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Refusing Recycling and Re-purposing.
I have been meaning to write about this for some time now. I am trying not to bring home any plastic. That has meant I have had to change my habits and how I shop and where. We are fortunate that we grow loads of our own fruit and veges.
The "take your own bags and containers," is working well for me with fruit and veges at the supermarket or Fresh (fruit and vege ) Market. Getting meat at the butchers is good but more expensive. There are things I want but they come in plastic so I try for an alternative packaged in paper or loose if practical. Some examples are I love Vogel's bread but it comes in plastic. I also like sourdough but it is twice the price. It can be put straight in my bag at a deli but needs a paper bag and sticker at a supermarket. Yes I do have a bread maker I use too.
I like to buy frozen peas....haven't found a solution for that yet ( tinned or dried - no )
Ball point pens? Pencils or ones that take refills ( still plastic ). ( don't fancy a fountain pen in my handbag. )
We have always done our own recycling - never had a rubbish collection. We sort and recycle glass, paper flattened, card board, tins and a small amount still of plastic. We take it there ourselves.
On the recent TV News we saw NZ now has a problem with the amount of recycled paper. There is an easy solution. Forbid paper advertising leaflets - our mailbox bulges with them..
NZ has more glossy magazines than most countries.. Reduce this.
We try to buy metal or wooden kids toys for the grand kids. There we have re-purposed lots that I kept. . ( Lego is the exception being plastic )( I kept all our boys' Lego )
What plastic we already have I now treasure. I will use it again and again and again.( in the freezer in the cupboards etc. )
Consumers who care are trying hard to not get plastic or any sort of needless packaging. There is heaps of that. I think manufactures now have to step up and take more responsibility. Get new ideas more quickly,! Old buried rubbish. is now coming back to bite communities who unwisely just dumped and buried in the past.. This is going to be a major cost all round the country to clean it up before it goes to sea.
If you have got some good ideas to share on this subject I'd love to hear. I know there is lots to read on the subject - some ideas are a step too far.
3 comments:
WE too recycle and re-use everything we can. When we first moved year, twenty years ago, there was a beautiful meadow when we came over the Green oaks hill (a street in our town). Now? A trash mountain, no kidding! It is truly awful!!
I know I need to do more to reduce the amount of plastic I use, but I think that corporations need to do more about reducing industrial waste and providing better alternatives to people. I had some success calling corporations to let them know my feelings about how they make things.
It's a huge problem here too. We have recycling uplifts, but where the stuff then goes... hard to say.
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