Plastic wrap in rolls at Home Depot is fabulous to cover the carpet with -- the contractors use it to cover/protect carpet when they're working. The heavy Ram board (cardboard-type paper) works great over hard surface areas but it rips, tears, looks filthy, and you can't clean it off during construction but is a good protective measure on granite/marble, ceramic, floors. Wish I could cover the furniture with it/lolol as my husband doesn't worry much about his ink pens -- I've had to replace end section of the 'L' leather sofa (new) that I waited 10 mos for order to be made delivered/installed -- safe products wouldn't even remove the ink w/out slight damage/unreal! Hey, just decided plastic cover like the 1950s - plastic is fantastic!. If only they made to fit -- would be perfect to cover seating area subject to marker pen/ink.
What Do You Think About Banning Plastic Bags?
by minimus 37 Replies latest jw friends
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Theonlyoneleft
Here on the uk we have stopped having free bags in stores for a while now.
we simply take out own or buy a bag and pay for £0.05-£1.00. All moneys collected from the sales of bags are normally donated to a charity chosen by the supermarket or store.
Many people have started also buying lose fruit and vegetables as well as cold meats and cheeses from the supermarket counter instead of packed goods. Some items do end up saving a few bob too, as can be cheaper that way.
we have introduced the water refill scheme, where you can enter a business premises and just ask to refill your own water bottle, the business will have a sticker on the window to let customers know that they can refill their water bottles in there, So no need to buy plastic water bottles!!
The supermarkets that do home delivery have started to supply deliveries without bags, just items inside crates... except for some items that need a small plastic bag.
china has announced that will no longer take other countries recycling “baggage”, so now there’s only a few other countries that are able to take surplus items for recycling but unfortunately they are not doing so well and these are being pilled up on landfill.
So the less we buy the less needs to be recycled.
There are now many items that can be changed to plastic free options BUT some still expensive.
I presume it’s just a matter of time that things will change even more. in the end of the day we can’t just consume, all needs to go somewhere, and with the world population always growing, some measures will need to be put in place to help us not only to do the best choices but also to have the knowledge to do it.
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Theonlyoneleft
Last week I gave myself a personal challenge as I went to my supermarket and did a free plastic shopping. No bags, no packaging no plastic.
i have to say I did found it different and a little difficult.
But none the less I bought the things that I needed BUT not the things that I WANTED.
I took with me the green compost bags that out local council provided, the bags for the food caddy. These can be reuse to compost food scraps later on... and are fully compostable! Yay!!
i filled these with the much needed cheese, ham, chicken and fish. Also veg and fruit.
The bread was easy from the bakery this time, and some items I bought in glass and in tins.
Metal and glass are high sought after materials with the capacity of being recycled many times (and cheaper and better to recycle thirst than to produce new that takes much more resources) so i was happy with the choice.
I did struggle with the milk and this was my only plastic item on my weekly shopping for a large family household. ( bummers... wish my local milkman milk delivery wouldn’t be so expensive! 😔)
I think that we need to be aware of what we buy in general and minimize our impact in the world.
But I also feel that manufacturers need to do more to also help us to choose and keep plastic to a minimum.
IF we all stop buying products because of their plastic packaging I can guarantee that manufacturers would change their ways and would invest in making their products better for consumers.
They are only interested to make a quick buck or two at the moment.
Ps. The supermarket staff was fantastic, the butcher specially, no problems or qualms in using my own compost bags.
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Theonlyoneleft
Minimus,
you can now buy recycled toilet paper that also comes wrapped with paper, so no plastic. It’s all recyclable and also made of recycled pulp.
Paper towels are not recyclable yet as paper, as these can contain food bits and contaminate other paper , these normally can be composted together with your food scraps if you have that option in your area.
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LV101
After reading about the oceans, etc., and reminded about all the marine life horror, I'll go back to using those grocery bags I bought -- unfortunately, most of that plastic in the oceans is coming from China but that's no excuse for me to be a plastic addict. It's just convenient and cleaner util it's not. Recycling is easy to do and we've had yrs. to practice but giving up plastic trash liners is going to be quite an adjustment. -
smiddy3
When Big business starts to use Bio-degradable plastic , that would be a good thing, if such technology actually really exists , because its just not plastic bags that are a problem ,there are so many other products you can buy in supermarkets that are sold in plastic containers of one sort or another .
And they all add to the problem .
But at least its a start in the right direction and not before time.
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scruffmcbuff
In the uk we have already taken steps with plastic. But in some cases its just for show.
An example that comes to mind.
The paper straws being used by mc donalds and a few other, the paper is of a certain variety that Cant actually be recycled. The reason they use it is because normal.paper turns to pulp with its intended use.