Feb 2022: Bulk is Better
- Kaili Brande
- Feb 16, 2022
- 5 min read
Happy 2022 to you all! I’m looking forward to using this year as an opportunity to continue my sustainability journey and improve in areas where I can. I hope you will continue to join me! 😊
One of the biggest ways that we contribute to unsustainable systems in society is by generating a lot of waste. This includes all of the trash (especially non-recyclable plastic) that we contribute to landfills every single day, week, month, and year. It turns out a sizeable portion comes from our food packaging. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “containers and packaging make up a major portion of municipal solid waste (MSW), amounting to 82.2 million tons of generation in 2018 (28.1 percent of total generation)”. That means it made up over ¼ of all our waste in the U.S. that year! Packaging is broadly considered to be products “used to wrap or protect goods, including food, beverages, medications and cosmetic products”, and includes “bags, sacks and wraps; other packaging; polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars; high-density polyethylene (HDPE) natural bottles; and other containers”.
If you start to think about your grocery trip runs every week, you’ll quickly realize how much of your food inevitably comes with single-use packaging that will be thrown in the garbage can each week. Because landfills (where we store our waste) is a finite resource, we won’t be able to send so much garbage each year, forever. It is a one-directional, linear system that simply won’t work forever.
Rather than continuing to contribute to this unsustainable system, we need to 1) reduce our use of single-use packaging, and 2) reuse packaging. These actions will help us participate in a circular system, where materials are reused rather than discarded after use(s). See comparisons of a circular economy vs. linear economy below.
One of the best ways to reduce our use of single-use packaging is to buy in bulk! Buying in bulk is essentially what happens at places like Costco. Many products you would normally find in smaller packaging at “regular” grocery stores, you’ll find in larger packaging at Costco (i.e. cocoa powder in a bigger bag, or frozen strawberries in a jumbo bag). However, this isn’t always necessarily the better choice, because the product may still be subdivided into smaller packaging, but combined into a larger set of them (i.e. packaged with plastic again around the outside). This often happens with Costco paper towels (individually wrapped in plastic then wrapped again into a large bundle). Therefore, it’s up to your discretion to figure out the best choice in these situations.
A more surefire way to reduce single-use packaging is to shop at package-free shops! These are shops (often beauty-based or food-based) that allow you to bring your own reusable containers ("packaging") into the store and fill from their bulk supplies. One great example offering many health and beauty products in my hometown (Costa Mesa, CA) is Fill Up, Buttercup (@fillupbuttercup on Instagram). Another common example in many California communities is the local “co-op” grocery store (in my current town, Santa Barbara, this is the Isla Vista Food Co-op!). When you go to these types of stores, just be sure to have your containers weighed ("tared") by someone at the cash register first. This way, the weight of your container is not contributing to the price you pay for the goods! To find bulk food options in many cities throughout California, check out this awesome search tool!
To further highlight where bulk purchasing can reduce packaging waste, here are a few more examples where you can make a switch:
1. Plastic water bottles: These are often considered public enemy #1 of the sustainability world. If you think about it, as long as you have access to clean, filtered water (i.e. tap water from the kitchen sink in most communities in California, if not America), there is no particular advantage to buying plastic water bottles. In a way, you’re not paying the water bottle companies for their exceptionally good water; it’s more that you’re paying them for a bunch of cheap plastic containers, that contain a resource you already have at home. Is that really a good investment of your money? If you have a reusable water bottle sitting on your shelf at home, then there is simply no point in buying disposable bottles. (Just in case you don’t have a reusable bottle yet, I’d suggest Klean Kanteen or Hydroflask). Reusable water bottles are a lot sturdier, provide better insulation to keep your water cool on a hot day, and often are cuter with cool colors and designs.
2. Individual snack packs: These can be found at most “regular” grocery stores, containing chips, fruit snacks, trail mix, etc. One glaring example can be found at Trader Joes: in the aisle containing trail mix, next to the larger bags of trail mix, you can find similarly large bags that contain several mini bags of the same trail mix. This means that they have pre-packaged trail mix into small plastic baggy portions for “on the go”. However, this is extremely unnecessary, and leads to excess plastic packaging in order for you to consume the same amount of trail mix. Instead, buy the large bag and fill a reusable container at home with however much you want (here I list some examples of containers). Many people might say they “don’t have time” to do this, and would prefer the convenience of pre-packaged food. But if a person seriously doesn’t have time to fill trail mix into a reusable container, then the problem is likely not that they don’t have time; instead they have fallen victim to a capitalistic system that requires them to work so many hours that there is not enough time to take care of one’s basic health needs (i.e. food). Recognition of the flaws of this system and prioritization of our needs and health must come first!
3. Tea, coffee, and spices: These substances often take a loose or powdery form, which makes them easy to buy in bulk using your own containers. One example is buying loose leaf tea, which I document in this blog post here. Many co-op stores (like I mention above) offer bulk spices as well!
4. Soap and cleaning supplies: Many bulk-supplying stores provide soap bars or liquid soaps in bulk form. Others may go so far as to supply the basics such as baking soda, vinegar, etc. However, if you can’t find a store near you that offers these things, a great online option is Blueland cleaning products. With initial purchase, they send you a sturdy reusable container that you use for the entirety of your time using their products (slogan is “Buy the Bottle Once. Refill Forever”). Then they send their cleaning supplies in a dried tablet form, packaged in compostable baggies and recyclable paper boxes (no single-use plastic). I recently purchased their dishwasher tablets, which came with an initial tin box that I’ll continue to refill for as long as I can. The tablets work great, and our dishes have been nice and clean!
There are many types of food (i.e. tofu) and other household goods that are almost impossible to get without packaging, so if we can reduce our packaging with some of the easy swaps above, we can do our best given the opportunities available. As you get used to filling your own containers, it will get easier with time (trust me!), since it becomes part of your routine.
Hopefully these examples are motivating, and at least get us thinking more critically about the purchases we make every day, the way our goods get to us, and what happens to the packaging after we use our goods. By noticing these trends, we can pick up on patterns, and be more mindful when we make decisions about the products we buy. All to become a more sustainable citizen of the planet!
What do you think? Let’s do this together! Which sustainable bulk shopping option will you try?
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