Cheesed off

Since the weather turned and outside is no longer enticing, the bloke and I pack up the bean and go to market every Tuesday to do the weekly shop and have lunch together. For the last few weeks i have been taking along containers to bring home the cheese. Plastic itself doesnt bother me unless its leaching BPA into my system or its single use packaging. Im often compromised with plastic vs glass bottles as I have read that, as usual, 'it depends' on what you're purchasing as sometimes the glass bottle is shipped in from whoop whoop and the energy consumed making it nd getting it to you in glass is way greater than the energy used to get the plastic made, transport the plastic to you and then recycle the plastic. 'It depends'. Sigh

So today I front up to a new cheese shop, ask the woman behind the counter for some feta cheese and ask her please can I use my own container. Sure, its no problem she says and then proceeds to reach over and rip off a plastic bag from the roll beside the counter. I stand there quite dumbfounded, watching while she uses the bag as a glove to pluck some feta from its brine bath and to cup it on the scales. The feta is being tipped from the plastic bag into my cheese box when i finally speak up.

Dont people get it! I tell her that i may as well take the cheese in the bag NOW because my guess is the bags going to be tossed, right? Right. If i take it at least i can reuse it.

No tongs for cheese removal at that cheese stall! Apparently it may crumble the edge of the feta... gasp! hence the use of bags for picking up the cheeses and then for holding the cheeses. If i return to that stall Im gonna have to give a key note address before i hand over the box!

Stretch It- the container challenge

In lead up to World Environment Day i thought a challenge was in order. Inspired by the deliciously funny post by Katrina at Kale for Sale I thought that it's the kind of post i really love reading; amusing commentary on someones life challenge to step outside the comfort zone and do something a little unusual in the name of saving just a little bit of plastic stuff from its disposable lifecycle. Katrina writes about her self consciousness and inner musings as she walks the footpath with her big red plastic bowl to transport home her takeaway chicken.

The idea behind Stretch It is that by sharing ideas and experiences about how to generate some small changes, push the social boundaries, redefine the norms of acceptability which surround dispoable... we reduce our fear by encouraging interesting and amusing alternatives to food and goods transport, from supplier to home. This way we can share the humiliation and exhiliaration around and have a good laugh along the way. I find that knowing someone else is doing something, that i share the pain makes a challenging behaviour more palatable and I learn from the ingenious ideas that others have that i never thought of.

Not put off by the fact that its generally big gun bloggers who start challengers either, I thought why the hell not? we all have to start somewhere and i thought it was a great way to showcase everyones small actions and attempts and foibles at reducing superflous plastic consumption.

Write a post on what you do thats a stretch to your comfort zone, ouside the norm or about something thats been bothering you and some alternatives you've been pondering which you might challenge yourself to do...take a tub to the cheese shop and buy off the wheel, use the wheelbarrow instead of the car, take your ceramic cup to the upmarket coffee shop, whatever and link back here!

Lets Stretch It