Reducing plastic waste, one aisle at a time

February 28, 2018 11:48 AM

Plastic-free supermarket aisle opens in the Netherlands (SL Guardian) Co-founder of campaign leading development says, “There is absolutely no logic in wrapping something as fleeting as food in something as indestructible as plastic. Plastic food and drink packaging remains useful for a matter of days yet remains a destructive presence on the Earth for centuries afterwards.”
posted by stillmoving (64 comments total)

Micro-plastics are one of the really huge emerging ocean health issues.

I strongly suspect that in a few years the evidence will be overwhelmingly for bans of plastics going to uncontrolled disposal.
posted by bonehead at 11:50 AM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Someone was telling me enthusiastically the other day about how Aldi's is very environmentally friendly because they cut everything to the bone to reduce the number of employees they need and pre-wrap all their produce and such so that there's no inefficient weighing of items.

I think they were confused about what "environmentally friendly" means.
posted by inconstant at 11:54 AM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

Oh, and more on Dutch ingenuity in plastics management is here.
posted by stillmoving at 11:55 AM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I feel pretty awful anytime I purchase any thing disposable with plastic. So wasteful.

Any sadly, all plastic is destined to become a microplastic as it eventually breaks down. Just because you stopped buying that face wash with the plastic beads doesn't get you off the hook.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:00 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

and while we're at it, can we either

A. get rid of all Tupperware (and whatever other names we have for those hard plastic containers everybody seems to have), or at least

B. enforce specific sizes for all lids and containers, such that one batch MUST work with another batch, regardless of manufacturer, or whether metric or imperial or what fucking ever ... and all deviation from such specs is punishable by death for not just executives of the companies in question, but also shareholders ...?
posted by philip-random at 12:12 PM on February 28, 2018 [22 favorites]

I love when I buy something like a bag of chips and before I can say, "I don't need a bag", the cashier puts the plastic bag of chips in another plastic bag for me to carry.
posted by octothorpe at 12:14 PM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

My local council has announced a ban on some single-use plastics like balloons and water bottles in public spaces. The four year-olds I know refuse to use disposable cups or straws after seeing that Octonauts episode about algae, and a discussion about it at kindy. I’m very okay with this.
posted by third word on a random page at 12:39 PM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm not sure why this is being described as the world's first. There are plenty of grocery stores that are not only not using plastic packaging, they are zero waste. Not that the idea is bad, just that the framing of the article is a little excessively laudatory.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:50 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

My impression is that microplastic pollution is far more about shedding from synthetic fibers and textiles than packaging and films, and that nothing short of massively reducing the use of synthetic fiber clothing is really going to make a big difference. Single-use plastic packaging is certainly bad, but in Western countries at least that usually goes to landfills or incinerators, while textiles get washed and shed fibers that aren't always removed at the treatment plant.
posted by Small Dollar at 1:06 PM on February 28, 2018 [10 favorites]

Metafilter: a little excessively laudatory
posted by EricGjerde at 1:12 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

...close to two-thirds (63 1%) of the releases are due to first the laundry of synthetic textiles (34 8%), and second to the erosion of tyres while driving (28 3%).... Should natural rubber be considered the erosion of tyres would contribute to almost half of the releases (46 2%) in the central scenario

The third important contribution (24 2%) is the source City Dust which has been computed with a simplistic approach Further research should be performed on City dust to better understand the contributions per region Personal care products only account for 2% of the global release of primary microplastics to the world ocean...

Primary Microplastics in the Oceans, 2017
posted by bonehead at 1:17 PM on February 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

get rid of all Tupperware

On the contrary, the correct formula of plastic is a miracle material when used for things that require rot-free permanence (roofing, siding), or will be recycled under controlled conditions (car parts). Wasting this technology on single-use packaging is a crime against every species on earth.
posted by CynicalKnight at 1:19 PM on February 28, 2018 [14 favorites]

Oh and we should stop the myth of recycling plastic and use the more appropriate term of downcycling.
posted by asra at 1:40 PM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

A. get rid of all Tupperware (and whatever other names we have for those hard plastic containers everybody seems to have), or at least

Mason jars work great if you are looking for a personal solution to Tupperware. They work great for about 90% of what you'd store in plastic.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:05 PM on February 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

I see a lot of bagged bulk food that are bagged in a thin, transparent... not-plastic? Did I miss the part where they say what those bags are made of?
posted by GuyZero at 2:08 PM on February 28, 2018

And a lot of those compostable disposables are compostable in commercial facilities only which may not be available in your area..ugh
posted by asra at 2:11 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Tupperware lasts for a pretty long time, I very much doubt it contributes significantly to plastic pollution compared to one time use packaging or other things.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:12 PM on February 28, 2018 [10 favorites]

I see a lot of bagged bulk food that are bagged in a thin, transparent... not-plastic? Did I miss the part where they say what those bags are made of?

