Plastic bags and bottles, like all forms of plastic, create significant environmental and economic burdens. They consume growing amounts of energy and other natural resources, degrading the environment in numerous ways. In addition to using up fossil fuels and other resources, plastic products create litter, hurt marine life, and threaten the basis of life on earth. We are producing over 25 million tons of plastics per year in the United States, a trivial fraction of which is getting recycled. Here are some steps that you can take to reverse the tide of toxic, non-biodegradable pollution so that it will not overtake our planet.
| PERSONAL STEPS | Comments |
| Take no plastic bags from the grocer’s shelf. | Put produce in paper, canvas, and other healthy-fiber bags. |
| Refuse plastic bags at the check-out counter. | If a clerk throws your box of soap into a plastic bag, ask him or her to replace it in one of your bags. Give the clerk a copy of “Why I Don’t Use Plastic Bags.” Our experience has been that they appreciate this information. |
| Don’t buy plastic sandwich bags. | Use wax paper bags, cloth napkins, or re-useable sandwich boxes (e.g., tiffins, described below). |
| Buy beverages in sustainable containers. | Use only glass bottles or cans. |
| Don’t open another plastic water bottle. Take drinking water from the tap. | Bottled water costs over 1000 times more per liter than water from your tap. Buying our most essential nutrient, water, from corporations represents an abdication of community control of the commons. If you have concerns about water safety, investigate a filter system such as Multi-Pure. Better yet, work with your water district to develop stricter standards for water purity. |
| Buy fresh produce in Mother Nature’s wrappers (shell, rind, husk, etc.). | Pre-bagged produce not only uses wasteful packaging, but also tends to come from farther away, consuming more of our dwindling oil supplies in transport. |
| Give up Tupper Ware and related products. | Tiffins (stainless steel food containers) are a long tradition in India. They store food well, have longer lives than Tupper Ware and its look-alikes (you’ve probably seen the fading, corroding, and chipping that occurs to these plastic containers), are more hygienic, and have a certain panache. |
| Make a habit of thinking about what comes with each thing that you buy. | Look for and reward earth-friendly packaging choices. e.g.: • Buy greeting cards in paper boxes instead of clear plastic shells • Ask your florist for flowers wrapped in paper, not clear film • Use pens that re-fill instead of land-fill |
| Make a habit of thinking more in general. | Conscious consumption is not only good for the earth, it’s good for you. “Mindfulness,” says Thich Nhat Hanh, “is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves.” |
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