Disposables

I am serving at the Uptown Shepherd Center for my service learning. It is a senior center where seniors come to attend regular activities during the weekdays. Some activities are sewing, Tai Chi, computer class, grocery shopping, and lunch. These activities are usually once a week. Lunch is every day at noon. Before lunch the table is set with a paper towel, a package of disposable utensils, a milk carton, and a plastic cup of water. The meals come in a foil container with a paper and foil lid from Meals On Wheels. Everything is made easy, simple, and convenient. When the seniors had enough of their meal, they simply toss everything in to the garbage. I am not judging the senior center for using disposable items. It is part of American culture. Some people can only afford disposables because of the low upfront costs. It makes me wonder about how things became this way. Some use it for the convenience. For example, using disposable plates and utensils minimizes or eliminates the dishes that would have to be wash if one was using reusable. Disposable items are a real issue. Things can be bought so cheap that it hardly matters if it is thrown away. When you look around at the litter on the streets you would hardly find the items that are designated as reusables, such as metal forks, canvas bags, or glass cups. I met an older fellow once who told me about the old glass coke bottles. He said the coke itself use to cost a quarter and you had to return the glass bottle. If a bottle breaks or not returned, the soda company would lose money. So now the soda companies sells us the bottle to prevent profit loss. I know inflation has occured and the price would be different. If we were to get rid of disposable it would be much better for the environment. We can conserve much more resources.