Earth matters

[Ph64]

It's interesting living in the PNW and seeing how people do things differently. These mofos plastic bag everything. My favorite is when they plastic bag iceberg lettuce or the more common, package of meat. It's something that's wrapped in plastic, that gets wrapped in plastic, that gets put into another plastic bag when they bag it at the cashier.

I was out and about one day and thirsty, had to hit the grocery anyways, so besides picking up some food items I grabbed a gallon of water - get behind an elderly woman at the checkout with just a bottle of water, Perrier or some name brand (vs my generic gallon). She rings it up - $1.39 for a 16oz water. I look at her and hold up my gallon jug and say "89-cents for a gallon". She said she forgot to take her medication that morning so it was just to wash down a pill.

So I get rung up... And there's someone bagging who promptly takes the gallon jug of water, with a nice jug handle on it, and goes to put it into a plastic bag (??). I had to stop them and explain the jug already had a nice handle on it, plus it's heavy enough the bag might break, why waste more plastic bagging a jug with a nice carry handle on it already? The concept seemed to baffle them (though they did take it out and use the bag for the few other items I had).

I use the plastic bags as liners for the small trash bins in each room... And I stopped paying for trash pickup (at $50/mo... +$2 for recycling), made no sense - I generally toss a grocery bag or occasionally two a week, I dump them in the bin at the grocery store, gas station, etc, when I'm there anyways. And then every 3-4 weeks I'll take a couple bags of recycling to the drop off, for free. Not paying $52/mo for the "convenience" of having someone pick up maybe one 30gal trash bag and two of recycling every month when I can do it for free.

[Montegriffo]

Or, you know, you could mind your own fucking business.

Plastic bags are better than the alternatives we have now.

If you gave a shit, you'd be focused on Asia and Africa.

It is my fucking business. This is the only planet I've got and I want to protect it.
No one can go lecturing anyone else until they have sorted their own house out.
Compostable plastic carrier bags are already available which are the best we have now.
The COOP is switching to 100% compostable so there are no more excuses.

[Montegriffo]

It's interesting living in the PNW and seeing how people do things differently. These mofos plastic bag everything. My favorite is when they plastic bag iceberg lettuce or the more common, package of meat. It's something that's wrapped in plastic, that gets wrapped in plastic, that gets put into another plastic bag when they bag it at the cashier.

I was out and about one day and thirsty, had to hit the grocery anyways, so besides picking up some food items I grabbed a gallon of water - get behind an elderly woman at the checkout with just a bottle of water, Perrier or some name brand (vs my generic gallon). She rings it up - $1.39 for a 16oz water. I look at her and hold up my gallon jug and say "89-cents for a gallon". She said she forgot to take her medication that morning so it was just to wash down a pill.

So I get rung up... And there's someone bagging who promptly takes the gallon jug of water, with a nice jug handle on it, and goes to put it into a plastic bag (??). I had to stop them and explain the jug already had a nice handle on it, plus it's heavy enough the bag might break, why waste more plastic bagging a jug with a nice carry handle on it already? The concept seemed to baffle them (though they did take it out and use the bag for the few other items I had).

I use the plastic bags as liners for the small trash bins in each room... And I stopped paying for trash pickup (at $50/mo... +$2 for recycling), made no sense - I generally toss a grocery bag or occasionally two a week, I dump them in the bin at the grocery store, gas station, etc, when I'm there anyways. And then every 3-4 weeks I'll take a couple bags of recycling to the drop off, for free. Not paying $52/mo for the "convenience" of having someone pick up maybe one 30gal trash bag and two of recycling every month when I can do it for free.

Returning excess packaging to the source is a good way to go. If you have the front to do it I recommend removing the packaging at the till so the retailer has to pay the costs of disposal/recycling.

[Ph64]

Or, you know, you could mind your own fucking business.

Plastic bags are better than the alternatives we have now.

If you gave a shit, you'd be focused on Asia and Africa.

It is my fucking business. This is the only planet I've got and I want to protect it.
No one can go lecturing anyone else until they have sorted their own house out.
Compostable plastic carrier bags are already available which are the best we have now.
The COOP is switching to 100% compostable so there are no more excuses.

Compostable corn-starch/PLA bags/bottles are only compostable if you have a well aerated 140F compost pile. Toss them in your average landfill and they could take 100+ years to biodegrade. They're certainly no panacea that solves the waste problem.

[Ph64]

It's interesting living in the PNW and seeing how people do things differently. These mofos plastic bag everything. My favorite is when they plastic bag iceberg lettuce or the more common, package of meat. It's something that's wrapped in plastic, that gets wrapped in plastic, that gets put into another plastic bag when they bag it at the cashier.

I was out and about one day and thirsty, had to hit the grocery anyways, so besides picking up some food items I grabbed a gallon of water - get behind an elderly woman at the checkout with just a bottle of water, Perrier or some name brand (vs my generic gallon). She rings it up - $1.39 for a 16oz water. I look at her and hold up my gallon jug and say "89-cents for a gallon". She said she forgot to take her medication that morning so it was just to wash down a pill.

So I get rung up... And there's someone bagging who promptly takes the gallon jug of water, with a nice jug handle on it, and goes to put it into a plastic bag (??). I had to stop them and explain the jug already had a nice handle on it, plus it's heavy enough the bag might break, why waste more plastic bagging a jug with a nice carry handle on it already? The concept seemed to baffle them (though they did take it out and use the bag for the few other items I had).

I use the plastic bags as liners for the small trash bins in each room... And I stopped paying for trash pickup (at $50/mo... +$2 for recycling), made no sense - I generally toss a grocery bag or occasionally two a week, I dump them in the bin at the grocery store, gas station, etc, when I'm there anyways. And then every 3-4 weeks I'll take a couple bags of recycling to the drop off, for free. Not paying $52/mo for the "convenience" of having someone pick up maybe one 30gal trash bag and two of recycling every month when I can do it for free.

