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Any ideas on how one can consume less plastic?
I hate the sight of the refuse we generate - mostly plastic packaging for food and water.
Any economical, re-fillable spring water service around here?
Which food brands should I switch to for ecologically friendly packaging, preferably glass or recycled paper? We mostly consume yogurt, organic milk, ketchup, mustard ....
Dump recyclables in your brown container you leave at curb in Cary every other week.
Get pre-packaged portion-size condiments at fast food places.
Use care in all the bottled water schemes. Instead, change the filter in your recent fridge on a routine schedule. Look at its list of impurities removed. Then, ask your fave water supplier what's removed from their over-priced water. Remember, filters don't remove minerals.
Shop Aldi, same parentage as the pricier Trader-Joes for some stuff in minimal packaging and some organic.
If a senior, dine at Golden Corral weekdays 2-4 PM for $7.49 including beverage. Get there on Fridays around 3;30 PM when all the grilled seafood is set out. You will save using plastic that day, for sure.
Any ideas on how one can consume less plastic?
I hate the sight of the refuse we generate - mostly plastic packaging for food and water.
Any economical, re-fillable spring water service around here?
Which food brands should I switch to for ecologically friendly packaging, preferably glass or recycled paper? We mostly consume yogurt, organic milk, ketchup, mustard ....
I'm trying to figure out how yogurt, organic milk, ketchup and mustard could possibly go together to create a staple.
Any ideas on how one can consume less plastic?
I hate the sight of the refuse we generate - mostly plastic packaging for food and water.
Any economical, re-fillable spring water service around here?
Which food brands should I switch to for ecologically friendly packaging, preferably glass or recycled paper? We mostly consume yogurt, organic milk, ketchup, mustard ....
Move close to work. It's probably the #1 thing you can do, along with downsizing your home (but avoid anything drafty or poorly insulated).
Other stuff is negligible in comparison generally and means very little. It's the big things, not the little ones like plastics, that make the biggest difference to the environment.
If anything else, try to eat less meat, especially beef. Cows produce a lot of methane which is a greenhouse gas.
Get pre-packaged portion-size condiments at fast food places.
No, sorry. This is the worst possible advice. Portion sized condiments use more packaging materials per ounce than nearly any other consumer item. They are possibly the most ecologically wasteful item available.
In general the best practice is to go with bulk items in the largest size available that you can use without the contents spoiling. Since mustard and ketchup have extremely long shelf lives, you can buy really large containers. For yogurt, i never buy single serve containers... they are very wasteful... but stick with the largest jars or tubs I can find, usually quarts.
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Shop Aldi, same parentage as the pricier Trader-Joes for some stuff in minimal packaging and some organic.
Sorry, Aldi is a great store, but this (same parentage) is a common bit of misinformation. A German company called Aldi Nord owns the Trader Joe's chain in the US. A different company called Aldi Sud owns the Aldi stores in the US. They are operated by brothers, and used to be one family business, but they have been separate companies since 1960.
Quote:
If a senior, dine at Golden Corral weekdays 2-4 PM for $7.49 including beverage. Get there on Fridays around 3;30 PM when all the grilled seafood is set out. You will save using plastic that day, for sure.
I'm unclear how you think this is supposed to reduce your ecological footprint? I buy fresh fish at the market when I shop, grill it myself, and not only save money bur also the gas to drive to a restaurant, and I can eat whenever I want to. .
Move close to work. It's probably the #1 thing you can do, along with downsizing your home (but avoid anything drafty or poorly insulated).
Other stuff is negligible in comparison generally and means very little. It's the big things, not the little ones like plastics, that make the biggest difference to the environment.
If anything else, try to eat less meat, especially beef. Cows produce a lot of methane which is a greenhouse gas.
However, if you're eating grass-fed, grass-finished beef then any bio emissions from the cow are actually zero-sum. By way of illustration, when a cow eats grass its tissues sequester some portion of the carbon in that grass, most of it actually stays in the fecal fiber where it will be broken down by insects, microbes and sarcoptic fungi, but some of it will escape into the atmosphere in the form of methane. Meanwhile, the grass the cow is eating is fixing more carbon from the air as it regenerates the mass lost to the cow. No carbon is generated in this process. Of course, there IS a carbon signature associated with the transport of grains and fermented feeds often used to finish beef, but any carbon associated with livestock agriculture would be easily reabsorbed by biomass if we were able to do away with the emissions associated with widespread ICE transportation.
There are two different issues here, but I'm going to focus on your concern over plastic. If you really want to cut down on your packaging waste, find a store that sells unpackaged foods, and bring your own reusable bags & containers. If you want to see an example of what this looks like, click on my profile, and you'll see a photo of a typical weekly grocery shop for my family. We shop at Whole Foods, Sprouts, & Vitamin Cottage.
As for mustard, many natural foods stores sell spices in bulk. Mustard seeds are easy to find. Lots of recipes can be found on the internet, but my favorite home-made mustard recipe is very simple. Soak brown and yellow mustard seeds in a solution of apple cider vinegar and water overnight. Blend to your desired consistency using an immersion blender and store in the fridge.
Our milk is delivered by a local dairy, and we return the bottles, which are cleaned and refilled. I make my own yogurt, so only I occasionally have to buy a container for starting a new batch. I return the yogurt packaging to the Gimme 5 recycling container at my Whole Foods. As for water, we just fill a glass straight from the tap. On the go, we used metal canteens.
Last edited by randomparent; 08-22-2014 at 04:13 PM..
As I live rural with a well and septic. Before I bought the house I decided to use only eco-friendly laundry, dish, hand, body wash, shampoo, and water conditioning salt. I also recycle plastic, aluminum, and paper. I drive less than 3000 miles a year. I pay bills locally or online. I buy large, divide and freeze. I get paper sacks instead of plastic. I replaced a LOT of drafty old windows, reinsulated the attic and reduced my utility bill over $200 per month. I use CFL though out the house. I don't feel guilty if I forget to turn it off. I replaced all the mechanical and electrical, too.
Use care in all the bottled water schemes. Instead, change the filter in your recent fridge on a routine schedule. Look at its list of impurities removed. Then, ask your fave water supplier what's removed from their over-priced water. Remember, filters don't remove minerals.
Shop Aldi, same parentage as the pricier Trader-Joes for some stuff in minimal packaging and some organic.
Our milk is delivered by a local dairy, and we return the bottles, which are cleaned and refilled. I make my own yogurt, so only I occasionally have to buy a container for starting a new batch. I return the yogurt packaging to the Gimme 5 recycling container at my Whole Foods. As for water, we just fill a glass straight from the tap. On the go, we used metal canteens.
Would be great to bring back the glass bottle to the porch
Which milk service is this?
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