But I always have hope, of course. By creating demand, we spur industry to meet it, with low cost eco-friendly alternatives. I think that biobags is a great start. Thanks for the link!

To inject a little policy (which sadly always seems to mean politic), no matter how much we contribute individually, some things just have to be done top-down. When there are good substitutes available, why not just outlaw dangerous products where they’re not absolutely necessary?

Petroleum usage is a huge danger in pushing global warming, but we have serious landfill problems, too, and the Pacific Trash Vortex is a powerful reminder of the scale of our negligence.

@ laurel – It really is crazy when you realize how much plastic inundates your life. It;s a tough one to eliminate, but we can certainly make steps to cut down. Every little bit helps!

http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/2009/05/01/a-london-grocer-unwraps-the-secret-to-eco-shopping/

@ Farmingtheburbs – I feel the same way. I’m so ‘responsible’, and yet, I still produce so much. I guess it’s less compared to many, but still too much by my standards! I think we can all strive to do just a little bit more. =)

@ April – Clamshells are those flip-top plastic containers that produce often comes in. I think strawberries are most common, and other berries as well. Trader Joe’s is notorious for using them for everything, and it’s awful! They’re not recyclable.

@ Akeeyu – Paper! Small brown paper bags are great for produce, and although they’re also a limited resource, they’re much easier on the environment that plastic. You can re-use and re-use them, and then of course recycle them.

Also, the plastics you describe are not clamshells (see my comment to April above), but they are just as evil! Maybe even more evil!! I don’t know what those are called, but they should be outlawed on principle, haha. What a pain in the butt!

@ J – A good trick is AS SOON AS you unpack your groceries, go hang your cloth bags on the front door handle. This way, there’s no way you’ll miss them on your way out next time. This is how I broke my forgetful habit. I was pretty bad about that for a while.

@ Sarah – I understand where you’re coming from, for sure. I do wonder though, if the packaging itself wasn’t made locally (and most likely wouldn’t be), it would also need to be shipped in, negating the act of buying local to avoid shipping in the first place. Just a thought and something I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with.

Not that I’m arguing against buying local. I totally agree with you. Luckily, I think that’s a pretty rare choice. Most local stuff (produce, etc) is kept loose, and most pre-packaged stuff is definitely not local.

@ Shana – Awesome, you should share some of your crafty tips! And thanks for the heads up on the magazine. I haven’t heard of that one before. Keep up the repurposing! =D

But if given the choice between local and better packaging, the best thing to do (surprisingly) is to choose the local produce packaged in plastic. Believe it or not, packaging as a whole only accounts for 15% of the waste in our landfills (mind you of course I’d like to eliminate this 15%!). A much much larger amount of waste produced is due to the transportation of the food you choose. So although it might pain you a bit to buy the plastic, and sometimes you don’t need to make the decision, but when it all comes down to it, the best buy is local.

Mind you clamshells are evil.