Reduce plastic waste :: PlasticLess.com

The profitability of food retailing is very dependent on maximizing efficiencies throughout the supply chain. One strategy that I have been noticing more and more is the use of heavy plastic shrink wrap to bundle individual items into one big armload.

Grouping items together like this is important for products that are shipped on pallets. That paper bag of flour you are buying was carried to the shelf along with nine of his friends bundled up in plastic shrink wrap. The groups of ten rode to the store on a pallet along with a block of other ten packs all held together with several layers of plastic stretch wrap

Supply logistics vary quite about around the world, so I am not in a position to offer advice about avoiding this kind of tangential consumption of plastic. The sugar that I buy here arrives at my neighbor’s store in a 50kg woven polypropylene bag. The chances are pretty good that it was shipped from its origin in a food grade shipping container. I used to unload these containers at the coffee roastery. They were completely filled with bulk bags. A 20 foot container held about 300 bags that each weighed 150 pounds (see paragraph about hernia from last post). Coffee is one of the few items that is still exported the same way that it was before plastic came along. Green coffee is shipped in jute or sisal bags, many of which are produced in the same countries that grew the coffee. Before our Fair Trade Coffee roastery grew big enough to have its own warehouse, we relied on a logistics company in Toronto. They would fill a tractor trailer with my monthly inventory and this involved plastic wrap to stabilize the pallet loads. My dismay at plastic waste may have gotten a boost from having to deal with all that plastic wrap.

Pre-consumer plastic is not always apparent to the consumer. My best advice is to shop where you can see the inventory so you can make a more informed decision. Of course, you should also try to maximize your use of local products that haven’t been part of all this packaging and transport logistics.

Pre-consumer plastic is more easily recycled than post-consumer plastic but it still goes to the landfills at an alarming rate.

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Photo Credit: GregPC

The most fame that this little blog ever got was when I got criticized (I think) for suggesting a vasectomy as a way of reducing plastic consumption. This was in print in Mother Jones. A blogger who writes positively about the plastics industry read the article and wrote a post about anti-plastic bloggers. I got some personal attention from that too.

I went back to reread the post in PlasticsNews and saw a comment that I hadn’t noticed before. Ellen Martin wrote “and given current surgical practice there’s no such thing as a plastics-free vasectomy!”

I don’t actually know how much plastic was consumed in the case of my vasectomy. All I can clearly remember is the smell from the laser cauterization and the fact that the painkillers wore off before I finished the drive home (I found out later that I was supposed to have somebody else drive).

The comment got me thinking about all the plastic that is used in health care and how we are not usually in any position to advocate for an alternative when we need help. It’s not like you can bring your own bag when you need a unit of blood. You can’t go to some vintage store and pick up a funky ivory hip replacement.

Many of the items used in medicine were developed after plastic became a widely used material. Many other plastic items used in medicine replace their rubber and glass predecessors. Sterilizing glass items so that they can be reused safely is energy intensive. I don’t know if anyone has crunched the numbers to see whether a glass syringe has a smaller carbon footprint than a single use plastic one. I haven’t heard about any glass syringes washing up on the beach lately.

Plastic is being put inside our bodies with increasing frequency. Hip and knee replacement are plastic. The hardware used in many weight loss surgeries are plastic. Boobs are plastic.

I actually have a little bit of plastic inside of me. I have had two hernia repairs. The second one was performed early in this century and it involved some polypropylene mesh.

You have to wonder if people in the medical profession are preparing to find alternatives when plastic becomes scarce or expensive as a result of dwindling oil supplies. Hopefully they will be given priority over the people who make talking bass novelty items and cell phone accessories.

If you look through all of the blogs written by plastic free purists, you can probably find quite a few admissions about plastic consumption related to pharmaceuticals or other medical stuff. I can’t fault anyone for choosing the best treatment available rather than searching for a plastic free option when they are suffering. I can suggest that you do some contingency shopping for cold and headache medications that are available in glass containers. Look for vitamin supplements in glass containers, but first ask yourself if you really need them.

The best way to reduce the amount of plastic consumption related to your health care is to stay healthy. Don’t smoke. Don’t abuse drugs, including alcohol. Exercise regularly. Eat a healthy diet. Be careful crossing the street. Don’t participate in high risk sexual activities. Don’t piss people off.

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Here is a list of electronic gadgets that I do not have to purchase because my PC can perform the same tasks. I am not claiming that I haven’t bought any of these things in the recent past or that I will never under any circumstances buy them in the future. I am just pointing out that many of us are still shelling out money to buy single purpose items that perform tasks that can be performed by a basic PC or laptop. It is a waste of money and materials.

