...and doing a little thing every day can help you stay motivated and hopeful in the face of horrifying destruction and crass, greedy wastefulness.

That's right, it's time for another edition of: little things to help the environment as we hurtle toward the abyss here in the anthropocene! Wheee!

image from http://humoncomics.com/mother-gaia

Today's task: writing manufacturers of stuff.

Letter #1: to Suave (shampoo and conditioner)

Hello,
Could you please get some better packaging for your shampoo and conditioner than single use plastic bottles? I was thinking cartons, like milk cartons or aseptic soup/broth/veg milks. This way:
a) eliminating all that single-use plastic waste and demand
b) cartons are just as light for shipping purposes as plastic, maybe even lighter
c) they are becoming recyclable in more places all the time, whereas even if you put it in the bin, more often than not plastic is not recycled at all; also plastic can only be downcycled to begin with - you don't get new bottles from old bottles for infinity, even if there was 100% collection
d) cartons are just as sqeezeable as plastic bottles for ease of use and grippable if the right size, like the aseptic ones are
The Earth and its inhabitants would be a lot better off - and you'd get eco-conscious consumer brownie points, so your marketing department would be happy, too.
Please consider it. Thanks!

Letter #2: to All (laundry detergent)

Hello,
I'm a regular user of All Free&Clear detergent, and I was hoping y'all could get some plastic-free packaging for it. For the packets, which I understand the individual pacs are not plastic so that's good, you could put them in something like a milk carton instead of a plastic bag. Plastic free! Plus cartons are becoming recyclable in more and more places, and plastic is NOT being recycled in more and more places, especially bags, no matter what the number in the triangle on it says. Cartons would be light for shipping, and waterproof if you are worried about leaks.
For the liquid, you could put it in cartons too, really - maybe like an aseptic carton that soup/broth/plant milks come in though milk carton style would work here, too. Seventh Generation offers "refills" in carton type containers so it's not unheard of - but just make it the container you can use like any other bottle instead of only a "refill."
The Earth and her inhabitants would be better off - and you'd get eco-conscious brownie points, so your marketing department would be happy. Even if you wanted to do it as a trial run on some products but not all of them, putting it on your free & clear products would make the most sense because it's likely us greens who are buying products without a lot of perfumes and dyes and unnecessary ish.
Please consider it. Thanks very much!

Letter #3: to Organic Valley (yogurt)

Hey Organic Valley,
I was writing to ask if we could get some non-plastic packaging for your Grassmilk yogurt. I regularly use Grassmilk and other grassfed dairy products because my allergies have gotten so severe I’ve begun to notice a reaction to generic dairy products (because I’m allergic to corn and soy), so I stick to the pasture-raised as much as I can. It would be awesome if I could get yogurt (which I eat every day) without the plastic. Glass, of course, is fabulous and infinitely recyclable and reuseable, but companies seem hesitant to use it because of the weight, so if that’s a concern for you, how about cartons like your milk comes in? It would be just as light as plastic, you could put a cap on it and pour or squeeze it out since your yogurt isn’t thick like skyr, and cartons are becoming recyclable in more and more places, while plastic is being recycled less and less.
It would be super awesome if you could help everyone reduce our single-use plastic in this way. And you know your demographic of organic greens would love it. Please consider it. Thanks!

...and that was my advocacy for the day, lol.

Care to join me? I just searched for their websites and from there clicked on "contact us;" you can do that for any product you often use (or don't use - and tell them why! "I refuse to buy your stuff because your packaging sucks" works too).

Consumer pressure works if enough people do it. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but we still need to live in this world while we work to change it.

Don't EAT the laundry pacs, tho...

Hope you all are having a wonderful day. Be good, Steem fam! <3

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