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PAGE 8 HOME & LIfESTYLE IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2020
Avoiding Single-Use Plastic
so I can put chopped rhubarb and
BY SUZANNE WARING ground zucchini in them to freeze.
They are premeasured and ready to
Plastic microparticles have been put into recipes. Instead of the com-
found in the Gallatin River. Yes, the mercial storage containers, my freezer
pristine Gallatin River that originates has shelves of what were single-use,
in the Montana mountains and flows plastic two-cup containers.
for 120 miles through some of the COMMERCIAL fOOD CONTAINERS
most beautiful terrain in the United We bought cardboard contain-
States. Of all the rivers in the country, ers of frozen orange juice for years
you would think that the Gallatin and diluted them with water. I don’t
would still be pure. know when we switched over to the
Volunteers for Adventure Scientists, 100-percent orange juice in plastic
a Bozeman-based nonprofit, collected containers, but today, I have gone back
water samples from the Gallatin to to the frozen, and it tastes just as good.
gather environmental data, especially It may cost more to transport frozen
data on microplastics. Results show products, but at least these concen-
that, on the average, 1.2 microplastic trated items aren’t sold in plastic.
pieces are found in each liter of col- Items such as coffee and condi-
lected water. Putting collected water ments are still available in containers
in perspective, comparing it to the Plastic isn’t going away, but we can do much to eliminate single-use other than plastic. Recently I had a
amount flowing down the river, indi- plastic by avoiding it or finding new ways to reuse it. © Photkas, choice of buying quinoa in either a
cates that a lot of microplastic trash Bigstock.com. cardboard box or a plastic bag. I chose
is in the river. with plastic. It is expected that plastic in the cardboard box.
If we find plastic in the Gallatin, how the oceans will, in the near future, outweigh
much would we find as trash across our the fish.
country? We need to have better practices for
We once celebrated the invention of collecting and recycling plastics. Presently,
plastics that would eventually be found in we only recycle between 2 to 9 percent of the
every imaginable product. Remember the plastic we use. Innovative companies and
first time you snapped shut a plastic bowl research labs are working on methods for
lid, knowing that your food would be kept decomposing plastics and replacing them
fresh in the refrigerator? It seemed like pure with new materials that break down more
pleasure to have oil, soda pop, water, and quickly, such as plant-based biopolymers
condiments sold in throwaway containers. in fabrics.
Now we know that when we throw The general population can make its
away plastic, it takes hundreds of years contribution by choosing to avoid plastic
for it to disintegrate. altogether, especially single-use plastic, or
Since its inception in the 1950s, nine finding unique ways to reuse it.
billion tons of plastic have been manufac- STRAWS
tured. Our landfills and oceans are clogged I have noticed that restaurant waiters
are now asking me if I need a straw. No, I
don’t, so I sip from the glass. I have found Even with all the publicity about how harmful
Shoshone Funeral a use for the straws that still seem to fol- plastics are for the environment, very few people
carry their own shopping bags. You can purchase
Services low me home. I use them year after year reusable, mesh bags with drawstrings to shop and
to support young plants that I start in my store with your produce. Photo by Suzanne Waring.
Debbie Mikesell potting shed.
106 S. Main St., Kellogg, ID
Office (208) 786-5121 If you really like to use them, you can Sometimes you have to buy the lesser of
www.shoshonefuneralservice.com also purchase reusable straws—made of two evils. Some companies now sell liquid
stainless steel, glass, bamboo, paper, or laundry soap in cardboard containers, but
Our family serving yours in your time of need.
silicon—to carry with you and and use when they do have a thin layer of plastic inside.
you go out. Regardless, this is better than the heavy
Bear Lake PLASTIC COTTAGE plastic laundry soap containers.
MEMORIAL 2018 TOP 20 CAH WINNER CHEESE AND SOUR Also, can’t we go back to buying milk
Hospital 208.847.1630 CREAM CONTAINERS in paper cartons or, better yet, reusable
QUALITY
Montpelier, ID www.BLMHospital.com 8 2018 TOP 20 BEST PRACTICE CAH Many containers glass containers?
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