No, no, you look past the aisle of plastic-wrapped bread loaves to the end of that aisle, where you see the plastic-free aisle, free of any visible detail. All I could recognize were presumably-glass juice bottles.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:13 PM on February 28, 2018

GuyZero, could be cellophane bags, but if you mean the foreground of the photo in the article, I guess it's just an ironically framed shot with some bread in regular plastic.

This makes me feel guilty for taking two disposable plastic bags from Tesco - they are rubbish because they can't hold anything and I can't really see why using paper bags would be a problem.

That said, Kenya's solution was to ban all disposable plastic bags in 2017. Yay!

How it works: not much. D'oh.
posted by Laotic at 2:15 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I figured the plastic-looking bags were IN FACT “innovative new compostable bio-materials.”
posted by materialgirl at 2:22 PM on February 28, 2018

What I want to know is: if plastic bags are banned, how do I pick up my dog's poop and what do I do with it? We always pick up after our dog, and it's always done reusing a plastic bag we got from the grocery store. We're not allowed to put either plastic bags or animal waste in the recycling bin, so it goes in the trash. I can't imagine trying to use a paper bag for that purpose, ick. Is this a "use cloth diapers, wash them when done!" sort of thing? Which, also ick.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:23 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh it's the stuff at the end of the aisle! Yeah, I think the photo could be framed better as I just looked at the shelves parallel with the line of sight in the photo.
posted by GuyZero at 2:23 PM on February 28, 2018

how do I pick up my dog's poop and what do I do with it?

You buy dedicated dog poop bags that break down quickly in landfill.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by GuyZero at 2:24 PM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

Tupperware lasts for a pretty long time, I very much doubt it contributes significantly to plastic pollution compared to one time use packaging or other things.
I recently took some old (late 70s/early 80s) proper Tupperware stuff from storage and it looks as it was new, and the old stuff that is on charity and vintage shops doesn't look bad, either. I have a Rolykit pencil box bought 20 years ago, and it has taken more abuse that I can think of and if it wasn't for ink smudges, it would look as new.

The problem is the dollar store cheap plastic containers that last maybe one year before the lid gets bent from heat or the plastic gets too brittle. Or simply because they're shite and if they fall and someone steps on it, they break immediately.
The consumer culture where has everything must be in blister packs, puts individual fruit in sealed containers etc is bad. Re-usable containers that last two blinks before having problems and are thrown away because a replacement costs spare change is worse.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:32 PM on February 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

You buy dedicated dog poop bags that break down quickly in landfill.

Agreed. We put all our trash in compostable plastic bags. Our city even sends us rolls of those bags to put our compostables in.
posted by Triplanetary at 2:38 PM on February 28, 2018

Technically those biodegradable bags can be labeled as such, but in practice there may not be much of a difference when they hit the landfill. The Atari landfill dig demonstrated that newspapers from 1983 were still readable in 2014; once something's compacted and buried, it's probably not breaking down much, whether or not it's 'biodegradable.'
posted by halation at 2:47 PM on February 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Agreed. We put all our trash in compostable plastic bags

Huh -- then why aren't grocery bags made of this?

We haven't looked at buying specifically-made dog poop bags because they seem like they're adding to the problem: new manufacturing takes energy and creates waste, producing the raw materials used in manufacturing take energy and create waste, fancy retail packaging doesn't provide functionality and takes extra work to produce, single-use-and-not-reusable products sound like more of a luxury and worse for the environment than getting an extra use out of something.

