09.24.09
Kudos for Wheat Thins, Kraft Foods, and Terracycle: Recycling in America (Part 1)
September 23, 2009
I have been a fan of Wheat Thins for about four years now. I started eating them as a snack when I began “my” version of The South Beach Diet. After about ten months I had lost 40 pounds and have kept it off. I continue to maintain pretty much the same eating habits which include Wheat Thins as a snack.
My grandchildren snack on what I do when they come to visit. They invariably get the Wheat Thin box out and snack from the box. Only they take the bag out of the box and leave the empty box in the pantry or elsewhere (usually the floor). I have often had the thought that it would be nice if Kraft would just leave off the box packaging and just wrap them with the inside bag. This would immediately save me from having two wrappings to contend with but more importantly, save Kraft and the customer money for the extra packaging and less trash in the landfills. Well, guess what? I bought Wheat Thins lately and they were in a bag only. I bought the Garden Valley Veggie variety. On the side of the bag it boasts, “Wheat Thins Toasted Chips help keep our planet healthy! Wheat Thins Toasted Chips and Terracycle are working together in a special program to help keep some food packages from ending up in landfills. They’ll collect these empty chips or other snack bags from participating snack lovers just like you through their collection centers, and then turn them into useful products like backpacks, totes and pencil cases.” The Wheat Thins bag lists the website for Terracycle which is www.terracycle.net/brigades for more information about their recycling process.
This got me to wondering what the difference is between the Terracycle bag and regular grocery or plastic shopping bags. After all, I keep hearing about how many tons of plastic bags end up in the landfills that will be there a million years from now – or whatever. So I went to www.terracycle.net/brigades and The American Chemistry Council and read their information about Recyclable Plastic Bags. One important fact I learned is that plastic products are different and need to be sorted and recycled with like plastic products. An article on the American Chemistry Council site, “What You Should Know About Plastic Bags” is really helpful regarding sorting and even where to find recycling pick up or drop off centers for those that do not have curb side recycling services. Everyone seems to agree that recycling plastics is a good thing; it just has to be done correctly, starting at home.
I learned several new (to me) terms about the recycling business. First the terms “reuse” and “recycle” in this business have different meanings. I wrongly used them interchangeably. To reuse a plastic grocery bag means just to use the same bag repeatedly in a different way than the purpose for which it was made. For instance, below I listed fifteen ways I reuse the plastic bags I bring home from the grocery store or Walmart.
1. Trash liners for medium to small trash cans.
2. Use to harvest vegetables from my garden instead of buying baskets or other containers.
3. Stuffing boxes to mail rather than buying Styrofoam squigglys or other packing material.
4. Weave craft purses or tote bags.
5. Trash bags for vehicles.
6. Outer wrapping for frozen foods, that tend to be messy when freezing or thawing.
7. Sort and store craft materials.
8. Transport cooked foods to church socials, etc., or transport canned foods for can drives, etc.
9. Store glass or other breakables in storage boxes.
10. Transporting wet clothing, swimming suits, towels, etc. from pool or gym.
11. Lunch bags.
12. Use for pet poop pick up & disposal.
13. Dispose of used baby diapers rather than just placing them in the “open” trash can, or buying special plastic bags just for diaper disposal.
14. Picking up nasty spills (broken eggs, oat meal, etc.) rather than using paper towels or disposable gloves.
15. Wrap papers, books, photos, or other printed items that water will ruin, to transport on a rainy day.
And there are a million other ways people “reuse” these bags before they ultimately make it to the landfill.
Recycling however is entirely different. It is hopefully becoming big business. The Terracycle business was a brain child of the owner and then collage student, Tom Szaky, who wanted to simply help the earth. After a couple of trials at it, he hit upon the Terracycle idea. On the website, several types of product bags, wrappings or packaging are listed that schools, other organizations, or households can collect and send to them. Terracycle then pays a few cents per pound of bags and donates the total to the customer’s favorite charity. Of course, a school counts as a charity. Then they take these product wrappings and make many new items from toys, spray bottles, pencil holders, book bags, items for the bathroom, trash cans for home or office, fire-starters, flower pots and up to 104 new products just from trash wrappers. Go see the site and learn the wrappers that you can save for recycling with this company. You’ll be amazed. Terracycle has already donated $130,811.92 to various charities. They have 6,451,985 people collecting trash items for them. These figures are from today. Yesterday they were considerably less.
But what about the ever more numerous plastic grocery or Walmart bags? I guess I have been hanging on to the media coverage that was out there years ago about how terrible plastic bags were for the earth, that they never go away. While they are not biodegradable ordinarily, they are very recyclable. Not only that, they can be recycled for less money than recycling paper bags or making new plastic materials! The tasks for all people concerned about the mass amounts of plastic bags piling up in America’s landfills is to see that they are never put there in the first place, but are recycled instead. Not just reuse them and eventually throw them away, but make sure they are collected or deposited somewhere for recycling. Did you know that plastic bags can be recycled to make fence lumber, other construction materials, pallets, buoys, and there is always the need for recycled bags. So we all need to find places to take our bags to get them recycled. In the European report, ”The Compelling Facts About Plastics 2007”,is this quote, “In the public debate the plastic bag has been the victim of irresponsible litter behavior in society, which has unfairly damaged the reputation of this highly sustainable option for carrying our shopping back home.”
So the plastic bag has gotten a bum rap and still is by some. But there are things we can do about it. First, organize a way of sorting your plastics and other recyclables and get your kids to help in the effort. Secondly, read “Recycling in America (Part 2)” tomorrow. You’re taking step one!
