Well, I got confused with the holiday today, and by the time I went for my walk, the garbage had been collected, so I can’t share tales of my neighbors’ refuse. Instead, I will talk about two issues I face on my own: plastic cutlery and wire hangars.
No matter how hard I try not to acquire plastic forks, spoons, and sometimes knives, it seems hopeless. The other night I ordered Chinese takeout, and when I got home I discovered that they had thoughtfully provided me with a plastic fork. That wouldn’t have surprised me at lunch, or if I had been in the city, but here in suburbia, it’s unlikely that I’d be taking my food anywhere but home, where I have plenty of cutlery, and usually use chopsticks anyway for Chinese. I would think that it would be better for the restaurant not to have to hand out forks, etc., when they’re not needed, between the expense and storage issues in a small place. Plus, they already have self-serve bins of mustard, soy and duck sauces, so why not forks? My community will not accept plastic cutlery for recycling, and I already have way too much of that stuff already. (You can put them in the dishwasher and they last forever.)
My other pet peeve is wire hangars. I try not to use dry cleaning much, but even so, the wire hangars I do get seem to multiply like rabbits. Sometimes the clothes are only on them for 24 hours, before I take sweaters, etc. off to fold them and put them in a drawer. Should I just throw the hangars out? Once I took a pile of them back to the dry cleaner and they took them back, but I had a feeling they weren’t going to make it back to the plant where they actually clean the clothes.
I’ve managed to cut down on a lot of other superfluous items that make it into the house, but these two have me stumped. Does anyone have any suggestions?
