Tuesday
May262009
Recycle this...
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 09:22PM
You know what?
I'm getting really tired of having to think about every little piece of trash I throw away.
No, this isn't a tirade against how the left wing has blown the environmental issue way out of proportion.
I believe we have a problem. I believe we have a responsibility to our planet.
I use canvas bags for my groceries, phosphate free cleaners, I do not use paper plates (well, except last week and it was totally a one time thing), I buy locally grown organic produce, I recycle everything that comes through my house, I used and will be using cloth diapers for my children, and I rarely drink bottled water.
(I do not, however, have one of these. And, frankly, it will be a cold day in hell before I get one).
But, I would really love it if all of this planet's corporations just started making stuff so that I don't have to worry about whether something is recyclable or whether or not the packaging is adding to our environmental perils.
I know that a lot of corporations are doing this, but, it's not nearly enough to make my life easier. I think we're waaay past the point where "recyclable" and "green" should be considered marketing tools.
Recyclable and green should be considered the standard.
And companies that don't offer them as the standard are ... the devil.
Take, for example, the new earpiece I bought for my iPhone a few months ago. It was bound with a small piece of plastic, then wrapped in a larger piece of thin plastic, then placed in a plastic bag and THEN covered in plastic packaging.
FOUR layers of plastic. Really? REALLY?? Apple is supposed to be a 21st century kind of company, right? Why do I, as a consumer, have to worry about this nonsense?
(And may I mention how annoying all these layers of plastic can be when a 3 year old is tugging at your shirt announcing that she has decided she wants to watch Sleeping Beauty and drink a Pepsi right now even though she's only allowed to do that on Fridays and we did calendar this morning and she knows it's Tuesday...)
But, I digress. As I was saying, do we really need all these freaking layers?!!
I understand that some of you will insist that the packaging protects the items as they are being shipped from damage. Agreed. Yes, they are protected.
But, hey, how about instead of investing all of our capital into finding new ways to kill each other, we devote a little R & D to shipping methods which could potentially reduce the amount of plastics needed to protect the stuff that we buy?
I think the results of that kind of research would be useful on a daily basis. As opposed to the "kill each other" research that only proves useful every thirty years or so.
I also read a blog post about crayon recycling. The author, who I am thankful to for pointing to this issue and the immediate actions necessary to correcting it, mentioned that Crayola suggests that if you were to line up all the unrecycled crayons next to each other that they could cover the earth, like, fifty bajillion times. Or some number close to that.
So, Crayola has given us some kind of address or program where we can send all our old crayons.
I hope they don't want a recyclable paper ticker tape parade for this. Because they aren't getting one from me.
You know what? How about they make a crayon that I can throw away that will just melt into thin air when my kid decides it's too beat up to use.
Don't laugh.
They can clone sheep... soon, they'll be cloning people... they can totally make a disappearing crayon.
They just don't make disappearing crayons and eco-friendly shipping materials because they know that we're a bunch of guilt ridden schmucks that will turn over every piece of plastic to check and make sure that we're doing our part.
I'm doing my part.
I'm tired of working around outdated technology and packaging.
Somebody. Fix it. Now.
::Cough.::
Please.
I'm getting really tired of having to think about every little piece of trash I throw away.
No, this isn't a tirade against how the left wing has blown the environmental issue way out of proportion.
I believe we have a problem. I believe we have a responsibility to our planet.
I use canvas bags for my groceries, phosphate free cleaners, I do not use paper plates (well, except last week and it was totally a one time thing), I buy locally grown organic produce, I recycle everything that comes through my house, I used and will be using cloth diapers for my children, and I rarely drink bottled water.
(I do not, however, have one of these. And, frankly, it will be a cold day in hell before I get one).
But, I would really love it if all of this planet's corporations just started making stuff so that I don't have to worry about whether something is recyclable or whether or not the packaging is adding to our environmental perils.
I know that a lot of corporations are doing this, but, it's not nearly enough to make my life easier. I think we're waaay past the point where "recyclable" and "green" should be considered marketing tools.
Recyclable and green should be considered the standard.
And companies that don't offer them as the standard are ... the devil.
Take, for example, the new earpiece I bought for my iPhone a few months ago. It was bound with a small piece of plastic, then wrapped in a larger piece of thin plastic, then placed in a plastic bag and THEN covered in plastic packaging.
FOUR layers of plastic. Really? REALLY?? Apple is supposed to be a 21st century kind of company, right? Why do I, as a consumer, have to worry about this nonsense?
(And may I mention how annoying all these layers of plastic can be when a 3 year old is tugging at your shirt announcing that she has decided she wants to watch Sleeping Beauty and drink a Pepsi right now even though she's only allowed to do that on Fridays and we did calendar this morning and she knows it's Tuesday...)
But, I digress. As I was saying, do we really need all these freaking layers?!!
I understand that some of you will insist that the packaging protects the items as they are being shipped from damage. Agreed. Yes, they are protected.
But, hey, how about instead of investing all of our capital into finding new ways to kill each other, we devote a little R & D to shipping methods which could potentially reduce the amount of plastics needed to protect the stuff that we buy?
I think the results of that kind of research would be useful on a daily basis. As opposed to the "kill each other" research that only proves useful every thirty years or so.
I also read a blog post about crayon recycling. The author, who I am thankful to for pointing to this issue and the immediate actions necessary to correcting it, mentioned that Crayola suggests that if you were to line up all the unrecycled crayons next to each other that they could cover the earth, like, fifty bajillion times. Or some number close to that.
So, Crayola has given us some kind of address or program where we can send all our old crayons.
I hope they don't want a recyclable paper ticker tape parade for this. Because they aren't getting one from me.
