August 15, 2023 • 48 mins
We examine reusable straws, beeswax wrap, and silicone sandwich baggies to figure out if they're actually more eco-friendly. Is the benefit worth the cost? Find out in this fun overview from your favorite sustainability podcast. Spoiler: The real impact depends completely on how you use it.
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What We Mentioned
What We Recommend
- Reusable fork/utensils (or better yet, grab some from your drawer)
Sources
- Anthropocene
- International Journal of Lifecycle Assessment
- Vox
- Stanford on straws
- Stasher bag website
- Our episode explaining the two-basin method of cleaning dishes
- What to Waste
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
One note from the study that Ifound really interesting. The
best thing you can reuse thatthey looked at was a reusable
fork.
Like silverware. Yes. Hello,Tiffany?
(00:23):
Oh, five says with caveats.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, just lastlike, I was late to recording
because my child was having anabsolute conniption fit, you
know, like, losing her shit.
Which happens and it is what itis. But yeah, I'm just having,
(00:44):
like, one of those couple ofweeks where I feel like I'm
always late. Like, every feelslike so much of my time. I'm
running late to something. Ithink that may be just the human
condition.
Yeah, I mean, I don't I waslike, I, I would say, have you
(01:05):
consulted your astrology charts,but you know, whatever. I don't
know. I, if I want to blame iton the summer heat. Like, I
know, I've got seasonaldepression right now because
like, you can't go outside. It's107 degrees here. So we're like
stuck indoors. And you knowwhat? You're gonna go see
(01:26):
another movie? Yeah, sure. No,it's nothing. Nothing feels like
I don't want to do anything. Ifeel like I take that. Anytime I
have a break. I go and lie down.
Right. I have heard you duringthe winter.
Yes. Well, that's I was gonnasay everybody always thinks of
sad seasonal affective disorder,or whatever it's called. In the
winter, but it's totally asummer thing too. Yeah. And we
(01:49):
have had several bouts of fire.
Yeah. Like smoke from you can'tcall tide. Yeah, so it's like,
this time wasn't so bad, butit's just like Jesus Christ.
What is the end?
Like if I don't get a walk inbefore the sun is up, basically,
right? I'm just toast literallytoast. So yeah, I my poor dog he
(02:10):
gets, we go for a walk in themorning. And then if it gets
below 90 by 9pm. I'll take himfor a walk. But my God, you
know, it's it's 90 degrees atnight. Like, I'm like dog,
sorry. And he just, he'll, we'llgo sit on the back patio and
boasted there for about twominutes. Then he's like, Well,
that was fun time. Great. To noteven in the sun. Just in the
(02:31):
shade. Yeah. Soyeah, I mean, it's hot here.
Like yeah, 90 low. 90s. But nothundreds.
So lucky. I mean, Lucky. That'sstill hot. Oh, for I know, when
I used to live out there in DCin Maryland. That's hot. It's a
swamp.
Yeah, it's very humid. So yeah.
80% humidity or so. Yeah.
(02:53):
So it's just, you're just gross.
And you don't. The sweat doesn'tevaporate so you don't cool off.
It's up muggy. And yeah.
And you just like, do youactually just sit into it? Like,
you don't have to be active. Youjust sweat.
Yeah, just sitting outside theback to your knees. Like there's
going to be a stain on your seatwhen you stand up.
Yes. Yeah. Really? It's rough.
Yeah. But yeah, I don't know ifit's like being a parent where
(03:17):
you're just trying to get thingsmoving. And the kid is dragging
their feet. Yeah, a big part ofit. But it's just like every
thing I do. I'm like, I'm lateto something. I'm like, do
something. I must be overbookingmyself to my
Yeah, maybe just quit somestuff.
I know.
(03:38):
Don't though, because I need youin this podcast. Well, no, this
would definitely everything butthe podcast quit everything
else.
So be last on the list ofquitting for sure. Yeah, I'm
like, I don't even feel like Ihave a life. How am I hopeless?
I know. I wonder about that.
Well, I hate to be that. Thatchildless person, but kids are
only little ones. So yeah, showus to connect summer you'll be
(04:00):
like we were late stuff.
Hopefully. Yeah,I hear three is better. So
that's only six months away. SoI should just shut my trap.
Anyway.
Today's episode, let's get intothat. Maybe
we're talking about reusablestuff. Yeah. And I wanted to
(04:23):
combine all this stuff becauseit's like, I didn't necessarily
think each one deserves its ownfull episode. Right. But you
know, this season we're talkingabout waste and it's often a at
least marketed as a solution towaste is reusable stuff like the
three I looked at were stasherbags so reusable ziplocks
(04:49):
beeswax wrap that is meant toreplace saran wrap or plastic
wrap, and reusable straws.
Right and these are all big, bigplastic items that we just kind
of throw away.
Yes. And as we know from ourplastics recycling episode, I
don't know if I mentioned thisyou can't recycle plastic straws
(05:11):
anywhere or pores as far as Iknow. We're saran wrap.
Yeah, general, I'm you may, Ithink we're well might take it
but generally no and plasticbaggies to or are difficult to
recycle? Yeah, Ikind of doubt you can to be
honest. I think Redwalldoes collect them. Yeah. And but
they're hard to reuse,right. But the other thing is,
even if you recycle it, it'sgonna get recycled one to three
(05:34):
times. So it's like, is there apoint to it? Not? Nah, no, no, I
don't know. Yeah, I wanted tolook at these three items to see
like, are they actually helping?
Right? Or is it green? Who?
Our favorite term which what isgreen? Who? I mean?
Yeah, green Hui is like green,what people call greenwashed.
(05:57):
Marketing. So companies that useit's our term for it, right? So
but it's companies use sort ofgreen labels, green words like
eco friendly, sustainable,biodegradable, all have these
things, and nobody's reallyregulating it. So they can just
throw all these leaves andwhatnot on their packaging. And
(06:22):
they look really good. But alot, a lot of times we have
found that they're not actuallyeco friendly at all. Right? And
they sometimes are worse.
Yeah. And then they cost moreto. Yes.
And one thing that I foundbefore I get into my sources,
(06:42):
yeah, they do cost so much more.
That's nutso thing. We're goingto talk about that a little bit
here. But one thing I found wasa 2021 study in the
International Journal of likeslife cycle assessment, which is
a big one that I'm sourcing inthis episode. It shows that,
quote, reusable products are notnecessarily always more green,
(07:05):
since their impact depends onhow they are used. Okay, I'll
leave you with that. My sources,I only had 1234566 ish. So
Anthropocene. They talked aboutreusable stuff in general
talking about straws andstandard trap and all that. They
(07:26):
quoted this that study that Imentioned, the study, again,
International Journal oflifecycle assessment was a huge
part of it. Vox article aboutzero waste products, like
straws, or baggies or whatever,Stanford had a plastic straw
article about whether or notthey actually make a difference.
(07:48):
And then I used stasher bags,which is a brand stasher stasher
bags website. Okay, so fromAnthropocene. This is from that
article. One of the leaders ofthat study was quoted in that
article. And her name is ShelleyMiller. And she's from the
(08:09):
University of Michigan Schoolfor environmental insists
environment and sustainability.
And she says, quote, in reality,reusable are generally better
than single use products. Butthe caveat here comes the but
but they actually must bereused. And well done. Okay.
(08:32):
Yeah. And often reused a largenumber of times to realize their
environmental benefit.
I think we've had we've, we'vetalked about this, anytime we've
talked about, like, you need toreuse a jar 4000 times or
whatever to make up for itscarbon footprint. Yeah. And its
(08:53):
creation or so that wasone reason I really wanted to
talk about this. Because in theplastics episode, we talked a
lot like I touched on it,because I found a source on
somebody saying, Oh, you need touse a bag like 4000 times
the tote bags. That's what itwas. Yeah, it was 52 times for a
paper bag, I think.
Right? Yes. And they werelooking at that was a different
(09:15):
study, actually. But they werelooking at, like 52 times two
for different factors. Becausethere's a lot that goes into
sustainability. It's not justone thing, right? So it's like
52 times to make it better thanplastic in terms of greenhouse
gases, but you need to use it4000 times in terms of all of
the above. Soin terms of like decom
decomposition time, or what kindof impact it can have on
(09:38):
waterways orYeah, your water use. Yes,
exactly. So I Was I feelingreally disheartened about that.
And I was like, What the effhave been so lied to if that's
the case, right? And so that wasa big reason why I wanted to
look into these because I waslike, so hold on. Does that mean
that this is not even worth it?
(10:02):
Like, I should just keep reusingor keep using ciplox? And not
bother? Right? Oh, yeah. So, sowe're gonna find, we're gonna
find dirty. Yeah, we're gonnafind out. Another thing that
Shelly Miller says is thatreusable items are more durable
than single use items,obviously. But so that's good in
(10:23):
theory, right. But it also meansthat we're usable as consume
more material and energy tomake. Yes, makes sense. Right?
So your tote bag versus yourplastic bag from your grocery
store, very different in termsof what the input needed, like
a law I would even say. SoAustin recently, well, they went
(10:45):
back and forth on a law aboutplastic bags, that for a while
it was you couldn't have plasticbags, like they didn't, they
wouldn't have the grocery store.
And then the state overrule thatlaw. And so what they did was
they made the law that theplastic bag that you get at the
grocery store has to bereusable. So it's thicker
plastic bags, right? Whichmeans, again, I think that's an
(11:08):
issue is out there, they needmore plastic, they use more
energy to be made. And if peopleare just using them the same way
they use the old plastic bag,which
let's be honest, how many peopleare reusing them? Right?
I will. It's kind of a an eightGB bag is kind of a Texas girls
purse. So it's your overnightbag. I mean, anytime you go to
(11:33):
the pool, you have your EGB bag,but okay, so they are being
reused. But I mean, I do their10 cents a bag, you know, too.
So I actually just take them,I'll take them back in a stack
and tell the cashier just hereuse these hand them out to
people who want bags for free.
So and they do it. They havetheir subtypes as they're like,
Okay. I'm like, I don't needthem. Yeah, anyway.
(11:59):
Oh, that's so so it's 10 centsfor the bigger ones. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah, I mean, that would be moreof an incentive, because ours
are five cents like most places,but Well, everything's bigger in
Texas, honey.
