the long and short of it is that i really hate single-use plastics with all of my heart

[lirazel]

I have recently been informed that I have "poor person habits." Considering that I grew up very middle class (and surrounded by upper-middle and upper-class people--I know a lot of rich people), this surprised me very much.

The topic came up when I mentioned that I wash out Ziploc bags and reuse them. I mean, I was aware that this wasn't super common, but I didn't think it was that shocking? I have an unholy fear of throwing plastic in the garbage to sit in landfills for the next three thousand years or whatever.* I do end up throwing them away when they aren't any good anymore, but I rewash and use them many times before that point.

I also save plastic food containers--mostly sour cream containers, but also for things like salsa, cottage cheese, etc.--and reuse them. I don't own any fancy Tupperware or anything--I just use my old sour cream cartons to store my leftovers in the fridge. This is what my mama always did as we were growing up: you just put a piece of masking tape on the top and write with Sharpie what's in the container.

And while I use reusable bags at the grocery store and as many other places as I can, I do still end up accumulating more plastic shopping bags than I'd like. These I keep and either a) return to the recycle place at the grocery store, b) use them as trash bags for my little trashcan in my bathroom so I don't have to buy garbage liners, or c) use them to wrap up my shoes before I put them in my suitcase when I travel.

Anyway, apparently these are very uncommon(?) things to do, and I'm curious about how many people have these habits as well.


*Obviously, I do throw away plastic, but I really, really try to minimize it if at all possible. See: me searching frantically at the store for tampons with cardboard applicators instead of plastic ones. Why are they becoming harder and harder to find?

Poll #25450 Do You Do These Things?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38

View Respondents

Wash out and reuse Ziploc bags?

View Answers

Always
10 (26.3%)

Sometimes
16 (42.1%)

Never
12 (31.6%)

Wash out and reuse plastic food containers?

View Answers

Always
13 (34.2%)

Sometimes
24 (63.2%)

Never
1 (2.6%)

Reuse plastic shopping bags instead of throwing them away?

View Answers

Always
35 (92.1%)

Sometimes
3 (7.9%)

Never
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[pauraque]

When my state banned plastic shopping bags a few years ago, my first thought was genuinely "...but how will I replace the liner in the little trash can in the bathroom?"

[lirazel]

Hahaha! That would be my reaction too!

[dolorosa_12]

I don't reuse ziploc bags, but that's only because I don't use them to begin with. However, I reuse the other kinds of plastic items that you mention.

I am ridiculously upper middle class to the point that it's almost parodic, so I'm not really sure I'd class these habits as a working class thing.

[lirazel]

I think class is just so different in the UK (and presumably Australia too) than it is in the US.

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, I think you're right.

[lirazel]

I would love to read a nice long book about class differences in Anglophone countries. That would be fascinating.

[dolorosa_12]

I totally agree! I think I've finally got a handle on it in the UK (the book Watching the English, although a bit out of date, was very helpful in this regard).

In terms of Australia, I find it very hard to explain the way class works, but I kind of know it when I see it, like understanding the rules of English grammar without necessarily being able to explain how or why it works. The biggest difference I've observed (and this may say more about my family and what they prioritise) is that food — where you buy it and what specific things are considered 'normal' to eat — is a way bigger marker of class in Australia than it is in the UK.

[lirazel]

Yeah, I read that one and it was helpful!

is that food — where you buy it and what specific things are considered 'normal' to eat — is a way bigger marker of class in Australia

Oooh, that's fascinating. I know nothing at all about Australian cuisine.

[belecrivain]

I generally don't trust that I can get Ziploc bags clean enough, especially during months when it's humid enough that you just have to look sideways at an item for it to start growing mold. So I do wonder how much of this is weather-pattern-dependent.

We generally take plastic bags, wrappings, etc. to Publix to recycle though we do use grocery bags for dog walks. I'm trying to get better at remembering to take my reusable bag to the grocery store.

[lirazel]

specially during months when it's humid enough that you just have to look sideways at an item for it to start growing mold

Ah, that's fair!

I literally leave my reusable bags in the back seat of my car at all times because otherwise I would not be good at remembering to take them.

