I talk a good talk about reducing plastic, but it's *hard*

[conuly]

My mother has a habit of resenting things. It is not possible to, say, accidentally take her towel without her resenting this. Well, she's getting better, but I still dislike the word immensely.

However, it is the only word appropriate for what I'm about to say. I resent (yes!) that in order to buy in bulk (as is recommended for Saving the Planet), I must therefore buy plastic. I resent that it is possible to either buy small, expensive glass jars or large, inexpensive plastic jars - but no large glass jars. I resent that if I wanted to get the glass bottle of vinegar in the supermarket, I'd have to buy the name brand, which is more than twice the price for the same amount of vinegar. I resent that if I carefully rebag all the groceries so that the single roll of toilet paper is not in its own separate double bag, the bags I removed it from are thrown into the garbage. And I really resent that it's so damn hard to find metal toothpaste tubes, especially when the plastic ones don't roll up nicely and are therefore harder to use.

Honestly, it's enough to make me want to throw in the towel now and go whole hog with my energy consumption on the theory that the sooner the end comes, the better.

Comments

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Part of the pitfalls of city living is packaging. Part of the pitfalls of rural living is transportation.

I can't think of an ideal environment to live in, as far as your environmental impact is concerned.

I do miss the city, but not as much as I thought. (And technically this town of 60,000 is a city. Go figure.)

"Town" of sixty thousand....oh dear.

[marveen.livejournal.com]

*falls about laughing*

Why, you silly thing, I grew up closest to a town of less than a thousand souls. Sixty thousand is a large city indeed.

I agree that packaging is a worry and a bother. I keep and reuse gallon glass jars and bottles (I call it short-track recycling), but they're so scarce these days I don't know when I shall ever get any more.

Re: "Town" of sixty thousand....oh dear.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Well, NYC to Dubuque IS culture shock. I still thought I would like to go smaller, until I went to a Hardee's in Fennimore (my goodness, Wisconsin is BEAUTIFUL, breathtakingly so), and it took 20 minutes to get fries and a drink.

It is hard to get glass jars, especially that size. Most I get really is sauce, jelly and pickles. Too late for this year for the most part, but next year I am making sure I save them and buying new lids, I plan on canning. Got some of the supplies from St. Vinnies already.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Ask around at restaurants? Some of the 'commercial sizes' of products still come in glass, especially oily or acidic foods that tend to deteriorate plastics, and the kitchen staff may be willing to save the empties for you.