Maker and thicker. Okay. Yeah.
Use the pool. Definitely can'tpick your dog poop up with it.
(12:19):
Not great. Anyway. So yeah.
That's a concern that nobodythought about is that like,
yeah, it's a reusable bag, but30 times the carbon output
making itright. It makes me wonder about
I feel like the oil industrieswould love that. Oh,
further, just like, that'sprobably why. Oh, I'm so
cynical. That's why the governorlet it pass. Oh, you know, you
(12:42):
know, because we're such an oiland gas heavy stadiums.
Probably. Okay, yeah, you canmake bigger bags. So in that we
will do. You can't outlawplastic bag, but you can
definitely make bigger reusablebags. That's fine.
Yeah, that would actually beinteresting to look into that.
I don't want to know, I know. Iknow. But any who's this study
looked at four things. I thinkit's been a minute since I did
(13:06):
this research. Yeah, fourthings. One is the global
warming potential, which theycall GWP.
Oh, cute. I like that. That'sall Yeah. acronym. Yeah. Okay.
They looked at the waterconsumption. They looked at non
renewable energy use, and theylooked at consumer washing and
reuse habits. Okay. And theylooked at, like, typical habits.
(13:29):
So not maybe somebody who'ssuper conscious, but just like a
normal human being.
Yeah. American. Yeah. A normalAmerican. Yeah.
Yeah. And so they wanted to findthe break even point for each of
these items in terms of each ofthese factors. So like, where's
the break even point for globalwarming potential? Where is it
(13:51):
for water consumption? Where isit for non renewable, all those
things, and they found? So firstoff, I have to also say, just
leave you on a cliffhanger. NowI have to also say I have all of
the above. Okay, in my house. Sothis was a little upsetting for
me to read. But okay, so theyfound that silicone sandwich
(14:12):
bags and beeswax wrap. neverreach a break even point.
Oh, wow. That is that I havethem. I don't have these wax
wrap. But I do have.
Okay, I got it. I got these waxwax wrap for this podcast.
Yeah. I got it for everybody,for you, listeners just for you.
(14:35):
So you don't haveto. Yeah, no, but I mean, I'm
gonna get into it a little bitmore because it is more nuanced
than that. But the reason thatit never reaches a breakeven
point is because there's a muchbigger impact from the water and
energy needed for manualwashing.
Oh, so on the middle end it sayson the front end for creating it
(14:57):
but no, that makes sense becauseof consumer habits. Yeah. us,
yes, all our fault. Butif you wash it every other time,
rather than every time you useit, you might hit breakeven
points.
Oh, interesting. Well, I wonder,okay, sorry,
what was gonna say? So forexample, it could go from having
to use it 10,000 times to usingit 200 times.
(15:20):
Okay. Okay, well, interesting. Iwonder about using your dual
Bayesian method, which uses lesswater to
I'm gonna get into that. Okay,good. I mean, I'm sorry. Yes,
no, no, you're good. Becausethat's the big thing they are.
They they're looking at typical,okay, where you just leave the
water running and use. Okay.
(15:43):
And it's like super hot water.
That's another option is you canalso just reuse your single use
items without washing them. Solike, I'm thinking, all the
clamshell packaging I figuredout in the plastics episode. My
local recycling center doesn'ttake so like anything like the
raspberries. Yeah, they come inthe class clamshell packaging. I
(16:04):
could I have raspberries in mybackyard. I could reuse package.
Yeah. If I don't wash it, that'smaybe even a better option than
getting something.
Okay. Then it will like If ithasn't, like for me if it hasn't
had meat in it.
Right? Like how I don't care ifmy grasp
(16:24):
and if you're just like making apeanut butter sandwich and
putting it in a bag? Like yeah,okay. Just yeah. butter
sandwich. Yeah,right. You can definitely reuse
Ziploc bags. My husband makes somuch fun IV he's like, What is
this? Why are you washing thisout? And like, why aren't you
washing?
I know. Yeah. My house like meand my roommate both wash all of
(16:47):
all the baggies and like I usehim Yeah. And so there's I think
there's actually like a drug ofplastic bag drying rack you can
get Oh, see that's a big minoralways like hanging from my
spatula.
But yeah, minor like overglasses that are drying and like
Yeah, cuz they're very annoyingto dry. They are because you
have to put them upside down andright in one side drives the
(17:08):
others went yeah. Oh, sure. Ican make one out of all hangers.
Anyway. That way, I'm not thatcrafty.
This is a business opportunityfor ya.
Upcycling, yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So overall, they foundthat emissions for reusable
products were highly sensitiveto the changes in dishwashing
(17:31):
emissions. So basically, yourdishwashing habits. Got it. So
if you miss our DIY dishwasherdetergent episode, go back and
listen, because because there'sa two basin method. And as you
mentioned, it's a sort of like anavy way of washing like you
might use it in the Navy. Youuse two basins cold water yet
(17:54):
one low water use are likecamping, a camping camping. Yes.
And we can link that in theshownotes. Because it sounds it
does sound like using a betterform of washing your dishes,
even if you're washing them byhand would make it more
sustainable. The other thingthat's kind of interesting is it
sent most of the stuff that Ihave is dishwasher safe. Okay,
(18:19):
so that confuses me a littlebit, because I would be running
the dishwasher anyway. And it'snot really making that big of an
impact. Hmm. You know, but someactually, I have two forms, the
stasher bags are dishwashersafe. According to their
website. My mother in law gaveme some that, you know, they
(18:41):
come in packs of like, 100.
Right, I don't need 50 Take someand but they're not dishwasher
safe. And those are big pain inmy ass. We'll get into it. So I
want to talk about each of theseproducts because they're all
different, right? So let's startwith straws.
Okaythis study says that by year
(19:10):
one, glass, okay, hold on. Firstoff, this is kind of wild
because it's saying the studybases their maths on using it
five times aweek for a year. Okay,
five times a week. That doesn'thappen with a lot of this stuff.
(19:33):
So just letting you know that'swhat they're saying but they are
saying for straws. By year one.
Glass metal and silicone strawsreach their payback period.
Okay, wellwith five uses per week or year.
Okay, so she's a single straw.
Okay. Well, you know, and likemaybe
(19:54):
I don't straws, I think are butthat's possible, right? But I
mean,yeah, I'm like if i i Don't use
straws. I only use straws when Ihave ice because I just drink
out of a glass but Origen canhave a water bottle. So write a
reusable water bottle just to beclear. Okay,
(20:16):
but bamboo never got there.
Okay, well, we all know screwbamboo.
I think it's a water right?
Yeah, it's yes. way doing water.
Yeah. Yeah, we've talked aboutthat. It's, it might look
sustainable. And it's notactually a sustainable material.
Yeah. Which is interesting,because in Vietnam, they use
bamboo for straws, restaurantsand stuff.
(20:37):
Well, maybe if it's like onpremises bamboo?
Well, yeah, if it's not comingfrom, like a bamboo farm where
they're, I don't know, it's hardto say, Oh, yeah. Or
if they're not like, because Ithink the issue was bamboo. I
mean, it grows like a weed. ButI think it's because when you
process it to make it intosomething else, like, if you're
just using it, you know, like hepicked it off the side of the
(21:00):
road and stuck it in a drink,you know? But if you
think well, I don't think so.
Because the straws. They're notlike, they're just in maybe
there's a different kind ofbamboo straw, but they just take
a piece of bamboo and cut outthe middle. Yeah, and dry it
out. And that's that sortof thing that that I think would
be less water than if you tookthe bamboo and separated the
(21:20):
fibers and made it into youknow, yeah,
I assume that all the brushesare like that. But maybe you're
right.
I don't know. And maybe that'sthe issue.
Yeah, you're probably right. Ithought it was a lot of water to
grow bamboo.
That's probably true. Do I know.
It grows like a weed, but Ithink it's in the processing? I
mean, I know for fibers like forclothing. That's true.
(21:44):
Yeah, it's hard to say. Buteither way, bamboo never reaches
the payback of bamboo. Yeah,let the pandas eat the bamboo.
Right. But it's interestingbecause metal, glass and
silicone are all significant,significantly higher for just
one use. So if you buy it anduse it once, you're really
wasting your time. Don't dothat. And metals, the worst
(22:07):
because metals, pretty hard toYeah, like that takes a lot of
resources to make. But then ifyou use them over time, which is
the moral of the story, if youuse them a lot and reuse them,
then you can actually make itworth your time. It just takes a
full year though, like you wouldnever think that.
Well. I mean, that actually.
Because I've had I bought somemetal straws just to have for
(22:31):
like cocktail parties. Or likeif I feel like having a soda in
the afternoon was yeah, I saidit five years ago, and I've had
them and they're fine. And Iactually put them in the
dishwasher. And they're fine.
And my roommate uses them todrink smoothies and probably
like, I think they've they'veearned their weight, you know,
(22:55):
back in. I think a year would Itwould actually be surprising to
me that it's that little.
Well, using it five days a week.
I'm puttingmy room it does. Okay. So, yeah,
interesting. It makes me want togo make a gin and tonic and put
a straw on it right now. Yeah,I think I'm surprised how long
it is just because I think mostpeople think right away.
(23:17):
Well, you just build. I mean,it's kind of like buying a
Prius. Right, right. Likeyou've, you're like I'm making
an impact. It's like, yeah,making that car was real bad.
But yeah, you feel better rightaway because you're like, Well,
I'm not contributing togreenhouse gases now even though
the creation of that itemsignificantly contributed. But
(23:40):
yeah, yeah, that's that was thebiggest, interesting,
the most interesting thing forme,
I do want to say one thing aboutmetal straws and this is
something that my friend pointsout. It keeps the beverage cold
as it gets into your mouth. Justfor the record, like cuz
sometimes if you drink through astraw just comes it's like okay,
(24:00):
it was cold and I mean, it's notvery long for to get you know,
from a straw to your mouth. ButAmericans do
that. I mean, I have like metalwater bottles and they
definitely keep it colder.
Yeah, it just delivers the fullliquid cold you so if you want
to like really make thingsslightly more refreshing.
Anyway, that's that's a man alittle stressed
(24:21):
up. Yeah. Love it. Oh, yeah. Soso I kind of wanted to look at
each of these items and thinklike think through our typical
greening up my act mindset asthey were. Are they cost
effective? Are they easy to use?
