A lot of people nowadays know about recycling and reducing waste to help the environment. Do many people really care though? They go to the grocery store and buy produce and prepackaged foods. Sure, they bring their own bags, but how much is that saving compared to the other stuff they are bringing home? Produce comes packaged or is put in the plastic produce bags, but why? Prepackaged foods come in un-recyclable plastics or have multiple layers of packaging that are really unnecessary. Is any thought given to the packaging of the product before buying? When the products get home, how much is actually being recycled properly? Not everything can be recycled or recycled in a sustainable or healthy manner.
I have started thinking about the packaging before buying a product, and sometimes is a make-or-break decision for me. How am I taking steps to reduce my waste or my plans for reducing waste?
I try to buy from the bulk bins at stores if they are available, unfortunately most stores do not have these bins or there are better deals for prepackaged products. Products like flour or sugar are commonly packaged in paper products and, at least where I live, can get very cheap when they are on sale ($1 (normal price around $2.50) for 4lb bag of name brand white granulated sugar or $1.50 (normal price around $3.50) for 5lb bag of name brand white flour). Who on a budget would resist prices like that? Beans are also sold in the bulk bins, the prepackaged beans are typically in plastic.
Other bulk bin options around where I live include: salt, oats, oat bran (not wheat bran), nuts, legumes, dried fruits, candies and a small selection of spices.
I would like to see more options in the bulk bins like a bigger selection of spices and dried fruits and vegetables, protein powder, and more cosmetics without it being over-priced, just to name a few. What about non-dry products? One can fill up a growler of beer or cider, why not do that for milk, non-dairy milks, or vegetable oil? I do not think I have seen milk packaged in glass and only expensive oils packaged in glass. Not everyone wants their food in plastic, especially since the plastics industry likes to lie about the potential health effects of plastics, or some people want fresh products, packaged products can sit on the shelves for months, if not years.
This is not even bringing into account the gas and other energy for bringing the products to the store. To help reduce this, one could buy locally - like from a local farmers' market. This would help the local community and one could ask the farmers directly to grow certain things and express their concerns. This, however, does still use gas (unless it was hand-farmed and transported via an electric car, horse and buggy, bike, etc.). The only way I can think to completely get rid of that extra energy usage would be to grow the food by yourself on your land.
What I want to know is how much land is needed to feed one person for a year?
How can we reduce that area (i.e. year-round greenhouse growing, earthship greenhouse, vertical gardening, square foot gardening, etc.)?
Useful links and information:
http://environment.about.com/od/earthtalkcolumns/a/recycleplastics.htm
http://www-tc.pbs.org/strangedays/pdf/StrangeDaysSmartPlasticsGuide.pdf
http://www.savemobile.org/blog/plastic_types_jan07.pdf
http://www.ryedale.gov.uk/attachments/article/690/Different_plastic_polymer_types.pdf
http://www.economist.com/node/9249262
http://www.cleanuptheworld.org/PDF/au/cua-plastic-recycling-fact-sheet.pdf
