A Blurb About CostCo and Recycling

I know this blog is about greenwashing, but I’ve decided that every now and then I will take the liberty to tell a story about a company or place that isn’t even thinking about being green whatsoever. I think it is especially important to call this to attention seeing as how the United Nations has arranged a summit with world leaders in December to make some serious commitments about reducing carbon emissions.

Visit Portland, Oregon and you’ll find one of the most innovative cities in the United States in terms of environmental consciousness and keeping the world free of pollutants and chemicals. Granted, not everyone is on the same page, but generally speaking Portland is actively fighting climate change with “sustainable” ideas. Drive 10 out of the city to the Wilsonville CostCo and you have another story altogether.

The image above is the container that comes with a chicken ceasar salad. The container is a hefty plastic that is apparently microwave safe and the bottom tells us to recycle, reduce, and reuse. Everyone who orders a salad gets one of these. You sit at the tables and eat the salad and then you have to throw away this huge piece of plastic before you leave. There is no recycling. I took the hunk of plastic to someone in charge and they said to me that I would just have to throw it away. What a total waste! Can you imagine how many of these they throw away every week? I take 10 minutes to eat a salad and because of it this plastic thing is going to be here for the next 500+ years.

It’s important to press your local businesses to adopt practices that are going to be better for the environment. We are the ones who can change this. Demand recycling and don’t buy things that are marketed to you as “disposable.” These products are not truly disposable. “There is no such place as ‘away.’”

On another note, check out the Living Plastic Free blog, a blog that truly challenges us to buy less plastic. My one purchase at CostCo gave me just as much plastic as this person gets in one whole year.