So for straws, do they work?
Yes. Although I will say mysilicone straw throws me for a
(24:43):
loop because there's some sortof physics behind it where I
cannot put it in a slightly toosmall lid and suck anything out.
Like I don't know what it is. Ifsomething something sciencey
what's the EFF is going on? So Ican't use because it's like kind
(25:06):
of thick. But anyway, they dowork, mostly speaking. So, are
they cost effective? Well, ifyou think about it, not at all.
Because straws are usually costeffective meaning are they
cheaper than, but like strawsare usually included with out an
(25:29):
upcharge. So you're paying ashitload more for a straw.
Right? So I just bought twoplastic ones, because one of
them melted in the dishwasher.
from Starbucks, yes. I hate tosay it, but I did it for 10
bucks. Wow, that ain't free. No,I mean, obviously, straws aren't
(25:50):
free, like regular plasticstraws, or whatever compostable
bullshit they'reraising these days. And that's
fun. Yeah.
But yeah, they're free ish. Youknow, there's probably a slight
upcharge. But so as far as priceNo, not at all. No. I mean, it's
(26:10):
yeah. It's outlandish if youthink about it.
straws are the Tesla ofYes. Yeah. Not everybody can
afford it or has has theinterest in buying something
that they can get forpractically free. Yeah, exactly.
Is it easy to use? Yes, I do putmine in the dishwasher. I don't
(26:31):
know why that one melted. Ithadn't happened before. And it
hasn't happened again. Soanyways, we
need to be removed from the foodchain.
Survival of the fittest. Yes,the dishwasher. And it's easy to
use ish, but I don't carry minearound. So if I'm out and a need
(26:51):
for a straw comes up. I'm goingto just use a random straw. Do
you carry yours?
No. I've seen people haveportable straw cases and things
and the purse just isn't thatbig. And I mean if I ever like
collapsible, but yeah, I don'tgo and get things. I need straws
very often either. So Right?
Because I am my own barista. Imake my own coffee at home.
Yeah,we started doing that. It's
(27:14):
so lovely. Isn't it nice? Yes.
I love it so much. So that's thestraw. sort of the overview of
the straw. Okay, reusablestraws. And I didn't think the
study mentioned paper strawsbecause paper straws are such a
thing now,but they still I feel like
they're better than they used tobe for sure. I definitely had a
paper straw at a hotel over theweekend and was not like this is
(27:34):
terrible as a design my mouth.
Yeah,exactly. Yeah, if you use it for
more than 30 minutes, you'rekind of risking some cardboard
mouth but so let's move on toreusable plastic wrap. So I got
bees wax wrap, which isbasically just fabric. I could
(27:55):
have made it on my own. And Ithink Nancy has something on our
Instagram, but I just didn'thave the energy or the time so I
bought some.
Okay, why? It's not beeswaxthough.
It is actually beeswax. Oh,okay. Yeah, you just take fabric
and melt beeswax over it again.
I think it's extremely easy. AndI even have all of the things I
(28:16):
would have needed. It just was atime crunch thing. Yeah, but
beeswax wrap did not break evenfor global warming potential.
Okay, why BP? Naturalit's because of the because you
have to wash it so like, you useit. It's probably going to get
(28:38):
dirty and you're gonna have tohand wash it. There's no way you
can put that in your dishwasher.
No, it's just gum up the works.
Yes. Okay.
So no, but let's look at it. SoI bought this shirt. Okay. Does
it work? It does work actually.
It doesn't keep anything vacuumsealed but neither does plastic
wrap. You know that unlessyou're like trained and you have
to be like, Oh my God. Yeah, Ihave a friend who works at a
(29:02):
kitchen any brings me chickenwings from time to time and he
just Saran wraps the shit out ofthat.
It's like he's got like theindustrial size. Yeah, those
work way better, though. Soyeah, but
it's like, do we really needthis much? He's like, Oh, I
didn't want the sauce to getover my backpack. Like Alright,
thanks. Right. Yeah, it's notbring it to me in a plastic bag,
I guess.
(29:25):
Yeah, so this beeswax wrap? Isit cost effective in terms of
like, what's the pricecomparison basically. So saran
wrap? I found four 585 on Amazonfor 100 square feet. Okay,
beeswax wraps or BS BS rap isthe name of the brand that I
bought was 1499 for one smallone medium and one large.
(29:48):
No. Yeah. Oh, okay. And how manytimes did you have to use it for
to make up I mean, you can't.
You can't I mean even forpricing even for the price of
it.
You probably can if you'rereally careful about how you
wash it. But that's the onlyway.
And then when you're done, youcan't recycle that. Because
yeah, closing so Exxon, it can'tbe recycled.
(30:11):
If you think about it, like, youdefinitely can't recycle it.
Theoretically, you can make upthe cost by your third box of
saran wrap, but that could liketake decades. I don't know how
long itwas, like you're using your
reusable jars instead offreaking
out you're trying to avoid Yeah,so is it easy to use? Yes. So
(30:33):
it's easy to put on, butcleaning, it seems like a true
headache, especially if it's gotsomething gunky on it right now.
It's covering an onion and I canjust feel it. I can feel
the soil smell. That is now youronion wrap. It is you can't use
it for anythingelse. Yeah, but that was a
mistake. Yeah, the cleaning itin a responsible way. Seems like
(30:53):
an even bigger headache so far.
Yeah. Silicone bags. Also don'tbreak even. Okay, so these are
the stasher bags, which arereally are supposed to replace
the ziplock bags.
And I have some of these and youcannot put them in the
dishwasher. You can this extrabags. Okay, the version I have.
(31:15):
I did and my roommate was like,can't do that. I was like, come
on.
See, I wasn't sure. And I'mgonna get into this. But well,
I'll just say it now but Iwasn't sure because I did put it
in the dishwasher. And once itwas like parts of it flaked off.
So I looked it up but stasheswebsite says you can so okay. I
don't know. I don't know if Itrust it. But so that's the
(31:36):
thing. Silicone bags, you canput them in the dishwasher if
you can. So if you can, then Ithink you probably could break
even.
Okay, actually, that's thewashing issue. Yeah.
Right. But they didn't look atthat. So that's really a guess.
So do they work? So yes, ish. Ifind mine to be a massive pain
(32:01):
to open. ziplocs you just openit. Alright. Yeah, these are
like, cause like, such a thickfor me. Like, yeah, it's hard to
close them. Yes. My problem.
Like I don't feel like theyseal.
Yes. So I don't love it. I don'tuse it that often because of
that. Yeah.
And I let my roommate like itmake a sandwich. Have fun.
(32:23):
Yeah. And it's kind of a pain toget stuff in it now. Which is
the case with all baggies butwhen I was having all that
dishwasher trouble, which mydirty labs dishwasher detergent
is amazing. Still, yeah, I stilllove it. But go back to our
dishwasher. Episode if you'recurious. But all of everything
tasted like soap. And so I putmy stasher bag in the
(32:44):
dishwasher. Anything I put in ittasted like soap. No, so now I
don't even like them anymore,because I think it's gonna make
stuff taste like soap. So arethey cost effective?
Nope. Does I mean yeah, that'sthe thing. plastic baggies are
so Cheadle yet. So this is okay,this is kind of a wild
(33:06):
difference. One stasher bag, thesmallest size is $9.21. And this
is I found on Amazon. If you get90 smalls, ziplocks that's $4.29
or five cents per bag, which is200 times more expensive.
(33:28):
You can't raise a family onthat, you know,
that's insanity. So is it easyto use? So I have two types.
Like I said, one is dishwashersafe. The other one isn't?
Basically, like I said before,it's okay to use. It's not
great. It's not terrible. It'sjust not that pleasant. Yeah.
(33:49):
One note from the study that Ifound really interesting. The
best thing you can reuse thatthey looked at was a reusable
fork.
Like silverware. Yes.
(34:14):
Okay, instead of the plasticforks. Yeah. So even a metal
fork broke even after 11 uses onall counts. Okay, and bamboo and
plastic were even better.
Really? Yeah. Bamboo. Wow. Yeah,obviously crazy.
That's we Oh, yeah. Sounds likethrowaway silverware is the
(34:40):
worst.
So that's what we should havedone done this whole app I know
it's because everybody hassilverware though. I don't know
anybody who just uses plasticware and throws it away.
Well, I'm sure anytime you'reout anytime. Also, I go to like
if I get a salad I love I dolove Chick fil A salads. I know
that makes me like bad liberalsjob but Add Yeah. But they'll
(35:02):
give me we have to ask them notto give us plastic utensils. And
they don't always remember orwhatever. So you just have all
the shit. But I you know ifyou're ever out, I mean I use
them when I'm out. I'm not Idon't carry a foreground. So
anytime I need to eat somethingwhen I'm not at home and I'm not
at like a restaurant, then I'mgoing to be using a plastic one.
(35:23):
But yeah, apparently, I shouldbe carrying a middle fork. And
the thing is, you don't have tobuy a new one. Just grab one
from your silver silverwaredrawer. I know you're not gonna
miss it. Like, don't get it fromyour mother, your grandmother's
silver plate settings. But yeah,yeah, actually, today I was out
a meeting at work. And I wentthrough my bag and I found the
fork that I brought last week.
To work. I just have a fork inmy bag. Oh, nice. Yeah, I used
(35:45):
to have one at work.
Yes. I've always had one in theoffice. I always had a fork and
a knife. And yeah, yeah. Becauseyou can do. It's like work is
like camping. Yes, exactly. Andthat. Yeah, I can see that
saving. I mean, that's like a nobrainer for me. I always I make
sure that like if I getdelivery, that I'm delivering
(36:05):
napkins, and yeah, don't bringthose. But I used to have a
stash of plastic forks in caselike, somebody came by and I
needed to give them food andjust send them on their way. You
know, right. Okay, here you go.
Hmm. But yeah, you just have somuch of those. They just build
up.
Yeah, there are some restaurantsin the area in my area that are
starting to ask ahead of time,but it's definitely not
(36:26):
ubiquitous, especially food.
Yeah. Well, yeah. Fast fooddoesn't care.
But they really shouldn't.
Because it's like, not cheap forthem. Right.
