I'm committed to purchasing as zero waste and plastic free as possible knowing full well I will fail.  Failure is part of the journey and you have to accept the times when you mess up and try and figure out ways to do better.

I was shopping recently at my local grocery store.  Normally I shop at a variety of stores especially when purchasing certain products including yogurt.  The thing was I just didn't have time.  I missed my yoga class because of appointments so I knew I just had to buy everything at the big grocery store.

I did pretty well.  I brought a container for my chicken.  Was able to stand on tiptoes to reach the mayo packaged in a glass bottle.  Bought a bunch of fresh veggies that I simply put in my basket.

I realized as I was walking towards the yogurt that this would be my "fail".  The menu was spicy Indian and I needed plain yogurt.  I also knew that while there were some choices of glass for snack yogurt, plain yogurt is packed in plastic containers.  I know I could reuse the containers for food storage but normally I buy local, farm fresh yogurt in glass bottles.

Voila!  My local Hannaford's was carrying Maine Milk House Yogurt in mason jars.  This is a big deal.  First, as a sustainable shopper I love to see choices in the mainstream shops.  It raises awareness for all and makes it easy for Zero Wasters rushed for time.  It's also really important to encourage and financially support small businesses who make the decision to pack their products as eco friendly as possible.  When a company makes this decision they generally lose money.  It's our experience that eco packaging cost at least double conventional, plastic packaging.

The truth is our cheap plastic packaging is subsidized- it's subsidized by our planet.   

Shop sustainable.