Saturday, February 13, 2010

You Down With OPP?

That's right...I'm talking about Organics Packaged in Plastic. (Sorry to disappoint all you Naughty by Nature fans...)

It really disappoints me when I find yummy, healthy, organic food packaged in plastic. And it stings even worse when the food is fresh and locally grown.

I've found that people who step onto the green/eco-friendly/sustainable bandwagon eventually adopt many of the following beliefs:

  • Recycling
  • Waste Reduction (especially plastic)
  • Reuse
  • Buying Locally Grown / Made in the USA items
  • Buying Organic / Natural items
  • Carpools / Public Transportation
  • Healthy Eating / Vegetarianism

In my mind, it behooves producers of organic products to place their items in plastic-free packaging. It just makes sense to me. What do you think?

So...are you down with OPP? Tell me about it. Leave a comment!

1 comment:

  1. I am! I would prefer it, but honestly if it comes in plastic, it doesn't deter me. The alternative is buying a non-organic product, likely full of chemicals I don't like, also packaged in plastic.

    So, I buy in bulk when possible (I reuse the bags, and someday will invest in some non-plastic reusable bags for this type of thing). You can do with this a lot of products and produce.

    And I re-purpose plastic containers, too. Musical instruments, containers to hold the ridiculous amounts of finger puppets we have, or to store (gasp!) the plastic (and, to be fair, wooden) animals my son loves to love. :)

    I also try to buy bigger versions of a product vs. individual sizes - yogurts, cottage cheese, etc. - not plastic-free, but less overall.

    I would love to see more foods packaged in compostable materials, but the problem that a lot of that packaging needs a commercial compost facility which doesn't provide the big Convenience factor.

    In an ideal world, I'd love to buy directly from local farms but as a working single mom, there doesn't seem to be enough time in the week and reliance on the Convenience factor seems inevitable. This is a good topic to think more about... I am going to take the top 5 organic products I buy in plastic and see what I can do as an alternative. Thanks!

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