Trash. Everybody generates it. But my concerns aren’t as global as some folks because our trash company only picks up one can once a week. My concerns are how to generate less trash when every company seems to be against you.
I try to follow the wisdom of folks who apparently know things. When it makes sense, I will try it. For example, I try to limit my online orders so that I had one larger order instead of several smaller orders. But in spite of my efforts, the company will always break up my order in to 23 smaller orders. This leads to smaller boxes with lots of bubbles. A significant portion of my life involves cutting up boxes and stabbing plastic bubbles. It is sort of therapeutic, if you think about it. Not only do I get my product, but a little dose of mental health as well.
When I’m not Buffy the box slayer, I am pondering the sense of some things. I have no beef with paper straws. I kinda like them as a throwback to a simpler time when all straws were paper. You learned to down your beverage quickly before the straw supersaturated and collapsed into a gooey heap. Facing these sorts of challenges makes my generation who they are! The newer straws are made of sturdier stuff indeed. But is the value of switching to paper straws negated by tossing said straws into a plastic bag lined trash can?
While we are wondering the fate of straws, plastic straws are ending up in the ocean befouling sea life. What I really need to know is, how did my plastic straw, that I threw into a trash receptacle, end up in the ocean? Somehow I do not believe the consumer is directly liable here. Maybe we should be looking at how straws and plastic bags are handled in between the consumer and ocean. Jus’ sayin’.
Speaking of plastic bags, I’m really not a huge fan. Don’t get me wrong. I love a bag with handles. Can we please go back to the days when stores gave out paper bags with handles? I mean how convenient was that? Yes, they are a tad pricier but if I have to pay a nickel for plastic bags(as is being contemplated by woke legislators), why not just switch over? First of all, you use fewer bags. One store puts one item per plastic bag. If you put 3 or more items in one paper bag, your cost is covered. Paper bags are great for book covers, recycling newspapers, mulch, whatever!
Ok, I admit. I buy cases of paper bags with handles. I use them for trash in place of plastic. I use them to corral my recycling before hauling it out to the recycle can. I used them to carry things of all kinds…everywhere. I don’t have the least ounce of guilt throwing them out when the time comes because they will break down just fine.
But I still wonder how my trash ends up at the beach more often the me?