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Pre pandemic, I'd go often to trader joe, and they would give samples. It was maybe a small bite of a food (ice cream, salat, or whatever else), and use a plas
by ardit33 5y ago
Pre pandemic, I'd go often to trader joe, and they would give samples. It was maybe a small bite of a food (ice cream, salat, or whatever else), and use a plastic fork for it.
Just one bite, and you had to throw it out. It was more plastic than food. Whole Foods was the same. I think it is a crime against environment and I started feeling bad about it, and stopped taking samples when there were plastic utensils.
It think behaviour like this should be legislated out. For something like a sample, just a small wooden spoon, or anything else renewable, should be enough.
The externalities of that plastic, is something that neither Trader Joe or Whole Foods pays, but we all do in some way.
- lostcolony 5y agoYeah; back in the day it used to be wooden toothpicks to spear stuff, and small wooden spoons for things that couldn't be speared. I can only assume things moved to plastic because of cost, which is nauseating.
- cpuguy83 5y agoNever mind how everything in Trader Joe's is packaged in plastic.
- edoceo 5y agoPlastic wrapped fruit. I can't believe it. Fruit comes with its own already biodegradable container! F Trader Joe's fruit and veg.
- vinay427 5y agoWhile it's more excessive in the US, or at least Trader Joe's in my experience, various fruits and vegetables are regularly found in plastic in the European country I live in and others I've visited. Grapes, packs of apples or peaches, various peppers, etc. I find it unnecessary in some of these cases as well, unfortunately. It seemed better in local stalls that are especially plentiful in certain larger cities.
- kibwen 5y agoIs this a regional thing? Ours just has fruit and veggies for the taking, like any other supermarket.
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoJust have the sample. Your refusal to not consume it isn't going to change them buying the plastic, because given the choice, people aren't going to stop sampling in the aggregate. And at that point you're just signaling to other people in a really silly way. If you really care, talk to your local representatives or write to Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Anything else is posturing. Not taking a sample which costs them a few cents on the dollar is not taking action. I'm not going to stop, personally. They can give it to me in paper wrapping instead if they want to make a difference, and in fact, with their cups, they already do. Let someone invest in paper sampling spoons.
- pessimizer 5y agoThere's no ethical consumption under capitalism, which is why I'm going to keep my slaves but vote really hard against slavery.
- yaitsyaboi 5y agoEven setting aside the importance of principles, every spoon OP doesn't use is a spoon that doesn't end up in a landfill.
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoAnd my point is that it's like saying I didn't fill up my tank with gas today: it didn't stop oil refineries from producing gasoline.
- jeffbee 5y agoMost American consumers who find themselves at the local TJs or Whole Foods should probably feel way, way worse about driving to the store than about little plastic spoons.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoI’m not bicycling in 20 degrees Fahrenheit to shop for a family of 4, bags strapped to a bike. And there’s no public transportation. I think I’ma pretty regular American consumer. So I should feel guilty about this according to you?
- abdupattoh 5y agoI typically shop on a bike for my family of six at -15 to -25 C in Finland. But I live close to a large store and bike roads are excellent and usually cleared if snow.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y agoYou’re a better person than me. Sorry, I’m not doing that. For the record, I’m roughly 6.5 km from a market. I wouldn’t even know how to strap 20 bags to a bicycle. How do you?
- jeffbee 5y agoThis thread has verged into "30-50 feral hogs" territory. I have never, even once, seen a person with 20 bags of groceries.
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoI suspect that for most people, when they are choosing where to live, environmental effects are way down the list. More important are: Will my kids go to a good school? Are the poor people (and associated social problems) far away from me? Which is to say that if you choose to live someplace where you can't walk or ride a bike or have mass transit access to daily needs, you made that decision. I'm not going to tell you that you are wrong, though.
- alkonaut 5y agoYou mean even in 2018-2019 they hadn't switched plastic forks/spoons for wood? Come on
- nostromo 5y agoAre you sure they're not biodegradable "plastic" forks? That's what my Trader Joe's uses. I believe they're made out of cornstarch.
- InvertedRhodium 5y ago> biodegradable plastic This is a distinction without a difference - all forks are biodegradable, the question is over what time-frame.
- MichaelApproved 5y agobiodegradable plastics are deceiving because the landfill they go into must be specifically tailored to biodegrade the plastics. Otherwise they stay there forever, just like regular plastic.