• The most obvious one is a calculator. I had to buy a some hand-held calculators for my school aged kids but I generally go for the one on my computer desktop (mostly because I know where to find it).
• I don’t need to buy any stereo equipment. We are generally pretty bare bones with our computer purchases but the last time we bought one it was a ‘value package’ that came with adequate amplified speakers. Using the hard drive for music storage means that there is no need to buy CDs either.
• I don’t need to buy a TV. Streaming video over the internet has advanced to the point that television is arguably redundant for a lot of people. I do have a TV in my furnished apartment and I watch it every now and then, usually the news.
• I certainly don’t need to ever buy another audio recording device. As a teenager, I was obsessed with getting a 4-track tape recorder to do overdubs for my music compositions. I was never able to afford such a thing and I am glad that I delayed my gratification because when it finally arrived it was free. All I need is a basic microphone and a PC. GarageBand or Audacity have more editing functions than I could have imagined back when I was ogling clunky recording equipment in 80s guitar magazines.
• I am not a gamer. If I had a lot of free time and if there was something seriously wrong with outside, I could entertain myself adequately with browser based games. I don’t need a Wii, Playstation, or Gamecube.

Can you think of anything else that has been made redundant by the PC?

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The very large jar that you see in the picture was a solution waiting for a problem. Actually, it spent a week or two as a problem. It seems that a lot of useful looking manufactured goods these days are modeled on good old fashioned design but they scrimp on the materials. This jar’s sealing mechanism had wire that was too thin and week to withstand normal use. I was planning to return it but some heavy twine that was wrapped around three artichokes inspired me to try to fix it. A few minutes of fiddling turned it from useless to useful. The next day we ran out of sugar and I walked next door where the shopkeeper dutifully recorded the weight of the jar (about 800grams) before filling it with about 3kg of sugar. The conventional way to buy sugar here is in 1 or 2 kg plastic bags. I think one of the things that makes retailers love plastic is it’s negligible weight. When you are at a typical supermarket buying a bulk item that you have placed in a plastic bag or tub, you are often paying for the plastic when the cashier weighs your item.

My neighbor probably thinks I am weird for bringing my jar over for sugar and my bowl over for eggs. I am getting used to it.

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Papier-mâché is one of a handful of useful materials that have been almost completely usurped by plastic. I was surprised to find out that the panels for observatory domes used to be made from papier-mâché. This material is very strong and rigid when made correctly. My elementary school projects tended to be mushy and lopsided. It would be irresponsible of me to advise a novice to make a building or a sea faring craft. If you want to do something constructive with Papier-mâché, start by making masks for Halloween or Mardi Gras. Plastic Halloween masks are a pretty disposable commodity and there seems to be a serious over supply. I see Spiderman masks for sale in the dark alleys of the Kasbah and most people don’t celebrate Halloween or Carnival here.

When I was in Florence last month, I took my kids into the shop of a master of the art of mask making. Agostino Dessi knows what he is doing. His daughter is continuing in his footsteps and they offer short courses for anyone who is interested.

Italian Mask

Photo credit: mjbinut

If we as a society are going to use less plastic we are going to have to look back at some of the materials that we used before plastic came along. Papier-mâché has some obvious limitations but it also has some very interesting potential. You can easily formulate a biodegradable version.

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It is going to take a lot of changes from a lot of people to create long term sustainability for life on this planet. If you feel like you can only do one thing right now, consider bringing your own bag to the store. Here is a convincing list of statistics taken from the Bring Your Own Bag campaign:

• 100 million plastic bags a week go to landfill.
• Plastic bags can take between 15 and 1000 years to break down in the environment.
• Each year, an estimated 500 billion – 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That translates to over one million per minute.
• North America goes through 110 billion plastic shopping bags annually.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways polluting our soil, rivers, lakes and oceans.
• Production of plastic bags requires vast amounts of oil.
• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

I just learned about Bring Your Own Bag today. I really like the fact that their message is aimed at average consumers. When I am promoting my website on social media, I sometimes get a bit disheartened by the fact that I preach to the choir a lot. The environmentally responsible people are all following each other and friending each other and they already take a cloth bag to the grocery store. They already bring their travel mug to the cafe.

If you have somehow landed on my blog and you have never thought about reducing you plastic consumption, get yourself a nice reusable shopping bag from wherever is most convenient. I got one for free at a mall one weekend from some non-profit group. I bought some really cheap woven bags from a hawker who stands in front of the vegetable market here. Bring Your Own Bag has a page showing all their participating retailers. If I still lived with my mom, Pete’s Frootique would be my local retailer. Their bags look really good as in good enough to take on casual shopping trips rather than just the weekly grocery run. Drivers will like the flat bottoms.

The change to reusable grocery bags is easy and it is conspicuous. Once you get used to it you will take it for granted and you will start looking for another positive change.

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I try my best to avoid insulting people, but the person who filmed this How To video is stupid.