But now that I know that they exist, when the plastic bag bans come, I know there will still be plastic bags to pick up poop with.
posted by AzraelBrown at 2:49 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

You could carry along one of those shovel/dustpan things that has a collection box at the back.
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:55 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've tried so-called eco-friendly dog poop bags and sadly they tore so easily that they were essentially useless. If there's a brand that works with, erm, substantial deposits, I'd love to know.
posted by PussKillian at 2:56 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I buy these bags, they're not technically biodegradable but they have accelerated breakdown ("EPI Technology"). Pretty durable, I've never had one rip.
posted by GuyZero at 3:00 PM on February 28, 2018

I love when I buy something like a bag of chips and before I can say, "I don't need a bag", the cashier puts the plastic bag of chips in another plastic bag for me to carry.

That's the #1 reason why I use self-checkout if it's available. That plastic milk jug with a convenient carrying handle does not need to be placed into two non-durable plastic bags for the 40 seconds I'm going to be carrying it by hand.
posted by Foosnark at 3:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Tupperware lasts for a pretty long time, I very much doubt it contributes significantly to plastic pollution

The problem is the dollar store cheap plastic containers

also, as I suggested in my initial comment, the gauges keep changing, both between the different brands and even from the same manufacturer. The lid from last year's purchase won't fit this years container. Seriously. I've been noting this for years. If you keep your stuff fairly contained, it's probably not much of an issue, but in my world, with people constantly coming and going with stuff in Tupperware (or whatever) -- I inevitably end up with a cupboard full of mismatched stuff. And inevitably need to go buy another set*.

Call me paranoid, but this has to be by design.

* I've finally stopped buying any such stuff and get by with used Yogurt containers and whatever.
posted by philip-random at 4:27 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

the gauges keep changing

Call me paranoid, but this has to be by design.

Hm, I suspect that it's more a side-effect of changing the manufacturing process to be more efficient & cut costs and/or constantly cycling through different contract manufacturers. It's hard to maintain exact thickness over other changes.

That said, it's a positive side-effect from the manufacturer's perspective.
posted by GuyZero at 4:32 PM on February 28, 2018

I am willing to pay more if it means I can compost it, rather than trash it. I already pay for single stream recycling in addition to trash pickup, but my dream would be that I could product very little trash. I bought a composter, and I would only have to have trash pickup once a month now, but we still put it out every week so it doesn't stink up the garage, but I pretty much compost all food waste except of banana peels and chicken bones. I would love to throw the containers my food comes in with the waste.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:35 PM on February 28, 2018

I'm always telling the cashiers "less bags."

Sometimes, this results in the cashier assuming I want to carry less bags and cheerfully double-bagging everything.

Sometimes, they don't hear/ignore me, and I end up shoving the extra bags into the recycling bin after rebagging a few items on the courtesy bench near the door.

Sometimes, when fortuitously (in my case) the bagger is absent, I do it myself, and end up with 2 or 3 bags where if the bagger did it I would have 8.

o.0
posted by Armed Only With Hubris at 4:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Soviet Union did it right. Everything came in bottles and jars. The bottles and jars came in several different sizes. Then they were washed and reused.
posted by sexyrobot at 4:53 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

philip-random, I'm not the tupperware guy in our household, but the person who is is a Rubbermaid loyalist, and those things definitely use the exact same sizes for various generations, and I think there are at most 5-6 different lid sizes in total, everything tends to the same, even for different types of containers with different heights, etc. They also seem to be pretty good quality, and last for a long time. Mostly, the plastic gets a bit cloudy after a year or two, so they don't look as nice, but they work just fine.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 5:19 PM on February 28, 2018

Sometimes, when fortuitously (in my case) the bagger is absent, I do it myself, and end up with 2 or 3 bags where if the bagger did it I would have 8.

As a former grocery store bagger: they're just trying their best not to get Yelled At. Guessing incorrectly when it comes to individual bag weights or overall bag quantity or whether to bag an item at all is a great way to get Yelled At; in my experience -- which has been borne out when I've compared it with that of my colleagues -- the odds of getting Yelled At are considerably higher when you err on the side of fewer bags. Whether this is because more customers prefer extravagant bagging, or whether those customers who prefer more bags tend to be yellier in general while those who prefer to avoid bag-waste are more polite, has not been determined, to my knowledge, but the correlation has long been clear.
posted by halation at 6:19 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Technically those biodegradable bags can be labeled as such, but in practice there may not be much of a difference when they hit the landfill.

