Pondering Waste while Sipping Organic Tea

Last evening we saw the film FLOW - For Love of Water. This is a very descriptive documentary about the harm being done to entire villages and ecosystems because of the thirst big business has for control of water in order to satisfy shareholder need for profits. Water is a basic human right and therefore not a commondity to be owned by big business. Not one living thing can survive without water. It has become the new oil and some have labelled it Blue Gold because they now see the mega profits that are being made from exploiting this natural resource. If the film comes to a theatre near you it is worth the effort to go see it.

I was doing well with being waste free all day until I got to that movie theatre. I had taken my reusable travel mug, it was a cold night, and I ordered an organic tea. It wasn't until I had ripped open the outer wrap from the tea bag that I realized it was neither compostable nor recylable packaging. At first I thought "oh well what can I do, this is the way tea is sold at the theatre." But that simple act of carrying on with that cup of tea bothered me all evening. I know I will be more diligent next time and not forget to ask about all aspects of the product I am about to purchase before I order and open it. As the customer, it is up to me to say NO to anything that will end up in the waste bin. This was just a small item in the big scheme of things, but it is a small item multiplied by millions of tea drinkers all over the country every day and that adds up eventually to tons of waste. Putting thought into the importance of one small tea bag wrapper can lead to potentially significant learnings and a huge environmental impact overall. I wonder if they composted the spent tea bag. If not then that too was part of the waste on day five.