[belecrivain]

true story: I wrote the comment, went to check on the sourdough starters I started over the weekend, and BOTH of them had mold growing on the sides

[lirazel]

OH NO!

[ceciliaj]

yep, this is life in Taiwan, which is why most people there don't cook -- it's like why 1) attract mosquitos, 2) get hotter in the kitchen, 3) grow mold

[scripsi]

Very little garbage ends up as landfill in Sweden; it's either recycled or burned for heating (to a point we actually import garbage from other countries to burn), I often reuse plastic. And I come from a middle-class family as well.

[lirazel]

That's so wonderful to hear. We're terrible about garbage in the US. Truly, truly terrible. For years, we were selling our "recycling" to China, but now they won't take it so we're throwing even more in landfills than we were.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

While it's true that, when you don't have lots of money, you reuse stuff as much as possible, the fact that recycling/reusing/being conscious of the waste you create is seen as "poor person habits" is kind of icky, isn't it? (I know this is probably a cultural thing, and not the point of your post, but still...)

My working class family reused all we could while I was growing up, not because we were into recycling (that only became a "popular" thing in the 90s) but because throwing away stuff you could use again was seen as a waste. We reused plastic and glass containers, mostly, and reused plastic bags for the garbage bin.

Now, I don't reuse Ziploc bags, because I don't use them at all in the first place, but I reuse everything else I can, and when I can't, I keep it apart from my regular garbage, so plastic/glass/paper/etc all goes to the recycle bin. And even then, I don't toss out that mch stuff. If it can be reused, then I do so, because it's convenient, as well as good for the environment!

I use reusable bags when I do my shopping (here, stores don't give out plastic ones anymore, so it's either take your own, or buy the cloth ones they sell). When plastic bags still were a thing, I used them for all the same things you mentioned. This is all extremely common to me, so it might be a cultural thing.

I have a bunch of "Tupperware" I use over and over (most are cheapo brands, though, haha, but I have some real ones, because one of my coworkers sells them, and I also have one from the 80s that's still in perfect shape!) so I know that I don't produce a lot of plastic waste. It's still something I think of though... and then it makes me angry, because here we are, worrying about our minimum waste, while big ass companies are creating tons of it every day, and they don't care. Personal responsibility is great and important, and it helps, but we're not the ones destroying the planet! :(

[lirazel]

the fact that recycling/reusing/being conscious of the waste you create is seen as "poor person habits" is kind of icky, isn't it?

YES IT IS. I'm not terribly fond of the person who said this to me, and that's one of the reasons.

so plastic/glass/paper/etc all goes to the recycle bin.

Yes! I recycle a lot and throw away very little!

and then it makes me angry, because here we are, worrying about our minimum waste, while big ass companies are creating tons of it every day, and they don't care. Personal responsibility is great and important, and it helps, but we're not the ones destroying the planet! :(

So true.

[tribble_of_tarth]

I do all of these things, though some more than others. I'll reuse Ziploc bags, but usually for items like bagels and bread, where I generally just reuse it with the same type of food item and opt not to wash it. For a long time I would bring a bagel to work every day as a snack, and I would use the same Ziploc bag over and over again for the bagel. I've lately been trying to break myself of the habit of saving every plastic container that ends up in my possession, as I now have quite a collection and matching containers to lids is a huge annoyance.

For reference, I grew up lower middle class, and have spent most of my adult life hovering around the border of lower middle class and working class. Growing up, I got to experience how people lived all across the class scale. (I went to high school with Hilary Duff and Roger Clemens' kids, and a good friend of mine lived next door to George Bush Sr. But a lot of us were spread across the middle class and lower. It was an interesting mix.) Having said that, I think saving plastic shopping bags is done by almost everyone, regardless of class. Everyone seems to have that overflowing plastic bag full of other plastic bags shoved in the pantry or a cupboard or somewhere.

[lirazel]

where I generally just reuse it with the same type of food item and opt not to wash it.

Yes, I do this too!

I've lately been trying to break myself of the habit of saving every plastic container that ends up in my possession, as I now have quite a collection and matching containers to lids is a huge annoyance.

