, reuse the heck out of that thing. Encourage your retailers to carry the bags with handles, which are sturdier and more likely to be reused. But your first thought should be to avoid the bag in the first place.
Plastic bags are the worst - no really - the *worst.* I was thrilled to see the CA voters turn out to make us the first state to ban plastic bags. But the great news is that you don't have to wait for your state to ban plastic bags to start making a difference! Here's my case for avoiding them. They're made from petroleum using energy intensive and environmentally hazardous processing, so even before that bag hits your hands, it's already been a burden on the environment. Then, because they're mostly designed to be single use, they're a little flimsy and baggers will often double bag or just place one or two items in each bag. Seriously, I've seen family members in the midwest come home from normal shopping trips with like 30 plastic bags. One trip. No joke.
EVEN IF you save them and try to reuse them, how on earth are you going to reuse 30 plastic bags a week?
EVEN IF you do reuse them, eventually they get a hole, get dirty, or just get old and then you have to throw them away. So while it's good to reuse them, they just end up in a landfill anyways.
EVEN IF you try to recycle them, plastic bags are one of the more difficult things to recycle and generally end up as composite lumber, not another plastic bag (if they're recycled at all). Here's a great article on the difficulties in plastic recycling. Here's a more up-to-date one that discusses approaches to improving the problem, none of which are great.
So what do you do? Invest in some good quality canvas bags, or other reusable bag, that you will use for years to come. I've had most of mine for nearly a decade, routinely pack them full of glass bottles of milk and other heavy things, and have seen only minimal signs of wear. When they get dirty, I wash them. If they were to get a hole, I could sew it. Get a bunch of them. Have some always in the car. Put a hanger by the door where you hang them when you're done so you'll remember to take them back to the car or grab one on your way out to walk to the store.
Bringing your own bag isn't relegated to the grocery store! You can bring your own bag everywhere - Target, take-out restaurants, Nordstrom - literally anywhere that uses bags. Take them to the mall.
And how about produce bags. It hurts my heart when I see someone at the grocery store with a produce bag for literally every fruit or vegetable they're buying. A lone jalapeño pepper? Gets its own bag. Head of cauliflower? In a bag. Bunch of bananas? Bag. They make mesh reusable produce bags that are awesome for times where a bag is desired or unavoidable (I'm not suggesting you buy your green beans sans bag). I've had my produce bags for 7 or 8 years and they're just now starting to need replacing - and mine were not that high quality to begin with, so I expect nicer ones to last much longer. If you forget them or don't have enough, most things don't really need a bag. Even apples and carrots and other such things - just group them together on the conveyer and your checkout person won't mind at all. If none of these apply and you absolutely *have* to use a disposable bag, see if your grocer has some small paper ones you can use instead.
Garbage bags are a big contributor to plastic waste, and this may feel unavoidable to most of us. However, using biodegradable alternatives is one possibility. Unfortunately, with the way landfills are run, biodegradable bags don't really break down. Still, it's better than plastic, and if the bag ends up in the ocean or some other natural habitat it will break down as opposed to becoming a hazard for wildlife. Better still would be to skip the bag altogether. In the age of industrial composting (the subject of a separate post), trash is no longer very messy. It's mostly just packaging and other things that are non-compostable. So the bag isn't really necessary. And if the can does get messy, you can always wash it.
Lastly, I want to talk about in-home packaging like ziplock bags and even saran wrap or aluminum foil. Not only are these products very expensive, but they literally never get recycled and are used extensively by households everywhere - especially ones with children. Let's start with bags. I know they're easy and convenient, but there's a better way that won't harm wildlife and the earth!
For lunches and snacks, there are reusable snack bags that come in awesome patterns and are just as easy (if not easier) for a child to open. For adults or when kids get older, there are all kinds of nice metal containers and bento boxes that keep lunch and snacks organized and separate. We really like the stacking tiffins for taking lunches. There are also a lot of plastic containers out there, which are also far better than a lifetime of plastic bags, but I'm all for reducing the production and waste of plastics in general, so I favor metal or glass. I'm also not comfortable with the potential leaching of chemicals from plastics into foods, so we usually try to avoid using plastic for anything that makes intimate contact with food.
