Things That Make You Go Hmmm
Did you ever wonder WHY somethings are the way they are? We did. For
instance,
Why do grocery stores need to give us plastic bags.
What do you use when you go grocery shopping? Do you simply carry it, use
a crate, cloth bag, or like most people do, use a plastic bag? If you use a
plastic bag, what happens next? You might reuse it to go grocery shopping,
or to carry something else. Sooner or later, it’ll be lining your garbage
can, or thrown away because it’s stretched. No Frills and Values Basic have
the right idea by charging 5 cents. They say it also helps keep their costs
down (good environmental sense makes good business sense). Five cents is
nice but why not charge even more. Councillor Debaeremaeker wants to charge
25cents. See our link that tells you more about that. Now what about using a
crate for your groceries? They’re stronger and can be reused for a longer
time than plastic bags. So why do people still go for plastic bags? Hmm…
Do we really need gas receipts?
Some people just take gas receipts, stuff them in their pockets, or it
goes straight into the garbage. Canadian Tire and Sunoco give you choice if
you want a gas receipt. If you don’t need it, then why do you get it? Hmmm…
Why not pour milk from a jug?
Milk bought from stores, are sold in refillable jugs, or in plastic bags.
The plastic bags end up in the garbage. The jugs are refilled. So it’s
possible to sell milk without creating garbage like plastic bags do. Then if
some stores can sell it in jugs, then why can’t others? Gavin from Macs Milk
told us that most parts of the US and other parts of Canada DO sell milk in
jugs. Why doesn’t Ontario? *** And we recently found out that Harmony Milk
sells milk in glass refillable bottles, so it IS possible to have refillable
drinks.**** Hmmm...
…
What did you bring YOUR lunch in today?
When you bring your lunch to school, have you ever thought of how to get
rid of the things that’ll end up in the garbage? Like instead of wrapping
your sandwich in a sandwich bag, how about a reusable container? And instead
if bringing a water bottle which will be recycled, why not a refillable
water bottle? Remember to place reducing ahead of recycling. Hmmm….
Think if all that packaging out there is really needed?
Best way to find an answer, experiment!. Popcorn companies tell us they
need the plastic around the bag to keep it fresh. So we decided to
experiment. We kept one popcorn package in the plastic to keep it “fresh”
and left the other one out of the plastic. We waited for a month, popped
both bags and did a taste test. Here’s what we found out. 80% of our
classmates, couldn’t tell the difference between the popcorn in plastic and
the popcorn with the plastic wrap removed. Fresh or just wasted plastic?
Hmmm..
We didn’t need to do the cookie experiment because companies like Kraft
are already putting their Christie Chips Ahoy cookies in trays without
plastic. They taste great to us. Why can’t President’s Choice do the same?
We sent them a letter but haven’t heard back yet. Hmmmm
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