Plastic Bottles – The best bloopers are here

I might be stupid too. I have been operating under the assumption that heating liquids in PET plastic bottles was a proven health hazard. When I took the time to try and confirm my assumption, I was surprised to find out that I couldn’t. PET water bottles are a BIG problem for the environment. Something like 85% of them are tossed into landfills or discarded into our environment after a single use. But PET bottles have not been a big problem for human health. NGOs are even promoting a water disinfection method for rural Africa using PET bottles and solar energy (PDF). Reusing PET bottles repeatedly without proper cleaning and air drying can put you at risk of ingesting dangerous bacteria.

I still contend that it is unwise to throw a plastic bottle of water on an open fire and then drink from it. I managed to find a few quotes from chemists and food scientists saying that they make a personal choice not to consume food or beverages that are contained in plastic. If any of my readers know of any new credible research into potential health risks with reused PET bottles, please let me know.

UPDATE: Beth Terry, writer of FakePlasticFish managed to find a scientific paper detailing how PET water bottles leach the toxin antimony faster when they are heated. Thanks, Beth.

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I didn’t take many pictures on my last trip to the beach. I found a newish garbage bag and used it to pick up about 50 PET water bottles in about 1 minute. Around here, old guys with push carts or carts pulled with mopeds go look through the dumpsters and along the roadsides gathering thousands of these water bottles. I am very curious about the economics of this activity. I have seen a truck heading out of town in the late afternoon with large woven polypropylene bags of water bottles piled precariously high.

I spy one half of a red plastic clothespin in the above picture. If anyone wants to trade it for something of greater value, please get in touch.

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Good news from ZNet, The major manufacturers have agreed to standardize their chargers. This will hopefully reduce plastic waste as phones can be shipped without including a charger.

The adoption of Micro-USB as a common standard has several advantages for users and the industry, the GSM Association (GSMA) said. In particular, it allows manufacturers to stop shipping a new charger with every handset, and it lets buyers avoid the need to have multiple chargers for different devices.

I was a bit surprised to read that the slots are only robust enough to hold up to 10,000 insertions. Sure, you can plug your phone into the charger every night for over 27 years, but what if a toddler sees you doing it one evening and decides to entertain himself by inserting the charger over and over again? Stuff needs to be more durable. I guess the companies want you to buy another phone sooner rather than later anyway.

If you need to buy a phone between now and when the standardization takes effect in three years, look for a phone with a Micro-USB slot.

I hope the standardization will provide some kind of benefit to people who are working on things like solar chargers. Don’t waste money and plastic by buying any of the less than stellar solar chargers that are already available. GreenLAgirl recently reviewed a slick looking solar charger that simply put wasn’t good enough. If you live in a very sunny US location, you should head over to her blog now and comment to qualify for her giveaway. The Solio100 comes with multiple nibs to fit a variety of devices. I wouldn’t buy one of these, but it seems like the best use for it would be to leave it on the dash of the car that I don’t have for those times when I forget the car charger that I don’t have for the various devices that I don’t have. If anyone has a really good solar charger for multiple devices please feel free to comment.

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I connect with a lot of technophiles through social media like twitter. I am not a technophile. I was reminded of this when I impulsively entered a contest to win a Flip Mino HD Camera. Digital cameras are an important tool for blogging but I have never actually purchased one for myself. I mooch off of my wife who has a five year old Kodak that was the cheapest adequate camera at that time. Its 1.3 mega pixels is actually considered inadequate by some people, including the people who wanted some photos to accompany an interview we did for a travel magazine.

I also mooch off of my daughters. Their camera was a bargain because it was dropped in the store. After about a year of reliability, it started to fail. I can fix it temporarily by pressing really hard on the lens casing. It has 3.2 mega pixels, which is just barely over the bar as far as being adequate. It records video. When my kids are using it on vacation, they take lots of video clips. Any technophile in my situation would conclude that they NEED to buy a new camera. I don’t need to buy a new camera.

My laptop is almost four years old. It desperately needs reformatting and more than one ISP tech has scoffed at it in recent months. Any technophile in my situation would conclude that they NEED to buy a new laptop. I don’t need to buy a new laptop. I do need to reinstall Windows.

I don’t update my mobile phone in order to keep up with the Joneses. I bought my first cell phone out of necessity on Malta and it was the very cheapest model available. It became unreliable after about three years and I bought the cheapest new phone available here. It costs less than $40 USD for a new Nokia, SIM card and first pre-pay charge. Catherine bought a slightly better cell phone when we arrived in Malta in 2005 and it is still working fine.

The general population of mobile phone users in the US upgrades every 18 months. If a technophile wants to stay on the bleeding edge of technology, they have to buy a new phone more frequently than that. I expect to keep using my phone for as long as it works. If it fails completely, I will use my old unreliable phone while I consider my options.

Buying the latest technology when you don’t need it is a very wasteful practice. It creates a lot of plastic waste, not to mention the even more dangerous substances like lead, mercury and cadmium. The electronics recycling stream ends in some pretty unpleasant places where poor people damage their health and their environment. My infrequent consumption of electronics is partly an innate stinginess, but I have also been considering the environment.

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