Returning excess packaging to the source is a good way to go. If you have the front to do it I recommend removing the packaging at the till so the retailer has to pay the costs of disposal/recycling.

Cardboard/paper gets flattened out and saved for winter, and burned in my wood stove as starter material.

Once you recycle cans/bottles/labelled-plastic and burn the paper products in the stove I'm left with very little... The Styrofoam trays meats come in, foil stuff, plastic shrink wrap, etc.

[Montegriffo]

Or, you know, you could mind your own fucking business.

Plastic bags are better than the alternatives we have now.

If you gave a shit, you'd be focused on Asia and Africa.

It is my fucking business. This is the only planet I've got and I want to protect it.
No one can go lecturing anyone else until they have sorted their own house out.
Compostable plastic carrier bags are already available which are the best we have now.
The COOP is switching to 100% compostable so there are no more excuses.

Compostable corn-starch/PLA bags/bottles are only compostable if you have a well aerated 140F compost pile. Toss them in your average landfill and they could take 100+ years to biodegrade. They're certainly no panacea that solves the waste problem.

Never said they were, they are an improvement on non biodegradable plastic though.
Much better than doing nothing and blaming everyone else.

[Speaker to Animals]

Or, you know, you could mind your own fucking business.

Plastic bags are better than the alternatives we have now.

If you gave a shit, you'd be focused on Asia and Africa.

It is my fucking business. This is the only planet I've got and I want to protect it.
No one can go lecturing anyone else until they have sorted their own house out.
Compostable plastic carrier bags are already available which are the best we have now.
The COOP is switching to 100% compostable so there are no more excuses.

Don't be ridiculous. You are not losing your planet because somebody uses plastic bags at the grocery store.

Homosexuals spreading HIV all over the western world: no problem.
Grandma wrapping her ground beef in a plastic bag: OMFG.

If you are going to get into the business of personal coercion over the externalities of personal moral failings, then you might want to have a seat in front of the mirror.. Just saying.

[SuburbanFarmer]

It's interesting living in the PNW and seeing how people do things differently. These mofos plastic bag everything. My favorite is when they plastic bag iceberg lettuce or the more common, package of meat. It's something that's wrapped in plastic, that gets wrapped in plastic, that gets put into another plastic bag when they bag it at the cashier.

I was out and about one day and thirsty, had to hit the grocery anyways, so besides picking up some food items I grabbed a gallon of water - get behind an elderly woman at the checkout with just a bottle of water, Perrier or some name brand (vs my generic gallon). She rings it up - $1.39 for a 16oz water. I look at her and hold up my gallon jug and say "89-cents for a gallon". She said she forgot to take her medication that morning so it was just to wash down a pill.

So I get rung up... And there's someone bagging who promptly takes the gallon jug of water, with a nice jug handle on it, and goes to put it into a plastic bag (??). I had to stop them and explain the jug already had a nice handle on it, plus it's heavy enough the bag might break, why waste more plastic bagging a jug with a nice carry handle on it already? The concept seemed to baffle them (though they did take it out and use the bag for the few other items I had).

I use the plastic bags as liners for the small trash bins in each room... And I stopped paying for trash pickup (at $50/mo... +$2 for recycling), made no sense - I generally toss a grocery bag or occasionally two a week, I dump them in the bin at the grocery store, gas station, etc, when I'm there anyways. And then every 3-4 weeks I'll take a couple bags of recycling to the drop off, for free. Not paying $52/mo for the "convenience" of having someone pick up maybe one 30gal trash bag and two of recycling every month when I can do it for free.

That’s called Dumping, and can get you a stiff fine. Don’t get caught.

[Montegriffo]

Or, you know, you could mind your own fucking business.

Plastic bags are better than the alternatives we have now.

If you gave a shit, you'd be focused on Asia and Africa.

It is my fucking business. This is the only planet I've got and I want to protect it.
No one can go lecturing anyone else until they have sorted their own house out.
Compostable plastic carrier bags are already available which are the best we have now.
The COOP is switching to 100% compostable so there are no more excuses.

Don't be ridiculous. You are not losing your planet because somebody uses plastic bags at the grocery store.

Homosexuals spreading HIV all over the western world: no problem.
Grandma wrapping her ground beef in a plastic bag: OMFG.

If you are going to get into the business of personal coercion over the externalities of personal moral failings, then you might want to have a seat in front of the mirror.. Just saying.

By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.
No amount of HIV is going to effect the planet like that.
Take your hobbyhorse elswhere this is the Earth matters thread.

[Speaker to Animals]

It is my fucking business. This is the only planet I've got and I want to protect it.
No one can go lecturing anyone else until they have sorted their own house out.
Compostable plastic carrier bags are already available which are the best we have now.
The COOP is switching to 100% compostable so there are no more excuses.

Don't be ridiculous. You are not losing your planet because somebody uses plastic bags at the grocery store.

Homosexuals spreading HIV all over the western world: no problem.
Grandma wrapping her ground beef in a plastic bag: OMFG.

If you are going to get into the business of personal coercion over the externalities of personal moral failings, then you might want to have a seat in front of the mirror.. Just saying.

By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans.
No amount of HIV is going to effect the planet like that.
Take your hobbyhorse elswhere this is the Earth matters thread.

Where do you think that plastic comes from? You need to hop on a plane to Africa or Asia and start ordering them to clean up their shit. They have rivers that are essentially aquatic conveyor belts dumping garbage into the ocean every single second. You are pointlessly ordering about the people who are not causing the problem and doing jackshit about the people who are causing the problem.