Pet Peeve: Unnecessary Plastic Windows in Pasta Boxes

Today's Pet Peeve is Brought to you by Catelli Pasta!! (And Barilla)

I was consolidating some whole grain wheat pasta to bring to my sister. I can't eat wheat stuff anymore and holding onto wheat pasta is just wishful thinking.

But as I consolidated two boxes of Rotini noodles into one box, I was left with an empty box.

No biggie. Just recycle it. Right? Easy peasy.

Not so much.

You see... I am a conscientious recycler. I am the person who sticks their hand into the opening of an empty tissue box and pulls out the plastic window in the top of the tissue box. They actually come fairly easily. And they do serve a useful purpose, ensuring that only one tissue (usually) comes out of the box at a time.

Because recycling a tissue box with the plastic window just contaminates the recycling stream. Which is not good. And as a conscientious recycler... I just... can't... do... it.

Which brings me to pasta boxes. You see... Catelli has a little clear plastic window in the middle of their pasta box.

For those of us who can't read and who can't determine the type of pasta based on the picture of rotini noodles on the cover. It looks like a pretty small piece of plastic. But in order to get it out of there... you have to tear the box apart and then try to pull the plastic off of the cardboard. But they use a much sturdier glue than the tissue box folks. And for such a small window... Catelli uses a HUGE piece of plastic!

So you grab a corner and you pull and... it tears. leaving you with shreds of plastic to peel off. I'm sorry, but I don't have time to stand in the kitchen muttering swear words as I peel off shards of plastic window material.

So that whole piece of cardboard with over-sized piece of window material goes straight into the garbage. Is this not a waste of cardboard? Waste of energy? Waste of plastic? Waste of time and energy and decision-making power? Why is it on ME to have to tear out this piece of cardboard in order to allow Catelli to have that itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny window in their pasta box???

So, while I was at Superstore the other day, I did an informal survey of pasta boxes... because I had come across a UK article that said Barilla pasta had gotten rid of their pasta box windows!!!

Let's see what we can find on our shelves...

Catelli. Yes, well we know what they do. But my box of whole wheat pasta was several years old so I thought... maybe they have changed? Nope.

President's Choice? Nope... little plastic window.

Catelli again... with a miniscule window into the heart of spaghettini... why?? What purpose does this serve???

And Barilla... from Superstore's online shopping... because the UK version has NO window... but our Canadian version... it has a plastic window. Ugh! 

I am so miffed with Barilla for being so two-faced that I went to their Canadian site's Contact Us Form and sent this message...

Can you explain why Barilla in the UK has gotten rid of the plastic windows in the pasta boxes but Barilla in Canada still has them?

Do you know what is involved in me recycling the empty pasta box?? With a plastic window? Why??? We can read. We can see your very clear pictures of the pasta. Take the eco-lead and get rid of these windows. They serve zero useful purpose. You don't see cereal boxes with plastic windows. Why do pasta companies do this? Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply that won't be a standard "thank you for your comment and we have sent this to our product team." 

Hmph. Back to Superstore... and look what I find. An actual box of spaghetti with NO window!  Amazing. Although this one was down the organic food aisle.

You would think that making boxes without windows would be easier and cheaper for pasta companies. You would think... But I guess they really like having people SEE what's in the box. Strange.

Post Script

I wrote to our city's recycling department to see what they have to say and after 10 days, received a reply. For us... we can leave the plastic windows in the pasta boxes! Yay! Win for us. Not so much a win for some other places. I do wonder though... in the pulping process of pasta boxes... when they fish out the plastic windows as contaminants... where do they go? Landfill?? Sigh.

That ends today's Pet Peeve Rant. Carry on with your normal daily activities.

Eco-Friendly Beauty: Discovering Makeup and Skincare Recycling Solutions

I was leaving Walmart the other day, having bought my jars of pickles (very specific pickles only available at Walmart) and a watch battery. I actually hate shopping at Walmart. I hate the self-checkout area which feels a bit like a bull-ring. I hate the talking tills. The whole thing just... irks me. I just want out of there! As fast as possible.

But as I scampered past the optical department... and almost reached the customer service desk... I stopped dead in my tracks. What the heck was this box?

TerraCycle Cosmetic & SkinCare Recycling Box at Walmart

Make-up recycling???!!! What the heck!? They have recycling for Cosmetics and Skincare products. Whooooaaaaaa... 

