In England they’re all getting in a right old tizzy about food packaging because rumor has it, they may soon be charged for throwing away too much trash! A dear friend of mine was livid and told me that she’d peeled all the plastic packaging off her produce at her local supermarket, and dumped it on the manager’s desk, telling him that she didn’t want it clogging up her trashcans – so could they please dispose of it. This got me thinking about food packaging in the US. Don’t you find it incredible how much trash you toss, even when you’re trying to be really mindful? I understand that due to transport, health safety and storage, a certain amount of packaging is required, but not all of it.
It’s the outer boxes that get me because they’re clearly there for marketing purposes and yet I have to get rid of them thank you very much. Do I really need 
an outer cereal box? NO! Or an outer box for my toothpaste tube? NO! Also the styrofoam trays are a worry: In Trader Joe’s, I wanted to buy some lovely Portobello Mushrooms, but they were packed on one of these ghastly trays and then wrapped in plastic – no thank you!
Obviously the answer is to shop at Farmer’s Markets and Wholefoods, but not everyone can afford to. The latter offers a dizzying variety of wonderful produce, which is not wrapped in plastic – I love that I can get my lettuces, beets, arugula etc loose and shove them in my own little mesh bags. Wholefoods also not only has bulk bin cereal, but carries a brand that eschews the outer box, Three Sister’s Cereal.
I have a fantasy that often visits me in the early hours of the morning: Imagine a store – an old fashioned grocery store kind of affair, where you take your own storage containers to fill up virtually everything from all dairy products to breads, grains – even cleaning products. On my recent London trip, I found my fantasy come to life: A cute little corner shop in East London called Unpackaged, is pretty much my dream – Fair-trade and organic foods all un-packaged! They get you to bring your own packaging in and if it’s really heavy, they weight it before filling it up. Just imagine coming home with zero packaging to stuff into your trash cans.
Keep in mind that recycling isn’t the answer to all this paper and plastic either. It’s a step in the right direction but much of our paper and plastic gets shipped to China and the recycling process can be pretty energy-intensive – much better to REDUCE in the first place.
Fired up from my recent trip, I had to go to the drugstore yesterday for toothpaste, a new toothbrush for my husband, and a prescription for my daughter. After paying, I took my goods to one side, and as embarrassing as it was, ripped off all the packaging (from just 3 items: hard plastic casing from toothbrush, outer cardboard box from toothpaste, and way too much paper along with the prescription bottle). I gathered up the waste and very politely placed it on the cashier’s desk saying, “I’d be grateful if you’d give this to the manager as I don’t require it.” The poor cashier, a man who I kind of know, as he’s been there years, looked totally stunned. Maybe if we all do this, repeatedly, we’ll get a movement going.
I must remember to sign up for the excellent Preserve Toothbrush subscription service, where you get sent a new recycled toothbrush every 3 months and get to send your old one back.
Here’s a few tips to make the best out of a bad situation:
- If you possibly can, buy cereals, grains and dried fruits from bulk bins.
- Save those flimsy produce bags (you can store them in an old inner cardboard kitchen roll tube), and before you go to the farmer’s market, grab at least 10 of them.
- Take storage containers (Pyrex or Tupperware etc,) to the store and get your meats and cheeses weighed at the deli counter, asking for them NOT to be wrapped. You can put them straight into your containers and stick the price sticker on the outside of the container.
- Don’t buy cream cheese or butter in plastic boxes, get them in the foil-wrapped blocks, as it’s way less packaging.
- Don’t buy pre-sliced cold-cuts and cheese – get it sliced at the deli counter instead.
- If you can’t get to a farmer’s market, consider getting an organic produce box delivered weekly.
- Buy Method Home cleaning products, as they’ve spent a lot of time innovating eco-friendly/energy-efficient packaging.
- Bake cookies, cakes and snack bars from scratch. It’s easier than you think and requires zero packaging.
- Where possible, buy milk in glass bottles, which are returnable. If you can’t get glass, plastic jugs is a better option as they are easier to recycle than the waxed paper cartons.
- Make your own almond milk with almonds from bulk bins – it’s so very easy!
Let me know if you have any other tips along these lines – we need all the help we can get!
