While I was out to dinner with some friends last night, we started talking about how we can all better recycle and make less of a footprint on our ecosystem. My friend Linzi began talking about not using any more “single serving containers”, something I had never heard of. When I asked Linzi what she meant, she began to tell me…
Single serving containers, as she calls them, are any single serving packaged food or beverages, (such as a small bag of potato chips meant for only one person to eat). After you’re done eating/drinking it, the container (or bag in this instance) is thrown away. Linzi realized what a waste having her food wrapped alone, so she and her husband pledged to no longer buy any kind of food that is packaged for a single time use.
As we continued to talk about it, the more we realized how great of an impact we could all have if we stopped throwing away so much trash. It didn’t take long for me to decide to give this whole not using “single serving containers” thing a try. I went through my pantry and noticed how many single packaged breakfast bars, fruit snacks, and pretzel bags I had. Then when I opened my fridge, I had an entire case of plastic water bottles and ten single packaged Greek yogurts. Why? When I could buy a filter for my sink, or buy a giant tub of yogurt instead? Both are cheaper and taste the exact same.
Stepping back and taking a look at my own food gave me a new perspective about how much trash I am really throwing away every day. I’m finishing the single serving packages I’ve already bought, but from today forward I am challenging myself to no longer purchase these items. Which means no more vending machines, no more boxed candies at the movie theatre, and no more bottled waters at sporting events. All of these conveniences are only adding to the ever-growing waste in this world.
I’ll let you all know how this goes for the next week, and if I can really refrain from using all “single serving containers”. I urge everyone to give it a try, if not completely stopping the use of these products but trying to cut back as much as possible. We can all do a small part to help to keep this world we live in clean and beautiful.
