Green Matters™
by Crissy Trask
Welcome to my blog where I share almost anything I think will help make greener living undeniable and simple. News, tips, insight and resources served up weekly. I also share my perspectives on others' perspectives and actions. Agree or disagree, I hope you will find them thought-provoking and a starting point for conversation.
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OCTOBER 14, 2009
Wrapping with your butcher
My butcher insists on putting any meat, fish or poultry that I order into a plastic bag and then wrapping the whole thing again in a generous piece of butcher paper. I've asked him to use one or the other but not both, to which he claims that double wrapping is mandated by State health codes. I couldn't imagine why. Over in the self-service meat and fish case, the items are protected only by a thin layer of plastic film. Why the double standard for meat, fish and poultry that is wrapped-to-order? Buying unpackaged food items is supposed to be a way of reducing packaging, so why was I required to accept more of it when buying this way?
I did a little research and found out that State health code doesn't require double wrapping per say, but does require "sufficient' wrapping to prevent meat juices from leaking out onto other items in one's grocery cart.
"Sufficient", then, depends upon the item being ordered. Juices don't run from cooked meat--like deli cuts--sausages that come in their own protective "skin" or dry-aged steaks, for example, but they are likely to run from a raw piece of poultry or moist fish. When raw juices are a concern--for both your butcher and you--the best way to circumvent double packing is to bring a reusable plastic container from home large enough to contain your order. If caught without your own container, when juices aren't a factor, ask for butcher paper in lieu of any plastic. Butcher paper is the earth-friendlier choice--especially if it's brown (unbleached) and made from some percentage of recycled material (hard to know for sure). I also think butcher paper is kind of quaint--I like the way those brown bundles look in my cart!
Butcher paper cannot be recycled due to its wax coating, but because of its wax coating, in many cases it can be wiped clean and reused as packing paper or gift wrap. I've been saving my butcher paper for years, but I'm hardly drowning in the stuff. I don't buy much from the butcher in the first place (I'm an aspiring vegetarian), but even if I did, the flat sheets roll up neatly and compactly. My effort not only saves trees, but saves me money. I never have to buy packing material or wrapping paper!
2009 BLOG INDEX
Posts by Topic
Air Quality
6/8/09, Leaf Blowers:
An Environmental Nightmare
Cleaning
4/14/09, Don’t
Be So Quick to Blame the Low-Phosphate Detergent
Energy
7/6/09, It’s Summer
Time and the Livin’ is ‘Green’!
4/7/09, Window Films Can Lower Your
Cooling Bills and Your Tax Liability
3/14/09, Bundle Your
Gadgets
Food
10/27/09, Super
Freakonomics Authors Come Down Hard on Local Food
10/22/09, Hey Foodies, What
Are You Feeding Your Pets?
Green Terms
5/26/09, A Closer Look
at the Definition of “Recycled” and Some Other “Re”
Words
Plastic, and other Trash
7/13/09, Will a
Ban on Bottled Water Lad to Bad Beverage Choices?
4/22/09, Bottled Water
Gets Reinvented
3/2/09, Inefficient Packaging
Awards (No. 1)
Perspectives
9/14/09, Gullibility
is Derailing Progress
8/24/09, Check
Your Lifestyle Before Bragging About Recycling
8/19/09, Simple
Solutions Won’t Work Alone: Comprehensive is the True Agent
of Change
2/22/09, The Unhappiest Generation
2/12/09, Inauguration
Attendees Fail to Demonstrate Change
Reduce
8/5/09, Direct
Mail Marketers Want to Force Junk Mail on Us
3/21/09, Better
Yard Sales
1/25/09, Wasting Trees:
Why I Hate Junk Mail
Reuse
10/14/09, Wrapping
with Your Butcher
5/7/09, Craigslist
Buyers are A Flakey Bunch on the Whole
Recycling
6/22/09, Not
Separating Your Recyclables from Your Trash Can Hurt
3/4/09, Recycle Your
Water Filters
Transportation
6/15/09, Avoid
Hot Car Syndrome to Reduce Emissions…and Discomfort
Water
3/27/09,
Water, Water Everywhere, but Not a
Drop…
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