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Avoiding Plastics and Single-Use Items (packaging)
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05-18-2009, 10:13 AM
It only makes sense really... you created you deal with it. It is hard to imagine the throw away and make new mentality here. If nothing else it would make companies think more about it.
-Blake http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
05-18-2009, 10:39 AM
Which countries are the biggest contributors of dumping waste in the oceans?
05-18-2009, 11:40 AM
quote: Germany also uses the recycling to create a lot more recycled product than we do - we recycle but where does it go and why cant we look at dealing with our own recycling here? I asked a Sierra Club pal this - we recycle and it goes on a big boat to the mainland? Does that make carbon footprint sense either? One thing I would love to see is huge vats of shampoo, soap, etc at a store that you could take and fill your own containers and get charged by weight/volume. A question - I know Carey does - but how many reuse plastics? This may sound silly but shampoo bottles with tiny holes (just a few) make nice watering dispensers for plants. Pop it in the pot and fill up bottle. Plant gets gently watering for a day or two.
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me."
-Dudley Field Malone 
05-18-2009, 12:44 PM
Waste items are one of this states largest export products... the carbon footprint of sending these items to the mainland is slightly offset by the fact that there are ships & containers that are going that way anyhoo .... of course if the excessive packaging & one use items didn't travel here in the first place....
The next big web is what happens to these products once they are in the recycle stream... even companies that try to recycle in a green way have found that their recycle stream has ended up in deplorable third world reclamation areas that are some of the worst polluters.... so we are back to looking at, BEFORE YOU BUY AN ITEM, do you really need it, and do you really need the packaging.... and are you willing to take responsibility for your purchase. Would love to say that this is on my mind whenever I purchase things, but it does hit me over the head every now & then...
05-18-2009, 01:01 PM
I will predict that someday in the not too distant future an EIS will be required of manufactured packaging if not the products themselves.
IF and when this occurs it will be a major change to the conventional ways of doing business.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
05-18-2009, 02:02 PM
I would love a good explanation why styrofoam, which NEVER breaks down is still being produced. Isn't that the most tragic thing? I mean why is that product not outlawed everywhere?
Carrie Rojo http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama
Carrie Rojo
"Even the smallest person can change the course of the future..." Galadriel LOTR
05-18-2009, 02:08 PM
Quote by Laughing__Girl "One thing I would love to see is huge vats of shampoo, soap, etc at a store that you could take and fill your own containers and get charged by weight/volume."
This is exactly one of the things I have been referring to. What do you do? Stop shampooing? Vitamins and supplements are another thing. It's not like there is a bulk isle full of pills you can scoop up. Any mouthwash users? Carey - excellent points in your post as well. We went to the store this weekend with this in mind and it was a bit depressing to be honest. We did buy half gallon milk cartons instead of the gallon plastic ones we have been buying. But we wonder if buying smaller packages is not a problem in itself and these cartons are coated in plastic I assume. I need to research it I guess. It is also a lot more expensive buying the half gallon cartons versus the gallon plastic ones. Sigh... Which brings us to an EIS. It would make choosing products a lot easier if they were done in a way that made sense to people. I think people for the most part are making good use of the nutritional labels. -Blake http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
05-18-2009, 02:11 PM
Also regarding shipping waste to the mainland for recycling, while I agree it is not ideal it probably makes some sense (economically) to have recycling centers that process large amounts of waste. Additionally when I was blogging about the carbon footprint of wine a while back I found that container ships pollute far less than trucks, planes and trains. And empty waste does not weigh much so it a lot can probably be shipped each time. I don't know I am just thinking out loud.
-Blake http://www.theboysgreatescape.blogspot.com/
05-18-2009, 02:19 PM
Having been involved in a pilot foam project, styrofoam has many excellent qualities, inc. the low hydrocarbon to volume use... it is also one of the purest plastics (hence the great use of it in food packaging) that also has the highest potential for "full cycle" recycling- a term that translates into the return of the plastic back into a liquid hydrocarbon to re-enter the refining.
Properly used, and recycled, this would be a good plastic product, with a lower energy to refine than other hydrocarbon streams... unfortunately the funding for the pilot program was pulled. I look at the low consumer participation in voluntary recycling programs & truly wonder if we must have it mandated for most consumers to "get on board" . If you look at the mandated HI5 'bottle bill' , if everyone redeemed as they are supposed, then there would be no HI5 bottles & cans on our roadways, parks and such, & the 1/2 ton - ton of them that we fish out of James Kealoha beach park every 6 months wouldn't be there....
05-18-2009, 03:02 PM
My brother in law owns a styrofoam company on the mainland...
Foam is used for everything you can possibly think of. (Homes, movie sets, props, packing, displays, etc etc) Plus he has gotten into shipping... He was in the process of switching to some new type, enviromentally "somewhat" friendly type of foam. The catch, it was going to cost him mega bucks to do it. PLUS their was no rewards, tax break, nothing from the govt or anyone to help him... On top of that, he has a MAJOR contract w/ McKormick (seasonings) and he asked them if he could package their product in something other than foam and they told him, NO!! They will only send him business if he packs their product in foam... Same thing w/ Disneyland. He makes cutouts and cast figures for them and they pay $$$ for his work... Again, he asked for some time to do the switchover and they were like, "thanks but were going to have to go someplace else." So my bro-in-law was stuck between a rock and a hard place... He decided to give up the friendly foam and he uses regular foam... I dont blame him, no govt, corporation, sierra club, whoever is going to feed my sister and him. Maybe if their were some help, tax break, loans, etc he could have made the transition much easier. People have jumped down his case but when you look at the numbers from the McKormick contract (worth over $700,00 a year alone) and Disneyland, would you give that up? I know I wouldnt. And I told him not too. |
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