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From an economic perspective, disposable products make great business sense — convince a willing consumer to buy something, use it once, dispose of it and buy it again. Since corporations are not held responsible for the full life cycle of a product, disposable equates to profitable. The problem is, a product’s life cycle has many stages, with environmental, social and economic impacts. The manufacturing, transport, distribution, use and disposal of a product requires energy and raw materials and has the potential to create CO2 emissions, water effluents and solid waste. While the masterminds behind such products as teeth whitening strips, puppy pee pads and flushable toilet brushes reap the rewards of infinite profits, we will all bear the long-term costs of disposal, reclamation of resources and cleaning up the pollution left behind — if it’s even possible.

SWIMMING IN PLASTIC

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (www.greatgarbagepatch.org) is an island twice the size of Texas that has formed between California and Hawaii and is made of garbage (80 per cent of which is plastic). While the average plastic bag is used for just five minutes, it takes up to 1,000 years to break down. Make reusable bags your new religion — keep them at your workplace, in your car, in your house and tuck a small one in your purse.

TIMMY’S DEFENDS TRASH

Impacts from paper cups in 2006 in the U.S. alone are estimated at 252 million pounds of garbage, 6.5 million trees chopped (since cups generally contain at least 90 per cent virgin paper), and 4,884 billion BTUs of energy and four billion gallons of water used for production (pebbleinthepond.wordpress.com). Sensing an intervention might be needed to deal with the trash, the city of Toronto proposed a disposable cup ban late last year. In the face of the ban, Tim Hortons ganged up with industry, threatening hefty lawsuits if the ban passed. Keep your coffee addiction, but ditch the disposable cup addiction — start using a reusable mug today.

CLEAN HOME, GREEN ENVIRONMENT

The Swiffer “cleaning system” was introduced in 1999 and became P&G’s most profitable product ever — no doubt, since we all must clean and most of us dislike it. Hence, a new era of convenience-oriented, disposable cleaning products sweeping the market, for everything from the floor to the countertop. Disposable wipes purchased by North Americans for home cleaning created more than 26,000 tons of unnecessary waste in one year, according to a 2005 Seattle Time report — and their popularity has continued to grow. Come cleaning day, pick a reusable alternative, like Bona’s microfiber mops — it will cost you less long-term and perform better.

WATER WITHOUT THE WASTE

World consumption of bottled water reached 188.8 billion litres in 2007, jumping 35 per cent since 2002 (www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/bottled-water.html). Some filtration techniques, like reverse osmosis, only use about 75 per cent of the total water input into the system, disposing of the rest. The process of packaging and transporting water requires millions of barrels of oil each year. Four out of five plastic water bottles end up in landfills where they take thousands of years to biodegrade, meanwhile releasing toxins like phthalates. And bottled is generally no better than tap water — Canadian water supplies are inspected every day, whereas bottled water plants are only inspected every three years. Follow David Suzuki’s lead — he insists on tap water whenever he appears at a speaking engagement. Install a home filtration system if you must heighten your water drinking experience.

HEALTHY HYGIENE PRODUCTS

Hygiene products generally come from virgin paper/cotton sources, making reusable alternatives all the more important. Disposable diapers are the third most common item found in landfills and generally take upwards of 500 years to break down (www.realdiaperassociation.org). In a woman’s lifetime, she is likely to use 15,000 sanitary pads or tampons, which end up in landfills, sewage treatment plants, oceans and beaches. Give reusable alternatives a try, like cloth diapers and the Diva Cup.

FAST FOOD NATION

Waste from fast food and takeout restaurants is an obvious source of infinite garbage — cups, straws, wrappers, napkins, utensils, drink holders and condiment packaging. Easily overlooked food convenience items, like single-serving sized yogurt containers, sandwich bags and paper lunch bags, make a year of packed lunches worth 65 pounds of waste. Eat a waste-free lunch by taking a reusable bag, cutlery, napkin and food containers (www.carbonrally.com/challenges/24-waste-free-lunch).

TREEHUGGERS READ ONLINE

According to The Magazine Paper Project of Co-op America, a tree is cut down every second for use in magazine paper, totalling about 31 million trees per year. That’s because more than 95 per cent of magazines come from virgin sources. And for all the magazines that hit the stands, on average one-third are read. Since only 20 per cent of the world’s intact forests remain, try reading the online version of your favourite magazine or newspaper.

RECHARGE IT

According to a 2007 study by Uniross, the production of rechargeable batteries has 23 times less potential impact on non-renewable natural resources, 28 times less potential impact on global warming, 30 times less potential impact on air pollution (ozone pollution), nine times less potential impact on air acidification and two times less potential impact on water pollution than disposable batteries (comparing serviceable life). More than 40 billion disposable batteries are purchased every year worldwide — choose rechargeables instead.

CLEAN UP YOUR ACT

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Kimberly-Clark — one of the largest tissue paper producers in the world — uses more than 1.1 million cubic metres of trees from Canada’s boreal forests each year to produce some 512,575 tons of pulp. Kimberly-Clark also buys pulp from companies that harvest trees from the boreal. While recycled paper towels save trees from being cut, they do nothing to address landfill impacts. Next time you’re inclined to reach for a paper towel, choose a cloth, towel or mop instead.

PICTURE THIS

Although the disposable camera industry boasts a 70 per cent recycle rate, the rest are still ending up in the landfill. Local film developers often have little or no incentive to return the camera bodies to the manufacturers, and not all parts of the cameras are recyclable. Digital cameras are available in waterproof, drop-proof varieties that should be able to suit all your needs. If you must purchase a disposable camera, make sure the developer will recycle it.

While it may seem many retailers are going green, it’s still up to consumers to make conscious purchasing decisions. What’s required is a paradigm shift from short-term profit and fashion, to function and sustainability. It doesn’t sound sexy, but neither is breathing in pollution, swimming in effluent or living on top of a landfill.