Links to Make You Think....About Plastic

Someone asked me recently what the most difficult green change was for me to make.  I told her it was using less plastic. I'm hyper-aware of all the plastic I buy even when I try not to.  Today's trip to the grocery included a big plastic tub of yogurt, a chunk of watermelon wrapped in plastic, cheese wrapped in plastic, a whole chicken wrapped in plastic...it goes on and on.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time beating myself up about it (I did bring my own shopping and produce bags!) but while I'm on the topic of plastic, here are some more ideas to ponder...

Plastic-Free Farmer's Markets?  Beth from Fake Plastic Fish wrote an article for BlogHer about the prevalence of plastic at farmer's markets.  She talks about how ironic it is to go to a market to get fresh, local food and then to come home with so much plastic packaging.  Fortunately for Beth, a number of farmer's markets near her (California, Bay Area) are going plastic-free.  But what about the rest of us?  Is your local farmer's market plastic-free?  If not, do you bring your own bags? 

The case of the disappearing plastic bag.  Have you ever had mail arrive at your house wrapped in a plastic bag?  It's annoying enough to get junk mail but even worse when there is wasteful packaging involved.  A solution to this problem may lie with a new 'plastic' material that dissolves completely in water!  Apparently it's non-toxic and will also readily biodegrade in your compost pile if you choose not to melt it in the sink.  (I know what my kids would choose to do!)  Read more about it on Treehugger.

Pepsi Bags.  I don't have a link for this one, but I'm wondering what you think of this:  Apparently Pepsi has partnered with Envirosax to produce reusable bags that are made from recycled Pepsi bottles.  Is this a good idea or greenwashing at its finest?

Fun things to do with plastic.  EcoEtsy has some good tips for using fewer plastic bags AND links to some super-cute ornaments and hair pins made out of crocheted plastic bags!

{photo credits:  Fake Plastic Fish and EcoEtsy}