Refusing Single-Use Packaging and Reducing Waste
In a world “locked down” due to a pandemic, the amount of online purchasing has gone up disproportionately. People have moved onto the online platform for everything - from daily needs, groceries, and food, to white goods, jewelry, and life-saving drugs. So what’s wrong with that? If one can get all necessities, comforts, and luxuries at home at the click of a button, what’s the problem? The problem is the packaging. Everything that is home-delivered has to be packaged and made weather-proof or travel-proof so that it reaches the consumer intact and without any change in its state. And while larger packaging does tend to get disposed of appropriately using waste disposal companies like Duck Creek Disposal, Wichita Falls, Texas, it’s the smaller packaging material that gets carelessly dropped around that is a humongous cause for worry.
How many times has a chocolate wrapper flown out of your hands and disappeared down the road? Or the wrapping of your burger just ‘dropped’ on the road? Ever thought about where all these go? Probably flown till it reached a drain and has flowed down the drain, into a sewer that empties into the ocean. And becomes a part of a huge archipelago of islands of floating debris in the ocean like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This Patch is around twice the size of Texas and contains all kinds of hazardous materials like microplastics and debris- most of it from packaging. When one orders from online portals, the product is sent with copious amounts of packaging. Especially when moving into a new home, the garbage pile is huge, and calling for a roll off dumpster rental near me to collect the packaging from a trusted and responsible waste disposal company is the best thing to do for the major packaging. But the finer stuff most often cannot be reused and just lies around on the curb, to be carried away by the wind, ending up in the ocean.
Tips to Reduce Packaging and Waste
So is there a way to reduce the amount of garbage humanity is building up just to be comfortable? There sure is!
- Trying to buy goods that use recyclable and reusable packaging
- Repairing appliances rather than junking something that is malfunctioning but can be fixed, and buying new ones.
- What is junked can be collected by hiring an on site dumpster rental and sent to the right facility - to be reused, repurposed if possible, or to be discarded in a landfill.
- Saying ‘No’ to packaged food and other items that use excessive packaging.
- BYOB - a phrase coined for liquor or booze, but so relevant in this context. Bringing your own bag, bottle, or box when ordering takeaway for dinner instead of bringing the food home in single-use packaging
- Saying no to single-use plastic bags. A simple solution is to have a reusable bag in the car, purse, and near the main door of the home so it is picked up easily when one is stepping out to shop.
- Going to the store and buying fresh fruits and vegetables rather than packaged ones ordered online. Bring them home in reusable, washable bags rather than single-use plastic bags.
But the unseen garbage that causes pollution and that has poisoned the environment can only be controlled if every human being pledges to do their bit. According to estimates, every year 11 million metric tonnes of plastic reach the oceans. Unless we control how much garbage we create and stop dumping it indiscriminately, this figure is projected to reach 29 metric tonnes per year by 2040.
Disposing of your waste in a responsible manner with Duck Creek Disposal
Make sure you reduce the amount of garbage you are generating and dispose of what is being generated responsibly. Check out roll off dumpster rental prices for safe garbage disposal by Duck Creek Disposal, Wichita Falls, Texas at (940) 257-5660 - “You Call We haul!!”