When a lot of places I've beento have been using like
compostable bamboo forks andstuff, so Okay. Well, I do live
in Austin. I know. Right? HippieVille?
Yeah. compostables debatable,but um, yeah, as we know, yeah.
(36:49):
It's green, new. It's just oneof the landfill. But oh, yeah.
So that was, yeah, so that waslike uplifting. For me, it's a
nice note to end on. So let's goto our granola rating. So TLDR
too long, didn't read granolarating, if anybody ever wants to
skip ahead and just go to we putchapter markers in our episodes.
(37:12):
So if you don't have time tolisten to whole thing, you can
just skip ahead to the sectionto the TLDR section.
i For the record, put way morechapters in mind than you do.
I depends on episodes, sometimesI'm gonna go wild. But yeah.
Other times they're just like,hey, it's not worth it. Yeah,
yeah,they can they can figure it out.
Yeah. So werate every product from one to
five granolas. And the granolais one granola is soggy, which
(37:36):
is gross. And five granola is,is break your tooth off. Like
you can't even finish it with afull mouth of teeth because it's
so crunchy.
So for this for the record,that's good.
Yes, you want it to be crunchy.
For these three products, I kindof lumped them all together. So
(37:56):
reusable stuff in general, I hadto give it a two out of five. I
really debated this, because itdepends too much on individual
usage in the material and thewashing techniques. But I will
say a reusable forks fork gets acrunchy. Okay, so all the other
stuff I looked at, too, so likemaybe don't bother or bother.
(38:19):
But make sure you're consciousabout how much you think you're
gonna use it. Don't just go outto REI and be like, Oh, sweet.
Yeah, I'm not trying to. This isme. This is Yeah. Oh, sweet,
like Middle. Middle camping cup.
I'll use once a year like Yeah,I think I want that. No,
(38:41):
Tiffany, don't do that.
Yeah. Use what you already have.
Yeah. Okay. Yes,exactly. A couple of suggestions
going forward, reduce and reusefirst Go figure. There's a
website I found called we hateto waste.com. Who and it's
basically what they describethemselves as a global platform
(39:02):
for sharing stories about livingless wastefully. So it's a sort
of like zero waste concept. Theysound like we should be friends
with them. Right? And it's wortha look, it's definitely worth
going to that website becausethey just have, you know, lots
of ideas and people are doingtheir own thing. And I find you
kind of have to be comfortablelooking a little weird. Yeah, a
(39:25):
lot of the time. Like, if youbring your own Tupperware to a
restaurant, you're gonna look alittle weird, and that's okay.
Yeah, it's fine. And I say youand I'm really talking to myself
because I don't like lookingweird.
I love it. I'm a big fan.
I'm not surprised. You're beingsarcastic.
Oh, no, no, I actually do loveit. Okay, see, I like I like the
(39:49):
kind of challenge of like,what's wrong why? Why is does it
make you uncomfortable that Ilook this way because I'm fine.
I love that. That just remindsme so much of Joe. That's one of
the reasons He like brings usout of me because I get
embarrassed so easily. And he'sthe opposite. And he loves to
embarrass me. So it's it's allgood. Mutually beneficial, I
(40:11):
guess. Anyway. Yeah. So the Voxarticle that I use is basically
saying, like, if getting a neweco friendly product, this is a,
quote, eco friendly producthelps you support your
lifestyle, then so be it. Solike, let's not kill ourselves,
right? Yeah, let's notoveranalyze because that one
(40:31):
metal straw that you forgot touse and is not going to be the
reason for the end of the earth.
Right. Yeah. And they said thatthe goal of the original study,
this is I think, these arequotes from the authors of the
study. Okay. They said the goalwas not to determine if single
use or usable products werebetter or worse, and should end
the study should not be used inthis way.
(40:56):
Oh, so what we just did, okay,yeah, yeah, it's true.
But they said like reusablealternatives, and single use
products, both have theirstrengths and weaknesses. And in
any situation, environmentaltrade offs will have to be made.
So that's kind of one thing Iwanted to have a conversation
at, like a quick conversationabout. Because like, if you care
(41:18):
about climate, like globalwarming, that's one thing. If
you care about water usage,that's another thing. If you
care about plastic pollution,that's another thing. So I find
it really hard to figure outwhat to put on top. Because
sometimes, sometimes they don'talways go hand in hand. I can
see that. Yeah. So there waslike a whole Reddit thread
(41:38):
criticizing people for buying abunch of mason jars at Walmart,
because it's Walmart. But like,that's truly not the point.
Because not everyone has thetime or energy or ability to
create their own or throughthrown everything, right, like
me with the bees. Rep.
Right. Well, I think that that'sone of the things we'd like to
point out is that like, we we'renot endless beings, and there's
(41:58):
only so much we can all do on anindividual level. And trying it
all is commendable. You know,and being informed at all is
commendable, right? We're nothere to shame anyone.
Yeah. And I think it's sayinglike, single use products both
have their strengths andweaknesses. Right. But yeah, I
do think it's, I do think thestudy was important to open our
(42:20):
eyes to like, how we have to usethem. Yeah, or the ideal way
that we could,yeah, like and be aware that you
might be better off just notbuying them. I mean, like if you
have another method that workslike so like our reusable jars
that we just talked about, thosecan be used for half of the
things that I probably put stuffin baggies for, you know, I've
use a use that instead. Yeah. Orsaran wrap, you know, use a jar.
(42:46):
Yeah, exactly. And I think theother thing is like, take it
slow. So this Vox article alsoquoted Lauren Singer, who is the
founder of the package free shopin Brooklyn. And she has a
really good outlook on all thisstuff. So she says the way she
did it was when she ran out ofsomething, she thought about
(43:08):
whether or not she would want totry a more sustainable option.
So like, if you're out oftoothpaste, maybe you could try
making your own if that soundslike fun, or you could research
the different options out thereof like more eco friendly
toothpaste or same with Windex,like maybe you could try to
reuse the bottle and make yourown or, like me, if you notice
(43:32):
how many plastic forks arethrowing away. Yeah, make a
little baggie and carry around afork and a spoon from your door
or buy reusable wine orwhatever.
Use your little silicone.
And it's not. So it's like notsupposed to or be possible for
any of this to happen overnight.
(43:52):
Yeah, yeah. Don't just go outand buy all new metal straws
today. When you have a packagethat your kids are using, you
know, just right, that you'rejust gonna throw away. Yeah,
right.
Yeah, I don't know. I find it alittle bit overwhelming.
It's a lot to think about. It isI mean it again, it's Oh, yeah.
(44:13):
You know, it's sad. Like, thisisn't the cure all. We're not
going to. I mean, maybe I don'tknow, they didn't talk about
reducing the problem of strawsin the ocean getting stuck in
sea turtles noses, which is thereason everybody quit using
straws in the first place. Butright. But that's yes. But
that's the thing. That's what Iwas saying. Like, there's
plastic pollution on the onehand, and then there's global
(44:35):
warming on the other. Well,yeah, it's like, their plan just
sucks. Yeah.
Yeah. And it's like buying it'slike maybe using a plastic straw
once in a while is better forglobal warming. Then get going
out and buying a metal one.
Yeah, but it's not better forthe turtles. Right? So it's
like, damn it. Yes, it's veryhard, but Again, like there is a
(44:59):
way to make it better if you areconscious about the way you
reuse it and straws, especiallyyou can put in your dishwasher.
So yeah,those straws. I mean, straws
are, again, I've had mine forfour or five years. So right,
and they're good. And they'refine. Yeah, they're not wearing
out and not throwing them away.
Yeah. And in a way, it's likethis is kind of overwhelming and
(45:19):
depressing. But it's also kindof puts the control back in our
hands because we can control howwe wash these things. So if
that's really the problem, whichit sounds like it is, then, you
know, we can impact thatdirectly. So that's kind of
cool.
Yeah, that is cool. Yeah. Here'seducation.
Right. So yeah, I left thisepisode kind of open. I don't
(45:41):
feel like I don't know. Anybodyknows enough about this. Yeah.
Or like most people don't knowenough about it to Ryu to use
this stuff in an effective way.
But that doesn't mean it's thatnobody should do it. Yeah, it
doesn't mean people can't learn.
Yeah.
And and I mean, it's just areminder that thoughtless
consumerism is the enemy here.
Right? The biggest enemy that wehave towards towards being eco
(46:04):
friendly, is just consider whyand how your purchases, you
know, why are you buying this?
And, and the impact that it has?
I think that's, that's theimportant takeaway for me is
right, just because it says,just because you think you're
gonna reuse it, and it's better.
Like, if you don't use straws,don't buy metal straws. Just the
(46:24):
right. Yeah, andif you do buy a metal straw, and
you don't use it, like don'tkill yourself,
right, you've got to don't beatyourself up. Yeah. Give it to a
friend when they come over.
That's that's a good thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Pretend it's brand new and regifted. And I'm just getting it.
There we go. Yeah. Hey, do youneed a straw? I mean, it's nice
to have straws to you know, forcocktail parties and things.
Right, right. Right. Right. Soyeah. So does that make sense to
(46:47):
you? Because I just felt like itwas a little open. But
no, I think I think but that's,that's the trick. There's no
fast answers to realthoughtfulness and real. I mean,
even the real eco friendliness.
There's it's nothing quick.
It Yeah. Which is kind of fairat all. It is. It's hard.
It's hard. And it's anti modernAmerican culture, because we
(47:11):
want things fast, and we wantthings easy. Yeah, there's, you
know, sometimes it's just a longobedience in the same direction,
and you do what you can when youwrite about it. Yep. Well, I
think that that was that wasmaybe one of our better
episodes. So think, Oh, thankyou. Yay. So a lot of nuance. I
mean, yes, that's the thing. Ifelt so good about the fact that
(47:31):
I have reusable straws andreusable plastic bags, and maybe
I don't anymore, maybe I don'tfeel like that, like solve all
the world's problems rightthere. Maybe that's maybe that's
okay.
And maybe that's okay. Yep.
That's the hard thing. Well,thank you for listening. Yeah,
thanks for all that research.
That was really good. Next week,I'm going to be talking about
(47:52):
online consignment storesspecifically thread up which is
the one I have experience with.
