Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Killing the planet, one amenity at a time

Blogger sure is being persnickety. I had a heck of a time trying to leave comments on blogs yesterday. I was successful about a tenth of the time. I'm pretty much caught up on blogs, if you have no comment from me, blame blogger lol. Now, I can't get any pictures uploaded, so I guess I'll have to actually write today's post.

I was appalled again on Air Canada when I saw the disposable headsets being distributed. These headsets are not recycled and most people give them back to the flight attendants at the end of the flight. The flight attendants throw them in the garbage. Thousands upon thousands of headsets hitting the landfills every day. I don't get it, we have no trouble sharing headphones used by others at the music store listening stations. United makes the economy passengers share headphones used by patrons on previous flights. Maybe because they're cheap, or maybe because they care about the Earth. The Air Canada flight attendant explained that it was cheaper to distribute the one-use disposable kind than it was to recycle the headsets.

How can we put a price tag on the health of our planet?

But then I was confronted by something even more unconscionable - mini shampoo bottles in the hotel room. Why, and I mean WHY do we abide this unbelievably wasteful practice? How many billions of these little bottles head for the garbage dump from around the world. (I know they are cute, and I have even squealed with glee to find an array of them on the counter. But no more.) A dispenser in the shower would be far more ecological. (And cheaper for the hotel! Hey they've convinced us to not make them change the sheets each day, why not do away with the little bottles.)

But we, the people, simply love the cute little amenities in the hotel room. We should all be shot.

20 comments:

Kevin said...

But those little shampoos are the reason I stay in hotels. :)

I swear my one grandmother never bought a bar of soap in her life ... every bar she had was one from a hotel of some sort.

r said...

Hear hear my friend.

I always bring my own anyway. The Kensington, Noise Reducing Headphones work great!

Now, didn't they used to charge for headsets? Why not do that again? I bet more and more folks would bring their own just to save 5 bucks.

You know, sometimes, not often, they do refill those little bottles and put them back out there for the next hotel room stayer. It's usually at the cheaper hotels I frequent, not the Marriot... Oo la la. But, I agree with the shampoo and lotion etc; it's a big waste. Hopefully at least those are recycled.

I had the same problems as you posting comments yesterday.

Jason said...

At least most hotels have that "throw the towel in the tub if it needs changing" rule.

Anonymous said...

what about restaurants now bringing a clean glass every time you order a refill of your drink? Just take my glass and fill'er up, don't waste a gallon of water washing the old one only to bring me a new one that has to be washed too.
kb

Patricia said...

you had me at persnickety

i, too, hate the waste. we should be ashamed.

GayProf said...

I don't know -- being shot over mini-shampoo seems a bit extreme to me. Still, I suppose all revolutions require some blood shed.

I am with Rebekah, though, I almost always travel with my own. Perhaps I can avoid the firing squad?

Chunks said...

Those little bottles don't end up in the landfill here. They all end up in my luggage, and later in my bathroom drawer! I must have a hundred of them! I promise that when they are empty, I will throw them all in the recycle bin and turn them into plastic headsets for Air Canada.

With WestJet, you purchase a set, but their jacks are universal, so you can use your own earphones from your MP3 or whatever. No waste there. Fly WestJet!

I have stayed in hotels that have large, refillable bottles or dispensers on the wall. I enjoy them.

(And blogger was being an SOB yesterday!)

Snooze said...

I had never thought of the refillable dispensers. That's a great idea - except that cheapos would probably bring large shampoo bottles from home and fill them from the dispenser. I was horrified at hoarding behaviour I witnessed when I was waitressing - people systematically eating all the little packets of jam (with a spoon), taking all the sugar packets, etc.

Anonymous said...

OMG! They don't change the sheets every day? I have one word to say about recycling: Disposable diapers. I know they are quick and easy but reusable cloth diapers are so much better for the environment. Don't say you care and then use disposable diapers, children and adult diapers. I do not go off on a tangent every time I comment, O.K. I do I'm a tangenter. (New Word I just made up is that cool beans?)

Jack said...

I'm with GayProf!

Imagine the land fill for all of us! lol

But yes, everybody should pull together on this!

The Lone Rangers said...

I run into the same things at work. Whenever I visit one of our company stores I always try to take a quick peek into the "used/old cell phone recycling bin". Usually we process these by sending them back to the manufacturer where they will be disasembled and anything that could be melted down and re used is. Other times, if they still work, my company will activate them as 911 phones for battered woman shelters, homeless shelters etc.

Most of the times the phone bins are empty and people just toss their old phones into the garbage...its such a waste

Robguy said...

Does Snooze know my mother? She would collect all the "extra" items from the hotel room. One year she even "made" soap, by melting down all the little bars she'd collected from hotels and forming larger bars. If they had refillable dispensers, I'm sure mom would have taken the opporunity to refill her containers from home.

A Bear in the Woods said...

Oh my, someone's a bit of a grump today, isn't he?
I agree though, about the waste. The human capacity for denial as to our planets endangerment is staggering.

Nicki said...

Wow. The airlines I fly on must be REALLY cheap, because I've never gotten headphones, period.

And I hate those travel size toiletries. I have WAAAAAAY more than I'll ever use in this lifetime.

Bugsy said...

Its all about ease of use and taking what we think is our right. Ok, so that's a bit cynical.

If more people thought, it would be a better world!

dawn said...

Hmmm, I wonder if perhaps, just maybe, being shot might be a bit much for loving little bottles of shampoo. Maybe just slapped really hard would be okay?

Lemuel said...

We're a microwave, instant gratification, disposable culture. We won't wake up till its all gone.

...and thanks for the confirmation that blogger was a pain in the a** during the last 24! I thought it was my firewall.

madamerouge said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
CoffeeDog said...

Amen about the headsets! For what it's worth why do they even bother giving them out?? If you know you are going to be on a flight and want to enjoy the entertainment, bring your own headphones!

And airplane food - WHY? It only serves to drive up the cost of flying, I don't want their stinking food. People are babies, want to be coddled and fed at every turn.

Shampoo at hotels - I just recently stayed at nicely appointed Marriott and they had aromatherapy bathroom products ...yummy! I brought that stuff home, but I see your point about the wastefulness.

dpaste said...

Sad but true.

I do re-use the bottles for the gym, though, and for travel since I myself don't always end up at fancy hotels.