Now let me first say that I don't use cosmetics or make-up. But I do use skin-care products like lotions... and lip balm... and deodorant... And it has always irked me that these containers are either very hard to recycle (washing out a lotion bottle?) or impossible (deodorant - too many different plastic types).

There was a QR code on the side of the box... I scanned it and it took me here... It's a TerraCycle project! I know them! They have a system to handle "hard-to-recycle" things... like toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes...

Walmart has partnered with TerraCycle and a few cosmetics companies (L'Oreal being a big one) to take back cosmetic and skincare containers. From ANY brand! Cool! OK... I might need to re-evaluate my opinion of Walmart... a little bit.

So here's a list of things that they take... I'm going to need another bin to collect this stuff at home...

What You can Recycle

• lip balm, lip gloss, lip liner and lipstick tubes
• soap dispensers and tubes
• lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers and plastic jars
• non-pressurized shaving foam tubes
• body wash containers
• mascara tubes
• eyeliner pencils and cases
• eyeshadow packaging
• concealer tubes
• foundation packaging and bottles
• powder cases

What You Can't Recycle

• perfume (presumably because it has alcohol - flammable)
• nail polish bottles (same thing... highly flammable)
• nail polish remover bottles (same... extremely flammable)
• pressurized canisters (including aerosol cans) (explosive)
• sharps (including razors) (dangerous)

Excellent news! Kudos to Walmart and... wait a minute... I was doing some background reading and... London Drugs is also doing this. And has been for YEARS!

Well... not quite... yes, London Drugs has been recycling cosmetics for several years but NOT skincare products (like lotion bottles). So the Walmart box is more inclusive...

And to be honest... I've never seen a make-up recycling box at London Drugs. Mind you... I don't really go into the make-up section but I have definitely walked by it at various times. And never, ever has a recycling box (and they are big!) impinged on my radar.

Walmart has a good location for theirs... as you exit the store, where people are most likely to see it. Alright... I am going to have to make up a list (make up... make-up... hahahah!) of recyclable skin care/cosmetic products and pay more attention before I throw a lip balm in the garbage... or a lotion bottle.

Although... I still want to know about deodorant... it is not on the accepted list... but neither is it on the reject list. To recycle it... or not... I think I will add it to the bin and take it along next time

And... I just did a search for deodorant and recycling and came across the Beauty Vixen's blog post... apparently there are a swack of other stores that also do beauty recycling including Hudson's Bay, L'Occitane en Provence, Winners and Holt Renfrew. There appear to be size limitations though on some of them (less than 60 ml, under 2 inches by 2 inches, etc). Although... some even accept shampoo bottles!

Well then... now we know. Any and all beauty and skin care products (minus the flammable stuff) can be recycled via either TerraCycle or Pact (another outfit like TerraCycle). Just look for the boxes... or ask at the front desk...

So... don't toss your lip balm, your lotion bottle or your foundation container. Recycle instead.

Still need to work on the dentist to sponsor a TerracCycle dental products box... will try emailing them again...

More Resources

TerraCycle's page on cosmetic recycling

To Write or Not to Write... Christmas Cards

I am a writer and letter writer from way back. I used to send dozens of  Christmas cards every November/December. And yet, over the years, I have grown ambivalent about Christmas cards.

I love the excitement of finding something in the our mailbox, other than flyers and promo cards. I love seeing who the envelope is from and then opening the envelope.

I am then usually disappointed to find a mostly blank card with just the printed felicitations and then a signature or two. 

Meh. That seems like a lot of effort and money to just send a generic greeting and a signature. Yes, we can put the card up on our card holder and revel in the feeling that people still care about us and love us. But then what?

Recycling Christmas Cards

At the end of the season we don't keep the cards. We toss them in recycling except... we then need to spend some time deciding if the card is recyclable.

If it has any of the following, it is NOT recyclable...

• glitter - sooooo bad for the environment
• sparkles - same thing
• singing/talking battery-powered - battery and plastic housing not recyclable
• shiny foil bits - like the lettering
• ribbons - gotta rip those off and toss them
• jewels and other doodads - rip those off too
• plastic coating - just wrong
• photographic cards - ooohhh... of the family sending the card... those need to be kept!

