Throwaway Society

Have you ever noticed how our culture seems to have gotten a bit carried away with convenience? Everywhere you turn, there is another shiny new product being advertised that will make your house cleaner, your kids happier, your teeth whiter and your life easier in only two minutes! Just throw it away when you're done!

Hang on just a minute.

Maybe we should ask ourselves a few questions before we rush out and buy the latest convenient whatever-it-is. Questions like, is this actually going to make my life easier...or just more cluttered? Even if it really does save me time, will it save me money? And what about that "just throw it away" part? What kind of impact is this product going to have on the environment? These are the kinds of things I have started to think about in my personal quest to live in a more planet-friendly way. I want to share one of the main ideas I've learned--reducing waste by avoiding disposable products--and a few of the ways that you can apply this idea in your own life.

Let's start with coffee cups. Do you buy your morning latte "to go" from a coffee shop? If so, it probably comes with three pieces of trash: the cup, the lid, and that "Java jacket" sleeve that keeps your hands from getting too toasty. With a little thinking ahead, though, none of these things needs to be used at all. Most coffee shops will gladly make your drink in a clean travel mug (already insulated and equipped with a lid) that you bring yourself. After all, the shop saves money if they don't have to buy as many paper cups. Some places will even give discounts or reduced-price refills for bringing your own mug...though this often applies only if you buy a mug with their name on it.

Or maybe, like me, you get your caffeine from an office coffeemaker. Maybe your office, like my office, has kindly (but wastefully) provided Styrofoam cups and little plastic stirring rods that you use only once. We don't need to use any of these things either. Again, just bring your own mug and a spoon for stirring. Sure, you'll have to spend two minutes a day washing out the cup, but think of all the waste you'll prevent over a week...a month...a year...the rest of your coffee-drinking life! Who said it wasn't easy being green? (Next project: convince all your coworkers to bring their own mugs too.)

There are many other places where reusable products can replace disposable ones. Does your family use paper napkins when eating at home? Why not use cloth napkins instead? Paper cups when brushing your teeth? Use durable plastic tumblers. Disposable razors? How about the ones where you keep the handle and just replace the blades? (In my opinion, these are much nicer razors anyway!) Paper towels every time you wipe the counters? Designate a few rags or old dishcloths to use for this, wash them when they get too yucky, and save the paper towels for the really serious messes. Alkaline batteries? Practically everything will run just as well on rechargeable batteries. Sure, they are more expensive initially, and you might have to buy a charger, but then you can use the same set of batteries in your digital camera for years on end instead of having to replace them every couple months. (Side note: please be sure to properly recycle your alkaline batteries, and never, ever, throw any kind of battery in the regular trash.) And then there's disposable water bottles, disposable sandwich bags, disposable diapers, plastic silverware, flushable toilet brushes, one-time-use cameras...enough already!

Please don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to denounce everyone who uses any kind of disposable item as gleefully malicious trash-makers who are out to destroy the environment! I am certainly guilty of using a few of these things myself, although I'm trying to change that wherever I can. What I am doing is asking you to think about whether, for your personal situation, the convenience of disposables is really worth the waste they generate. Are you using these things because they really make your life that much better, or just because you've always used them and have never really thought about doing it differently? I encourage you to stop and think about small changes you can make that will help reduce waste. Soon you will be noticing unnecessary waste--and suggesting sustainable alternatives--everywhere you go.