Package Waste
Tagged as: Feb 07I don’t like how it’s impossible to get every last bit of semi-liquid type substances out of their container. Even more than that, though, it disappoints me that this slight irritation happens so often!
So as you probably know (or at least can guess from my blog’s name) that I’m Chinese. The stereotype is that Chinese people specifically (and Asian people in general) are a little bit stingy. Now, there are quite a lot of times that I can heartily agree that this stereotype has roots in reality. Maybe it’s because in China everyone has to fight for their own rights and properties since there are so many people vying for the limited resources. Ah communism at its best.
But another thing that you should know is that I’m, in general, not very Chinese. Now what does that mean? Well I don’t even speak the language, let alone act out the whole stereotype. I am, for all intents and purposes, completely American. Nevertheless, I do have a frugal side to me. (I mean, I did share 3 Little Tips To Save before.) And that frugal Chinese side of me doesn’t like that products are placed into packages that don’t allow me to utilize all that I’ve paid for!
There are just so many of these items that we use! Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well what about:
- yogurt
- mayonnaise
- toothpaste
- shampoo
- lotion
And that’s just to name a few! There are obviously many other things that could fall into this category. One would think that after so many years of production and perfecting the whole process, a better solution would have been reached. But no. All we get are cheap gadgets like the toothpaste clip that will ensure that as much paste as possible is pushed towards the opening. Ah!
What’s a society to do? It’s time for a change. It’s time for a revolution.
Uh..I seem to be able to access the “good the last drop” of yogurt, mayonnaise and shampoo. Not that I use much mayonnaise and in fact end up throwing it out since I usually only get it for some party recipe and it’s not like I throw that many parties.
It’s all a tradeoff. In the “old days” I believe that toothpaste used to be tooth POWDER. Huh. Personally, I’d much rather have the tube and throw out the stuff I can’t get to. If toothpaste weren’t in a tube, you may end up changing the toothBRUSH. Just some thoughts.
I tend to be frugal but since my mom is OCD and a hoarder, with her OCD causing her to try to get EVERY BIT out of anything, I try to be on the watch for spending my time trying to eke out the so-called value of something. Time is valuable as well.
Let’s say someone redesigns the toothpaste container - the container itself might end up being more wasteful with respect to resources.
I agree that some built-in waste is Highly Annoying. But a revolution?
I am still not sure where the waste comes with yogurt. I must be missing something.
Well…I’ve been eating yogurt (Yoplait brand, to be precise) recently each day. And I notice that I can always keep trying to get that last bit, but I’m not able to. I’ll look in the container and see color so obviously there is still more. But when I scrape it with my spoon, there’s not enough to get caught by the spoon. In the cracks, under the lip, it can be an endless battle trying to get every last bit. Does that make sense? Same thing for mayonnaise. You reach a point where you pretty much got it all, but you can’t actually get EVERY last bit like you can get every last bit of a completely liquid or a completely solid product.
And the revolution…that was a joke. Occasionally I’ll crack a lame one. I know they’re not very funny, but I’d be happy if you’d humor me a little bit.
Really this whole post was ranting (i.e. whining) about a tiny annoyance that I feel like I’ve been encountering everyday.
Don’t say “stingy!” It’s “frugal,” and there is a vast difference! lol. I have to admit that, while I am wasteful in some things, I am with you on getting that last bit of something in the jar. In fact, I’m worse. I had a friend fall over laughing when she watched me cook…and I scraped the last bit of egg white out of the shell.
Ah semantics, how lovely. I know exactly what you mean about eggs! There’s that little bit of egg white that stays in there. It just feels wrong to throw it away. Although I don’t think that anyone has every laughed at me while trying to get things out, they sure have told me to stop doing it. Apparently that scraping sound can get on people’s nerves.
place water in the shampoo bottle, shake it around, and use those last drops. it works. i’m SURE everyone does this??
also, to add to your list, Peanut Butter! the tip here is to not refridgerate it. apparently it doesn’t need to be, so don’t get grosse out. now, even if it’s not refridgerated, placing water in the container won’t help of course. i’m not sure how to get the last of the peanut butter, but at least non-refridgeration will save and prevent plastic knives from breaking. you save plastic knives.
p.s. i it’s not frugality but simply a way of being eco-friendly and appreciating our resources!
True, that’s a very good solution for the shampoo. I do that myself. But unfortunately it doesn’t work with everything (like the mayonnaise).
Peanut butter is a good one! The only thing that I can think of is…the destroy the container to get at the last bit of peanut butter. And that is not optimal at all.
Haha thanks for correcting me on using the term frugal. That’s a positive spin on it (although I don’t actually think that “frugal” is necessarily a bad thing).
Yeah, Jewish people have that same reputation, I would bet even more so. But I don’t think of it as being frugal OR stingy. I just think it’s wrong to waste. Good point on the time think though Ms.Q!
The toothpaste clip - I didn’t realize you could still get those things. I thought they were mainly to stop people from squeezing in the middle so that the metal tubes didn’t get holes in them & now that the tubes are more plastic-y & flexible, those clip things were a thing of the past. It still bugs me when my kids squeeze the toothpaste in the middle though, whether the tube will break or not.
I doubt the companies have too much incentive to think of better ways. After all, the sooner you use it up, the sooner you have to buy more. I mean, not to sound cynical or anything… :-0 :-0 :-0
This post is making me hungry, btw. (for peanut butter & yogurt though - not for toothpaste!)
I’m also not real keen on waste. Hence the extra work to get the last bit!
I definitely didn’t think that the toothpaste clips were to prevent holes in the metal tube. I wonder what the original intention really was now!
That’s a good point, I’m not too sure that companies would want to do anything of their own initiative. But we could somehow support companies that do try it. Too bad I don’t know if there are any that have. Like Heinz with their upside down ketchup bottles instead of the old glass diner ones that were impossible to get anything out of unless you were crafty.
Let’s hope there’s not toothpaste ingestion! That does not sound appetizing at all!
Lol at you guys