DIY Ingredients - Baking Soda (a partial fail)

I've made the point a couple of times (with bulk purchases of rice and castile soap), that packaging still exists behind the scenes even if you buy something from a bulk bin into a reusable bag. Therefore, when I buy a bulk purchase as I did with the two items above, I feel the packaging waste is NO WORSE than if I had purchased a smaller amount in my own container. For the purpose of my project here, I consider that to be "waste free".

I don't have a problem with this reasoning when it comes to a plastic jug or a craft-paper bag. Similarly, I wouldn't mind if the product was packaged in a metal can. What I can't accept as a solution is a product packaged in a plastic bag, plastic wrap, or mixed-material packaging (plastic lined paper bags, cardboard tube with metal ends, etc). From my understanding and experience, these items pose far more problems to the recycling process, and I seek to avoid them.

So it was unfortunate when I opened my box of baking soda to discover its contents were in a plastic bag. I have to admit that I suspected it would come this way, since baking soda has the obvious issue of absorbing odours and being a very fine powder. As a staple in almost every DIY cleaning product recipe, we also need a fairly large quantity of baking soda, so buying it in those tiny cardboard boxes at the grocery store isn't the best solution.



That's where I'm at with baking soda right now. This box came from Sunnyside Market and will last me a few batches of laundry detergent before I will need more. I do have a couple more ideas to explore for better packaging solutions, so stay tuned.

Do you buy baking soda bulk? Leave a comment!

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