Green Tip #44: WRAWWN Part 1, Plastic

Let me clear something up right away. WRAWWN, while it does sound like a sound a baby dinosaur might make, is in fact an acronym. Without further ado, here's the first part of a brand new feature that I'll be doing from time to time.

What Resource Are We Wasting Now? Part 1, Plastic

Let me just differentiate this and the Landfill Reductions that I've done. WRAWWN is all about how not to use some basic material or water or energy or something like that. The Landfill Reductions talk about what to do with something once it's been used.

Enough chitchat, let's save the planet!

Straws?? Really?? I mean COME ON! Think of all the plastic that we're wasting! Here's the situation that must have come up the first time a fast food restaurant put a straw in their drinks. Some hugely overweight man probably complained to the restaurant that he was just too darn tired to pick up his drink. And thus the straw was born. I mean, seriously? How lazy are we that we can't even pick up our drinks? Although, with the size of drinks these days, we would probably be building some muscles by lifting the cups.

Another waste of plastic is how much they use to wrap up small electronics. Next time you're at a store that sells USB drives, check out how much plastic is on them. There's probably ten times as much plastic wrapping as there is USB drive. Do we REALLY need to have it secured by enough plastic that we can put carpeting down and charge rent for people to stay in it?? Not to mention that it's impossible to get off, but that only hurts the environment if I take out my frustration by drop kicking squirrels.

And finally, retail stores need to lighten up a bit. I don't know if you're like me or not, but I always forget to bring my canvas bags to the store and I end up having to use plastic bags (ugh). Well, I tried to be smart and wore a trench coat with deep pockets so I could use that instead of bags. I was just trying to save Toys 'R Us some bags, and the next thing I know I'm not allowed to shop there any more. Something about shoplifting or being creepy or something like that. Why can't I wear a trench coat whenever I want to?? It's a free country!!

So yeah, plastic.