Kitchen

[Free2be]

There's a NY Times article about how many countries are beginning to drown in plastics since China stopped accepting tons of it to sort and make us of.  It has lost so much value in recycling that it has become an undesirable product everywhere.

I bring this to the kitchen forum because it seems that the larger percentage of plastic that comes into our home is kitchen related and the obvious fixes are not easy or realistic or will make any dent in the gigantic problem.

Living in a small hamlet, I drive 2 hours regularly to shop mainly at Costco and other stores as needed where most  everything they sell is encased in some form of plastic.  We use our own bags.  Farmers Markets are good but not dependable on a routine year round basis.

There is a rare event happening near my Costco, a community fair where people can bring things that need to be fixed so as not to toss them in a landfill.  How sad that this is not always available

I feel responsible but manufacturers are not being responsive -- yet.  If they change, we all change -- but to what do we chage?  Just buying a couple batteries brings plastic home, it's a bigger problem than how groceries are packaged.  

Without telling somene else what they should do, do you see a way out of this?  Smart people who have to deal with the mountains of it don't seem to have answers.

I don't think people buying produce or other items are very open to picking unwrapped foods from large bins (am imagining what the Costco cooled produce room could look like without the plastics).  Bring your own Lock n Lock to the deli department where they'll dish you out a family meal or salad?   Not likely to ever happen.

[BirkiLady]

@Free2be  If you knew how unhealthy plastics are, you wouldn't be using them at all in your kitchen! Those plastics containers you mentioned leach chemicals into your food. Best to avoid all plastics and use glass containers. Avoid the litter problem and the health problems. You have only read a portion of the plastic problem. Keep reading and stay informed.

[2blonde]

@Free2be  With all the new technology today, you might think they could come up with a type of plastic that would break down after a period of time, after it's served it's purpose.

[Lilysmom]

@Free2be, on another post in kitchen forum I asked about cleaning brushes for reusable stainless straws.  Plastic straws make up 50% of the marine pollution from plastics.  Beaches are littered with it and it is a serious problem marine life.   

I am in Nova Scotia, Canada and our Provimce is seriously considering banning plastic bags.  The issue reared it’s head when the market in China dried up for plastic bags.  It is a real problem.  LM

[Free2be]

@2blonde  Or return to paper-based packaging, grow more trees that reproduce quickly.  I was looking at possible homes for a potential move and noticed how much farm land is being covered with new homes and expensive HOAs in my state, mostly unaffordable for new home buyers but that's for another discussion.  We need more trees.

[2blonde]

@Free2be  Yes, I thought about paper too, but of course, I also thought about the trees.  No easy answer here.

[ALRATIBA]

Just like there are microbes who are "eating" oil spills at higher than expected rates ... I have no doubt that in the not too distant future "nature" will evolve to the point where plastics will be naturally broken down and return to the earth.

Plastics are petroleum products.

[RoughDraft]

@Free2be  There is hope, if the planet can hold on.

https://www.popsci.com/bacteria-enzyme-plastic-waste

[Daysdee]

Plastic bags have been banned here for  few years.  First it was just grocery stores where you had to take your own reuseable bags, but now it is all stores---drugstores, Marshall's, dept. stores, etc.

[Desertdi]

BATTERIES take 100 years to decompose in a dump