Hey Joe

My July started out well, I continued to make gains, or rather losses, by sticking to plastic avoidance rigorously. I bought big, heavy blocks of cheese, eliminating wraps for what would have been several smaller packages. Regular Catalina dressing purchases stopped when I concocted an Ed-approved home brew. I was feeling pretty cocky before it happened. I fell off the plastic wagon — in a big way. Ed and I went to Trader Joe’s.

Upon entering the store, I immediately noticed Joe’s is packed with plastic! What happened to the old Trader Joe’s where you could pick up a head of lettuce or a few tomatoes without a hint of packaging. We did not purchase any produce for that reason, but the temptation was so great for an array of goodies, when we wheeled up to the checkout stand, our cart had more synthetic polymers than a Dow laboratory. Scones, bagged in plastic drug across the scanner. Bleep. Blue cheese, wrapped in plastic. Bleep. Nuts in plastic bags. Bleep. Plastic by the pound slid past. Oops.

I considered scooping all the plastic clad chow back into the cart and returning it to the shelves. Instead I watched as the surely wonderful pumpkin bread was scanned. Bleep. I imagined how refreshing the frozen berries would be in a smoothie. Bleep. You see, I love to eat. Bleep. Goat cheese yogurt. Bleep. A Cliff Bar for the drive home. Bleep. A few more for snacks before swimming. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Why should I constantly deny myself pleasure over plastic? Bleep. Frozen Indian vegetable blend with curry and raisins. Yum! Bleep.

When we got home, and began putting away our stash, the regret of a dieter who gorged at the great buffet came over me. Guilty! I spent nearly $70 and virtually every item had associated plastic attached to it. I wondered about a disconnect. Trader Joe’s, lauded as a green store, has long rewarded customers for reusing bags, promoted cage-free and organic as good choices, yet Joe, like the devil himself, temped me filling a store with fantastic food sinfully packaged. Why would he do this to me?

In a quest for an answer, I googled “Trader Joe’s, plastic” and found many people agree, Joe both tempts us with gastronomical delights and loves plastic. I also came across a great website with an article on TJ’s use of biodegradable plastic packaging for some produce.

I’ve seen ads for biodegradable plastic and have read a bit. The newfangled biopolymer is more environmentally friendly than traditional petro-based plastic, but it is still problematic. Plastics take about 1,000 years to decompose and bioplastics take a fraction of that time. Is that really good news? Yes, certainly, but only in a limited way. Biopolymers cannot simply be dumped in your backyard compost, but rather require careful regulation of temperature, moisture and turning done by industrial composting. Importantly, bioplastics will not degrade in the ocean. The temperature is too low. The eco-friendlier biopolymer would bob in the gyre indefinitely, enduring with the rest of the junk.

With the gains I made buying mongo-sized chunks of cheese, no bottled dressings and generally less plastic, the reduction for July would have been significant. I would have declaired it a full pound of success, until I frequented Joe’s. With my lapse, I’ll regretfully call June a 4 ounce gain.

2 Responses to “Hey Joe”

1. Max on August 9th, 2009 1:11 am

   I really enjoyed your comments. Many would have you believe that PLA plastic, the kind made from corn starch, is the answer to all our plastic woes but nothing could be further from the truth. PLA is getting a lot of spin but here are just some of the problems with PLA:
   . PLA is made from genetically altered corn and is not fit for human consumption.
   . PLA increases the use of pesticides.
   . PLA does not biodegrade; it can be composted but only in a commercial composting site.
   . Many commercial composting sites will not accept PLA as the plastic contaminates the compost.
   . PLA is not recycled; most of it goes into a landfill where it does not biodegrade in a timely manner.

   There isn’t a perfect plastic but there are plastics that are biodegradable that will biodegrade in a landfill environment. When biodegradable plastic biodegrades, it produces biogases, that can be used to produce clean energy. Plastics that utilize EcoPure, such as the ENSO biodegradable bottle can be recycle and when they end up in a landfill, they biodegrade producing landfill gases (LFG). There isn’t a perfect plastic yet but biodegradable plastics are a huge improvement over the other plastics currently on the market.
   Max
   http://www.ensobottles.com
   “Bottles for a Healthier Earth”

2. Debbie on August 19th, 2009 8:18 am

   My New Year’s resolution has turned out to be a learning experience. I have discovered avoiding plastic all together — in this day and age — is not only very difficult but perhaps impossible. Want plastic or not, it comes to us in so many forms that it seem unavoidable, so I am hopeful when I learn of new technologies that make plastic less harmful to the environment and one step closer to a “perfect”. Thanks for the web link. I would love to learn more — but will I need remedial chemistry lessons?

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