You know what? How about they make a crayon that I can throw away that will just melt into thin air when my kid decides it's too beat up to use.
Don't laugh.
They can clone sheep... soon, they'll be cloning people... they can totally make a disappearing crayon.
They just don't make disappearing crayons and eco-friendly shipping materials because they know that we're a bunch of guilt ridden schmucks that will turn over every piece of plastic to check and make sure that we're doing our part.
I'm doing my part.
I'm tired of working around outdated technology and packaging.
Somebody. Fix it. Now.
::Cough.::
Please.
Reader Comments (24)
I tried the Diva Cup. Once.
Had a similar story to Britt and her tampon with my Diva Cup.
And that's all I'll say about that.
And I completely agree with the rest of your post. It's all going to come down to buying everything local. No more plastic toys from China. No more blueberries from Chile. No more cars from Japan. To be environmentally friendly, we're going to have to go back to early-20th-century thinking.
And I don't think anybody wants to go back 100 years.
Take the papers off the crayons, melt them, add some scent (or not) and make candles. Oh yeah, add a wick. Fun project for kids - melt it until it's gone.
Or not. ;-)
That's all I've got - the plastic packing totally pisses me off.
Oh god, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Blech! It will be a cold day in hell before I would use one of those diva thingys. I know that wasn't the point of your post, but still. Blech!
Meanwhile, some power plant is burning millenia-old plant matter to provide power to the datacenter that houses the server your website is stored on. Every second, of every day, it sucks down carbon just so that we can suck down some of our own dirty electricity to view all the witty comments.
Ooops, was that a downer?
It is interesting that we now realize that for all of our advances, the people from the 1800's and beyond were probably more "green" than we can ever hope to be again.
Eh, who the fuck cares. Eventually, we'll just shoot all of our trash off into space and everything will be fine. I hate green products and refuse to use them.
I totally hear you about Apple. The last thing I bought from them had so much packaging it was ridiculous.
Man, I have a whole garbage bag full of broken crayons sitting in Emma's room right now. Now I have to feel guilty about THAT, too?
AND the fact that we don't do calendar?!?!?!?!?
Every time I have to open some sort of electronic thingiemadoo, I get frustrated because they're so hard to open...erm, I mean because they are so not green.
Seriously though, what about the carbon footprint left by the mail truck carrying the crayons back to Crayola? Uh huh.
@Coal Miner's Granddaughter, That diva cup thing just freaks me out.
@Tug, That's a great idea, and I'll definitely try it. But, I'm still adamant on the creation of a disappearing crayon.
@Kimberly, LOL. It wasn't the point, but, I mentioned it. Isn't it just the most bizarre thing?!
@RebTurtle, Yeah, thanks, I hadn't thought of THAT. I'm still using the Internet.
@Avitable, But, what if we inadvertently start an interstellar war? At least, we'll have geeks like you to broker peace with them since you communicate with them via one of the languages you picked up at your little comic conventions...
@SciFi Dad, Don't even get me started on how much packaging my MacBook had...
@Miss Britt, Ummm, I'm pretty sure Emma does calendar in school, so, no need to feel guilty.
@Hilly, YEAH. What about THAT?!! Excellent point.
This kind of stuff makes my head spin. I cannot stand the overpackaging that goes on or the fact that corporations are not making a bigger effort to be more Earth-friendly. There are tons of ways to do it.
In fact, if you check out Sephora's Web site, there is actually a line of cosmetics with either biodegradable packaging or packaging that you can plant and it will grow into flowers or something. Brilliant!
I always thought they had to use all that annoying packaging to deter people from stealing it, too. Like toys - all that crap, and then TWIST TIES, and then TAPE on top of the twist ties, etc.
It makes me insane!
But anyway - you're right, of course. It's ridiculous. I recycle every last thing and it is a lot of work. They can make plantable pots for flowers (you put the whole pot in the ground), so why not packages made from that crap?
Gah.
You got me started today!
:P
You are right.
It should be so much easier for us to be responsible. Shouldn't we all have personal robots by now that take care of all that shit for us by now anyway? Sheesh.
@B.E. Earl, yeah, I totally used "by now" twice in that last sentence. My personal robot would have caught that. By now.
Have you ever noticed that stupid things, like cd's, come in all that plastic that requires an act of god (or God, whatever) to open but the things that truly need protecting, like light bulbs, are just left all open and vulnerable?
Thinking, hearing, and everything about recycling and going green is EXHAUSTING. I am tired of hearing about it. I'm tired of watching our society go through a pattern of "go green!", "who cares!", "go green!", "who cares!" Like you said, it's become a marketing tool.
I'm not even sure if this whole "we is killing the planet!!" theory is valid.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't like, shoot carbon monoxide out of my mouth or anything. (Although I do drive a car, single-passenger most of the time. Ahem.) I do drink bottled water but I recycle every since one of those little fuckers, sometimes I even go out of my way to bring the empties home to my recycling bin. (Sometimes I get lazy or forget and throw them away. I know, I know.) But I truly do think that our planet goes through its own cycles, and I highly doubt that the reason penguins and polar bears are running out of space is all because the Dove hairspray I use maybe once or twice a month.
Though I do love that Fantastic eco-friendly cleaner... It smells so fresh!
@Courtney Haynes, Yes! Yes, yes, YES! Have you ever opened one of those things that are sealed all the way around (ie, an action figure)? I'm always lucky I don't cut one of my fingers off!
We try to recycle most things, but I'm not anal about it. If something gets tossed that should have been recycled, I don't sweat it. It's not that I don't care, but you know... I don't think BBQ stained plastic containers being tossed instead of recycled isn't going to hurt. Besides the fact of the water that gets wasted rinsing that damn thing out.