Do you know what this is? Take a guess.
It was an orange crate (or if you prefer proper nomenclature, a crate of clementines… which are a type of mandarin orange).
I love the contents, I hate the garbage they create.
This time of year our family seems to go through a few of these every month or so. I can’t say that I mind. These little mandarin oranges are perfect this time of year – sweet and juicy – it’s practically like eating candy. And of course, as a parent, I welcome every opportunity for my kids to eat fruit. What DOES bug me however, is the waste. My purchase creates an awful lot of garbage for something that disappears so quickly.
It hurts my heart to toss these in the regular garbage. They’re just so big and bulky. Here’s something that’s good to know, even though it’s not specifically mentioned on the City of Ottawa website, the crates can actually go into the green bin, but only as long as you pull all the metal staples out and tear off the plastic netting. It took Mark ten minutes to deconstruct the one pictured above, and it wasn’t an easy process.
I suppose I could start buying clementines in bulk instead, but I don’t feel as if I’m getting a good deal that way. Perhaps further investigation is required.