Me too. That means we're talkingabout fast fashion to Gird your
loins. I am really excited forthis one with a dress you
already have. I hope don't goout and buy new Gerding new wine
greetings, please. reuse yourgrading. Use your earnings. The
(48:15):
takeaway? I want to give youthat that teaser for next week.
Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm veryexcited. So can't wait to hear
it. Awesome. Well, thanks,Steph. Thank you. I'll see in a
bit. Okay.
One note from the study that Ifound really interesting. The
best thing you can reuse thatthey looked at was a reusable
fork.
Like silverware. Yes. Hello,Tiffany?
(00:23):
Oh, five says with caveats.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, just lastlike, I was late to recording
because my child was having anabsolute conniption fit, you
know, like, losing her shit.
Which happens and it is what itis. But yeah, I'm just having,
(00:44):
like, one of those couple ofweeks where I feel like I'm
always late. Like, every feelslike so much of my time. I'm
running late to something. Ithink that may be just the human
condition.
Yeah, I mean, I don't I waslike, I, I would say, have you
(01:05):
consulted your astrology charts,but you know, whatever. I don't
know. I, if I want to blame iton the summer heat. Like, I
know, I've got seasonaldepression right now because
like, you can't go outside. It's107 degrees here. So we're like
stuck indoors. And you knowwhat? You're gonna go see
(01:26):
another movie? Yeah, sure. No,it's nothing. Nothing feels like
I don't want to do anything. Ifeel like I take that. Anytime I
have a break. I go and lie down.
Right. I have heard you duringthe winter.
Yes. Well, that's I was gonnasay everybody always thinks of
sad seasonal affective disorder,or whatever it's called. In the
winter, but it's totally asummer thing too. Yeah. And we
(01:49):
have had several bouts of fire.
Yeah. Like smoke from you can'tcall tide. Yeah, so it's like,
this time wasn't so bad, butit's just like Jesus Christ.
What is the end?
Like if I don't get a walk inbefore the sun is up, basically,
right? I'm just toast literallytoast. So yeah, I my poor dog he
(02:10):
gets, we go for a walk in themorning. And then if it gets
below 90 by 9pm. I'll take himfor a walk. But my God, you
know, it's it's 90 degrees atnight. Like, I'm like dog,
sorry. And he just, he'll, we'llgo sit on the back patio and
boasted there for about twominutes. Then he's like, Well,
that was fun time. Great. To noteven in the sun. Just in the
(02:31):
shade. Yeah. Soyeah, I mean, it's hot here.
Like yeah, 90 low. 90s. But nothundreds.
So lucky. I mean, Lucky. That'sstill hot. Oh, for I know, when
I used to live out there in DCin Maryland. That's hot. It's a
swamp.
Yeah, it's very humid. So yeah.
80% humidity or so. Yeah.
(02:53):
So it's just, you're just gross.
And you don't. The sweat doesn'tevaporate so you don't cool off.
It's up muggy. And yeah.
And you just like, do youactually just sit into it? Like,
you don't have to be active. Youjust sweat.
Yeah, just sitting outside theback to your knees. Like there's
going to be a stain on your seatwhen you stand up.
Yes. Yeah. Really? It's rough.
Yeah. But yeah, I don't know ifit's like being a parent where
(03:17):
you're just trying to get thingsmoving. And the kid is dragging
their feet. Yeah, a big part ofit. But it's just like every
thing I do. I'm like, I'm lateto something. I'm like, do
something. I must be overbookingmyself to my
Yeah, maybe just quit somestuff.
I know.
(03:38):
Don't though, because I need youin this podcast. Well, no, this
would definitely everything butthe podcast quit everything
else.
So be last on the list ofquitting for sure. Yeah, I'm
like, I don't even feel like Ihave a life. How am I hopeless?
I know. I wonder about that.
Well, I hate to be that. Thatchildless person, but kids are
only little ones. So yeah, showus to connect summer you'll be
(04:00):
like we were late stuff.
Hopefully. Yeah,I hear three is better. So
that's only six months away. SoI should just shut my trap.
Anyway.
Today's episode, let's get intothat. Maybe
we're talking about reusablestuff. Yeah. And I wanted to
(04:23):
combine all this stuff becauseit's like, I didn't necessarily
think each one deserves its ownfull episode. Right. But you
know, this season we're talkingabout waste and it's often a at
least marketed as a solution towaste is reusable stuff like the
three I looked at were stasherbags so reusable ziplocks
(04:49):
beeswax wrap that is meant toreplace saran wrap or plastic
wrap, and reusable straws.
Right and these are all big, bigplastic items that we just kind
of throw away.
Yes. And as we know from ourplastics recycling episode, I
don't know if I mentioned thisyou can't recycle plastic straws
(05:11):
anywhere or pores as far as Iknow. We're saran wrap.
Yeah, general, I'm you may, Ithink we're well might take it
but generally no and plasticbaggies to or are difficult to
recycle? Yeah, Ikind of doubt you can to be
honest. I think Redwalldoes collect them. Yeah. And but
they're hard to reuse,right. But the other thing is,
even if you recycle it, it'sgonna get recycled one to three
(05:34):
times. So it's like, is there apoint to it? Not? Nah, no, no, I
don't know. Yeah, I wanted tolook at these three items to see
like, are they actually helping?
Right? Or is it green? Who?
Our favorite term which what isgreen? Who? I mean?
Yeah, green Hui is like green,what people call greenwashed.
(05:57):
Marketing. So companies that useit's our term for it, right? So
but it's companies use sort ofgreen labels, green words like
eco friendly, sustainable,biodegradable, all have these
things, and nobody's reallyregulating it. So they can just
throw all these leaves andwhatnot on their packaging. And
(06:22):
they look really good. But alot, a lot of times we have
found that they're not actuallyeco friendly at all. Right? And
they sometimes are worse.
Yeah. And then they cost moreto. Yes.
And one thing that I foundbefore I get into my sources,
(06:42):
yeah, they do cost so much more.
That's nutso thing. We're goingto talk about that a little bit
here. But one thing I found wasa 2021 study in the
International Journal of likeslife cycle assessment, which is
a big one that I'm sourcing inthis episode. It shows that,
quote, reusable products are notnecessarily always more green,
(07:05):
since their impact depends onhow they are used. Okay, I'll
leave you with that. My sources,I only had 1234566 ish. So
Anthropocene. They talked aboutreusable stuff in general
talking about straws andstandard trap and all that. They
(07:26):
quoted this that study that Imentioned, the study, again,
International Journal oflifecycle assessment was a huge
part of it. Vox article aboutzero waste products, like
straws, or baggies or whatever,Stanford had a plastic straw
article about whether or notthey actually make a difference.
(07:48):
And then I used stasher bags,which is a brand stasher stasher
bags website. Okay, so fromAnthropocene. This is from that
article. One of the leaders ofthat study was quoted in that
article. And her name is ShelleyMiller. And she's from the
(08:09):
University of Michigan Schoolfor environmental insists
environment and sustainability.
And she says, quote, in reality,reusable are generally better
than single use products. Butthe caveat here comes the but
but they actually must bereused. And well done. Okay.
(08:32):
Yeah. And often reused a largenumber of times to realize their
environmental benefit.
I think we've had we've, we'vetalked about this, anytime we've
talked about, like, you need toreuse a jar 4000 times or
whatever to make up for itscarbon footprint. Yeah. And its
(08:53):
creation or so that wasone reason I really wanted to
talk about this. Because in theplastics episode, we talked a
lot like I touched on it,because I found a source on
somebody saying, Oh, you need touse a bag like 4000 times
the tote bags. That's what itwas. Yeah, it was 52 times for a
paper bag, I think.
Right? Yes. And they werelooking at that was a different
(09:15):
study, actually. But they werelooking at, like 52 times two
for different factors. Becausethere's a lot that goes into
sustainability. It's not justone thing, right? So it's like
52 times to make it better thanplastic in terms of greenhouse
gases, but you need to use it4000 times in terms of all of
the above. Soin terms of like decom
decomposition time, or what kindof impact it can have on
(09:38):
waterways orYeah, your water use. Yes,
exactly. So I Was I feelingreally disheartened about that.
And I was like, What the effhave been so lied to if that's
the case, right? And so that wasa big reason why I wanted to
look into these because I waslike, so hold on. Does that mean
that this is not even worth it?
(10:02):
Like, I should just keep reusingor keep using ciplox? And not
bother? Right? Oh, yeah. So, sowe're gonna find, we're gonna
find dirty. Yeah, we're gonnafind out. Another thing that
Shelly Miller says is thatreusable items are more durable
than single use items,obviously. But so that's good in
(10:23):
theory, right. But it also meansthat we're usable as consume
more material and energy tomake. Yes, makes sense. Right?
So your tote bag versus yourplastic bag from your grocery
store, very different in termsof what the input needed, like
a law I would even say. SoAustin recently, well, they went
(10:45):
back and forth on a law aboutplastic bags, that for a while
it was you couldn't have plasticbags, like they didn't, they
wouldn't have the grocery store.
And then the state overrule thatlaw. And so what they did was
they made the law that theplastic bag that you get at the
grocery store has to bereusable. So it's thicker
plastic bags, right? Whichmeans, again, I think that's an
(11:08):
issue is out there, they needmore plastic, they use more
energy to be made. And if peopleare just using them the same way
they use the old plastic bag,which
let's be honest, how many peopleare reusing them? Right?
I will. It's kind of a an eightGB bag is kind of a Texas girls
purse. So it's your overnightbag. I mean, anytime you go to
(11:33):
the pool, you have your EGB bag,but okay, so they are being
reused. But I mean, I do their10 cents a bag, you know, too.
So I actually just take them,I'll take them back in a stack
and tell the cashier just hereuse these hand them out to
people who want bags for free.
So and they do it. They havetheir subtypes as they're like,
Okay. I'm like, I don't needthem. Yeah, anyway.
(11:59):
Oh, that's so so it's 10 centsfor the bigger ones. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah, I mean, that would be moreof an incentive, because ours
are five cents like most places,but Well, everything's bigger in
Texas, honey.
Maker and thicker. Okay. Yeah.
Use the pool. Definitely can'tpick your dog poop up with it.
(12:19):
Not great. Anyway. So yeah.
