Week 15
Our lives are finally, finally returning to what I’d consider a normal routine after moving into our new place and work starting up again for me. For the past month, we’ve been frantically unpacking, cleaning, organizing, and decorating with our spare time. This past week, we seem to have settled down into a routine – and our house is nice and clean around us. Sure, we still have to organize our laundry room and the yard is in desperate need of cleanup before the fall rains hit hard, but for the most part, I think we’re officially settled in.
As such, with life returning to normal, there were hardly any hiccups to report as far as garbage is concerned. Only three incidents this week:
First, I took my journalism class on a field trip to Oregon State University last Tuesday for Fall Press Day, a student journalist conference. The field trip itself was excellent but I produced my first piece of unnecessary trash since July 6, which is really an unfortunate landmark. Lunch was provided for advisers and it didn’t even occur to me to bring my own plate and eating utensils. We were provided with a nice taco bar, but all I could use to eat were paper plates and plastic silverware. Believe it or not, I already had food on my paper plate when I realized the thing would have to be thrown in the trash. Dang it! I didn’t even have a plastic bag or anything to bring the plate and fork home in, or else I could have reused the fork. I was completely stuck – it felt odd to approach the trash can after so many months away from it, but into the can my plate and fork went.
What could I have done differently? The best option would have been for me to have brought my own plate and fork, or I suppose I could have skipped lunch and eaten at home after we got back from the field trip. Another option beyond my control would have been for the caterers to provide real plates and silverware, to be washed and reused again and again. At the end of the year, I’ll be adding a symbolic plate and fork to our shoebox to represent the ones thrown away.
We did create some small pieces of plastic trash this week in the form of cold medicine paraphernalia. I came down with a nasty cold on Friday, which I brought home and which Adam caught. When you’re feeling miserable, it’s a lot harder to focus on the merits of a trash-free lifestyle when relief is just a wrapper away. So, into the shoebox go two Alka-Seltzer foil packets and the seal off a Nyquil bottle. From the get-go, we decided that medical trash was “acceptable” trash, though we try to avoid it when possible. I’m a fan of herbal remedies, but this time, the SleepyTime tea just wasn’t cutting it.
Finally, we went to a movie this week and brought our refillable cups to the theater, as usual but were confronted with an unfortunate change of policy. The concessions stand worker informed me that I can no longer use my refillable beverage container at the theater because it appears to other customers that I am bringing in outside food or drink. To say the least, this really frustrated us, and I left the theater with the manager’s contact information. I will certainly be calling to complain because this kind of mentality is exactly what leads to our single-use, throwaway culture. It seems unreasonable to me that the movie theater can’t put a soft drink into my beverage container when I’m purchasing the soda from their establishment. How is this situation different from going to a coffee shop with a reusable mug?
Have a good week, and thanks for reading. Cheers!
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I completely agree with you on the issue of the refillable cup in the movie theater, and am mildly outraged on your behalf.
May I suggest purchasing a To Go Ware RePEaT utensil set? You can find them at a favorite website of mine, http://www.nubiusorganics.com, or to save packaging, I actually found them on sale at New Seasons in the Portland area. The utensils are made of bamboo & the case is made of recycled PET plastic.
Signed, a Portland Certified Master Recycler