Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter waste.

"You don't have to be an environmentalist to notice the ridiculous amounts of packaging that come with many products these days." says the ABC News http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/16/2773586.htm

Easter..................................... A frustration for me with the abundance of packaging.

Picture from Packagingnews.co.uk

I can reduce the amount of packaging that is on my gifts for others by making home made biscuits and chocolate eggs, putting them in recycled jars or tins that can be decorated by the kiddies just to name a few ideas but what if others don't feel the same way i do and lovingly spoil us with plentiful chocolate?
Usually the boxes are great fun to keep for craft as they are bright and colourful, the egg foil can be used for craft also but what about the plastic that comes with it to hold the egg in place for display purpose's? What can be done with this? Why must an item have so many forms of packaging. One item for Easter has at least three forms, eg cardboard box, foil and plastic casing. So when you have four children and lots and lots of eggs, you can imagine how much "rubbish" i have that i have to either find another use for or throw away. This = frustration for me. Lets not get on the subject of Christmas or birthdays with all the plastic twisty things that hold toys to the packages!!!

I actually wonder about the house holds that don't bother recycling or consuming less, what would their rubbish bins be like at the end of this Easter holiday. This makes me sad. What needs to be eradicated is the throw away culture. Australians apparently throw away approximately 200kg of packaging per person each year. I understand the need for convenience products but what i don't understand is when items come in packages that are way bigger than the item itself, or is tied with plastic ties, plastic wrapping, cardboard boxes, etc. Somewhere there is an option to cut back this excess surely. That's what my issue is, excess.

I don't think the blame can be put totally on consumers for wasteful consumption. A product has to be marketable, presented with appeal to sell, the condition of the product has to be paramount for hygiene reasons. The implications to that though are the amount going to landfill and the waste of resources for the excess to pretty up the item. I know what i would prefer......


........and it is not this above!

There are things we can do to reduce the amount of packaging we bring home, such as taking our own cloth bags, refusing to use plastic bags which are offered in the grocery store, taking own containers for the meat, buy in bulk, take along own drink to avoid buying bottled water, etc. First and foremost don't buy what is not needed. It will just add to clutter or end up in the rubbish bin.

I just want to be more mindful of the impact environmentally as its not only the "stuff" ending in landfill, it has to begin with the land destruction, the factory built item and its pollutants, the energy to recycle products or to break down in landfill. Does that Easter egg that looks so lovely really look so appealing now?

My family and I were given a home grown pumpkin for Easter.


Now that looks more appealing to me. Mmmm roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, throw the seeds to grow again and the skin in the compost, no waste there. This speaks of new life to me.

They say Nothing is ever wasted in nature.

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