My Fantasies

Lately I've found myself thinking a lot about better and more sustainable packaging solutions and just human behavior in general, and my daydreams have led to a few fantasies.

And no, these fantasies have nothing to do with packing tape and bedposts.

Instead they're related to returnable jars and people accepting new and different ways of doing things.

Fantasy A: Giving Back
In the world of Fantasy A, we all create a lot less trash because most liquid products come in returnable jars only available in a few types, maybe three or four total. For example, milk would come in a "big" glass jar, pasta sauce comes in a "medium" jar, jam would come in a "small" jar, and toothpaste might come in a "tiny" jar.

My dream system would make it substantially less costly for companies to reuse jars because there would be a large intermediary company that could introduce economies of scale for collecting and washing these universal jars before they were sold them back to the companies.

Oh, and as a bonus, since lids are standardized too, we could even reuse jars from grocery store products for canning.

Fantasy B: Looking Forward
Fantasy World B is a place where no one looks at you sideways when you do something different, and people don't ever have to be scared about standing out. In this world, people try lots of new things because they know they can be good for the environment. They use cloth shopping bags and produce bags at the grocery store and know that no one is going to think they're weird. They even have the people at the deli counter pack their cheese and meats into the reusable containers they brought to the store. Heck, they'll try anything because the environment is more important to them than the possibility of feeling a little different.

...But that's enough with my fantasies. It's back to reality.