Women's International League for Peace and Freedom St. Louis Branchby Lynn Sableman, Earth Democracy
Our ally from MO mentum Environs, Margaret Hermes, had a regular monthly meeting to write cards and letters to companies and legislators relevant to a particular environmental problem at each meeting. I was so impressed by the dedication of this group. The night I attended prepandemic we wrote to Coke and Prairie Farms about their needless use of plastic. I received a response from corporate and a ten dollar product coupon, from Prairie Farms. This kind of badgering can bring change.
Margaret continues to send emails with actions during the pandemic. Recently she chose the plastic pod issue. The use of plastic pods in laundry and dishwasher detergent does not dissolve as the marketers would have consumers believe Margaret discovered. So I have been experimenting with alternatives to these pods, also seeking compostable packaging. Here is what I’ve found so far.
The cardboard box full of Arm&Hammer Laundry soap. I pour the dry powder into the compartment for soap in the washing machine.
Thanks for posting this, Lynn! After hitting the laundry aisles, I’ve found you can still get two variations of Tide in a box in most stores. And Arlene Sandler, MOmentum AND WILPF member, gave me very minimally packaged Earth Breeze brand fragrance free laundry detergent “eco sheets” that I look forward to testing. (I tried but failed to upload photos of both). Anyway, there are non-pad, non-plastic-container solutions out there!