Settle for Less Packets

I love condiments, but I don't love the idea of condiment packets. I started to think about how many there are and where they go. The how many blew me away. Heinz alone sells 11 billion single-serve ketchup packets annually.

Thankfully others thought about this issue before me. In California, a law was just signed that "Ketchup packets, plastic utensils will only come with take-out orders if requested ". While this is a huge step in reducing waste, this only addresses one state rather than the entire world, and it doesn't address what happens to the packets after they've been used.

In my research, I found that Heinz has a goal to make its packaging 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. However, I didn't find details on how the single-use packet redesign is going.

I did find promising information on the Taco Bell packet. After my initial shock that "8.2 BILLION Taco Bell® sauce packets get used each year in the U.S." I found hope that there's a process in place to recycle the packets.

Taco Bell in partnership with Terracyle has a recycling program that requires the end user to ship empty sauce packets to a recycling center. This recycling process is far from perfect, but it puts a bandaid on the situation because the alternative is the packets go to landfills.

For today settle for less packets, recycle when you can, and tell the brands you support you want to settle for less non-biodegradable materials (100% biodegradable is what's good for the environment) because environmental health supports happiness.