They were having a green expo at my favorite Whole Foods store, and it was
a busy day. Alongside our local producers were several plastics and paper
manufacturers, each offering examples of their “Green Wares”. For a small
food bank donation, our store provided a better alternative to those bags:
earth-friendly totes of several sizes and materials.
Since this is where I normally shop for the few things we don’t grow, I
decided to wait through the long lines afterward and avoid a return trip
later that week. After totaling up my purchases, the smiling cashier
startled me by asking, “Choke a fish or kill a tree?” In other words,
“Paper or plastic?” Her simple question gently induced many shoppers to
take home reusable totes rather than accept flimsy plastic bags.
That question brought home the principle as to why we moved to our piece
of heaven and why we changed over to homesteading, as naturally as
possible in the modern world. Our greatest pet peeve has always been
the mountains of packaging that accompany every outside purchase. Even as
remote as our acreage is, we are still plagued with “bagpies” blowing in
the breeze, alighting on fences, hanging in trees. Our vet said that
half of all ruminant deaths from digestive impaction she had seen in 2008
were caused by animals consuming plastic bags, and that the problem was
getting worse.
Our closest neighbors have 8 children, and are attempting their version of
homesteading. Unfortunately for all of us, they have brought their
big-city consumer lifestyle with them. We have found ourselves cleaning
our pasture weekly to protect our livestock and reduce a major eyesore.
Last cleaning, we picked up 9 feed sacks of waste, varying from fruit
punch jugs and used diapers (yech!) to plastic superstore bags and foam
packaging chunks. At one time, we tried gentle persuasion and education
to relieve the problem, but these the wannabe homesteaders told us quite
plainly, “You aren’t using that weedy lot for anything but a bunch of
goats,” and tossed even more garbage over the fence.
Out of curiosity, we sorted through the last mess to see just what they
were tossing away. We settled our land some 20 years ago, and have
been living as paper-and-plastic-free as possible since. Our monthly
non-recyclable trash fits into a 5-gallon bucket with room to spare, and
we wondered why these folks tossed so much stuff out each week.
WHERE DOES IT ALL
COME FROM?
On average, each U.S. resident generates over one ton of trash per year.
Most of that poundage comes from excess packaging, often doubled and
unnecessary. The two major trash offenders are paper and plastic.
Plastic bottles are a class to themselves.
Any one who mail-orders goods is familiar with the following packaging
scenario: goods arrive in a large carton surrounded by plastic foam
peanuts, foam blocks or sealed baggies filled with air. Inside is
another box containing whatever was shipped, surrounded by its own flashy
colorful wrapper and the product that needed such protection from the
vicious elements of transit. If more than one article was shipped,
it often arrives wrapped in its own plastic and cardboard caul with even
more packing material.