Not only are these products far better for the environment, but they'll also save you tons of money!! Ziplock bags - even generic ones - are expensive! We use glass or metal containers for all leftover storage and freezer storage as well, so there's little use for even large ziplock bags. I think we've had the same box of ziplocks for at least a couple of years now. Now if only I could come up with a way to freeze breastmilk that doesn't involve plastic bags. That's one nut I've yet to crack. Feel free to post in the comments if you have a suggestion for that one!
Plastic wrap can be simply avoided by putting foods into bowls and covering the bowl with a plate. If that's not possible or convenient, I like this Bee's Wrap stuff a lot. Avoid aluminum foil by going back to cooking the old fashioned way. Just don't use foil, and clean your pan later. Yes, it takes elbow grease, but aluminum has a HUGE production impact - it's very chemical-intensive to extract from the ore. (random side story from the chemist in me: as recently as 150 years ago, aluminum was considered a precious metal because it was extremely difficult to extract in its pure state. A few good chemists solved the problem and now it's as cheap as dirt.) In addition, although it's easy to recycle, it can only be recycled if it's CLEAN and if your recycling accepts it. So... You have to clean it anyways. So if you have to clean something, it might as well be a pan. For covering things like trays of lasagne and such, I have used parchment paper, which isn't great since it doesn't seal, but it usually does the job alright. If nothing else, I'll use parchment and put aluminum foil over it, which allows me to reuse the foil or easily recycle it. Generally, though, I just try not to use it.
Of course, none of us will do this perfectly all the time. There are days, especially with kids in the house, where I-just-can't-even and I cave and use aluminum foil or stick something in a ziplock bag rather than dig out a container. The point is to have the items on hand and at the front of your mind to begin reducing your use of disposables. If everyone used a little less plastic, the world would be better for it. Household waste in the form of plastics has skyrocketed in the past 50 years. We really try to be good about what we throw away, and I'm still amazed at how much trash accumulates each week. Hopefully some of these tips inspire you to make changes in your household!
Plastic bags are the worst - no really - the *worst.* I was thrilled to see the CA voters turn out to make us the first state to ban plastic bags. But the great news is that you don't have to wait for your state to ban plastic bags to start making a difference! Here's my case for avoiding them. They're made from petroleum using energy intensive and environmentally hazardous processing, so even before that bag hits your hands, it's already been a burden on the environment. Then, because they're mostly designed to be single use, they're a little flimsy and baggers will often double bag or just place one or two items in each bag. Seriously, I've seen family members in the midwest come home from normal shopping trips with like 30 plastic bags. One trip. No joke.
EVEN IF you save them and try to reuse them, how on earth are you going to reuse 30 plastic bags a week?
EVEN IF you do reuse them, eventually they get a hole, get dirty, or just get old and then you have to throw them away. So while it's good to reuse them, they just end up in a landfill anyways.
EVEN IF you try to recycle them, plastic bags are one of the more difficult things to recycle and generally end up as composite lumber, not another plastic bag (if they're recycled at all). Here's a great article on the difficulties in plastic recycling. Here's a more up-to-date one that discusses approaches to improving the problem, none of which are great.
So what do you do? Invest in some good quality canvas bags, or other reusable bag, that you will use for years to come. I've had most of mine for nearly a decade, routinely pack them full of glass bottles of milk and other heavy things, and have seen only minimal signs of wear. When they get dirty, I wash them. If they were to get a hole, I could sew it. Get a bunch of them. Have some always in the car. Put a hanger by the door where you hang them when you're done so you'll remember to take them back to the car or grab one on your way out to walk to the store.
Bringing your own bag isn't relegated to the grocery store! You can bring your own bag everywhere - Target, take-out restaurants, Nordstrom - literally anywhere that uses bags. Take them to the mall.