Ha, yes, there's a certain point where you just have to recycle some of it!

Wow, what an interesting way to grow up! I think that's great!

Having said that, I think saving plastic shopping bags is done by almost everyone, regardless of class. Everyone seems to have that overflowing plastic bag full of other plastic bags shoved in the pantry or a cupboard or somewhere.

Certainly most people I know.

[abyss_valkyrie]

I think it's just my Bengali-ness(LOL) doesn't let me throw away anything without reusing it if it can be reused!XD

[lirazel]

:D It's definitely more prevalent in some cultures than others!

[slaymesoftly]

Re Grocery store bags- we take them back to the store periodically for them to recycle.

[lirazel]

Yes, grocery stores need to do a better job of letting people know that they offer this service. I think more people would do it if they were were aware of it.

[dollsome]

We JUST watched the John Oliver segment on the soul-sucking disgrace of plastics recycling, so when I saw this on my friends list, it was very *cue Twilight Zone theme*!

I always feel so guilty when I use a Ziplock bag. My mom was just here and she put a bunch of chopped-up veggies and fruit into like three or four and I was inwardly like, "Well, damn, I didn't know we were the QUEENS of KILLING THE PLANET at this house!!!!!" So I'm trying to cling to that part where John Oliver pointed out that the plastics industry has made a huge concentrated effort to put the sense of responsibility and guilt on the consumer even though they're the ones with the power to actually change the production of single-use plastics in a way that we the people simply do not have. But yeah, generally I try to stick to reusable food containers whenever possible! I am also really bothered by all the, like, shampoo and detergent bottles we accumulate, so I tend to just leave them sitting around our house so I don't have to commit the soul-curdling action of throwing them in the trash. :|

(And I don't trust anyone who doesn't have a bag full of plastic bags to reuse! It always makes me think of the Liz Lemon vs. Plastic Bag saga. "I'm gonna hang you in my kitchen and fill you with other bags! YOU WILL EAT YOUR FAMILY!")

[lirazel]

Oh no I haven't watched that yet I don't know if my soul can take it!

"Well, damn, I didn't know we were the QUEENS of KILLING THE PLANET at this house!!!!!"

LOL.

Oh, man, the shampoo, etc. bottles just kill me. I mean, I "recycle" them but I know that a lot of them just end up in landfills anyway and it kills me.

[elperian]

UHHHHH the classism jumped right out, didn't it [edit: of whoever told you this]? Oof! I've always been told these are the habits of immigrants and the children of immigrants, i.e. our families came here recently and we still carry the habits of people who had so little to start with, but - oof.

Also I do all these things. I'm doing them less right now with the pandemic but I plan to go back to doing them post-pandemic.

[lirazel]

UHHHHH the classism jumped right out, didn't it

IT SURE DID. I gaped!

[narie]

I don't reuse takeout containers because I order very little and here we've shifted to compostable (which I can't compost because I don't have a garden), but I definitely reuse zip lock bags and other bags all the time, can't imagine not doing that. I double bag in the freezer, so half of my bags can be reused without even washing them, tbh.

[lirazel]

Oh, that's so great that y'all have shifted to compostable. I dream about that!

[superborb]

Ugh, the nearby towns all banned single use plastic shopping bags in the years leading up to 2020, but then... during the pandemic they banned reusable ones, so I'm back to building my collection of bags-for-the-tiny-trash-cans...

[lirazel]

Oh goodness, I can't wait until banning of single use plastic bags fiiiiiinally trickles down to red state America. They truly are the worst thing in the world.

[lebateleur]

For what it's worth, my entire family does this. For my parents and grandparents, I think it's a combination immigrant and survived the Great Depression thing. In addition to inheriting all that, my generation grew up reading Ranger Rick.

And it's a bunch of other stuff too: last May the NYT published an entire article on "quarantine frugality" and out of everything they list the only thing my family doesn't do is "grow veggie tops in water."

[lirazel]

Yes, I definitely think that this kind of thing originated with my grandparents in the Depression, then was passed on to my mama and then to me.

Oooh. What an interesting link. I'll check that out!