including grocery bags are likely to be around for millennia.

The plastics that do decompose within a century or so leach poisons into every aspect of our environment. Millions of new tons of new plastic are made every day.

At this rate, we will be literally up to our knees in it. And once it's made, you can't get rid of it.

I, too, am trying to eliminate my use of it, but it is impossible. EVERYTHING is made of plastic. I have drastically reduced it, but I still generate an amount that horrifies me.

18 I think it is, and there's no box. You see people every day walking down the street carrying it like a waiter with a tray. Also, eggs. Big open, lidless trays of eggs. Was interesting to see!

My feelings on excess packaging ranges from abject sadness to anger. The iPhone packaging is ridiculous!! And, I love my iPhone....We've made a lot of changes in our home to compensate for the retail/manufacturing excess but I am still overwhelmed by what we throw out. I will painstakingly take apart packaging so that I can recycle at least some of it. I'm manic about it!! I always take reusable bags into any store where I shop, from Target to Lowes. I use fabric bags for produce at the grocery store. I've been known to wash plastic to-go food containers so that I can recycle them but that cannot be done with the styrofoam crap a lot of restaurants use. I am shocked and dismayed by how many people I call friends don't recycle anything at all!!! Not even aluminum! I read right here on DU that micro-plastics have now been found in sea salt. It is a heartbreak.

I'm sorry you have been displaced by Irma! You've got a lot going on, no doubt. I am VERY appreciative that you brought this important issue up and I don't hold the mcdonalds or the iPhone against you.

It's long been my thought that the total disposal costs of almost anything should be applied at purchase. Right now, it is applied more at the back end, as a cost burden on the disposer. The result is often that the entity paying the cost, was un-involved in the original purchase decision. But if the cost of the product included the disposal costs, the producer would have more interest in providing materials with the lowest cost of disposal, which could then be driven by considerations like impact on the environment, and the ease of reuse or recycling.

Lets say it cost $.05 per packaging item and a combo has three packaging items. The cost of the combo just went up $.15.

The point is that the person making the purchase would be deciding within the context of the cost of disposal, not just acquisition. Currently, that cost is "hidden" and often borne by someone who did not participate in the original acquisition decision. By pushing the decision forward in time, the producer has an interest in minimizing the cost. (And really, most products are produced on a "what the market will bear" basis, not the cost of production)

a much higher price for it now anyway, and should be given the option to go for a choice that doesn't wreck the planet.

It wasn't a proud moment for me to eat McDonalds or when I recently got a new iPhone. I actually struggled with the phone.

How would you propose McDonald's package your food for you? Present it unwrapped on a plastic tray?

And hold the tray if you're in drive through.

Drink fast because the paper cup won't last more than 6.5 minutes...then you can eat the food.


It is all ending up in the same place anyway

While dining in, I don't see why the picante needs to be in a second small plastic package. I guess you find that to be a necessity. Not having it that way would save ten thousand plus plastic bags a week. I don't see why it does when taking it to-go, either. I also don't see why it needs to be in a bag when eating in, as our local McDonalds do. What would that be? A hundred plus thousand bags a week?

Right there are two simple answers that didn't take much to come up with. There are others.

I have no clue how you got to this: "Present it unwrapped on a plastic tray?

And hold the tray if you're in drive through." What?

It's called "fast food" for a reason. It's not in their operating model to differentiate eat in vs. take out packaging when it comes to the food itself.

And our McDonald's puts the eat in food on a tray. All you have to do is ask. They don't assume you won't be taking the food to go just because you go inside to place your order.

I understand this isn't your thing. Corporate environmental responsibility should be left to the consumer. I fully disagree with you.

You feel picante needs to be in a package, then in a plastic bag, then in a paper bag. Truly doesn't make sense but that's it. I have no interest in dumping the bag, taking the picante that is already in a container out of its second unsealed plastic bag, and handing it to the cashier so they can then just throw it away.

I get that it isn't your thing and you will go as far as to say "should they just hold the tray for you" in order to provide cover for a corporation in an area they could clearly do better.

With detergent?

Let's think THAT through.

Most grocery stores offer reusable bags in the $1 price range. I have a crate of them in my trunk.

I especially enjoy how your narrative takes us to one, and only one extreme, ignoring all other rational and greater possibilities in favor of the logical fallacy, reductio ad absurdum... regardless of whether you're holding your tray or not.

Filled with paper. For a micro SD card. Something that's barely the size of my thumb nail. And then I get an email from Amazon asking to rate the packaging. For that? I'd give it an F--. WTF.

Was too big to return in one of their neighborhood lockers.

LOVE packaging. The more opulent and excessive, the better.

I think the companies got the message.

*sigh*

I wonder how the study today would be different. I don't know a single person who likes 'clamshell' packaging.

Take your own Tupperware to restaurants for leftovers. Carry your own re-useable shopping bags. Don't just talk the talk! Don't just complain about government inaction on climate change. Do your part!

However, I don't bring Tupperware to restaurants.

Also if you bring a coffee cup, many places give you a substantial discount.

It didn't take long for the people to start bringing their own bags. There are no plastic bags allowed except the ones products come packaged in.

You might think about the irony of your using them at all, re: the environment.

examples, of carry-out and fast-food that might be unwieldy to carry otherwise, of disposable dryer sheets that have chemicals that one might not want transferred, are not the most persuasive.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to use as few plastic bags as possible as I see how they breed faster than Duggars do. I've also reduced my plastic use elsewhere.

I carry around a reusable water bottle (it is plastic--- but after years of trial and error, I finally found one-- contigo-- that is right for my needs). My recycling bin has a shitload of plastic single use water bottles in it, but they're mostly from my office or picked up on my walks
I use travel mugs for coffee on the go (places like Wawa, 7-11, and Dunkin give me discounts for using it)
At home I have a Keurig (as do I at the office), but I use a refillable K-cup. (Not at work though as they pay for the K-cups).
I have expanded my use of my reusable shopping bags beyond groceries. They go everywhere.


I'm working on straws but that's hard for me as I usually drink with one (I hate being messy when I eat). I'm looking into buying some nice reusable ones for my coffee (keeps it from staining my teeth).

that I use for smoothies (last thing I want is spinach on my teeth).

I'm looking for the narrow ones (like you get in a convenience store) for my coffee. I'm searching on AMazon but I would rather see this in person to gage the size. When you tell me measurements, I have a hard time visualizing it.

I don't like to eat while driving so I carry one of those small insulated lunch containers with a zippered top to keep my food hot or chilled. Its got plenty of room for a big burger and large fries, or several tacos, burritos, or a big salad, or most fast food menu items.

When I hand the worker my money I give them my opened lunch bag and ask them to put just the food inside it. Sometimes they give me an annoyed look, but most just take it in stride. So at least I saved a paper sack and my food is still hot when I get home.

made from hemp. corn or other biodegradable material.

My husband has worked in the plastic industry for years. He makes sure the machines are running right. I asked him what it would take to switch over to plastic made with hemp, he said basically temperature and water pressure would change. Not the entire machine, really.

I imagine folks in the petrochemical industry do not want to see a change. Despite what we are seeing about plastic everyone it should not be, including our own bodies.