The hypocrisy! It burnssss!

[usernamenumber]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why the heck is it that every single brand of hippie-dippie soy milk I buy comes in a wax-paper carton that (at least in Arlington) can't be recycled, instead of an ordinary blastic jug? Yeah, some brands of regular milk use the wax cartons too, but I can't find any soymilk that doesn't.

Perhaps I'm just in a cynical mood today, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they don't use plastic jugs because they expect, perhaps correctly, their target market to not want to buy something so... ordinary looking. I mean, people might think they were like the other consumers!

Seriously, am I missing something here? Is there something about the production process of plastic bottles vs wax-paper cartons that offsets the wax-paper ending up in a landfill? Perhaps it's completely biodegradable? The box I've got doesn't advertise the fact if that's the case. Hmmm...

Oh, and while I'm at it, I went to a second large store yesterday looking for a pair of black, non-pre-faded, non-pre-ripped, non-big-logos-stitched-into-random places, ordinary jeans. Still no dice. Wtf? At least TJ Maxx had the option of blue jeans that fit my preferences. Burlington Coat Factory has exclusively pre-torn jeans. Affluent people buying jeans that ape some romanticized vision of the hard-working poor really underscores just how bizarre society (and not our society in particular-- every society is it's own little incoherant snowflake for its own special reasons) can get. And yeah, those of your familiar with my personal style, in particular the pair of jeans I'm finally trying to replace, may detect a note of hypocrisy here but hey, at least my jeans are ripped to shreds because I've been wearing them for five years. It's not a fashion statement, it's a relationship.

Hey wow, I'm donright crotchety today. ...which is not to say I'm in a bad mood, I'm actually rather enjoying it. =;)

Comments

[lediva.livejournal.com]

You should melt the wax off yourself and make candles!

[marphod.livejournal.com]

Most areas I've lived in will let you recycle milk cartons. Somerville and Medford take them (Cambridge does not).

They are entirely biodegradable -- paper (wood pulp) degrades, as does natural wax. And they CAN be recycled (well, the paper part), but being wet-strength paper, they aren't easy to recycle and may not eb cost-effective to do so.


Just because it is degradable, though, doesn't mean it will. it will need oxygen exposure to do so, and most landfills don't provide the necessary environment for things to actually break down.

[penguinkraft.livejournal.com]

that soymilk business is ridiculous.

for regular, no-nonsense old-fangled jeans, try l.l. bean. there is a store in burlington, ma which i think is on your way home from work still?

[slyviolet.livejournal.com]

Paging Mr. Scrooge.

*hugs* ^_^

Actually I was in a crotchety mood yesterday, maybe it's going around.

[laurion]

I'll bet those cartons can be fairly well recycled as kindling for your campfire. Cardboard with wax? Excellent!

[dfn-doe.livejournal.com]

Here in Oakland they accept waxed cardboard in the recycling. Also, opaque containers reduce spoilage and degradation of different nutrient compounds; or so I've heard before.

[sprrwhwk.livejournal.com]

In re: jeans, try the Sears in the Cambridgeside Galleria. Or, always my favorite, Cabelas -- www.cabelas.com -- and they've got a very good big-and-tall selection. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target are also good options, though I don't know where the local ones are. They should sell Levi and Wrangler jeans, both companies that still make good honest no-holes no-froof jeans. The trick, methinks, is to shop where the actual hard-working poor and middle class shops. :-)

Totally with you on "why should I spend twice as much money on jeans that /already/ have holes in them?" also, if you want me to believe you're part of the hard-working poor, those jeans with holes in the *thigh* aren't going to cut it. nobody fucking wears out the /thigh/ of their jeans. go for the knees, dude. Heck, I *patch* my jeans when I wear holes in their knees. Guess I'm just uncool like that.

"It's not a fashion statement, it's a relationship." I like that. :-)

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

"It's not a fashion statement, it's a relationship." I like that. :-)

Thanks! To be honest, I was quite proud of it and hoping someone would notice. =;)

[m-shell.livejournal.com]

i noticed that it was awesome, too.

and i feel the same way about my jeans. :D

[m-shell.livejournal.com]

i wear holes in the thighs of my jeans.

[sprrwhwk.livejournal.com]

Whoa, really? How?

[m-shell.livejournal.com]

um...my thighs are large?

^_^

[siralexander.livejournal.com]

I get 8th Continent soymilk at Hannaford, and it comes in plastic jugs, and sits near the normal milk in the fridge. :-)

http://www.8thcontinent.com/8thContinent.aspx