It's Christmas time again! The stores have been displaying Christmas decorations since October, but this is the first week that the catalogues are showing Christmas recipe ideas, Christmas foodstuff, things to buy to celebrate Christmas like the host with the mostest...
I was flipping through a catalogue the other day, and noticed a big section on 'green things' to buy for your friends and family. Like reusable silicone lunch bags, silicone wraps for bowls, beeswax wraps, silicone keep cups. Although they all mean well I'm sure, they sound oddly like... just another form of plastic to me. And what makes it worse is that these are the plastics that take longer and are harder to break down. With our world's fast fashion attitude, how long will these last before they are thrown out? 2 months, 6 months, a year? Maybe you're thinking a year is not bad. But have a think about how long will these take to break down? Will they break down into safe particles?
There was a time before plastic. It was not as convenient, but life went on. Maybe try covering your bowls with a plate, or saucer instead of silicone covers. Or cook just enough so you don't have to refrigerate any leftovers. Use ceramic cups. And when you do need to use plastics, buy good quality ones and commit to use those for years. I have very few plastic containers, only Pyrex containers with plastic lids that we've used for more than 10 years.
Sure, every little bit we can do to reduce single use plastics is good. But all these new plastic products that are coming into the market are arguably not required, and frankly just another way for the manufacturers to make money rather than saving the environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment