Saturday, February 11, 2006

BAGLESS SHOPPING

It has been good testing the response on shopkeepers when you say ' NO BAG PLEASE!'. They look incredulously as if you are about to shoplift and wonder why the small little protest.
I keep confirming to myself that this will simplify my life because :
it reduces the need to deal with plastic bags and packaging.
there will be no need to stash up the plastic bags in the kitchen.
It will be good for the planet.

If I manage to keep this up for 21 days it will just become a new habit and it is easy to do. Walking through town I observed so many people with bags and wrapping.

I did go and have a walk about also at the recycling depot to see what actually happens with the waste collection and think it should be possible to do more.

The waste diary has been interesting to do and has enabled me to find the following alternatives:
  • change to milk delivery in glass bottles.
  • reduce the amount of cans we have for petfood
  • look at a wormery for dealing with cooked food scraps and small kitchen scraps.

All these actions require some planning and are based on research at home which I would encourage you all to do, it is an interesting exercise.

There is a lot of info on the net regarding plastic bottles and this chart should give a better indication as to what can be recycled and what cannot. Recycling bottles does mean washing them out and taking the tops off but looking at the list of what can be recycled should enable me to check the bottoms of bottles for those that are recyclable and those that are not. Add to that the interesting looks you get from people when they see you in the shops turning each container over to check the packaging. We can wise up on packaging and reduce the need for it.
Sure it takes time and effort but I urge you to put it in....it will reap rewards for the future.

1 comment:

Norene Griffin said...

you are really making some changes, sockknittingmama. good for you.

if your cat(s) like wet food, perhaps you would consider cooking for them? i saw this cookbook online: special-occasion recipes to brighten your cat's life. it might not help with the cat food cans if they are only special occasion recipes and not everyday recipes. i had seen another cookbook that was for everyday and was supposedly vet approved, but a reviewer raised some issues with it that are serious, so i'm not including it here.

the waster diary sounds like an interesting exercise. i've been thinking about doing something like that. i'll check it out.