A while ago, I purchased a set of mesh produce bags from my local Fred Meyer, only to discover that the tag the bags were attached to was plastic!  Eeek!  So I contacted the company to express my displeasure and was given a placating response about market research and inability to hang paper tags in the wet produce area of a grocery store.  This logic, of course, ignored the fact that produce sections routinely stock paper bags and somehow they don’t disintegrate into mush.

Well, I posted the company’s less-than-satisfactory response on my blog here and recommended buying an alternative brand since this seemed like an obvious case of greenwashing.

I am delighted today to take back everything I said, based on this surprise follow-up email I received from the company:

Hi Amy,

I wanted to give you an update on our Mesh Produce Cards. Our original R&D revealed that retailers were concerned about using cardboard backing in the produce department because it would limit their ability to merchandise the products in a wet environment.  Large sections of the produce department are subject to frequent water spray and the use of cardboard would eliminate the ability of retailers to merchandise the mesh bags in all of those locations.

We have gotten many responses from our consumers to the use of the plastic card stock and in response we have re-addressed this issue with our retailers. Given the strong feedback, the retailers have agreed with our position that we should eliminate the plastic backing material and switch to cardboard. They are willing to except the limitations that creates on their merchandising options in return for the strong environmental benefits of eliminating the plastic – a decision we were thrilled to receive.

Given this, we will be switching to cardboard backing for all future productions of the cards. Earthwise Bag Company does not participate in nor condone green washing.  It is our company’s mission to provide eco-friendly products that conform to the highest environmental standards while also providing economical options to consumers.  

We are an environmentally and socially conscientious company and appreciate your continued support.

Thank you

Jeanine

Project Manager

Earthwise Bag Company, Inc

Awesome!  Never in a million years did I think I would get this email, but good for this company – it is listening to the many people who contacted them about a not-so-green aspect of their product and making a change for the better.  As soon as these hit the shelves in their new paper packaging, I’m going to buy some more. 

Sue, a last-minute entry from yesterday, walks away with our roll of compostable parchment paper.  Congratulations, Sue!  Send me your address at amy@greengarbageproject.com and I’ll pop this in the mail. 

Sue wrote:

Speaking of using a plate, when I make a salad or something else I’d want to put in the fridge in its bowl (instead of a rubbermaid), I use a plate to cover it. Foil is almost eliminated by pyrex dishes with covers – a linen dishcloth can also sub in many cases where air-tightness is not important (transporting a pie, for example).

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed I haven’t spent any time yet discussing the next steps in our project.  Now that our year is up … what do we do next?  Do we keep living trash-free, status quo?  Do we abandon our trash-free lifestyle and go back to normal?  Do we take this a step further, becoming activists for the cause?

I haven’t talked about this yet because the honest answer is we just don’t know.  Being unemployed right now, we feel like our lives are a little bit in limbo, and until that gets straightened out, basically things are staying the same.  Here, then, are the steps we are taking/are planning to take:

First, we continue living essentially trash-free, just like we have for the past year, until our next step is decided.  Some school districts are still hiring, so my last chance to find a teaching job is basically right now (fingers are crossed here).  We may have to move, or we may stay in the same town, it just depends.  If I don’t find a teaching job, I’m going to have to take whatever I can get in Salem.

• We have decided to allow ourselves one “luxury item” a week, so we’ve eased up on our overall trash-free ways just slightly.  If I want to buy candy canes at Christmas, I’m going to!  This also allows me to buy exotic cooking ingredients that come packaged in garbage, or the occasional bath product.  We’ll report our luxury items each month.
• We are also going to ease up on the cheese restriction.  It is so hard to find cheese not packaged in plastic!  I’m a vegetarian for ethical reasons, so I’m well-versed on the cruelty issues associated with cheese production, but I’m just not ready to become a vegan yet.  Soy cheese is so not the same as dairy cheese.  That said, we will occasionally buy cheese in the largest bricks possible, freezing what we need to.  I’ll make every effort to buy locally grown, organic cheese, and I’ll make my own cheese whenever possible, too.
• Finally, when eating out at restaurants, we’ll make reasonable efforts to bring home napkins for the compost, straw wrappers for recycling, etc.  But, if I’m a long way from home and a waiter brings me salad dressing in a little plastic cup,I’m probably not going to continue smuggling the oily cup out of the restaurant and stashing it in my purse for hours before we get home.  I will request “no disposables” at all restaurants, but wait staff compliance varies from place to place.
• I’ll document the trash we do create each month on the blog, then I’ll throw it away.   

What does the future hold?  Hopefully, an extension of this project.  I talked previously about the need for extended producer responsibility legislation.  Basically, this means the producer of packaging, not the consumer, is mandated to incur disposal costs of said packaging.  Bottle Bills are an example of extended producer responsibility mandates.  There is only so much an individual can do when faced with manufacturers who don’t have to foot the bill for their over-packaging.  What we need is a person – people – who can work to widen the scope of take-back packaging laws.  It seems like my experience may best be put to use in this arena. 

In the meantime, I’ll be shifting the focus of my posts from our personal trash-free journey to helping others go trash-free, too.  This means tutorials and how-tos, more posts like this one that show how to make homemade hamburger buns.  Anything you’ve ever wanted to know how to make, rather than buy?  Leave a comment here and I’ll research it.