That is a good point. But my understanding is that the plastic that stays in a landfill is less of a problem. The plastic that gets loose, washes out to sea and breaks up in microscopic particles is the stuff that is the most dangerous. If a bio-degradable plastic bag escapes the landfill and goes to sea, it will presumably degrade away quickly.
posted by Triplanetary at 6:41 PM on February 28, 2018

My mother has started a crusade against plastics lately, and I'm kind of impressed. One thing I really like that she's started using is beeswaxed linen or cotton bags and wraps. They hold any shape you press them into, so you can fold over the top and it just stays, or press a wrap across the top of a jar and down the sides and it stays on as a cover. They work very well for storing bread or vegetables. You can make them at home pretty easily if you don't have anywhere to buy them. The only disadvantage is that if you leave windows open at home and a waxed bag on the counter, it seems to attract bees!

She takes these, and glass containers, and wooden boxes, baskets etc, when she shops, and does the old-fashioned trip to the butcher, the greengrocer etc before the supermarket, so she can do things like ask the butcher to cut her meat into the right size to fit in her glass container she brought with her and to put it straight in there. At the supermarket she only buys things that aren't wrapped in plastic when she has a choice. I've shopped with her and found to my surprise that no one ever complains or even looks surprised when she asks them to put a product into one of her packagings instead of a bag or a plastic container.

She's also on a pension and only just scrapes through the month financially, and usually won't even spend an extra 10c if there's a cheaper option, so either she's found ways to do this cheaply, or she's decided it's worth the sacrifice.
posted by lollusc at 6:44 PM on February 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

The_Vegetables: "Mason jars work great if you are looking for a personal solution to Tupperware. They work great for about 90% of what you'd store in plastic."

You can't freeze liquidy material and they don't travel all that well.
posted by Mitheral at 7:30 PM on February 28, 2018

Laotic: "How it works: not much. D'oh."

Well it's been at least partially effective and these things take time for attitudes to change. Even a 10% reduction in bags making it into the environment is a pretty big win.
posted by Mitheral at 7:34 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

if plastic bags are banned, how do I pick up my dog's poop and what do I do with it?

Whenever my dog takes a crap when we're out and about, I will scout around a bit for a couple of large leaves, use those to keep the dogshit off my fingers as I pick it up from the middle of the pathway she's helpfully decided to leave it on, then poke it under the leaf litter next to the trunk of the nearest shrub or bush.

Dogshit is a problem if it's left somewhere where it will get stepped on and/or wash into a waterway, but not if it can remain undisturbed for the week it will take to break down into topsoil. And the nutrients in dogshit belong in the topsoil. The idea of wrapping shit in indestructible plastic and then consigning it to anaerobic burial has always struck me as totally bizarre and wrong.

I accept that this is not an option available to people who live in totally built and/or densely populated environments.
posted by flabdablet at 8:24 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've tried so-called eco-friendly dog poop bags and sadly they tore so easily that they were essentially useless

I use these. They don't rip, and I can chuck them into my (municipal) compost bin. They are BPI certified compostable.

We tried some pretty terrible ones in the past that didn't even have the strength to unfold in your hand. They weren't even certified as compostable either.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 8:37 PM on February 28, 2018

flabdablet: "Dogshit is a problem if it's left somewhere where it will get stepped on and/or wash into a waterway, but not if it can remain undisturbed for the week it will take to break down into topsoil."

If my yard is any indication dog poop basically lasts forever when exposed to the elements. It certainly doesn't disappear in a week.
posted by Mitheral at 9:42 PM on February 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

If it's visible in your yard, that certainly counts as being left somewhere it can get stepped on.

Pick up a fresh-looking piece, stick it under leaf litter near the foot of a shrub, and check a week later to see if it's still there. Betcha it won't be.
posted by flabdablet at 11:36 PM on February 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

not if it can remain undisturbed for the week it will take to break down into topsoil

Poop takes longer than that to fully break down/compost, even under ideal conditions.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:16 AM on March 1, 2018

What they don't address in the article, is the fact that there is SO much more plastic in a Dutch grocery store than a US one. When we moved to Amsterdam from the US, I was (and continue to be) appalled at the amount of plastic we end up consuming. Unless you happen to make it to the once-weekly "farmer" style markets, you're at the mercy of the chain stores to buy your groceries, and EVERYTHING comes in plastic. I've always been a "bring my own cloth bag, chose the least packaging" kind of person, but beyond your carry bag, it's just not an option here. Produce is either individually wrapped, or sold in multiples in a plastic bag. I've only found one store that has (a very small) bulk foods option, but haven't ever had one close enough to me to use on a regular basis. Most stores have large cold cases with pre-cut, pre-portioned, and plastic-packaged vegetables, which are very convenient, but so much plastic. All of the meats and fish come in plastic trays with plastic wrap, or in plastic bags from the deli. Unless you can make it to the butcher (who is only open until 5pm), then you might be able to get it wrapped in plastic coated paper that can't be recycled anyway.

