(Note: In April of 2023, goodsugar proudly launched its inaugural retail store in New York, setting a groundbreaking precedent as the first retailer in the region to embrace a completely plastic-free packaging approach for all our products.)
Humanity's Overreliance on Single-Use Plastic: A Call for Shame and Change
Collectively, humanity has relied on single-use plastic to horrendous excess for a very long time. We should all be ashamed of that.
The Detrimental Effects of Single-Use Plastic:
Disgusting, Harmful, and Environmentally Damaging For one thing, plastic is disgusting to look at: I can't think of any person or any society that prefers being surrounded by plastic to living in a pristine environment. And single-use plastic is bad for people and for the environment for a number of reasons. It would be very beneficial to rid the planet of all single-use plastic products, particularly things such as plastic wrap on straws.
Understanding the Prevalence of Single-Use Plastic: Cheap, Transparent, and Effective
Why is single-use plastic so prevalent? Because it's cheap, and because people can see through it. It’s also extraordinarily effective in containing the items that it encloses. It’s not difficult to understand why it's so commonly used.
Taking Responsibility and Changing Behavior: A Call to Action
So what can you do to not contribute to its being used so much? Perhaps feel just a little guilty and just a little stressed and anxious, and then do what you can to use less of it. Are we preaching? Perhaps, but it's preaching that’s necessary. And we're somewhat ashamed to say that we're authorities on this subject for the wrong reason: We were extremely guilty of polluting our environment with plastic packaging of the health foods that we sold in the past. But we're now attempting to use glass for our containers and do other things that aren’t detrimental to the environment.
The Pitfalls of Plant-Based Plastics: Misconceptions and Slow Breakdown
We're trying to change our behavior, and we’re hoping that you'll do the same. You should make a concerted effort to avoid single-use plastic packaging whenever you can. And please don't think that plant-based plastics are the solution to this problem, because they aren't. Plant-based plastics aren’t as disposable or sustainable as you might think: They only break down very quickly if they're processed in a special facility designed to accelerate that breakdown. If not processed in that way, plant-based plastics can take nine years to break down if they're just thrown into the environment.
Towards Reducing Single-Use Plastic: Carrying Reusable Bags and Making a Difference
Changing our behavior in order to consume less single-use plastic will not be easy. But there are various steps that we can take that will make it easier. We can always carry folding shopping bags, and many of us carry purses or backpacks in which we can store folding bags. And when we do, we can take some comfort in knowing that we're helping to get rid of the many plastic shopping bags that litter our roadways and get stuck to bare trees in the winter months.
The Power of Consumer Influence: Voting with Your Dollars to Encourage Sustainable Packaging
When I counsel people about diet, I tell them to cease eating processed food. Just by making that one simple change, they can make about a 95% improvement in their overall diets. That line of thought can apply to plastic usage (and lack of it) as well. If a great many people changed their lifestyles such that they’d avoid using single-use plastic, it would improve the environment tremendously.
Unseen Consequences: The Environmental and Health Impacts of Single-Use Plastic
You can discourage industries that rely onsingle-use plastic for creating products and/or packaging them by “voting with your dollars.” If far fewer people purchased their products, such companies would be motivated to create environmentally sustainable packaging instead. Granted, consumers would experience inconvenience if they ceased buying products packaged in single-use plastics. But such boycotting will be necessary if we want to see a change in the current unsatisfactory situation.
Unseen Consequences: The Environmental and Health Impacts of Single-Use Plastic
Single-use plastic harms the environment in ways that aren't as obvious as littering and landfill dumping. Toxic carbon emissions are created when petroleum is processed to make plastic. When plastic that finds its way into the ocean is broken down into microplastics, it gets eaten by fish. And when we humans eat such fish, plastic gets into our diet. It’s estimated that most humans will consume 40 pounds of plastic during their lives.
Goodsugar's Commitment to Change: Using Glass Packaging and Advocating Against Single-Use Plastics
Hopefully it's clear why we at Goodsugar are very much against single-use plastics. And we will take measures such as using glass rather than plastic for packaging products when it’s possible in order to live out our convictions about this.