How To Be A More Earth-Friendly Shopper
- Bring your own bags to the grocery store. Canvas tote bags or net (string)
bags work very well, and are easier to for you carry than a mass of paper
bags. Also, most grocery stores will give you a small "rebate"
off your bill for bringing your own bags. Plus, you are leading by example
!
- Avoid products that overuse packaging. Don't buy the little teeny item
in the huge printed box. (Hey ! Size does matter after all !) Let
companies know that you don't want to pay for wasteful packaging. Call
their customer hotlines and let them know you approve of their use of recycled
packaging, or disapprove of their wasteful packaging.
- Don't forget the basics : buy recycled whenever
possible, even if it costs just a little more.
- Don't buy things designed to be trashed immediately -- like plastic
silverware and styrofoam plates. For that backyard barbequeue it's easy
to take your normal dinnerware into the house and wash it, rather than
throw away a bunch of paper plates. If you must buy disposable stuff, buy
paper not styrofoam.
- Re-use your shopping bags - I gather tons of those big handled shopping
bags at holiday time, then re-use them all year. Okay, there are jingle
bells and reindeer on 'em, and I'm using them in July. So what ? Also,
those little bags from places like The Body Shop make great re-usable and
tough lunch bags.
- Look for alternate packaging, like cardboard or paper rather than plastics.
Be especially watchful that the plastics you do buy are recyclable.
- My grocery pet peeve is seeing people in line with each bit of produce
in a plastic bag. One tomato. One pepper. One bunch of carrots. Sheesh
! How wasteful can you be ?? This is a great place for those aforementioned
string bags. I just bag my delicate produce in those, unload at the check
out, and reload when rung up. Much nicer than those icky throw away plastics.
Remember - lead by example !
- Ponder this while in the cleaning supplies aisle : can you buy a larger
refill size that can fill the bottles you have at home ? Can you get the
garbage bags made from recycled plastics ?
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