I greatly welcome efforts like this "plastic-free" aisle in a specialty grocery store, but there are so many easy things that the chain stores could do that would provide a greater impact.
posted by PosterGirlwithNoPoster at 6:19 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Poop takes longer than that to fully break down/compost, even under ideal conditions.
Pets also tend to be fed things that are environmentally bad that wash into the waterway if they break down on their own.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:19 AM on March 1, 2018

You can freeze liquids in mason jars, you just have to give it like 2 inches of headspace and don’t put the lid on until it’s frozen solid. Travel is a bit of a problem (which is the original argument for plastic, it’s light and unbreakable) but it is possible if you’re careful and you wrap them so they don’t bang together. I switched to mostly mason jars due to my fruit-canning lifestyle (can fruit, eat fruit, reuse jar, can fruit again in season...) and it was worth it.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:29 AM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

The same report on primary microplastics also estimates that they represent 15-30% of the microplastic in the ocean. That is, the vast majority of microplastic in the ocean comes from regular old pieces of plastic that break down into microplastic. Not that we shouldn't be concerned.

Also, has anyone seen a good analysis of the tradeoffs between properly landfilled plastic and alternatives for keeping produce fresh? Because a head of lettuce or broccoli in my vegetable drawer lasts maybe a day or two if it's not wrapped in some kind of sealed membrane, such as a plastic bag. Carrots will keep for a month in a plastic bag in the fridge, but get soft within a week without it. There are all kinds of inputs involved in growing the food, and it doesn't seem environmentally friendly to save a few grams of plastic but waste a pound of broccoli.
posted by wnissen at 9:29 AM on March 1, 2018

Keeping stuff fresh:

1) Root vegetables need to be cool and dry, the crisper is too moist. Experiment with the settings if you can.

2) You can try wrapping vegetables in a paper towel and wrapping that in foil in the fridge. I don't know why it works but it does.

3) Don't buy it until you plan to eat it. If you only shop once a month or once a week, very perishable things like greens may no longer be part of your diet much, or learn to love cooked & frozen & reheated greens.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:57 AM on March 1, 2018

As far as I can tell, I do the most good by not buying clothes with plastic in them, and in fact just about everything I own is cotton, so I don't feel a particular need to give up my disposable plastic food storage for mason jars. I of course reuse them until they get icky, and I recycle them, but we mostly gave up heavy glass jars for a *reason*.
posted by tavella at 10:03 AM on March 1, 2018

Produce is either individually wrapped, or sold in multiples in a plastic bag.
This is a bit exaggerated. It's true for budget supermarkets like Lidl, Aldi and Dirk (and a commonly cited downside of those stores) but not really for regular supermarkets. There has been a recent trend that some foods are individually wrapped (mostly in the off-season), like cucumbers. Broccoli now seems to be wrapped most of the time. There was some pushback when these foods started to be wrapped sometimes. Apparently, as wnissen says, it keeps them fresh longer and it helps a lot with food waste. Here's a typical Dutch supermarket vegetable isle. There are quite a few foods in plastic, but you can buy carrots, beans, endives, cucumbers, bell peppers, cauliflower, leeks and fennel without any plastic. Not pictured here are zucchini which I have never seen wrapped and tomatoes, where luxury options are packaged, but there's also always a bulk option. For fruits, small fruits like berries and grapes are usually packaged, and "luxury" apples and budget bags of bananas as well, but you can buy apples, pears, bananas, oranges, and most bigger fruits without any packaging. It is true that there's also a big refrigerator with pre-cut packaged vegetables. Most people here rarely eat out and bags of pre-cut vegetables make preparing dinner a lot easier. But it's an option, you can totally skip them.