And let's not even talk about the envelopes... all of the PSAs below make it challenging to recycle paper and can actually contaminate the paper recycling process. PSAs are "pressure sensitive adhesives" and they make the envelopes soooo pretty...

• self-stick address labels
• festive stickers (I'm guilty of this... I LOVE plastering stickers all over the envelope)
• plain old tape - because sometimes the envelope flap glue is not great...

So I sit there every year and assess each Christmas card and their envelopes. I find that, by far, the vast majority are not recyclable. At least not the front cover of the card. I will often tear of the back part and recycle that and then toss the front part in the trash. My rule of thumb for deciding if something is plastic-y is... can I tear the card easily? If not, then it has some plastic baked into it. Paper-anything should tear easily.

But tossing the front of the card just seems... wrong. Such a waste. All the energy that went into making and transporting and buying and sending that card and then... it is used once and just... thrown out?

Reusing Christmas Cards

Would it be horribly horrid if we reused Christmas Cards? If we just cut off the back part and then wrote a new felicitation on the inner side of the front cover? So a Christmas post card? Or is that chintzy and cheap? Or thrifty and eco-friendly? Of course, if people wrote longer greetings on the inside cover... that would preclude this idea!

There was a day when I had grand schemes to reuse Christmas cards (the front cover) in new and creative ways. Like...

• Cut them into a circle and use them as a mason jar topper if we gift garden preserves
• Glue the front of an old card to a piece of folded card stock to make a new card
• Write a recipe on the reverse and include when you send packages, parcels or gifts
• Cut them into gift tags (that way you don't have to buy gift tags)

But those dreams of being a creative wizard, worthy of Pinterest fame have evaporated in the reality of life. Time to let those dreams of future me go! Although... some of those ideas seem really easy... like the jar toppers...

But maybe physical Christmas Cards are going the way of the dinosaur? Maybe it's more 123GreetingCards.com? Digital Christmas Cards? Although I really don't like those either. First, they usually end up in my spam folder and I'm never quite sure if they are legit... so I might err on the side of caution and just delete them, sight unseen.

So fear not... physical Christmas cards are still a "thing"... you just have to walk into any store to see boxes and boxes of fresh, crisp, shiny, glitzy Christmas cards.

During Covid, Christmas card sending went up over 144%! That's a LOT of Christmas cards! I can't say we were part of that. We kind of gave up on writing Christmas cards a few years back. It just seemed soooo... pointless and capitalist...

Capitalist Cards

Go out and buy a new box of cards? Nope. We gave up on that years ago. When we do send cards, we go to the thrift store and grab whatever we can find there. Are they stylish? Probably not. But they are cheap. They are second-hand. And they are mostly simple cards made of paper. (Pssst... we do the same for birthday cards... no way are we paying $7 for a new card!)

Then we have to figure out who we are sending the cards to and decide which type of card to send to each person. Some folks really appreciate the religious cards (Hi, Mom!) and some don't appreciate a hint of religiosity in their mailbox.

Then we get to write their addresses on the envelope, which causes us to wonder... have they moved this past year? Is this even the right address? Heck... do we even have a physical mailing address for them? We just have a street address but no postal code so need to spend time on Canada Post figuring that out.

Then it's off to the post office to buy stamps and mail the cards. Have you seen the cost of postage??? And the line-ups at the post office? Ugh! (I sound a bit Grinchy right now... don't I?)

We'd go to all the effort and send out 40 cards, and would receive less than half of that in return. Sometimes only 10. Meh... thinking of the money (purchase price, stamps) and the environmental impact (unrecyclable cards) and the time (writing the cards and then deciding if they are recyclable)... it just seems a bit pointless. An empty gesture signifying what... cultural norms? The "done" thing? But whyyyyy???? 

Family Newsletters

On the other hand... some cards include a family news sheet of the past year. We LOVE reading those!! That brings smiles and joy and laughter and connection.

We generally send ours via email though. Guess we are cheap. We don't want to print 40 of those on the colour printer (or at Staples) and have to do the whole Christmas card thing...

Those family newsletters are also much harder to let go!

We've fallen off the Christmas newsletter bandwagon the last few years. Will this be the year that we get back on it? Time will tell... But look for it in your email Inbox in early December... maybe mid-December... Maybe this blog will jump-start our newsletter writing.

