It bothers me that Lactaid is only available in bulk wrapped in foil-lined paper. Costco sells them in tear-off packets that come in boxes of a few hundred.

It irritates me because before they came in paper tabs, they came in big bottles, four or five hundred to a bottle, and they’d always come with a little reusable plastic Tic-Tac like box to carry them around conveniently with. I continue to buy them, because at least I still do get several hundred per cardboard box, so that goes a long way toward assuaging my ill ease.

That way the bottle was recyclable, the tablets were consumed, and the carrying case could be reused for any number of things.

I’ve made the same complaint about markets where produce and other items come wrapped in plastic where other shops might sell them loose. I avoid situations where I have to buy something on a styrofoam tray, wrapped in plastic, because of the extraneous use of plastic and non-recyclable materials.

I frequently hear from people that “the trays at [store x] are recyclable” and that simply isn’t an adequate response. Recycling is no replacement for simply not using up the resources that go into the creation of, and in fact make up, plastics and styrofoam.

It’s worthwhile to me to take on a little extra effort by bringing my own bags, shopping at eco-mindful markets (especially if they’re on my daily path!) and being aware of what packages are made of, to reduce the quantity of raw materials consumed to get a product from the earth to my plate.

Ways to do this:
-Buy products in the largest sizes available (the 6-lb mozzarella loaf uses less plastic per ounce than the same quantity in 1-lb blocks or, obviously, string cheese.)
-Buy produce and meat at markets that don’t pre-wrap and don’t use styrofoam. A good meat shop, and many supermarket meat counters, will often wrap its wares in paper, and I prefer this.
-Bring your own bags – even those ubiquitous plastic supermarket bags add up and take their toll.

I will now step off my soapbox and return to my previously scheduled relaxing after a calm day of marketing, running errands, and doing generally otherwise boring adult things BY MYSELF!