Are you buried in boxes and plastic packaging?
Do you save your boxes and reuse them?
Do you recycle your boxes and plastic?
Are you asking yourself ‘why is everything wrapped in plastic 2 sometimes 3 times’?
You are not alone wondering why we buy more items wrapped in plastic every day. If you go to the grocery store and buy meat, cheese or produce, you will get home with a ton of plastic. Cookies come wrapped in plastic, noodles have at least a plastic ‘window’. Grapes or berries are in a plastic container wrapped in plastic.
Everyone is talking about how bad plastic is for the environment, but it seems the plastic mountain gets bigger instead of smaller. Companies are not willing to spend money to find alternatives to plastic. So, unless you live in a town where you have a farmer’s market where you can choose individual products not wrapped in anything, you are stuck with the offerings in the grocery store.
I come from a country where even 30 years ago we took our own grocery bags or crates to the store, because if we wanted a plastic bag, we had to pay for it. When I was little, we got our sausages from the butcher wrapped in newspaper and not plastic.
When I first came here, I went shopping in a little store in Baltimore where I had my own cloth bag to put in my groceries. The cashier looked at me funny, thought about it and then said that that was really a smart idea, and they should do that here too. Slowly in the past years you were able to buy cloth grocery bags in Publix, Walmart, Aldie’s, etc. That is definitely a step in the right direction.
Now, ordering online is not any different. Amazon has this way of saying, ‘we save you packaging’ by sending you your order in a smaller package. And what is this package made out of? Plastic! What else.
When I got my cat food from Amazon before, I received packages of 24 5.5oz cans in a cardboard box. It was reuseable or recyclable. A couple of days ago I needed an extra supply of cat food and when Amazon delivered the package yesterday, I could not believe my eyes. The 2 boxes of 24 cans were stuffed into one of those large plastic envelopes that are made with an extra closure so you can reuse them. Those cans are fragile and tend to dent pretty bad if they are thrown around and even in a cardboard box, I used to find dented cans. So, when I opened the plastic bag yesterday, I was expecting the worst. Well, it was not as bad as I had feared. There were several dented cans, but all in all none were broken open, so that was a plus.
But now I have 2 packages of cans that are in a small cardboard box and wrapped in plastic and the plastic envelope they shipped it with. I have no use for these large plastic envelopes, so they will eventually go into the trash. I really cannot keep every plastic piece I receive an item in.
Unfortunately, in our community they decided we were not going to recycle anymore, as people kept throwing things wherever they wanted, and the recycling bins were contaminated with all kinds of trash. Now we just have one big container for every building and everything goes in there. It hurts to the core when I see all the recyclable items in there that will end up in the landfill, even they tell us that at the facility they will separate the trash. Sorry when I do not believe that.
Another thing Amazon has started doing in order to reduce packaging is sending items without packaging altogether. Last week I ordered a pajama set and it came in its original plastic bag to all visible which had a slider that was not even secured. A few months ago, I ordered a set of underwear and that also came in its original plastic packaging visible to all and easily opened by anyone. I mean between sending everything heavily wrapped and no packaging at all there has to be a middle ground.
I spent several months in Austria visiting family and Amazon packages there come either in a cardboard box or cardboard envelope. That I can live with, as both are recyclable, and Austria does recycle everything.
Here Amazon wants to be the good guy, but their packaging is hit or miss. The other day I ordered a set of 8 toothbrushes and a small paperback book. The box it came in was humongous. It was stuffed with these plastic air pockets, so things don’t fly around. These 2 items would have fit perfectly into a cardboard envelope instead of using a huge shipping box.
Some companies that use their own employees to deliver like Office Max here 2 streets over, don’t use a lot of packaging. I ordered printer ink, some calendar inserts and a roll of paper for drawing and painting and each piece was wrapped in packing paper. That, I really like. You even can use the packing paper to either package something else or write on it or fold it so you can use it as a trash can liner. It has several good uses and that’s how it should be.
No matter how items are packaged, exposing the content just creates more possibilities for theft. Here in South Florida, we have lots of porch thieves and if it is a box or an item you can actually see what it is, it creates opportunities for theft. The other day the Amazon delivery guy was too lazy to bring my 2 packages to the door, which is 2 doors down from the elevator/stairwell. So, he just threw them on the ground next to the mailboxes and put in the delivery picture that he left them in the ‘mail room’. We do not have a ‘mail room’. The place he left the packages is open for everyone just walking by to see the packages and if they want, take them. Which actually did happen, and I never received the packages.
Another thing is these pods for the washing machine or dishwasher they advertise so heavily. Really, do we really need that? I grew up with a big cardboard box or drum full of laundry detergent and a measuring spoon to put the right amount into your washing machine. The dishwasher is the same, just pour in a certain amount of dish detergent from a cardboard box into the dishwasher dispenser. It is not that difficult, really. Those pods are wrapped in plastic, even if supposedly degradable – which still leaves us with micro plastic. Is that really necessary? How much time does it save to put in a pod versus a spoon full of loose detergent? Or liquid detergent in a plastic bottle, is that really necessary? I don’t think so.
If we look back in time, there were many good things we had. Milk and yoghurt in glass bottles, coffee in metal cans, loose produce we picked ourselves and brought home in a basket or cloth bag. It is possible, if we want, and we can show the companies that we do not want everything packaged in plastic. Maybe, just maybe we can help our planet get out from under this plastic mountain.
Do you have any ideas to reduce plastic waste? Do you already work on reducing plastic use? Let me know in the comments below. Together we can make it happen!