About once a month my friend Ken (aka Norm) phones me up and asks if I want to deal a poker tournament. I enjoy dealing poker and this particular poker tournament is a quality run game with seemingly endless perks, and a decent bunch of players.
The host is a flush business man who loves playing poker, and is a generous entertainer as well. His basement is the ideal poker room, equipped with two professional size tables and a huge flat screen TV, inevitably showing UFC or the Canucks. There is always a spread of snacks like veggies and dip, fruit, chips and salsa from a local business (thanks to the owner), and various other niceties like olives and cheeses and a fridge full of non-alcoholic drinks to tide you over before dinner, usually pizza or chinese food.
Needless to say, it is hard to turn down an opportunity to participate in the tournament. But from past experiences I have seen first hand, and had to swallow my tongue, when, at the end of the evening Norm and I would clean up and take the garbage out and I would turn a blind eye to the disgust I felt in watching at least two big black garbage bags full of disposable and recyclable material taken to the curb for burial at the TIB (formerly KIB) landfill.
The poker tournament is hosted in an area of town owned by the Tk'emlups Indian Band, which does not currently have recycling. I'm sure if the residents were so inclined, they could take their recyclables to the nearest recycle depot. This is not the case with our lovely poker host.
Never in the past have I offered to take recyclables home to put in my curb side recycling container. I have always tried to avoid using disposable plates and utensils, but I am not in the habit of bringing my own dishes, and my non-imposing self never has the courage to ask for a "real" plate and fork. This is my round-about way of saying that I am guilty of using disposable items - does that make me a hypocrite?
Saturday night was going to be different. April 30, the last official day of our first month challenge to live waste free. I was going to this poker tournament and I was not going to contribute any waste to those two huge bags. I also went with the intention of taking all the recyclables home with me, but because I went home before the game ended, I didn't get the chance. Perhaps next time. And perhaps next time I will have a brilliant idea of how to cut down on the use of disposable items. Any suggestions?
While not all waste is plastic, we are on a no plastic challenge. We have had the same troubles in reference to plastic ….
ReplyDeleteDue to the vast amount of toxic chemicals in plastic (http://fondalashay.com/mintchilli/plastics-the-sixth-basic-food-group) we have jokingly said before that we are allergic like some people are allergic to peanuts. While people know we are joking, it does always spark up a conversation and makes people curious. It generally goes something like this: How can you be allergic to plastic.. it is everywhere they say. We answer yes, but we are allergic - but it is more of a mental allergy. We know what toxics are in plastic and how they can harm our future children and the planet and want to avoid that. It is not that you will need to rush us to the ER if we touch plastic, we just want to be safe as possible. We don't want to take the chance. This tends to either stop there with strange looks or people are (excitingly) very interested. At this point we don't care anymore about being labels odd or strange or the many stereotypes that can come with this area.
Just one way we have been attacking it :) It also works well with the butchers for example.. if they are giving you a hard time about wrapping your meat in paper.
Good luck with the next party. I find that with people you see continually sowing a little seed of knowledge if great, because the next time you see them they will probably have questions and also tell you something they did (like not use a straw). We have now see with parties that our friends are starting to be conscious that we are coming and letting us know they have looked for or found or need advice on a plastic free alternative. Or that they plan to take all the bottles from the party to the recycling station first thing in the morning. Those seeds really start to sprout in their minds!
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