I do have to say... I still tend to send physical Christmas cards to our elderly relatives, the ones who don't have ready access to email. I'll write some news inside the cards as well... none of this "Christmas card with just a signature"... I really don't see the point of those... But maybe that's just me???

An Alternative

Maybe we could try this instead... Think of the elderly, the single, the grieving in your network. Maybe it's that old lady in the little house down the street. The one that you see toddling along on her daily walk to the corner store. What if you figured out her postal address and sent her a card... with a personal greeting.

Maybe it's the single person up the block who keeps their yard so neat and tidy and has done a tonne of improvements over the last year. Send a card thanking them for all that they have done to beautify the neighbourhood.

For years, I drove by a house on the way to my local Starbucks. I always thought it was a very well-maintained house. Such a neat garden and well-maintained. I never saw anyone there, just the one car in the carport. I thought about writing an anonymous post card just thanking them for their presence. And then I saw the occasional second car in the driveway and I thought... "they are getting home support" I should really write that card." I never did.

Too late to send that card...

And then this past year, there was a For-Sale sign on the property. Now it's sold and... did the people move into a care home? Did they die? I don't know. But I never sent that card and that sits with me.

So... this year... we'll be trading writing "signature cards" for sending cards to... other folks. Call it Random Acts of Christmas Card Kindness...

Plastic Craft Beer Can Labels

 Are you a beer drinker? Yes, then you can continue reading. If you're not a beer drinker... you can still continue reading and lament over yet more plastic in our lives!

I'm a beer drinker and I love my craft beers. Although I won't turn up my nose at a Rickard's Red... or a Sleeman Honey Brown. Even a Coors Light will do in a pinch. But craft beers... mmmm... those are good!

I was on the BC Ferries Inside Passage route a few months back. They serve alcohol (unlike the short routes between the mainland and Vancouver Island). And not just any alcohol, but local craft beers from Prince Rupert. Excellent!

It was a very nice beer but as I sat there and picked away at the label, I realized it was a plastic label, stuck on the naked aluminum can. And, me being me, I wondered... how does this get recycled???

With a regular aluminum beverage can, the product information is actually printed on the can. 

It's just the aluminum can and some ink. So when they get recycled, the ink gets burnt off, but that seems pretty minimal.

But what about these craft beer can labels? They are serious plastic. Are we supposed to peel the labels off? And dump the label in the trash (ugh) and recycle the naked can? Nah, they can't expect that!

So then what? Some recycling guy is going to pull plastic labels off of millions of cans? Nope. They will just get dumped in the recycling furnace and all of that plastic will get burnt off and generate toxic fumes which, hopefully, get scrubbed out of the furnace exhaust. But who really knows.

Small Batch Brewers

I dove deep into why craft beer makers use these plastic labels and the short answer is... they do small batches and those big commercial can offset-printers are too expensive and/or need a large batch to make it affordable or doable.

So, for craft brewers, it's more economical and easier to just use sticky labels or... shrink-wrapped plastic labels. You know the ones. You think you have a printed can but... if you look closely, it's shrink-wrapped and you can slice the label and get the stand-alone label (see photo at right).

Peel Your Labels

That is annoying too... all that plastic... what a waste. But here's the rub... yet again... they pass this off to the consumer. 

Here's a pic from a craft beer - Telluride beer (somewhere in the USA). See what the edge of that label says?

"PEEL OFF LABEL BEFORE RECYCLING"

Seriously. Their label of convenience tosses the onus on the consumer to peel off the label (and do what with it) and recycle the naked aluminum can. Or, the consumer can recycle the labeled can and bear the guilt of knowing that that plastic will pollute the atmosphere. Nice.

Some jurisdictions, like Quebec are now legislating that can labels cannot weigh more than 1% of the container weight (when it's empty). Since most labels weigh 10% of the can... that effectively eliminates most labels. And apparently they are moving in the direction of banning these labels entirely.

Contaminated Recycling and Fire Hazard

Even the recyclers are getting grumpy with the plastic labels on cans...

Michael Anderson, senior manager of recycling technology at aluminum recycler Novelis, says the potential fire risk involved with incinerating these cans is substantial. He tells me the plastic labels are about 10 times the weight of a can’s traditional paint coating, which makes them more difficult to burn off.

“Any combustibles, whether it be paper, plastic, or cardboard acts as a fuel source in our de-coating processes and at a minimum … hampers our productivity,” he says. “Worst case, the material flames so hot that it burns our baghouses and results in physical damage to our recycling process, ultimately resulting in a line stoppage until the equipment can be repaired.” (From The Takeout) 

Ink-Jet Technology

So what can craft brewers use instead of plastic labels? Does it just mean more expensive craft beer. No. As it turns out, new ink-jet technology developed in the last few years means that small batches of craft beer can now have product information printed directly onto the can. So there is no need for plastic labels or shrink-wrapped sleeves or any other added complexity.

Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, and can be turned around in as short as 60 days. So when we buy our favourite craft beer... and we find plastic labels or shrink wrap on the can... perhaps it's time to contact the brewery and inform them that there is another option.

So I did... I wrote to Wheelhouse Brewing Co. in Rupert... see below...

Letter Template

Hi!

Had one of your beers (Blacksmith) on the Inside Passage ferry a few months ago. Loved the beer but wasn't happy about the plastic sticker label. Peel off the label and toss it in the garbage? Or let the label and aluminum can go into recycling where the label is burnt off into the atmosphere? Not great.

I know that small batch brewers use these labels because offset printing is too expensive for small batches. But do you know there is new ink-jet technology that allows craft brewers to print directly onto the can? See links below.

I'm originally from NW BC and I'd really love to see a local brewer be successful. But I also care about the environment and can't patronize a brewer that doesn't share my concern.

More Reading

Aluminum container design guide - https://www.aluminum.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/AA_ContainerDesignGuide.pdf

Peel Your Cans - https://www.axios.com/local/denver/2023/04/03/peel-beer-labels-before-recycling-cans-brewers

Problem of Plastic Can Labels - https://thetakeout.com/are-shrink-wrapped-beer-cans-recyclable-1832063063

Cans not being recycled - https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/featured/craft-beer-has-a-recycling-problem-cans-are-not-being-recycled-and-shrink-wraps-are-a-big-part-of-it/

Small Batch Printing - https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/craft-beverage-can-printing

Ink-Jet Technology - https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/packaging-distribution/labeling-affects-recyclability-of-your-aluminum-beer-cans/

InkJet Can Printing - https://www.inkcups.com/blog/beverage-can-printing/

Your Recycle Bin is Easily Contaminated

Recycling... we all try so hard, but it is a huge challenge. I sometimes tell guests that they need a PhD in recycling to figure out our system. Some things can be placed in the blue bin, but some have to go to the depot. All cans and plastic tubs need to be washed to avoid food contaminating the paper in the bin. Pizza boxes... which look like they could go in the blue bin, really need to go in the green bin because of all the green stains on the cardboard. And on it goes.

We have a large basket in the cupboard under the sink that collects all of our recyclables. Once a week, I take it out to the blue bin and do a final once-over. There is always something that has snuck into the recyclables that doesn't belong there... a glass bottle, a pill bubble pack (mix of foil and plastic - not recylable) or a kleenex box with the plastic bit.

Our city is cracking down on blue bin contamination. They are sending scouts out ahead of the trucks now and checking blue bins. And woe to the household that has banned items in their blue bin. They might get a warning... and then after a few of those... something more serious might happen. Not sure what that is yet... but I'm sure we'll hear about it. Friends of ours have had two warnings already. Now... they recently moved into a house from an apartment so they are new to the whole blue bin thing. But they are getting a crash course!

Anyhow... I thought I would go over some of the obvious things that contaminate our paper recylables... A really good rule of thumb is this... if it's made of two different components (paper and plastic) it is NOT recyclable.

Tissue Boxes

This is an easy one. See that plastic window... it's gotta come out. And it doesn't take much to just reach into the box and tease the plastic away from the box. Depending on your jurisdiction, that plastic might even by recyclable... but with the filmy plastic stuff... not as part of the paper stuff.

I always flatten out the kleenex boxes as well, otherwise our basket under the kitchen sink gets full super fast.

It just takes a moment or two to tear out the plastic window and then flatten the box.

Pasta Boxes

And then we have pasta boxes... the ones with the little plastic windows so that you can see what type of pasta is in the box.

Not sure why we need that little plastic window... a picture of the pasta would be perfectly fine too! In fact... in the UK... in 2020... Barilla got rid of the little plastic window! They realized they didn't need it...

That was 3 years ago... not sure why that little innovation hasn't trickled across the Atlantic but... our pasta boxes still have plastic windows.

And guesss what... yep, you need to take the little plastic window out when you toss the box into the blue bin. And these ones are much harder to get out than the kleenex box. I often have to rip out the entire cardboard bit that the window is stuck to. So annoying. Time to ban those little plastic windows!

Christmas Cards

But they're paper, right? They should be easily recyclable? Well... it depends on what they are made of. Remember... things made of two different materials... especially plastic-y things... generally not recyclable. 

I hate to tell you this but there is no paper in the world that looks like shine-y gold or silver. All of that stuff is some sort of foil... probably nylon foil. And glitter/sparkles are definitely not paper.

Sooo if your Christmas card is pure, boring paper with no glitz or glam... it's probably recyclable. But if it's got sparkles or shiny bits... nope. I tend to rip the front off of these cards and toss that bit while recycling the back bit.

Store Receipts

Back in the day... we used to get short little paper receipts from stores, like tiny ones. One of the thrift stores in town still has a receipt like that. And it's actually "paper".

But most stores use thermo-paper and those receipts are super long with all sorts of information on them. But here's the thing... they are all coated (mostly) with BPA (Bisphenol A), a nasty industrial chemical that is super bad for human health. If you did put your receipts into the blue bin... the BPA would contaminate the rest of the paper... and might end up in tissues. We don't want that. Soooo... store receipts are NOT recyclable.

But what do you do with them? Throw them in the trash. If you're concerned about info on the receipts... then shred them and toss them.

Envelope Windows

I remember reading once that you could leave those little plastic address windows on envelopes when you recycle them. That still seems to be the case, probably because those little windows aren't super attached to the paper. It is relatively easy to heat the paper and have the adhesive dissolve. But if you want to go for it... tear out those plastic windows!

See... the rule of thumb about not recycling two different materials doesn't apply everywhere! Sigh.

Padded Envelopes

Some padded envelopes are obvious... they are plastic on the outside and have plastic padding (bubble wrap). Other padded envelopes are less obvious. They look like paper on the outside and inside... but have a layer of plastic bubble wrap hidden from view. You'll know they have plastic guts though because they are light... and make a plastic sound when you squish them and bend them. The other option is a padded envelope that is stuffed with paper products. They are usually a bit heavier and... for lack of a better word... feel lumpy. There are also some new ones that have a layer of honey-comb cardboard or corrugated cardboard as padding. Those are obviously great!

For recycling... pure plastic padded envelopes... can be recycled in our jurisdiction if they go into the flexible plastic stream and get dropped off a the depot. Pure paper padded envelopes can go into the blue bin. The mixed material envelope... with paper and bubble wrap... not recyclable. Goes in the garbage.

So annoying... Not sure why we need padded envelopes that can't be recycled... Do they "look" nicer than one-material envelopes?

Take-out Cups

These are a bane on the landscape. Timmies coffee cups. McDonald's drink cups. Starbucks latte cups. 7-11 slurpie cups. So many convenience cups. All of them lined with a thin film of plastic. What to do with them? Blue bin? Green bin?

They actually go into the blue bin, at least in our jurisdiction. As long as they are rinsed so they don't contaminate everything else in the blue bin.

Now that is all "in theory". I found this link which laid it all out quite nicely. The coffee cups are sorted out and then baled up and sent to a paper mill. There, they are shredded and then sent into a "hydropulper" which separates the different layers. Great! In theory...

The Cost of Contaminated Recycling

There was a recent news article on CBC which uncovered huge problems with our recycling system. You see... India receives tonnes of paper recyclables from Canada, which is not ideal to start with (huge carbon footprint shipping all that stuff overseas). But on top of that... the "pure paper" bales are contaminated with all sorts of things - like coffee cups and milk cartons and other plastics. 

And that's not the only time this has happened... Malaysia... the Philippines... All of them are miffed at Canada for sending contaminated containers containing "recyclables" which end up containing basically... garbage. Things like soiled adult diapers. That's just wrong.

Now, we aren't responsible for what gets baled and sent to India. Are we? Well, we aren't making up the bales but... what we put in our blue bin is the starting point. It all starts with us. Small steps... remember.