And how about produce bags. It hurts my heart when I see someone at the grocery store with a produce bag for literally every fruit or vegetable they're buying. A lone jalapeño pepper? Gets its own bag. Head of cauliflower? In a bag. Bunch of bananas? Bag. They make mesh reusable produce bags that are awesome for times where a bag is desired or unavoidable (I'm not suggesting you buy your green beans sans bag). I've had my produce bags for 7 or 8 years and they're just now starting to need replacing - and mine were not that high quality to begin with, so I expect nicer ones to last much longer. If you forget them or don't have enough, most things don't really need a bag. Even apples and carrots and other such things - just group them together on the conveyer and your checkout person won't mind at all. If none of these apply and you absolutely *have* to use a disposable bag, see if your grocer has some small paper ones you can use instead.
Garbage bags are a big contributor to plastic waste, and this may feel unavoidable to most of us. However, using biodegradable alternatives is one possibility. Unfortunately, with the way landfills are run, biodegradable bags don't really break down. Still, it's better than plastic, and if the bag ends up in the ocean or some other natural habitat it will break down as opposed to becoming a hazard for wildlife. Better still would be to skip the bag altogether. In the age of industrial composting (the subject of a separate post), trash is no longer very messy. It's mostly just packaging and other things that are non-compostable. So the bag isn't really necessary. And if the can does get messy, you can always wash it.
Lastly, I want to talk about in-home packaging like ziplock bags and even saran wrap or aluminum foil. Not only are these products very expensive, but they literally never get recycled and are used extensively by households everywhere - especially ones with children. Let's start with bags. I know they're easy and convenient, but there's a better way that won't harm wildlife and the earth!
For lunches and snacks, there are reusable snack bags that come in awesome patterns and are just as easy (if not easier) for a child to open. For adults or when kids get older, there are all kinds of nice metal containers and bento boxes that keep lunch and snacks organized and separate. We really like the stacking tiffins for taking lunches. There are also a lot of plastic containers out there, which are also far better than a lifetime of plastic bags, but I'm all for reducing the production and waste of plastics in general, so I favor metal or glass. I'm also not comfortable with the potential leaching of chemicals from plastics into foods, so we usually try to avoid using plastic for anything that makes intimate contact with food.
Not only are these products far better for the environment, but they'll also save you tons of money!! Ziplock bags - even generic ones - are expensive! We use glass or metal containers for all leftover storage and freezer storage as well, so there's little use for even large ziplock bags. I think we've had the same box of ziplocks for at least a couple of years now. Now if only I could come up with a way to freeze breastmilk that doesn't involve plastic bags. That's one nut I've yet to crack. Feel free to post in the comments if you have a suggestion for that one!
Plastic wrap can be simply avoided by putting foods into bowls and covering the bowl with a plate. If that's not possible or convenient, I like this Bee's Wrap stuff a lot. Avoid aluminum foil by going back to cooking the old fashioned way. Just don't use foil, and clean your pan later. Yes, it takes elbow grease, but aluminum has a HUGE production impact - it's very chemical-intensive to extract from the ore. (random side story from the chemist in me: as recently as 150 years ago, aluminum was considered a precious metal because it was extremely difficult to extract in its pure state. A few good chemists solved the problem and now it's as cheap as dirt.) In addition, although it's easy to recycle, it can only be recycled if it's CLEAN and if your recycling accepts it. So... You have to clean it anyways. So if you have to clean something, it might as well be a pan. For covering things like trays of lasagne and such, I have used parchment paper, which isn't great since it doesn't seal, but it usually does the job alright. If nothing else, I'll use parchment and put aluminum foil over it, which allows me to reuse the foil or easily recycle it. Generally, though, I just try not to use it.
Of course, none of us will do this perfectly all the time. There are days, especially with kids in the house, where I-just-can't-even and I cave and use aluminum foil or stick something in a ziplock bag rather than dig out a container. The point is to have the items on hand and at the front of your mind to begin reducing your use of disposables. If everyone used a little less plastic, the world would be better for it. Household waste in the form of plastics has skyrocketed in the past 50 years. We really try to be good about what we throw away, and I'm still amazed at how much trash accumulates each week. Hopefully some of these tips inspire you to make changes in your household!
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