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Eco to Go: Packaging
A column that shares lessons learned in taking the Dancing Rabbit lifestyle to the city.
by Jacob Stevens Corvidae
An empty bag cannot stand tall. - Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
Americans, acolytes of consumption that we are, naturally use a great deal of packaging for all of the goods we purchase. Not so "naturally", most of that packaging is disposable and represents a nearly unfathomable cumulative amount of waste. I'm sure you've all heard various statistics about how much plastic pollution we could prevent, how many trees we could save and other quantities of good things that would happen if each of us used one less plastic bag, cardboard coffee cup holder, styrofoam "doggy bags", etc. Sadly, the truth of the matter is that we are surrounded by packaging [hmmm... much like the products we're buying ... who is the product here?] and it is hard to purchase anything without getting lots of extraneous material attached.
If only we could live someplace where the daily goods of our lives weren't wrapped in plastic, boxboard, styrofoam, and tin! Well, if that's what you're looking for, I know this swell ecovillage in northeast Missouri you might want to visit.... It's true, at Dancing Rabbit we've been very successful at fulfilling this dream of mostly packaging-free living. Our food comes from the garden, bulk food purchases (with mostly reusable, and therefore reused, packaging), or our stores of our own canned or cold-stored goods. We're able to get a lot of our tools and other building supplies from farm auctions or friends. We also provide much of our own entertainment.
Of course, most of the people reading this (and most of the person writing this) don't live at Dancing Rabbit, now do we? So how can we manage? I'm here to tell you, my friends, that it's a somewhat different story, but still do-able. Here are my suggestions:
- Take bags everywhere. This may sound ridiculous, but women who carry purses and student-types with backpacks will already know that this is easily accommodated and seems indispensible once you start. I usually take a shoulder bag with a book and few little bags in the corner of it everywhere.
- Shop in bulk. This one's big, though it mostly relates to food, cleaning supplies, and some hardware. In any case, bulk shopping (for 2 of the 3 things mentioned above) by weight is possible at most health food stores. While bulk food areas usually provide bags or other containers for you to use, they also make it easy to bring your own container. This includes a scale so you can remove the weight of your tupperware, bottle, jar, etc. from the purchase.
- Since folks in the city and suburbs tend to eat out more, be sure to take jars or tupperware with you to pack your leftovers. This helps to
 not waste food without resorting to all the doggy bag packaging. This one might feel weird at first, being so public, but with any luck you'll quickly feel proud of being so resourceful.
Those three suggestions are ways to avoid packaging entirely. The following three ideas are ways to get items that are only available with packaging:
- Comparison shop for similar items with less packaging or more responsible packaging. Examples of the latter would be choosing cardboard over plastic or recyclable plastic over disposable plastics (which also means finding out what plastics are recyclable in your community).
- If you're purchasing products produced locally, contact the producers and talk to them about better packaging options. If that doesn't pan out, see if you can at least get an exception and buy directly from them without any packaging for yourself.
- Finally, you can try a lifestyle change of just choosing to do without immediately buying something that comes with unpleasant packaging. This can be a decision to simply do without the product in your life, but I find that simply being patient is more fun. Make a longer quest of your shopping needs and keep an eye open for the things you need. I've often found that sooner or later I'll come across what I need in the classifieds, a yard sale, or a friend's cast-offs. The sense of discovery (not to mention good deals) found in this way can be very gratifying!
That's all, and may you have fun living life with less useless packaging!
An eye-opener
Since I moved to Detroit, I've been trying a little experiment that has been really educational on a gut level, and I recommend you try it, too. It's simple: don't throw out bags. From the plastic bags you use for produce at the the grocery store to any shopping bags you needed or couldn't refuse to every other bag that ends up around the goods you buy, take good care of it and keep it (with the exception of those that are ruined by food or wear). Of course, try to think ahead and take some of these with you whenever you anticipate needing a bag and get as much use of them as you can. But regardless, just don't throw them out.
Even those of us who try to use canvas bags or re-use bags may be surprised at how quickly these things accumulate. I've found this to both be an education in how omnipresent disposal bagging is and an increasing motivator for remembering to take re-usable bags with me. Let me know if you try it and find this exercise useful: jacob@ic.org, 612 Prentis #B4, Detroit, MI 48201.
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Eco to Go: Packaging
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