containers

On waste. In grocery stores we often buy food in containers. We intend to buy the food, the container is just seen as a sanitary disposable vehicle. I would like to rethink the word "disposable" . . .

Most containers are made from not terribly renewable resources--and by this I mean plastic. Plastic and styrofoam are both made from oil. Reading up on styrofoam I found numbers ranging from 900 to a million + years for it to break down. If you burn styrofoam it produces a toxic gas--so why are so many restaurants and stores still using it . . .values, lack of awareness, inertia . . .

First we try to not buy plastic containers. Then we try to save and reuse containers we do have. Otherwise they are recycled. Why buy tupperware when you just got a new container with your yogurt?

We try to bring our own containers and buy in bulk from health markets and coops. When I tare a new container I always have flashback to science labs. If you haven't done this before there is usually a scale in the bulk area or you can ask the cashier to help. I did not grow up in a family that bought in bulk so this is something that I picked up on within the past five years.

We try to bring our own containers to restaurants, in the case that we do not finish our food. Otherwise we try to put leftovers in napkins instead of the to-go containers. There have been a few cases I've been in a bind and didn't want to waste food so I took the styrofoam . . .in which case we try to reuse it for travel food. When we end up with too many containers that means it is time to start making yummy food to share with friends, sending the food in our excess containers! Of course growing what food you can and then shopping at a farmers' market eliminates many containers.

I thought that perhaps I would like to make a small card to leave restaurants who use styrofoam/non-renewable containers to recommend a change. Then I realized, hmm, I bet someone has already thought of this . . . so I searched it.
http://styrophobia.akamai-marketing.com/change-for-change/  This link is really great, but specific to the state of Hawaii.
This link talks a little more about the compostable alternatives. Maybe instead of trying to find uses for all of the corn we are mass producing by forming it into processed food in the supermarket, we can choose to focus on corn-based PLA biodegradable to-go containers.

I think it would be really fun to write a book about the life of a container. . . or how a container has come to symbolize life today . . .or . . .ahaha . . .hmmm . . .