That's a concern that nobodythought about is that like,
yeah, it's a reusable bag, but30 times the carbon output
making itright. It makes me wonder about
I feel like the oil industrieswould love that. Oh,
further, just like, that'sprobably why. Oh, I'm so
cynical. That's why the governorlet it pass. Oh, you know, you
(12:42):
know, because we're such an oiland gas heavy stadiums.
Probably. Okay, yeah, you canmake bigger bags. So in that we
will do. You can't outlawplastic bag, but you can
definitely make bigger reusablebags. That's fine.
Yeah, that would actually beinteresting to look into that.
I don't want to know, I know. Iknow. But any who's this study
looked at four things. I thinkit's been a minute since I did
(13:06):
this research. Yeah, fourthings. One is the global
warming potential, which theycall GWP.
Oh, cute. I like that. That'sall Yeah. acronym. Yeah. Okay.
They looked at the waterconsumption. They looked at non
renewable energy use, and theylooked at consumer washing and
reuse habits. Okay. And theylooked at, like, typical habits.
(13:29):
So not maybe somebody who'ssuper conscious, but just like a
normal human being.
Yeah. American. Yeah. A normalAmerican. Yeah.
Yeah. And so they wanted to findthe break even point for each of
these items in terms of each ofthese factors. So like, where's
the break even point for globalwarming potential? Where is it
(13:51):
for water consumption? Where isit for non renewable, all those
things, and they found? So firstoff, I have to also say, just
leave you on a cliffhanger. NowI have to also say I have all of
the above. Okay, in my house. Sothis was a little upsetting for
me to read. But okay, so theyfound that silicone sandwich
(14:12):
bags and beeswax wrap. neverreach a break even point.
Oh, wow. That is that I havethem. I don't have these wax
wrap. But I do have.
Okay, I got it. I got these waxwax wrap for this podcast.
Yeah. I got it for everybody,for you, listeners just for you.
(14:35):
So you don't haveto. Yeah, no, but I mean, I'm
gonna get into it a little bitmore because it is more nuanced
than that. But the reason thatit never reaches a breakeven
point is because there's a muchbigger impact from the water and
energy needed for manualwashing.
Oh, so on the middle end it sayson the front end for creating it
(14:57):
but no, that makes sense becauseof consumer habits. Yeah. us,
yes, all our fault. Butif you wash it every other time,
rather than every time you useit, you might hit breakeven
points.
Oh, interesting. Well, I wonder,okay, sorry,
what was gonna say? So forexample, it could go from having
to use it 10,000 times to usingit 200 times.
(15:20):
Okay. Okay, well, interesting. Iwonder about using your dual
Bayesian method, which uses lesswater to
I'm gonna get into that. Okay,good. I mean, I'm sorry. Yes,
no, no, you're good. Becausethat's the big thing they are.
They they're looking at typical,okay, where you just leave the
water running and use. Okay.
(15:43):
And it's like super hot water.
That's another option is you canalso just reuse your single use
items without washing them. Solike, I'm thinking, all the
clamshell packaging I figuredout in the plastics episode. My
local recycling center doesn'ttake so like anything like the
raspberries. Yeah, they come inthe class clamshell packaging. I
(16:04):
could I have raspberries in mybackyard. I could reuse package.
Yeah. If I don't wash it, that'smaybe even a better option than
getting something.
Okay. Then it will like If ithasn't, like for me if it hasn't
had meat in it.
Right? Like how I don't care ifmy grasp
(16:24):
and if you're just like making apeanut butter sandwich and
putting it in a bag? Like yeah,okay. Just yeah. butter
sandwich. Yeah,right. You can definitely reuse
Ziploc bags. My husband makes somuch fun IV he's like, What is
this? Why are you washing thisout? And like, why aren't you
washing?
I know. Yeah. My house like meand my roommate both wash all of
(16:47):
all the baggies and like I usehim Yeah. And so there's I think
there's actually like a drug ofplastic bag drying rack you can
get Oh, see that's a big minoralways like hanging from my
spatula.
But yeah, minor like overglasses that are drying and like
Yeah, cuz they're very annoyingto dry. They are because you
have to put them upside down andright in one side drives the
(17:08):
others went yeah. Oh, sure. Ican make one out of all hangers.
Anyway. That way, I'm not thatcrafty.
This is a business opportunityfor ya.
Upcycling, yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So overall, they foundthat emissions for reusable
products were highly sensitiveto the changes in dishwashing
(17:31):
emissions. So basically, yourdishwashing habits. Got it. So
if you miss our DIY dishwasherdetergent episode, go back and
listen, because because there'sa two basin method. And as you
mentioned, it's a sort of like anavy way of washing like you
might use it in the Navy. Youuse two basins cold water yet
(17:54):
one low water use are likecamping, a camping camping. Yes.
And we can link that in theshownotes. Because it sounds it
does sound like using a betterform of washing your dishes,
even if you're washing them byhand would make it more
sustainable. The other thingthat's kind of interesting is it
sent most of the stuff that Ihave is dishwasher safe. Okay,
(18:19):
so that confuses me a littlebit, because I would be running
the dishwasher anyway. And it'snot really making that big of an
impact. Hmm. You know, but someactually, I have two forms, the
stasher bags are dishwashersafe. According to their
website. My mother in law gaveme some that, you know, they
(18:41):
come in packs of like, 100.
Right, I don't need 50 Take someand but they're not dishwasher
safe. And those are big pain inmy ass. We'll get into it. So I
want to talk about each of theseproducts because they're all
different, right? So let's startwith straws.
Okaythis study says that by year
(19:10):
one, glass, okay, hold on. Firstoff, this is kind of wild
because it's saying the studybases their maths on using it
five times aweek for a year. Okay,
five times a week. That doesn'thappen with a lot of this stuff.
(19:33):
So just letting you know that'swhat they're saying but they are
saying for straws. By year one.
Glass metal and silicone strawsreach their payback period.
Okay, wellwith five uses per week or year.
Okay, so she's a single straw.
Okay. Well, you know, and likemaybe
(19:54):
I don't straws, I think are butthat's possible, right? But I
mean,yeah, I'm like if i i Don't use
straws. I only use straws when Ihave ice because I just drink
out of a glass but Origen canhave a water bottle. So write a
reusable water bottle just to beclear. Okay,
(20:16):
but bamboo never got there.
Okay, well, we all know screwbamboo.
I think it's a water right?
Yeah, it's yes. way doing water.
Yeah. Yeah, we've talked aboutthat. It's, it might look
sustainable. And it's notactually a sustainable material.
Yeah. Which is interesting,because in Vietnam, they use
bamboo for straws, restaurantsand stuff.
(20:37):
Well, maybe if it's like onpremises bamboo?
Well, yeah, if it's not comingfrom, like a bamboo farm where
they're, I don't know, it's hardto say, Oh, yeah. Or
if they're not like, because Ithink the issue was bamboo. I
mean, it grows like a weed. ButI think it's because when you
process it to make it intosomething else, like, if you're
just using it, you know, like hepicked it off the side of the
(21:00):
road and stuck it in a drink,you know? But if you
think well, I don't think so.
Because the straws. They're notlike, they're just in maybe
there's a different kind ofbamboo straw, but they just take
a piece of bamboo and cut outthe middle. Yeah, and dry it
out. And that's that sortof thing that that I think would
be less water than if you tookthe bamboo and separated the
(21:20):
fibers and made it into youknow, yeah,
I assume that all the brushesare like that. But maybe you're
right.
I don't know. And maybe that'sthe issue.
Yeah, you're probably right. Ithought it was a lot of water to
grow bamboo.
That's probably true. Do I know.
It grows like a weed, but Ithink it's in the processing? I
mean, I know for fibers like forclothing. That's true.
(21:44):
Yeah, it's hard to say. Buteither way, bamboo never reaches
the payback of bamboo. Yeah,let the pandas eat the bamboo.
Right. But it's interestingbecause metal, glass and
silicone are all significant,significantly higher for just
one use. So if you buy it anduse it once, you're really
wasting your time. Don't dothat. And metals, the worst
(22:07):
because metals, pretty hard toYeah, like that takes a lot of
resources to make. But then ifyou use them over time, which is
the moral of the story, if youuse them a lot and reuse them,
then you can actually make itworth your time. It just takes a
full year though, like you wouldnever think that.
Well. I mean, that actually.
Because I've had I bought somemetal straws just to have for
(22:31):
like cocktail parties. Or likeif I feel like having a soda in
the afternoon was yeah, I saidit five years ago, and I've had
them and they're fine. And Iactually put them in the
dishwasher. And they're fine.
And my roommate uses them todrink smoothies and probably
like, I think they've they'veearned their weight, you know,
(22:55):
back in. I think a year would Itwould actually be surprising to
me that it's that little.
Well, using it five days a week.
I'm puttingmy room it does. Okay. So, yeah,
interesting. It makes me want togo make a gin and tonic and put
a straw on it right now. Yeah,I think I'm surprised how long
it is just because I think mostpeople think right away.
(23:17):
Well, you just build. I mean,it's kind of like buying a
Prius. Right, right. Likeyou've, you're like I'm making
an impact. It's like, yeah,making that car was real bad.
But yeah, you feel better rightaway because you're like, Well,
I'm not contributing togreenhouse gases now even though
the creation of that itemsignificantly contributed. But
(23:40):
yeah, yeah, that's that was thebiggest, interesting,
the most interesting thing forme,
I do want to say one thing aboutmetal straws and this is
something that my friend pointsout. It keeps the beverage cold
as it gets into your mouth. Justfor the record, like cuz
sometimes if you drink through astraw just comes it's like okay,
(24:00):
it was cold and I mean, it's notvery long for to get you know,
from a straw to your mouth. ButAmericans do
that. I mean, I have like metalwater bottles and they
definitely keep it colder.
Yeah, it just delivers the fullliquid cold you so if you want
to like really make thingsslightly more refreshing.
Anyway, that's that's a man alittle stressed
(24:21):
up. Yeah. Love it. Oh, yeah. Soso I kind of wanted to look at
each of these items and thinklike think through our typical
greening up my act mindset asthey were. Are they cost
effective? Are they easy to use?
So for straws, do they work?
Yes. Although I will say mysilicone straw throws me for a
(24:43):
loop because there's some sortof physics behind it where I
cannot put it in a slightly toosmall lid and suck anything out.
