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

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Ah... refilling plastic tubes, you flatten them out to empty them of air as much as possible, then squirt in the stuff with a cake-decorator bag.

I have toothpaste in metal tubes - Tom of Maine's and JAson - but by the time they're empty, they're always pretty-well trashed; tight-crimped rolls with little holes where the metal's been stressed too much. I suppose they'd still be re-useable, though; just have to put a Baggie or something around them so they wouldn't make a mess when you squeezed.

I have major sensory issues with toothbrushing, so salt-and-soda, however flavored, doesn't work for me - the flavor's not the problem; it's the texture, and the sound the dry, scratchy powder makes against my teeth. *shudders* I need actual toothpaste, with a smooth, silent, consistent texture, or - despite my best intentions and efforts - my self-care routines would come to a dead stop every day when I got to the toothbrushing part of the program.

I haven't tried the salt-soda-glycerin recipe posted above, but it seems like it might blend up smooth enough to be acceptable. My personal-care routines are 'iffy' enough as it is, though, so I don't fix what ain't broke. The most expensive tube of toothpaste ever manufactured still costs a whole lot less than missing work because trying to brush my teeth uses up all the spoons (http://ballastexistenz.autistics.org/?p=156) I needed to get me out the door.