No Food Packaging at City Hall? No Problem.

What’s the hardest SUD to kick?

Is it plastic bottles? Nope, because once you learn how destructive they are to ecosystems and communities (yes communities), you start carrying a reusable bottle and never look back.

What about plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores? Not really. Especially with reusable bags that fit in your purse and insulated bags for when you’ve got glass gallons of milk to tote around.

The hardest SUDs-habit to kick is food packaging.  And it’s the hardest to kick because most food comes pre-packaged in single use disposable packaging and because, hey we still need to eat.

The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability in Philadelphia is taking this challenge on for the month of August and going cold turkey on single use food packaging.

Sarah Wu, Policy and Outreach Manager, broke down the challenge rules for me: “We’re allowed to accept things if they’re composted, and we’ve found that some restaurants do use sustainable packaging. (Like the Pita Pit!) But we can’t have any food packaging waste in our trashcans. So we buy a lot of fruits and vegetables and food tha can be purchased in bulk.”

Until September rolls around, that means no boxes of cereal and no bags of tortilla chips. No store-bought salsa for said chips, and no tv-dinners. (Sounds like it might also be a good way to lose that persistent 5 pounds?)

Perhaps more significantly, it means no takeout without reusable containers. No plastic, Styrofoam or paper packaging. Sarah says, “My coworkers and I bring our reusable containers to the place we get salads from, and the people who make them are like, ‘Okay, crazy person…’ ” *

“It’s been interesting to see where the challenges are, like when you’re in an airport, everything is packaged,” she says. And even though air passengers can bring empty aluminum water bottles on board, there’s still the lingering fear that a grumpy TSA agent won’t let it on and then you’re out $20!

Next month takeout containers are back on the table, including some of the foods that were off for this month, like yogurt. “Of course, I could make my own yogurt. But that takes time, too.”

*And yet, the actions of the man who threw his cigarette in the gutter on my way to work are considered socially acceptable.