Paper or Plastic? Recycle or Reuse?

[puzzleannie]

I guess proper use of resources belongs here.

I have to finish putting away groceries. I put 6 “green” reusable bags on the belt. So there are 6 bags on my kitchen floor, each with one or two plastic bags inside. Why did I bother? Do these stores get it?

I picked up some bins labeled “recycling” at the dollar store, which are wrapped, needlessly, in plastic. Which cannot, incidentally, be recycled.

I bought a bottle of allergy pills, in a plastic bottle which could hold easily 5 times as many pills, stuffed with cotton and a little plastic gizmo to absorb moisture. With a seal inside and wrapped in plastic outside, in a sleeve of cardboard and plastic which requires a chain saw to open–all inside a carton, which is also shrink-wrapped in plastic. thanks be to heaven my pills are safe from terrorist attack, but 2 lbs of packaging for 30 pills?

I would like to reuse rather than recycle PB, coffee and other containers, but they melt in the dishwasher and are unusable for any purpose, and are not adequately cleaned any other way that does not involve gallons of hot water. Glass at least can be ground back to sand when you’re done with it.

 

[Catholic90]

Both.

I do not use the recyclable “green” bags.

I do use the plastic bags for holding the remnants of kitty litter boxes and dog yard forays.

I use the paper bags to hold the recycling materials inside our house. Paper bags are also used for book covers for school text books, are cut open and used to place freshly baked cookies on to cool, hold the guinea pig litter when I clean their cage, etc.

I do not understand all the plastic needed for some items. (Some items I do understand…it is a safety issue, thanks to the Tylenol poisonings of years ago). However, other items do not need to be wrapped so much. My son pointed out the idiocy of Pizza Rolls yesterday. Buy the big bulk bag, and it is just that - a big plastic bag filled with Pizza Rolls. However, buy the box, and you get not only the box, but also a plastic bag within the box. Why?

 

[manualman]

Yup, we live in an absurdly packed consumer society.

I just finished constructing a multimillion dollar solid waste transfer station. What is that? Let me tell you. Once upon a time, local garbage trucks picked up your garbage, drove to the local landfill, dumped and came back for more. But then the local landfill filled up and protestors shot down every proposal for a new one locally (we call that NIMBY - Not In My Backyard). So the new landfill had to be built 100 miles away where no protestors live. That is just too far for the local collector trucks to drive (inefficient to haul 10,000# of compactor and hydraulics all that way), so the transfer station was invented.

At the transfer station, the collector trucks dump on the floor inside a large glorified metal shed. Backhoe mounted grapples pick it up and place it in open topped semi trailers (80,000# loaded). Then the semis make the 100 mile trip to the landfill while the local collectors put their specialized equipment back to work locally.

This one will handle 1,000 tons of garbage a day. There are DOZENS of them in the Chicago metro area.

As bad as all this is, there are things that help and things that don’t. Thin film grocery bags are NOT the place to put your focus. The have no mass and occupy no volume. Move on.

Evaluate your needs and buy in bulk wherever you use enough to use it up before it goes bad. A Costco size peanut butter will generate a lot less waste than the equivalent 4 jars of regular supermarket PB! Same goes for laundry soap, dishwasher detergent, ketchup, etc. This is a painless way to reduce waste and probably costs you less in the long run too.

If you recycle (metal, paper and glass make the most sense), PLEASE don’t put loose paper or plastc in open topped recycling containers. You might just as well throw that stuff loose on the street because the wind will turn it into plain old litter either way. The environment will be better off with that stuff in the landfill than blown into the local woods and prairies.

 

[Vasian]

Paper is my choice of bags.
Paper s 100% recyclable
Paper is 100% organic
Paper is 100% biodegradable
Paper is from a sustainable resource, be it re-production tree farms or hemp.
Paper supports thousands of jobs in many rural areas of a country.
21st paper bags is a wn/win.

 

[aspawloski4th]

So many big life or death issue, and we are worried about shopping bags? Lets worship the creator, not the creation.

 

[puzzleannie]

paper bags have not been available in any store I shop at regularly for at least 7-8 years. for one or two people buying in bulk does not save anything, it just results in more waste. Since the recycling fad started in the 70s our policy as was my family’s before me even before that, is not to buy in the first place what we can avoid buying. I forget a lot of people think only of buying new it has become such a habit. but I would like to know why what I can’t afford buying needs 6+ layers of packaging, and why most of it cannot be opened w/o a blowtorch or wire snips

 

[perfectpeach]

Just do what you can and don’t stress about it.

