Items collected Thursday, November 13, 2008

Recyclables:

• 3 plastic bottles (2 Deer Park Eco-Shape water, 1 Pepsi)

Reusable:

• 1 paper clip

Items collected Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Recyclables:

• 1 aluminum can (Budweiser)
• 3 glass bottles (1 Miller Lite, 1 Izze juice beverage, 1 Nantucket Nectars Promegranate Cherry juice)
• 6 plastic bottles (1 Gatorade, 1 Bossa Nova acai juice, 1 Aquafina water, 1 Safeway Refreshe water, 1 Deer Park Eco-Shape water, 1 Deer Park regular water)
  

Reusables:

• 1 small plastic ziplock bag
• 1 plastic carrier bag

Trash:

• Multiple plastic items at the entrance to a drain

Another bulk bin update, and some dilemmas

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some of the bulk bins at a local grocery store finally having ingredient lists added to the labels. I'm pleased to report that ingredient lists are now available for even more bulk bins, including those containing chocolate raisins and bulk energy bars.

Now that I can buy chocolate raisins without packaging, I'm faced with a dilemma. I'm a big believer in buying only fair trade certified chocolate. I'm also a big believer in avoiding packaging. Assuming that I am going to buy chocolate of one kind or another, should I buy fair trade chocolate that comes wrapped in plastic or non-fair trade chocolate from a bulk bin?

There are a couple of other dilemmas I've been grappling with lately. One is what to do about items that are theoretically recyclable, but that aren't accepted locally for recycling. I feel like I should save these recyclables and take them with me whenever I visit places with better recycling programs. However, my little home is already cluttered, and I don't want to clutter it further with boxes of aluminum toothpaste tubes, plastic bottle caps, and polystyrene packaging. How does one balance the need to recycle with the need to rid one's home of trash?

My final dilemma is what to do about the freebies at work. I'm not paid nearly as much as I should be, and it's difficult to make ends meet. One thing that helps is that various freebies are available. For example, there's often cider in the refrigerator at work that I can drink without paying a penny. The problem is that the cider comes in plastic bottles. Should I save money by drinking free cider, or save the planet by eating whole apples from the farmer's market? If cider was the only freebie, I'd ignore it and feel virtuous about my avoidance of plastic, but there are many other freebies and they make a significant difference to my standard of living.

Items collected Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Recyclables:

• 4 plastic water bottles (1 Deer Park Eco-Shape, 1 Aquafina, 1 Ethos Water, 1 Glaceau Smartwater)

Reusables:

• 3 small plastic bags

Items collected Monday, November 10, 2008

Recyclables:

• 2 aluminum cans (1 Budweiser, 1 Miller Lite)
• 1 plastic bottle (Fiji water)
• 1 torn plastic bag

Reusables:

• 4 small plastic bags
• 1 huge carrier bag

Recyclable collected Sunday, November 9, 2008

• 1 plastic bottle (Deer Park)

Reusable collected Saturday, November 8, 2008

• 1 small plastic bag (from 7-Eleven bakery)

I went past a bunch of recyclables on Saturday, but didn't pick them up because by then my hands were full.