Comments on: Amanda R., Week 4

By: Amanda R.

Amanda R. — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 07:44:54 +0000

Kate, thanks for the link – that looks really interesting; at the moment, I’ve gone back to getting bulk coffee from the supermarket, where I can fill the paper bags they have there. But I’ll keep the up-cycling in mind!

I did email the coffee company about their bags, but didn’t get a response. It’s hard to blame them – the prices have fallen and they are struggling to pay their farmers a better-than-living wage for the crop; if they start packaging in a way that either costs them more or causes the product to lose quality in shipping so that customers stop buying, they wouldn’t be acting in the interest of their farmers. I still haven’t decided quite what I want to do!

Claire, the last molasses I bought was Plantation organic blackstrap; I actually would’ve gotten Grandma’s but they didn’t have it where I was shopping. I’ll keep it in mind for next time.

By: Kate Esaia

Kate Esaia — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:18:48 +0000

AWESOME!!!

If you use a lot of coffee bags, maybe you would want to ‘upcycle’ them with TerraCycle: http://www.terracycle.net

You can join their coffee bag brigade and ship them for free. Or maybe there is already a brigade near you that would take your bags (a local school or community group)?

I think they might take your cheese wrapper, too, in their new cheese brigade.

By: claire

claire — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:30:32 +0000

what brand of molasses do you use? I don’t know if you only buy organic, but the typical Grandma’s Molasses has no plastic seal IF you find the kind with the metal cap (instead of a plastic cap). and that’s generally the trick, the short metal caps are the kind that typically have no plastic seal, any plastic cap will have some other kind of seal, and the taller metal caps tend to have the seal as well.

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:02:11 +0000

Amanda, your results are amazing. Every week is smaller than the previous week. I admire your commitment.

What is the bedding for your worms? Could you use shredded newspaper instead of buying something special? That’s what I’ve seen people around here do.

I totally understand the dilemma about buying local/organic vs. buying something without plastic. I wish these trade offs didn’t exist.

I don’t think any of us in our society can be perfect on our own. That’s when personal action has to expand to asking companies to change their practices. Could you write to the coffee company about their plastic bags?