 

[Vasian]

Just do what you can and don’t stress about it.

 

[ahollars]

I guess proper use of resources belongs here.

I have to finish putting away groceries. I put 6 “green” reusable bags on the belt. So there are 6 bags on my kitchen floor, each with one or two plastic bags inside. Why did I bother? Do these stores get it?

Apparently not.

I picked up some bins labeled “recycling” at the dollar store, which are wrapped, needlessly, in plastic. Which cannot, incidentally, be recycled.

Agree, redundant.

I bought a bottle of allergy pills, in a plastic bottle which could hold easily 5 times as many pills, stuffed with cotton and a little plastic gizmo to absorb moisture. With a seal inside and wrapped in plastic outside, in a sleeve of cardboard and plastic which requires a chain saw to open–all inside a carton, which is also shrink-wrapped in plastic. thanks be to heaven my pills are safe from terrorist attack, but 2 lbs of packaging for 30 pills?

This, however, may have a legit purpose. Chemicals in medicine decay very easily when too much moisture is present, not to mention sterilization is a must.

I would like to reuse rather than recycle PB, coffee and other containers, but they melt in the dishwasher and are unusable for any purpose, and are not adequately cleaned any other way that does not involve gallons of hot water. Glass at least can be ground back to sand when you’re done with it.

I don’t have a dishwasher, unless you count the kids. If you have a sink with one of those hand hoses, you can tweak the opening from the pipe at the connection point for some added pressure. Problem solved.

 

[Highwayhound]

I guess proper use of resources belongs here.

I have to finish putting away groceries. I put 6 “green” reusable bags on the belt. So there are 6 bags on my kitchen floor, each with one or two plastic bags inside. Why did I bother? Do these stores get it?

I got a good chuckle from reading this. Patience and humility will help you respond to the clerk with your observation. On a recent visit to Canada I had a checker ask me if I wanted a bag. At home they automatically put purchases in a bag. The young lady got me thinking and I declined the bag. I only had a few items and once outside the store all I would have done is throw the bag in a garbage can. I was on a bicycle tour at the time.

I bought a bottle of allergy pills, in a plastic bottle which could hold easily 5 times as many pills, stuffed with cotton and a little plastic gizmo to absorb moisture. With a seal inside and wrapped in plastic outside, in a sleeve of cardboard and plastic which requires a chain saw to open–all inside a carton, which is also shrink-wrapped in plastic. thanks be to heaven my pills are safe from terrorist attack, but 2 lbs of packaging for 30 pills?

I think you are old enough to remember the 1980’s (If I am wrong please forgive me) when someone put poison into the bottles of Tylenol. Seven people died because of that. That is why there is the wrapper on the bottle cap - for the safety of the person buying the product.

Paper is my choice of bags.
Paper is 100% recyclable
Paper is 100% organic
Paper is 100% biodegradable
Paper is from a sustainable resource,…
…**Paper supports thousands of jobs **in many rural areas…

This is why I ask for paper bags too! The resource is natural and renewable. As well it provides jobs that will pay wages that will support a family.

 

[royal_archer]

Not only are we dealing with the garbage we are also dealing with the added cost of the packaging for the product in the first place. A lot of the packaging is just not value added. Safety seal = good; plastic bottle in cardboard box=bad. but I guess the box fits better in the spring loaded dispensers on the shelfs now a days.

I have been buying cereal in the bag alone since it is cheeper and my reusable rubbermaid containers actually keep the cereal fresher longer. (Especially since I am now getting older and it takes a lot longer to finnish off a package of cereal.)

I wonder if they have the oversized bottles for marketing to make you feel like you are getting more for your money. I also wonder if they need the extra bottle space for all of the warnings and other info they have to put on the container. Personnally It not only wastes plastic but also takes up extra room in the bathroom cabinet. I’ve been known to dump new pills into an old container and throw away the over sized new container to save space. I am not overly worried about expiration dates and safety warnings on the same asprin or other pills I have been buying for decades.

I have been using the cloth bags but have also started using plastic totes. In addition to being reusable they keep stuff from moving around in the trunk and make it easier to take stuff into the house.

