Noone wants to hear this one because... we are spoiled and the alternative fucking sucks...
Diapers and wet wipes. Most are not biodegradeable. That one is the one I am guilty of that bothers me the most.
I would expand that and say small kids in general are super wasteful. They consume a lot of resources, produce a lot of trash (and noise) and are a significant source of stress and sleep deprivation, both of which are suspected of causing cancer. 😅
The good news is they are biodegradable.
Sort of. Bones take a long time to degrade.
As someone who chose to be child free for many reasons, faeces everywhere, noise, trash and sleep deprivation are high on the list.
My daughter is coming in 8 weeks...and now you tell me?
Almost 6 months with my daughter, nobody told me these babies get teeth?! Now she's crying at me because she bit herself and it's my fault!
Oh, best get all the sleep you can now! You need to stock up!
Wet wipes are a ridiculous waste.
Bidets are very accessible.
It took me years to finally get a bidet. Now I'm a bidet enthusiast! The only bad thing about having a bidet is using a toilet without one.
and after overdoing it on the spicy foods, bidets are a true life-saver
sent from my bidet
We use reusable nappies for our toddler, and the washing machine is powered by solar so I only really need to feel bad about any excessive water use. But then we still have to use disposables when they're at their nursery for a few days a week, or the staff don't smell anything and they get bad rashes we spend all week dealing with. At the very least though the nursery deals with nappies as a specific form of waste that they process separately, though I'm not sure to what end.
Individually wrapped slices of cheese have always seemed pretty egregious to me
That's actually an oxide layer of plastic that naturally forms on Kraft singles after the manufacturing process.
For that reason, alongside the important aspect of taste, I always recommend deli-style American. Kraft Deli Deluxe, or Land-o-Lakes, or any number of other brands.
Deli-style often comes in a brick, pre-sliced and offset for quickly peeling slices away from one another (like how restaurants do it). It’s firmer, due to a reduced milk content compared to the Kraft singles, and holds its shape better under heat while still being the perfect, melty sandwich cheese that American is. There’s a reason some of the best burger chains use deli-style American as their main cheese.
Especially because wax paper works fine
Packets of mustard
Packets of mayonnaise.
Packets of salt.
At least the salt (and pepper) are usually in a paper pouch and not foil/plastic like the others
The tiny, plastic, fish-shaped soy sauce bottles you get with takeaway sushi.
This one’s done to death, but kCups.
Also, plastic water bottles.
A more novel pick would be those plastic ez floss picks.
Other than just flossing with string, is there a good reusable floss holder?
Some people may have motor limitations that make flossing difficult. Or just find it gross
They are a bit more expensive than the plastic ones but they make plastic free ones.
Not as bad as the others, but it's been on my mind... My wife bought a box of Ding-Dongs (my daughter begged her) and inside, each one was individually wrapped. They could have put them all in one tray.
Every box of sweets in Japan are like that. There's an outer layer of plastic, an inner layer and every sweet is individually packaged. It feels so wasteful.
I bought a family pack of chocolate croissants the other week and the packaging was plastic, then they divided them in 3 smaller packets and inside they were individually packed. I don't really understand
All those individually wrapped candies EDIT: MicroSD cards!!!
How’re are sd cards wasteful?
I think they mean the packaging. Micro SD cards usually come in a package that's 10x the volume of the card, itself.
Though, I'm not sure there's a decent way around that one. It's really difficult to ship and stock incredibly small products like that.
Anything sold single dose.
Condoms
You could pretty easily argue they're among the least wasteful things made, regardless of how much packaging they come in
Condoms prevent kids though, and those produce metric fucktons of waste
Not something I'd want to be re-usable.
Carton of toothpastes
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.