Eco-Friendly Picnicking

With the unofficial beginning of summer almost upon us in the US, many head out for picnics, cookouts, barbeques, and outdoor gatherings galore.  It's a great time of year, for sure. 

However, there is a down side.  Most of those picnics, etc., come with a lot of disposables-- plates, cups, utensils, napkins, etc., that end up in the trash, adding up over time to billions of tons of garbage polluting our planet. 

Plastic Pestilence

After doing my darndest to reduce my family's use of plastics when it comes to food storage, I must admit, I still have and use plastic food storage containers.  Call it Tupperware, plasticware, Rubbermaid, Glad lock, take-a-longs, whatever you like.  I bet most American households have some sort of plastic food storage products.  And I would even feel fairly confident in stating that most of us probably have more than just a "few" pieces. 

(In fact, I have a suspicion that this stuff magically multiplies at night when nobody's looking-- lids begetting lids, running amok never again to be matched up with their bases!)

But back to the issue at hand.  Why do we use plastic for food storage? 

Where Does Your Recycling Go?

Below is a short video for those of us who wonder where our recycling goes after it's picked up from the bins we set out on the curb every week. 

I found this video encouraging in that recycling does give cardboard, cans, plastic and glass new life.  Even more encouraging is that these products can have almost infinite reincarnations, keeping garbage out of the landfills.

Some recycling statistics: