It seems the grocery store is a good place for me to get agitated about things...
On a recent trip I took a closer look at Dole's "Fruit in plastic jars" (formerly canned fruit). Looking at the bottom I see that they are type 7 plastic, as seen in the recycling symbol.
For the uninitiated:
1 - Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE): This is the easiest to recycle, cleanest and "safest" for food purposes. Used primarily for beverage containers and other food purposes.
2 - High Density Polyethylene (HDPE): Slightly more common than PETE, fairly east to recycle.
3 - Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): One of the nastier plastics out there. Not easy to recycle (most recycling authorities landfill it), leeches toxic chemicals to contents. Used for detergents, piping, etc. I put products in PVC back on the shelf in favour of PETE or HDPE.
4 - Low Density Polyethelene (LDPE): Also common, mostly in bags and softer containers (margarine lids for example).
5 - Polypropylene (PP): I don't know too much about this one. I see it a fair bit and I know that none of my local recycling authorities can/will recycle it.
6 - Polystyrene (PS): A hard, usually clear plastic. Also often used as foam (Styrofoam - a registered trademark of Dow Chemical). Not commonly recycled.
7 - Other: Plastics other than what is listed above. If they don't tell you what it is, good luck recycling it.
Back to our original topic... Dole fruit.
It really irked me that they switched (admittedly, a couple of years ago...) from metal cans to these plastic ones. The old steel/aluminum cans were one of the most recyclable substances on the planet, the new jars are not.
I will continue to not purchase them...
Posts
2 comments:
I read somewhere that it costs about $700 to recoup $500 worth of plastic from recycling. It costs WAY less just to store it in a dump.
On the other hand, glass is an excellent candidate for recycling and even better, metal is actually a money maker.
In some countries in Europe, I understand that manufacturers are forced to pay a tax on difficult-to-recycle containers.
Of course here, we think nothing of charging a tax on media that MIGHT be used to pirate music but HEAVEN FORBID we force manufacturers and consumers to make smart choices or pay a tax.
Del-Monte is doing the same now. I guess I'm down to "No-Name"...
Post a Comment