Smoke and drink

In considering all aspects of our life, there is a lot to cover when limiting packaging and trash in our lives. Of course, we still want to enjoy life and the little pleasures that come with it... so we won't be going off the grid just yet (but when we do someday, we will have plenty of electricity to use our computers and watch movies and even run a recording studio). Meanwhile, we have been thinking of the smaller, more manageable and realistic things... thing like smoking and drinking. What? I know what you are thinking and you just might be right - we like to have a little fun. Ok, it's true that I actually have a huge issue with the smoking and I am not the one who does it. However, until a certain unnamed person chooses to quit, I need to make the best of it. So, the first step is a solution to the plastic wrapped pouches of tobacco that have previously been the staple. This is what I came up with:

If we buy a tin of tobacco then we have 4 times the amount of tobacco in one package and there is much less plastic. The tin says "printed on recycled materials", which makes me feel a tad better and the container is recyclable (or at least is a very reusable storage container). The pouch is actually a reusable snack bag that we sell at the co-op made by a company called snack taxi. I lucked out and found this nice black one and thought it would be a great replacement for the plastic wrapped/covered tobacco pouch that my partner used to buy. Luckily, he's into it too.

For now, this works.

As for the drink part, well our temporary fix for that is making sure that we are only buying in glass (and buying less). It's interesting that someone asked me today what we do about beer. The nice thing about beer is that you can usually purchase from local breweries that offer jugs (with a deposit) that can be returned to be reused. However, if you live near a brewery then consider taking a jug there and asking them to fill it for you. The ultimate goal for us is to make our own "drink"... but I will save those details for a later post since we don't even have the equipment yet. I will tell you this though: we are buying a new (very used) car soon from someone who is moving out of the country. After a very cool conversation with him, it turns out that he has some equipment to pass on for brewing some alcoholic beverages and he told me today that he will drop it off sometime this week! Hooray for upcycling and for very cool people and just for living in the Berkshires in general!