EnviroHumanImpact

Rubber Scraper? Really? It will make my life greener?

Okay, so this is not the biggest, greenest change you could make to your life. But it is greener and here’s how.

How many times do you have leftovers? Be it from take-out or home-made meals, baking cookies or cake, you have something left on the surface of the bowl/pot/skillet that took energy to make. So the sun had to shine down on plants to grow them, they had to be harvested (often by machine), they were transported to a store, you bought them, and finally transported them home.

Then, you used energy to make your cake, cookies, beef stroganoff with a mixer, stove, or oven. The point here is that if for every meal you make, you throw away everything that coats the surface of the receptacle it is held in, it adds up to a lot of food that was produced (with all of its energy intensiveness) but not eaten (it is therefore wasted).

It might be “only” three to five percent of the total amount made that is thrown away. That “little bit” adds up when you’re spending $200 or more a week to feed your family. That might be as little as $5 a week or as much as $20, depending upon how much you are throwing away (assuming you don’t already own and use a rubber scraper).

So, buy three or four rubber scrapers. Buy one medium flat scraper. One medium “scooped” scraper. One giant scraper for that big job. And, finally, one skinny scraper for the bottom of that mayo or sauce jar.

This may sound silly as a way of “greening” your life, but if you’re throwing away significant amounts of food in a world where food demand is skyrocketing, you’re part of the problem. Rubber scrapers often can be bought in a package of three or four for as little as $10. Scraping out the bowl takes almost no more time, as you probably already scrape (perhaps for longer) your bowl with the less adequate spoon.

Save that last “little bit” today with your new rubber scraper and be a little bit greener.

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