Most medium towns also still have fruit and vegetable stores ("groenteboer") where you can buy almost everything unpackaged/unwrapped, but they do usually close at 6.
posted by blub at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2018

A lot of what guides me in replacing plastic in my life is asking, "How did people access this before plastic was invented and is it viable now?"

Before plastic, lunches were wrapped in wax paper, a napkin, a thermos, a banana leaf, or a jar. Before plastic, straws were paper and takeaway was served in something you eat (a bread bowl, a cone, a bun) or you were expected to eat it there (ice cream sodas, the American equivalent of Starbucks back in the day.) Produce was eaten that day or within the week-- nobody had a freezer, they maybe had an icebox, so marketing day became a bigger deal. A lot of it is a change in process or expectation rather than just switching out a product.
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:53 AM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Here's a typical Dutch supermarket vegetable isle

That looks exactly like a typical US supermarket aisle, except that in the US vegetables are almost always on an outside wall because there is watering infrastructure that periodically sprays the vegetables (some even have fake thunder like its being watered by rain-cute!). You get the amount of vegetables you want and then put them in a plastic bag.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:21 PM on March 1, 2018

but we mostly gave up heavy glass jars for a *reason*.

what was the reason again? an empty pint-sized major jar weighs nine ounces
posted by entropicamericana at 12:36 PM on March 1, 2018

And a pint plastic container weighs about zero. And doesn't smash into jagged pieces and splinters if it falls out of the freezer or fridge. And of course there's all the extra weight of transport, so more fuel used and more tires worn down -- and as has been pointed out, the majority of the issue with microplastics is from clothes and tires, the vast majority if you consider the contribution to 'city dust' from driving. Not my worn out plastic going into an incinerator or feedstock.
posted by tavella at 12:55 PM on March 1, 2018

So let's ban cars and plastic, I'm okay with that.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:00 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Not to take over the thread but I've always found this weird little song boosting the American glassmakers' union to be a telling entry into how attitudes towards packaging have changed.

"Now how about the one-way beer bottles? Aren't they terrific! They chill faster, stay cold longer, and beer tastes like it should from a bottle. What's more, you know that bottle was made just for you!"

I mean, I'm sure washing and reusing bottles and jars uses a ton of water and gas moving them around, plus shipping anything in glass is extra-heavy compared to plastic. There are always tradeoffs, but I think using disposable plastic for every damn thing is just not OK. At the very least, pass some of those externalities on to the consumer...mandate plastic composition, thickness, and durability in Tupperware to reduce waste.
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:44 PM on March 1, 2018

I would love to use more glass but I am exceptionally clumsy and glass drinking tumblers and bowls have a short lifespan in my house.

For a while I thought acrylic tumblers would work, but they suck because they crack easily and aren't recyclable. So now I use regular recyclable plastic tumblers, and storage containers. I compost everything but meat scraps, and would love to do that too if there was a service for it. Our trash can is usually only half-full at pickup, not bad for three people. Of course our recycling can is pretty full, but a lot of that is junk mail.

Plastic is far too useful to be totally abandoned but it's also the monster we created and don't know what to do with. Recycling it is also polluting and too much never gets recycled.

I am horrified at what we waste, but as with many things, we are going to have to find a solution that is not abstinence. It's something we should be throwing money and scientists at, just like climate change.
posted by emjaybee at 3:19 PM on March 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

Plastic is far too useful to be totally abandoned but it's also the monster we created and don't know what to do with.

Making plastics also relies on extracting fossil carbon, which is another thing we need to wean ourselves off ASAP.

Plastics have been a thing for well under a hundred years. The biosphere will eventually evolve a range of organisms that eat all of these novel compounds, but it's going to take a lot of damage from them before that happens.

For the specific purpose of food wraps, plastics derived from feedstocks that are grown rather than mined, and that existing organisms (possibly including us!) can already metabolize, already exist. They don't have the economies of scale that the mine-derived plastics do as yet, but the potential is there.
posted by flabdablet at 6:58 PM on March 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

I wonder if one day the past century will just be a weird, thin blip of plastic in the ground.
posted by lucidium at 5:26 AM on March 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I am horrified at what we waste, but as with many things, we are going to have to find a solution that is not abstinence.

spoken like a true 21st-century american
posted by entropicamericana at 7:05 AM on March 2, 2018 [2 favorites]