Tell Me Tuesday: Plastic spoon society

Last Sunday marked the end of the 2010 Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, which saw over 1,500 sites across Canada cleared of litter by tens of thousands of amazing volunteers.  It’s a great event and terrific fun, but can also be a bit disheartening when you think that, despite all of our efforts and 17 previous years of cleanups, people still throw garbage onto our shorelines and into our waters.  Some of the most commonly found objects are plastic bags, along with more cigarette butts than we can count. It’s surprising when you think how easy it is to choose a reusable bag instead.

(c) Ken Mak/WWF-Canada
Plastic spoons popped into my head a few times yesterday.  I’m currently in Ottawa for some meetings with the fabulous Arctic team, which are being held at Gatineau Park (beautiful!).  We’ve had a couple of lunches here now, and Ximena, our Ottawa office coordinator, thoughtfully brought proper dishes and cutlery with her, saving us from using disposable cutlery.  I was reminded of that last night when I saw this cartoon on Facebook:

A good point, right?
With so little effort, we can really reduce the amount of waste we produce and make a real difference.  So, I’d love to know: what are you doing to cut back on the waste you and your family produce?