 

[vz71]

Paper or plastic? - plastic. Very few of the stores in my area utilize paper bags anymore.

Recycle or reuse - reuse. Each of the plastic bags can be reused as a garbage bag and then tossed.

It is simply not an economically viable option where I live to consider recycling any material.

 

[royal_archer]

Paper or plastic? - plastic. Very few of the stores in my area utilize paper bags anymore.

Recycle or reuse - reuse. Each of the plastic bags can be reused as a garbage bag and then tossed.

It is simply not an economically viable option where I live to consider recycling any material.

They do make great garbage bags for bedrooms and bathrooms and cars.They also make great padding matterial for packages.They can also be used in your shoes to keep your feet dry while working in the snow.

Do any of your grocery stores have a place to take used bags for recycling?

 

[vz71]

Do any of your grocery stores have a place to take used bags for recycling?

Nope.
Can’t fault them that though. This was tried once and participation just was not enough to justify the cost of the program.

 

[Zooey]

I want to echo those who spoke of re-using the plastic bags. I do this all the time. More than 75% of my garbage goes into the tips in plastic grocery bags. Result: fewer new plastic bags needed to dispose of this waste.
I take excess bags to:
My public libraries; they use them for patrons who need a bag for a stack of books (or for one book in a rainstorm!).
My church (or any other local church) that is having a rummage sale. (No need for new bags to be gathered/bought, to place merchandise in.
My church (again) to carry bottles & cans which have a deposit. (We have a member who takes the bags of cans/bottles to the redemption center, & the money goes to help children & teens attend church-related camps in the summer months). The redemption center, in turn, can re-use them for packing, or recycle them.
I also use them as packing materiel. (None of those miserable plastic ‘peanuts’ needed).

Some things, as mentioned, are all but impossible to clean & I do not waste water (& power, since these need HOT water to be half clean) trying to get them there. Instead, I try to re-use as much as I can, & thank the Lord for the ability to save where it is feasible.
There is a limit to what any of us can do. We need not feel guilty when we simply cannot recycle everything. (Remember that if others did as much as those of us who try our best, the results would be astonishing).

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m getting on in age, and came from a fairly primitive part of the U.S. at the time.

I remember neighborhood grocery stores where you looked at the meat in the counter and told the storekeeper what you wanted and how much of it. He cut it and wrapped it in paper for you. You told the clerk behind the counter what else you wanted, and he or she went and got it for you. Virtually everything that was packaged (and not all of it was) was in cardboard or steel cans. Put it all in a cardboard box. Not much chance for malevolent people to adulterate anything. If you wanted, you could just call your order in and some high school kid employed by the store would eventually come around with it in a van and take it to your door. He would put it on your kitchen counter for you if you asked.

But we in the U.S. preferred to roam around in big box stores, selecting among a myriad of products ourselves. We apparently liked the packaging and the fact that we didn’t have to wait for some other customer to be waited on at the meat counter before us. And, we evidently liked for there to be twenty kinds of laundry detergeant instead of four. Then too, those big stores were cheaper. Of course, we doubtless buy more product that way. Those stores actually hire neuropsychologists to design things so we will do a lot more buying on impulse.

I don’t doubt it was more expensive the old way, product for product. But sometimes I do wonder whether we really improved our situation, on the whole.

 

[lizaanne]

I hate using store supplied grocery bags any more. One plastic grocery store bag holds about three items, lest it tear through and fall on the ground. Then they double bag which makes no sense to me - um, make the bags stronger??? Target has good strong bags - these are the only plastic bags I accept because we use them for kitty litter and bin liners. There is one shop we go to that has paper bags. If I don’t have my own bags with me we ask for paper for many of the reasons already mentioned. I always use them for something.

I have about 10 assorted canvas, vinyl, fabric bags that I use for groceries now. I can put at least four times or more the amount of items in these bags. This means fewer trips from car to house, faster getting stuff into the car (important when the wind chill is -12). And fewer bags to recycle. I love my collection of bags, and the stores I shop at never have a problem bagging with them. The only time they will use their store bags is to wrap meat or ice cream so it does not drip into my reusable bags.

As for product packaging - I call this the “over packaging of America” and I crab about it all the time. My husband has gotten a bit sick of hearing it actually. I think a good percentage of it is totally unnecessary.

~Liza