Monday, June 8, 2009

Non-crazy environmental rant



Usually I would not rant about environmental stuff, but this really bugs me.




#1

What's with the people in my office who print all their e-mails? Every single e-mail they receive! I could reply to an e-mail with "yes" or "no" and they would print the e-mail. You're spending our company's money on paper, toner, and you're throwing the paper in the trash can when you're done with it. They are doing their part to contribute to ridiculous fact that our paper consumption has increased since the advent of the computer.

#2

I don't need a bag for the single, tiny item I purchased at your store. For instance, I buy a little Wyler's drink mix pack from Walgreens. You know, the little packets you can put in a 20 oz. bottle of water and shake up? If I don't tell them I don't want one, they put it in a plastic sack 100 times the size of the product. The same thing is true of nearly every retail store.

Please ask me if I want a sack.

When I sell stuff from our retail store, and it's a single small item, I usally ask if people want a sack. I sometimes get a shocked, condescending look. As if to say "What!? Of course I want a sack for this tiny item I purchased which I can easily carry in one hand, along with the receipt, to my car."

I am now trying to tell cashiers not to give me a sack for small purchases. We do recycle these plastic sacks as trash bags in our home, but we have a crazy over abundance of them. Once in awhile I remember to bring a bag full of them back to one of those recycle boxes inside the grocery store.

I could probably think of more rants, but feel free to add your own.

3 comments:

  1. I agree completely! Where I used to work EVERYONE threw away their pop cans and bottles. They said they just didn't want to mess with it. Not only can they be recycled, but that is throwing money away too. I regularly collected the cans no one else wanted and got $5-10 each time I redeemed them. Their waste was my gain though. =)

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  2. I've done the same thing at a former work place. I've collect their pop bottles out of the trash can and collected the deposit on them.

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  3. Unfortunately there are only a few states that you can get deposits on bottles and such.

    I find myself recycling/other "green" activities not because I think its better for the earth (though that is icing on the cake) but because its better for my wallet, recycling means less garbage which means a smaller container and a smaller bill. A more fuel efficient car means less gas which means a smaller impact on my wallet. CFL use less energy, create less heat and last far longer, which means less electricity usage and a smaller bill along with the fact I won't have to change bulbs for quite a while. (never mind the mercury in them, just dispose of them properly)

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