Reduce the Juice

The challenge was thrown by Her Bad Mother (http://badladies.blogspot.com) as part of the BlogHer Act Canada initiative. BlogHer Canada has decided to back one cause per year; 2007 being the environment. As an informal FOCC (Friend of Cool Canadians), I felt the need to post on a subject close to my heart: reducing our dependency on packaging.

Ah, packaging. That excess stuff we come in contact with every day and don't really need. I will not post a Do As I Say, Not As I Do. Mr. Gravity and I already practice reducing our packaging on a daily basis by not purchasing bottled water. We save all of the plastic bottles we come in contact with: water bottles given to us at work; soda bottles; Vitamin Water bottles. I wash them out and we re-use them for water. We own a pitcher water filter, and I keep a pitcher of filtered water in the fridge. It is just a matter of refilling the pitcher when it gets low (not too much bickering on this at my house since it is only the two of us). It doesn't take much time, and it makes use of all the plastic bottles we receive on a weekly basis.

The same goes for juice boxes. Why by packets of individually wrapped juice boxes? You can buy a large jug of juice much cheaper and (see above) reuse the plastic bottles you have now. OR, if your little one is too wee to use a water bottle screw top, buy no-leak sippy cups that you can use over and over again.

The next thing I'm in search of? The perfect grocery bag. I'm currently on the hunt for a washable, reusable grocery bag so we don't have to bring them home in 15 bajillion plastic or paper bags every week. Seriously, my local grocery will use a ton more bags than needed every week I go. Guaranteed. I've asked them to pack more in each bag, and Mr. Gravity asks for paper (they still wrap the meat in a plastic bag and THEN pack it in the paper bag. Duh.). Major grocery chains are missing out on revenue. Don't credit people for bringing back bags for use. Just start charging 10 cents per bag to the customer and see how many people buy reusable bags! At least Costco reuses the packaging boxes their stock comes in in lieu of plastic or paper. The waste is enormous AND unnecessary.

And one last packaging pet peeve: CD packaging. I know, buying Cd's is going the way of the dinosaur with downloads. But in the transition interim, I can still buy whole Cd's cheaper at the store than downloading them online if I catch a sale. But why, oh why, is opening a CD more difficult than breaking in to Fort Knox? It is tough enough to gnaw my way through the shrink-wrapped exterior (cue nibble noises). Then you have to deal with the Sticky Strip on one end. I wish the Sticky Strip was the name of the dirty bar down the street, I really do. Unfortunately, it is just a damn sticky piece of (more) plastic that comes off in small slivers. Until you want to chuck the whole $9.99 in the garbage. Without hearing the CD. Ever. Just have one or the other, please. I understand they are theft deterrents. But mostly they are purchase deterrents.

I hope some of these suggestions have been useful, or at least have entertained you at your job between your personal phone calls and raiding the supply closet.

-K