Waste Not, Want Not?

Waste not,want not....Is that saying really true anymore? I see so much waste everywhere I turn and as we learn more about the effects of our wastefulness on the environment, companies are marketing more and more products that are wasteful of resources. And people are buying them without any thought for the consequences! It seems more like want more, waste more!

Let's go through a few examples.

K-Cups require a special coffee maker that costs lots of money and requires a separate little plastic "k-cup" for each cup of coffee you brew. Talk about wasteful packaging! A number of these little plastic cups are packaged together in a cardboard box. This, when you could buy one package of instant or brew coffee and make pot after pot after pot.

Why is it so hard to use an old fashioned toilet brush? Now Scrubbing Bubbles is selling disposable toilet brushes! Clorox makes one, too! Really? And don't tell me about the germs on the toilet brush that sits in your bathroom because those germ-y brushes have been sitting in bathrooms for decades and not bothering anyone. As long as you don't play with it or put it in your mouth, just leave it sitting in its little holder, it isn't going to hurt anything.

Disposable Clorox wipes and Lysol wipes are wasteful and unnecessary, too! Scrubbing Bubbles has their own line of bathroom wipes. Why not just use a washcloth? Worried about it getting ruined? I was raised by a frugal and green mama who taught me to tear old t-shirts into rags that can be used for any job without worrying about the condition of the rag. Old socks are good for this, too. And if you really need something disposable sometimes, use a paper towel, but you don't need something disposable for every time you wipe off the kitchen or bathroom counter!

I would like to see some of these corporations taking responsibility for the environment, not just in the way they are manufacturing products, but also in what products they manufacture. Considering how much we know about good environmental practices and global warming, I would like to see government regulations on packaging, as well as disposable items.

What items make you angry when you walk the aisles of the supermarket?