The BBC blogger who documented a month without plastic received a LOT of comments. I remember all the cranky old people phoning in to berate the folks at the CBC when I was a listener back in Canada. There is something about publicly financed media that brings out a special kind if ire in the bored and incontinent.
One guy took great exception to the idea of a wooden toothbrush. He argued that the impact on the environment from producing a wooden toothbrush was worse than that for a plastic one. I can’t be sure if this is true, but it did get me thinking about the impact of some of my plastic alternatives.
I may add to this post later, but for now I just want to mention that items made out of recycled wood, or wood that is a horticultural byproduct do not carry the same environmental costs.
Catherine recently bought a cutting board that was made from local olive wood. It is awesome. Other sources of wood include apple orchards and the wine industry (barrels are ‘discarded’ after being used for a few years).
Buying imported wood products can have a big carbon footprint. Some wood products come from countries with very poor records with regard to the environment.