Like I don't know what it is. Ifsomething something sciencey
what's the EFF is going on? So Ican't use because it's like kind
(25:06):
of thick. But anyway, they dowork, mostly speaking. So, are
they cost effective? Well, ifyou think about it, not at all.
Because straws are usually costeffective meaning are they
cheaper than, but like strawsare usually included with out an
(25:29):
upcharge. So you're paying ashitload more for a straw.
Right? So I just bought twoplastic ones, because one of
them melted in the dishwasher.
from Starbucks, yes. I hate tosay it, but I did it for 10
bucks. Wow, that ain't free. No,I mean, obviously, straws aren't
(25:50):
free, like regular plasticstraws, or whatever compostable
bullshit they'reraising these days. And that's
fun. Yeah.
But yeah, they're free ish. Youknow, there's probably a slight
upcharge. But so as far as priceNo, not at all. No. I mean, it's
(26:10):
yeah. It's outlandish if youthink about it.
straws are the Tesla ofYes. Yeah. Not everybody can
afford it or has has theinterest in buying something
that they can get forpractically free. Yeah, exactly.
Is it easy to use? Yes, I do putmine in the dishwasher. I don't
(26:31):
know why that one melted. Ithadn't happened before. And it
hasn't happened again. Soanyways, we
need to be removed from the foodchain.
Survival of the fittest. Yes,the dishwasher. And it's easy to
use ish, but I don't carry minearound. So if I'm out and a need
(26:51):
for a straw comes up. I'm goingto just use a random straw. Do
you carry yours?
No. I've seen people haveportable straw cases and things
and the purse just isn't thatbig. And I mean if I ever like
collapsible, but yeah, I don'tgo and get things. I need straws
very often either. So Right?
Because I am my own barista. Imake my own coffee at home.
Yeah,we started doing that. It's
(27:14):
so lovely. Isn't it nice? Yes.
I love it so much. So that's thestraw. sort of the overview of
the straw. Okay, reusablestraws. And I didn't think the
study mentioned paper strawsbecause paper straws are such a
thing now,but they still I feel like
they're better than they used tobe for sure. I definitely had a
paper straw at a hotel over theweekend and was not like this is
(27:34):
terrible as a design my mouth.
Yeah,exactly. Yeah, if you use it for
more than 30 minutes, you'rekind of risking some cardboard
mouth but so let's move on toreusable plastic wrap. So I got
bees wax wrap, which isbasically just fabric. I could
(27:55):
have made it on my own. And Ithink Nancy has something on our
Instagram, but I just didn'thave the energy or the time so I
bought some.
Okay, why? It's not beeswaxthough.
It is actually beeswax. Oh,okay. Yeah, you just take fabric
and melt beeswax over it again.
I think it's extremely easy. AndI even have all of the things I
(28:16):
would have needed. It just was atime crunch thing. Yeah, but
beeswax wrap did not break evenfor global warming potential.
Okay, why BP? Naturalit's because of the because you
have to wash it so like, you useit. It's probably going to get
(28:38):
dirty and you're gonna have tohand wash it. There's no way you
can put that in your dishwasher.
No, it's just gum up the works.
Yes. Okay.
So no, but let's look at it. SoI bought this shirt. Okay. Does
it work? It does work actually.
It doesn't keep anything vacuumsealed but neither does plastic
wrap. You know that unlessyou're like trained and you have
to be like, Oh my God. Yeah, Ihave a friend who works at a
(29:02):
kitchen any brings me chickenwings from time to time and he
just Saran wraps the shit out ofthat.
It's like he's got like theindustrial size. Yeah, those
work way better, though. Soyeah, but
it's like, do we really needthis much? He's like, Oh, I
didn't want the sauce to getover my backpack. Like Alright,
thanks. Right. Yeah, it's notbring it to me in a plastic bag,
I guess.
(29:25):
Yeah, so this beeswax wrap? Isit cost effective in terms of
like, what's the pricecomparison basically. So saran
wrap? I found four 585 on Amazonfor 100 square feet. Okay,
beeswax wraps or BS BS rap isthe name of the brand that I
bought was 1499 for one smallone medium and one large.
(29:48):
No. Yeah. Oh, okay. And how manytimes did you have to use it for
to make up I mean, you can't.
You can't I mean even forpricing even for the price of
it.
You probably can if you'rereally careful about how you
wash it. But that's the onlyway.
And then when you're done, youcan't recycle that. Because
yeah, closing so Exxon, it can'tbe recycled.
(30:11):
If you think about it, like, youdefinitely can't recycle it.
Theoretically, you can make upthe cost by your third box of
saran wrap, but that could liketake decades. I don't know how
long itwas, like you're using your
reusable jars instead offreaking
out you're trying to avoid Yeah,so is it easy to use? Yes. So
(30:33):
it's easy to put on, butcleaning, it seems like a true
headache, especially if it's gotsomething gunky on it right now.
It's covering an onion and I canjust feel it. I can feel
the soil smell. That is now youronion wrap. It is you can't use
it for anythingelse. Yeah, but that was a
mistake. Yeah, the cleaning itin a responsible way. Seems like
(30:53):
an even bigger headache so far.
Yeah. Silicone bags. Also don'tbreak even. Okay, so these are
the stasher bags, which arereally are supposed to replace
the ziplock bags.
And I have some of these and youcannot put them in the
dishwasher. You can this extrabags. Okay, the version I have.
(31:15):
I did and my roommate was like,can't do that. I was like, come
on.
See, I wasn't sure. And I'mgonna get into this. But well,
I'll just say it now but Iwasn't sure because I did put it
in the dishwasher. And once itwas like parts of it flaked off.
So I looked it up but stasheswebsite says you can so okay. I
don't know. I don't know if Itrust it. But so that's the
(31:36):
thing. Silicone bags, you canput them in the dishwasher if
you can. So if you can, then Ithink you probably could break
even.
Okay, actually, that's thewashing issue. Yeah.
Right. But they didn't look atthat. So that's really a guess.
So do they work? So yes, ish. Ifind mine to be a massive pain
(32:01):
to open. ziplocs you just openit. Alright. Yeah, these are
like, cause like, such a thickfor me. Like, yeah, it's hard to
close them. Yes. My problem.
Like I don't feel like theyseal.
Yes. So I don't love it. I don'tuse it that often because of
that. Yeah.
And I let my roommate like itmake a sandwich. Have fun.
(32:23):
Yeah. And it's kind of a pain toget stuff in it now. Which is
the case with all baggies butwhen I was having all that
dishwasher trouble, which mydirty labs dishwasher detergent
is amazing. Still, yeah, I stilllove it. But go back to our
dishwasher. Episode if you'recurious. But all of everything
tasted like soap. And so I putmy stasher bag in the
(32:44):
dishwasher. Anything I put in ittasted like soap. No, so now I
don't even like them anymore,because I think it's gonna make
stuff taste like soap. So arethey cost effective?
Nope. Does I mean yeah, that'sthe thing. plastic baggies are
so Cheadle yet. So this is okay,this is kind of a wild
(33:06):
difference. One stasher bag, thesmallest size is $9.21. And this
is I found on Amazon. If you get90 smalls, ziplocks that's $4.29
or five cents per bag, which is200 times more expensive.
(33:28):
You can't raise a family onthat, you know,
that's insanity. So is it easyto use? So I have two types.
Like I said, one is dishwashersafe. The other one isn't?
Basically, like I said before,it's okay to use. It's not
great. It's not terrible. It'sjust not that pleasant. Yeah.
(33:49):
One note from the study that Ifound really interesting. The
best thing you can reuse thatthey looked at was a reusable
fork.
Like silverware. Yes.
(34:14):
Okay, instead of the plasticforks. Yeah. So even a metal
fork broke even after 11 uses onall counts. Okay, and bamboo and
plastic were even better.
Really? Yeah. Bamboo. Wow. Yeah,obviously crazy.
That's we Oh, yeah. Sounds likethrowaway silverware is the
(34:40):
worst.
So that's what we should havedone done this whole app I know
it's because everybody hassilverware though. I don't know
anybody who just uses plasticware and throws it away.
Well, I'm sure anytime you'reout anytime. Also, I go to like
if I get a salad I love I dolove Chick fil A salads. I know
that makes me like bad liberalsjob but Add Yeah. But they'll
(35:02):
give me we have to ask them notto give us plastic utensils. And
they don't always remember orwhatever. So you just have all
the shit. But I you know ifyou're ever out, I mean I use
them when I'm out. I'm not Idon't carry a foreground. So
anytime I need to eat somethingwhen I'm not at home and I'm not
at like a restaurant, then I'mgoing to be using a plastic one.
(35:23):
But yeah, apparently, I shouldbe carrying a middle fork. And
the thing is, you don't have tobuy a new one. Just grab one
from your silver silverwaredrawer. I know you're not gonna
miss it. Like, don't get it fromyour mother, your grandmother's
silver plate settings. But yeah,yeah, actually, today I was out
a meeting at work. And I wentthrough my bag and I found the
fork that I brought last week.
To work. I just have a fork inmy bag. Oh, nice. Yeah, I used
(35:45):
to have one at work.
Yes. I've always had one in theoffice. I always had a fork and
a knife. And yeah, yeah. Becauseyou can do. It's like work is
like camping. Yes, exactly. Andthat. Yeah, I can see that
saving. I mean, that's like a nobrainer for me. I always I make
sure that like if I getdelivery, that I'm delivering
(36:05):
napkins, and yeah, don't bringthose. But I used to have a
stash of plastic forks in caselike, somebody came by and I
needed to give them food andjust send them on their way. You
know, right. Okay, here you go.
Hmm. But yeah, you just have somuch of those. They just build
up.
Yeah, there are some restaurantsin the area in my area that are
starting to ask ahead of time,but it's definitely not
(36:26):
ubiquitous, especially food.
Yeah. Well, yeah. Fast fooddoesn't care.
But they really shouldn't.
Because it's like, not cheap forthem. Right.
When a lot of places I've beento have been using like
compostable bamboo forks andstuff, so Okay. Well, I do live
in Austin. I know. Right? HippieVille?
Yeah. compostables debatable,but um, yeah, as we know, yeah.
(36:49):
It's green, new. It's just oneof the landfill. But oh, yeah.
