Vent: I lectured my sister about plastic waste, then she caught me with 8 takeout containers

Last week in Denver, I gave my sister a whole speech about how she needs to stop buying bottled water and use her Brita. Then she opened my car trunk to grab my bag and saw the pile of styrofoam takeout boxes I had been hoarding from the same Thai place for 3 months. I tried to say I was reusing them, but we both knew I was just being lazy about recycling. Has anyone else had a family member call out that exact gap between what you preach and what you actually do on a random Tuesday?

2 comments

2 Comments

stone.lisa1mo ago

Isn't her bottled water worse for the planet than your reused containers though?

milam481mo ago

Gotta disagree with you there. I've seen her whole setup and those glass bottles get washed and refilled for years, not tossed after one sip. Reused containers are great, but they still get replaced eventually, and most of mine are plastic which breaks down over time. Plus the bottled water company she buys from does a return program for the glass, so that's a closed loop system. Your mileage may vary, but I think the carbon footprint of hauling and washing glass beats the microplastics and eventual landfill trash from plastic tubs.