Thursday, September 15, 2011

THE CURSE OF THE TUBES

I am shamed daily and threatened with global annihilation or at least detention by every magazine, webzine, and the occasional neighbor.  Why?  Because I don't recycle everything including leftover soymilk and purified water.  

Yes, I have tossed the occasional mooshy banana or unchewable melon half.  But please!

The real shame is in my bathroom.  A really good conditioner and sunscreen are available only in tubes.  Have you ever tried cleaning out a tube for recycling?   (We won't even go into the dabs of sunscreen on my clothes from a tube that gets surly most mornings.) 

 By some contrary coincidence, these tubes sprouted up just when the urging to recycle was upon us.

And dare I go into the matter of the really good body lotion, conditioner, or whatever that comes only in a skinny bottle with a pump?   The tubes, surely not by evil design, wear out long before the bottle is empty.  (Note the lotion bottle that's been on it's side on my nightstand.  When I have time, I can shake the last of the lotion out of the now-pumpless bottom. 

I could smear myself with honey instead of buying lotion (if it's good for a facial, why not?  Or are they designing a tube for honey?)  

This could go on for some time, unless some container designer has a horrible nightmare that his granddaughter is surrounded at sea by a million discarded tubes.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

 Or we could boycott.  Or write more letters . . .

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