Does anyone remember this famous scene from the 1968 film "The Graduate"?
Truer words have never been spoken. Look at the state of plastics today, especially in terms of packaging of retail products. Plastics technology has come a long way, them pesky plastics are getting tougher by the minute, to the point that they cannot be destroyed by conventional weapons. I bought 2 AA batteries today and it took me 20 minutes, a star drill, a 4-pound sledge and a SawZall to get them out of the packaging (slightly tongue-in-cheek, but not by much). Same goes for anything you might want to buy at your local WalMart, including vegetables for chrisakes. If you buy anything electronic in nature, expect to spend some otherwise useful time freeing same from the packaging. I guess this in response to the manufacturer's fears of pilferage and theft, (which is a statement in itself about our culture) but I wonder how much those high-tech plastic enclosures add to the price of their products?
Luckily, I buy most of the vegetables that I don't grow myself from the local Farmer's Market, in which case they come in a paper bag which I later put the peelings in.
Rant over, thanks for listening.
> I guess this in response to the manufacturer's fears of pilferage and theft, (which is a statement in itself about our culture) but I wonder how much those high-tech plastic enclosures add to the price of their products?
Actually, I'm pretty sure that the packaging is much different in countries that have recycling laws that effect the package design, such as in Germany.
last time I was in Ireland (County Galway, Christmas 1998), one had to pay 17pence per plastic bag if you wanted your goods packaged in that manner. On the other hand, if you brought your own grocery bags, ya got 5p/bag off the price of groceries. Makes perfect sense to me, but I've always been an outlier. Meanwhile, this is starting to happen here in the PNW too, but not soon enough. At my local grocery, they give the same 5 cent discount if you bring your own bags. Surprisingly, hardly anybody takes advantage of that. I guess that's a hard nut to crack for us Merrikuns who apparently think that their groceries are entitled to several plastic bags to carry them in, and 5 cents aint worth a nickel.
BC
I prefer glass, myself. Everything tastes better if it is bottled in glass.
Up in Portland I know there are several stores that did away with the plastic bags.
I've always used my own cloth grocery bags. What is funny is I've had these same bags for almost 17 years and when I use to try to use them almost 17 years ago I'd get the "beady eyes" look from checkers because they were awkward to put in the little bag stand up thingy, too "hard" to bag groceries in, it slowed down their production, their store bags were "better" etc... Today it's a different story. They like seeing them and I get that 5 cent discount thing. Go figure.
Several national retailers, such as "Trader Joe's" and "Whole Foods" have been promoting the use of non-plastic bags for years now.
In London, there are no grocery bags.....you have to bring your own, or else carry the items away in your hands.
Meanwhile, everywhere you go, plastic bags are floating around in the wind, caught in trees, catching under your car on the highway, etc., etc.
Video about the Great Pacific Garbage patch. This is unbelievable. A trash blob the size of texas out in the middle of the ocean.
your preaching to the choir on that new plastic packaging. I broke my office scissors 2 days ago trying to open a CF lightbulb package.
I wonder how many people severely cut themselves trying to open this packaging?
> I wonder how many people severely cut themselves trying to open this packaging?
<--- is one. I got a good gash a few times while trying to pry my item out of that wicked plastic packaging. :-X Now I just let Wendell handle it; otherwise I wind up getting frustrated and wanting to throw the damn thing out the window. 😛
Bonnie has bags from TJs and Whole Foods and Raleys/Bel Aire (a local NorCal chain).
I teased her about refusing to take a Whole Foods bag into TJs. She just won't do it, funny. Take them all in there (roughly two of each) and get the maximum credit (they have a charity you can donate it to which is what we do).
A few years ago, my daughter bought me rechargeable Black & Decker electric snips to open those hard-to-open (^#@#$%!! plastic packaging that everything comes in. Guess what it was in. Yup! That (^#@#$%!! plastic packaging. And Made In China.
I've hardly used them, but I have to plan ahead. They'll only hold a charge for a few days and take at least 1/2 hour to get where they'll buzz around the packaging.
I use a cloth bag from the building supply big-box store when I go to the grocery store. They had a sale one time that gave you a discount if you used their bag, so the bag was essentially free. My wife has a collection of cloth bags.
I'd be embarrassed to take a bag from one grocery to a different grocery.
I carry a pocket knife that can handle most of the packaging.
So far I can carry it anywhere but the airport and courthouse. Maybe not schools, but I rarely go into one. Not sure how much longer before it becomes a problem elsewhere. I've been carrying a pocket knife since 3rd grade (in school) with never a problem until recently.
