...when you stay in a beach house in a secluded little town 45 minutes from your front door for one glorious week?
Ridiculously crazy awesome.
me and my better half with our one-way haul (added many more straws and caps on our way back to the house)
I know, it's beautiful.
but look closer,
closer,
little closer...
It was so deceptively beautiful that when I first looked out at the beach I actually had the thought "Maybe I won't find much plastic here."
Pfffffffft.
Was it necessary for any of these items - whatever they once were - to be made out of a material that can't biodegrade?
Medical equipment aside (syringes not shown - husband already having a germaphobic cow), what here needed to be plastic?
Or better yet, what here needed to be?
I say it all could have either not been made in the first place - I'm looking at YOU black hook hanger thing in the lower left corner - OR, it could have been made from aluminum (endlessly recyclable), or from paper - especially the straws.
I haven't counted the straws I found on the beach yet, but here's a sneak peek...
It's well beyond time for the packaging and product design heroes to save the day - So let's support them and cheer them on every chance we get.
A few favorites:
PulpWorks: Bay Area company making packaging products out of "100% post consumer waste paper and agriculture"
Aardvark: Making paper straws in the U.S. for over 100 years
How is this or something a lot like it not already a huge thing?
Shouldn't THIS be the norm?
And THESE kinds of things:
Instead of these dreadful little things I find on the ground every day...
Solutions abound. We need to convince the merchants and manufacturers that we want sustainable products and sustainable packaging.
I'll make my next post about Extended Producer Responsibility because it's really interesting, and it's really about time.
Until then - thank you Bolinas for a ridiculously crazy awesome week.
