For those of you who read this column regularly, you would likely categorize me as an incrementalist. Through small positive actions, change occurs. There is no overnight transformation, whether individually or societally.
I don’t expect miracles. Those who believe revolutions are the answer only kid themselves.
When a positive change occurs, it fuels my imagination and puts me in a better place. This occurred a few weeks back when I bought my supply of salsa.
At Costco, they sell my brand in a two-pack. It has been sold for years in plastic containers, something that irritates me to no end. When a product can be processed in a glass container, I’m puzzled why plastic is used. That answer is plastic is cheaper (without considering all the environmental impacts of plastics not decomposing around the world, choking animals, waterways and trees, and breaking down into micro-plastics that we unsuccessfully digest, causing who knows what to our bodies).
Despite the dual plastic containers, I purchased the salsa because I liked it so much. Turned my head the other way, recycled the plastic containers and hoped that down the line they got repurposed into some other plastic product.
Then, those few weeks ago, the salsa materialized in a two-pack of glass containers, held FIRMLY together by a tough cardboard attachment. YEAH! I was jazzed.
It was one of those signs that someone in a position of authority got it. They recognize that the materials they were using aren’t good for the long-term health of the planet and CHOSE to make a decision that a safer alternative be used. A thank you to that individual or team that drove the decision.
Jokingly, when I brought the salsa home, I told my wife that someone finally listened to me for once. My ranting paid off.
Eradicating plastic from product lines is going to be a very long haul. This corporate decision is not likely to be emulated by others. Each of us can take steps to fuel the process though.
Given the choice, purchase similar products in glass bottles rather than plastic. You may pay a few cents more. In the long run, you are pushing the manufacturers in the direction to meet your consumer choice.
It's hard to justify putting more plastic into the environment. The other day, I watched as containers of Gatorade were unloaded to stock a concession stand. Cases and cases of plastic, held together at the bottle cap by more six-pack plastic rings, encased in plastic sheets. Plastic, plastic, plastic.
At a BARE MINIMUM, two-thirds of that plastic could be eliminated, by securing the bottles in cardboard and attaching the bottles together by a non-plastic neck attachment. All one needs to do to see the over-use of plastic bottles is take a look at the garbage at any major event – a concert, ballgame, state fair – and the overflowing of plastic bottles in the garbage containers.
The Costco salsa glass two-pack isn’t going to change the world. The salsa company’s decision to eliminate plastic in their production process was a good one. They’re moving us in the right direction. I hope many more take notice.
I don’t expect miracles. Those who believe revolutions are the answer only kid themselves.
When a positive change occurs, it fuels my imagination and puts me in a better place. This occurred a few weeks back when I bought my supply of salsa.
At Costco, they sell my brand in a two-pack. It has been sold for years in plastic containers, something that irritates me to no end. When a product can be processed in a glass container, I’m puzzled why plastic is used. That answer is plastic is cheaper (without considering all the environmental impacts of plastics not decomposing around the world, choking animals, waterways and trees, and breaking down into micro-plastics that we unsuccessfully digest, causing who knows what to our bodies).
Despite the dual plastic containers, I purchased the salsa because I liked it so much. Turned my head the other way, recycled the plastic containers and hoped that down the line they got repurposed into some other plastic product.
Then, those few weeks ago, the salsa materialized in a two-pack of glass containers, held FIRMLY together by a tough cardboard attachment. YEAH! I was jazzed.
It was one of those signs that someone in a position of authority got it. They recognize that the materials they were using aren’t good for the long-term health of the planet and CHOSE to make a decision that a safer alternative be used. A thank you to that individual or team that drove the decision.
Jokingly, when I brought the salsa home, I told my wife that someone finally listened to me for once. My ranting paid off.
Eradicating plastic from product lines is going to be a very long haul. This corporate decision is not likely to be emulated by others. Each of us can take steps to fuel the process though.
Given the choice, purchase similar products in glass bottles rather than plastic. You may pay a few cents more. In the long run, you are pushing the manufacturers in the direction to meet your consumer choice.
It's hard to justify putting more plastic into the environment. The other day, I watched as containers of Gatorade were unloaded to stock a concession stand. Cases and cases of plastic, held together at the bottle cap by more six-pack plastic rings, encased in plastic sheets. Plastic, plastic, plastic.
At a BARE MINIMUM, two-thirds of that plastic could be eliminated, by securing the bottles in cardboard and attaching the bottles together by a non-plastic neck attachment. All one needs to do to see the over-use of plastic bottles is take a look at the garbage at any major event – a concert, ballgame, state fair – and the overflowing of plastic bottles in the garbage containers.
The Costco salsa glass two-pack isn’t going to change the world. The salsa company’s decision to eliminate plastic in their production process was a good one. They’re moving us in the right direction. I hope many more take notice.