http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/gluttonousamericanlifestyle Questions tagged with 'gluttonousamericanlifestyle' at Ask MetaFilter. Mon, 05 Dec 2005 23:44:17 -0800 Mon, 05 Dec 2005 23:44:17 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://ask.metafilter.com/28517/What%2Ddo%2DI%2Ddo%2Dwith%2Dall%2Dthis%2Dplastic What do I do with all this plastic? Or, rather, what do you do with it? I'm talking about the seemingly endless stream of plastic that ends up in our modern lives. I know what to do with bottles and cans (just clap your hands), but what about shrink wrap, saran wrap, packing materials? Just looking around, I see chapstick, deodorant, box of q-tips, all of these are disposable and made of plastic. AOL CDs that arrive in the mail. I could go on for hours...<br> <br> For that matter, what do you do with styrofoam? Aluminum foil? I feel somewhat ok with throwing out a bag of trash per week when it's mostly food or paperish stuff that will decompose. But the garbage bag itself is plastic, too. Is this crap going to exist in a landfill forever? Is there anything I should be doing that I'm not presently doing?<br> <br> Something about this time of year always seems to bring it to the forefront for me. The thought of all the wrapping paper (what's that stuff made of anyway?), shrink wrap, plastic packaging, that will all be thrown away, just disturbs me. tag:ask.metafilter.com,2005:site.28517 Mon, 05 Dec 2005 23:44:17 -0800 consumerism environment gluttonousamericanlifestyle guilt plastic recycling waste knave