So that was, yeah, so that waslike uplifting. For me, it's a
nice note to end on. So let's goto our granola rating. So TLDR
too long, didn't read granolarating, if anybody ever wants to
skip ahead and just go to we putchapter markers in our episodes.
(37:12):
So if you don't have time tolisten to whole thing, you can
just skip ahead to the sectionto the TLDR section.
i For the record, put way morechapters in mind than you do.
I depends on episodes, sometimesI'm gonna go wild. But yeah.
Other times they're just like,hey, it's not worth it. Yeah,
yeah,they can they can figure it out.
Yeah. So werate every product from one to
five granolas. And the granolais one granola is soggy, which
(37:36):
is gross. And five granola is,is break your tooth off. Like
you can't even finish it with afull mouth of teeth because it's
so crunchy.
So for this for the record,that's good.
Yes, you want it to be crunchy.
For these three products, I kindof lumped them all together. So
(37:56):
reusable stuff in general, I hadto give it a two out of five. I
really debated this, because itdepends too much on individual
usage in the material and thewashing techniques. But I will
say a reusable forks fork gets acrunchy. Okay, so all the other
stuff I looked at, too, so likemaybe don't bother or bother.
(38:19):
But make sure you're consciousabout how much you think you're
gonna use it. Don't just go outto REI and be like, Oh, sweet.
Yeah, I'm not trying to. This isme. This is Yeah. Oh, sweet,
like Middle. Middle camping cup.
I'll use once a year like Yeah,I think I want that. No,
(38:41):
Tiffany, don't do that.
Yeah. Use what you already have.
Yeah. Okay. Yes,exactly. A couple of suggestions
going forward, reduce and reusefirst Go figure. There's a
website I found called we hateto waste.com. Who and it's
basically what they describethemselves as a global platform
(39:02):
for sharing stories about livingless wastefully. So it's a sort
of like zero waste concept. Theysound like we should be friends
with them. Right? And it's wortha look, it's definitely worth
going to that website becausethey just have, you know, lots
of ideas and people are doingtheir own thing. And I find you
kind of have to be comfortablelooking a little weird. Yeah, a
(39:25):
lot of the time. Like, if youbring your own Tupperware to a
restaurant, you're gonna look alittle weird, and that's okay.
Yeah, it's fine. And I say youand I'm really talking to myself
because I don't like lookingweird.
I love it. I'm a big fan.
I'm not surprised. You're beingsarcastic.
Oh, no, no, I actually do loveit. Okay, see, I like I like the
(39:49):
kind of challenge of like,what's wrong why? Why is does it
make you uncomfortable that Ilook this way because I'm fine.
I love that. That just remindsme so much of Joe. That's one of
the reasons He like brings usout of me because I get
embarrassed so easily. And he'sthe opposite. And he loves to
embarrass me. So it's it's allgood. Mutually beneficial, I
(40:11):
guess. Anyway. Yeah. So the Voxarticle that I use is basically
saying, like, if getting a neweco friendly product, this is a,
quote, eco friendly producthelps you support your
lifestyle, then so be it. Solike, let's not kill ourselves,
right? Yeah, let's notoveranalyze because that one
(40:31):
metal straw that you forgot touse and is not going to be the
reason for the end of the earth.
Right. Yeah. And they said thatthe goal of the original study,
this is I think, these arequotes from the authors of the
study. Okay. They said the goalwas not to determine if single
use or usable products werebetter or worse, and should end
the study should not be used inthis way.
(40:56):
Oh, so what we just did, okay,yeah, yeah, it's true.
But they said like reusablealternatives, and single use
products, both have theirstrengths and weaknesses. And in
any situation, environmentaltrade offs will have to be made.
So that's kind of one thing Iwanted to have a conversation
at, like a quick conversationabout. Because like, if you care
(41:18):
about climate, like globalwarming, that's one thing. If
you care about water usage,that's another thing. If you
care about plastic pollution,that's another thing. So I find
it really hard to figure outwhat to put on top. Because
sometimes, sometimes they don'talways go hand in hand. I can
see that. Yeah. So there waslike a whole Reddit thread
(41:38):
criticizing people for buying abunch of mason jars at Walmart,
because it's Walmart. But like,that's truly not the point.
Because not everyone has thetime or energy or ability to
create their own or throughthrown everything, right, like
me with the bees. Rep.
Right. Well, I think that that'sone of the things we'd like to
point out is that like, we we'renot endless beings, and there's
(41:58):
only so much we can all do on anindividual level. And trying it
all is commendable. You know,and being informed at all is
commendable, right? We're nothere to shame anyone.
Yeah. And I think it's sayinglike, single use products both
have their strengths andweaknesses. Right. But yeah, I
do think it's, I do think thestudy was important to open our
(42:20):
eyes to like, how we have to usethem. Yeah, or the ideal way
that we could,yeah, like and be aware that you
might be better off just notbuying them. I mean, like if you
have another method that workslike so like our reusable jars
that we just talked about, thosecan be used for half of the
things that I probably put stuffin baggies for, you know, I've
use a use that instead. Yeah. Orsaran wrap, you know, use a jar.
(42:46):
Yeah, exactly. And I think theother thing is like, take it
slow. So this Vox article alsoquoted Lauren Singer, who is the
founder of the package free shopin Brooklyn. And she has a
really good outlook on all thisstuff. So she says the way she
did it was when she ran out ofsomething, she thought about
(43:08):
whether or not she would want totry a more sustainable option.
So like, if you're out oftoothpaste, maybe you could try
making your own if that soundslike fun, or you could research
the different options out thereof like more eco friendly
toothpaste or same with Windex,like maybe you could try to
reuse the bottle and make yourown or, like me, if you notice
(43:32):
how many plastic forks arethrowing away. Yeah, make a
little baggie and carry around afork and a spoon from your door
or buy reusable wine orwhatever.
Use your little silicone.
And it's not. So it's like notsupposed to or be possible for
any of this to happen overnight.
(43:52):
Yeah, yeah. Don't just go outand buy all new metal straws
today. When you have a packagethat your kids are using, you
know, just right, that you'rejust gonna throw away. Yeah,
right.
Yeah, I don't know. I find it alittle bit overwhelming.
It's a lot to think about. It isI mean it again, it's Oh, yeah.
(44:13):
You know, it's sad. Like, thisisn't the cure all. We're not
going to. I mean, maybe I don'tknow, they didn't talk about
reducing the problem of strawsin the ocean getting stuck in
sea turtles noses, which is thereason everybody quit using
straws in the first place. Butright. But that's yes. But
that's the thing. That's what Iwas saying. Like, there's
plastic pollution on the onehand, and then there's global
(44:35):
warming on the other. Well,yeah, it's like, their plan just
sucks. Yeah.
Yeah. And it's like buying it'slike maybe using a plastic straw
once in a while is better forglobal warming. Then get going
out and buying a metal one.
Yeah, but it's not better forthe turtles. Right? So it's
like, damn it. Yes, it's veryhard, but Again, like there is a
(44:59):
way to make it better if you areconscious about the way you
reuse it and straws, especiallyyou can put in your dishwasher.
So yeah,those straws. I mean, straws
are, again, I've had mine forfour or five years. So right,
and they're good. And they'refine. Yeah, they're not wearing
out and not throwing them away.
Yeah. And in a way, it's likethis is kind of overwhelming and
(45:19):
depressing. But it's also kindof puts the control back in our
hands because we can control howwe wash these things. So if
that's really the problem, whichit sounds like it is, then, you
know, we can impact thatdirectly. So that's kind of
cool.
Yeah, that is cool. Yeah. Here'seducation.
Right. So yeah, I left thisepisode kind of open. I don't
(45:41):
feel like I don't know. Anybodyknows enough about this. Yeah.
Or like most people don't knowenough about it to Ryu to use
this stuff in an effective way.
But that doesn't mean it's thatnobody should do it. Yeah, it
doesn't mean people can't learn.
Yeah.
And and I mean, it's just areminder that thoughtless
consumerism is the enemy here.
Right? The biggest enemy that wehave towards towards being eco
(46:04):
friendly, is just consider whyand how your purchases, you
know, why are you buying this?
And, and the impact that it has?
I think that's, that's theimportant takeaway for me is
right, just because it says,just because you think you're
gonna reuse it, and it's better.
Like, if you don't use straws,don't buy metal straws. Just the
(46:24):
right. Yeah, andif you do buy a metal straw, and
you don't use it, like don'tkill yourself,
right, you've got to don't beatyourself up. Yeah. Give it to a
friend when they come over.
That's that's a good thing.
Yeah, yeah.
Pretend it's brand new and regifted. And I'm just getting it.
There we go. Yeah. Hey, do youneed a straw? I mean, it's nice
to have straws to you know, forcocktail parties and things.
Right, right. Right. Right. Soyeah. So does that make sense to
(46:47):
you? Because I just felt like itwas a little open. But
no, I think I think but that's,that's the trick. There's no
fast answers to realthoughtfulness and real. I mean,
even the real eco friendliness.
There's it's nothing quick.
It Yeah. Which is kind of fairat all. It is. It's hard.
It's hard. And it's anti modernAmerican culture, because we
(47:11):
want things fast, and we wantthings easy. Yeah, there's, you
know, sometimes it's just a longobedience in the same direction,
and you do what you can when youwrite about it. Yep. Well, I
think that that was that wasmaybe one of our better
episodes. So think, Oh, thankyou. Yay. So a lot of nuance. I
mean, yes, that's the thing. Ifelt so good about the fact that
(47:31):
I have reusable straws andreusable plastic bags, and maybe
I don't anymore, maybe I don'tfeel like that, like solve all
the world's problems rightthere. Maybe that's maybe that's
okay.
And maybe that's okay. Yep.
That's the hard thing. Well,thank you for listening. Yeah,
thanks for all that research.
That was really good. Next week,I'm going to be talking about
(47:52):
online consignment storesspecifically thread up which is
the one I have experience with.
Me too. That means we're talkingabout fast fashion to Gird your
loins. I am really excited forthis one with a dress you
already have. I hope don't goout and buy new Gerding new wine
greetings, please. reuse yourgrading. Use your earnings. The
(48:15):
takeaway? I want to give youthat that teaser for next week.
Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm veryexcited. So can't wait to hear
it. Awesome. Well, thanks,Steph. Thank you. I'll see in a
bit. Okay.
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