Stripped of convenience - and all that plastic!

In a nut-shell, this article attempts to discuss and question the following conundrum: the majority of our food products are presented in plastic packaging, or are brought home in plastic bags; the food industry and the plastics industry are reliant on the fuel industry; the price of fuel is rising. Therefore, the price of food and plastics are rising. What can we do?

We have all heard about the direct impacts and related after-effects of the soaring fuel prices on society at large. One of the areas most heavily impacted is the food industry. This is because of the intensive fuel requirements of the different stages of the industry: “food needs to be grown (cultivation equipment and fertilizer), harvested (harvesting equipment and transportation to processors or storage), processed and transported to market”. At each point along the way, increasing costs of petroleum prices have an impact on the final cost. Therefore, it is not surprising that we are hearing more and more about rising food costs and an advancing global food crisis.

What is the solution to this problem? Many people have already stated it: “Don't put the food supply in competition with the fuel supply!”

But the question then becomes: When we are stripped of the convenience to drive wherever and whenever we want, what steps can we – the general Canadian public – take?

Should we stop going to multiple stores when one location would suffice? How would this affect the small bakery on the corner or the fresh produce shops?

Should we have more patience and wait for coupons and sales, and not just cater to the craving of the moment?  (What a shock that would be for the “Me Generation”!).

Should we (to the extent possible) use other means of physical activity as transportation to the store?

Will “green” bags (i.e. not petroleum-product plastic bags) make a difference? And why do we always seem to forget them at home when going out for groceries?

Should we allot a particular day of the week for ‘groceries’, and buy in bulk when we shop?

Should we add another goal to the New Year’s resolution: reduce the use of vehicles and plastics in our day-to-day lives?

All of these are options that we should be considering.

Another point of contention (or topic to vent about) is plastic and its use (or abuse) in almost every product available, including the foods we consume. What if, following the recent and long-overdue wisdom of researching plastic bottles, our food products were stripped of their petroleum-product packaging? Would we know how to eat well and how to cook if our dinners didn't come in shiny neon wrap?  Microwave plastic-wrapped dinners (e.g. Michelina's, Bertolli, Stouffer's) would no longer be able to attract us with pretty colours and perfectly staged pictures. How would companies convince us the contents are truly good and healthy?   

And what about this bisphenol A (BPA) stuff? Derived from petroleum, BPA is the chief ingredient in polycarbonate, the rigid, translucent hard plastic used in water bottles and many baby bottles. It’s also used to make the resins that line most tin cans, dental sealants, car parts, microwaveable plastics, sports helmets and CDs. I had initially thought, after reading about the dangers of BPA, that I would simply avoid using all plastics. Have you taken a good look at what is around your home and kitchen? Plastic is everywhere. Food is wrapped in it, water and pop are bottled in it, and your toothbrush is made from it. It seems more and more apparent that we are eating and breathing plastic. This wouldn't be so worrisome if the chemicals added to plastic (i.e. to make it supple, flame-retardant and generally miraculous) weren't such a devil's cocktail of carcinogens, neurotoxins and endocrine disruptors.

I might not crunch my way to six-pack abs or write a novel in 2008, but I think I can scrap the bottled drinks and overly packaged goods.  The time for change is upon us. Are we willing to change for the better of the environment, the economy, the food supply, future generations, and more?

Are we willing to strip ourselves of convenience? The answer remains to be seen.

© 2008 Holly Hutchings; licensee (Cult)ure Magazine.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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