Greenwashing?
You recently highlighted a product called Bite Toothpaste, which you referred to as “Zero-Waste Toothpaste” (“RV Products,” August 2022), and I was excited to share this with my 24-year-old daughter, a grad student at Yale and fighter of all things climate change since she was 8. Instead of praise, I got a mouthful (pun intended). “That’s not environmentally friendly,” she laughed, and asked if I had heard of greenwashing. I hadn’t. She explained. It means companies will often market a product as environmentally friendly or “saving the planet” to increase sales, but really, their product leaves as much of a carbon footprint, if not more, than the alternative.
In the case of the toothpaste bits, yes, they have eliminated the tube that ends up in a landfill. But is that better than a four-month subscription to brush your teeth? Look deeper into this product and the overall goal — to eliminate the plastic toothpaste tube that’s been the standard since 1886. According to the Bite website, you get your first shipment in a glass jar. Yes, glass is recyclable. Four months later you get the next batch in an envelope that was made from recycled products, same as the box it’s shipped in, and established postal routes are used, so no extra burning of fossil fuels. Just pour the bits into the glass jar and voila! Planet saved!
Credit to Bite for a good effort, but I personally don’t get it. It’s such a small fight to pick for such a big problem. My toothpaste tube can last me over a year. A machine mass-produced it. It was shipped in a box along with a thousand others and put on a shelf in a supermarket. Compared to the energy to make, store, package, and ship this new idea, I can clearly calculate in my head that the toothpaste tube creates much less of a footprint sitting in a landfill for the next 10,000 years. So, no thanks. I appreciate you highlighting this product, but I’m sticking with old-school in this situation. As my father used to say, if it ain’t broke. . .
— Michael Smith
Reno, Nevada
Repair Woes
About a week ago I called one of the locations of a national dealership network to have them work on our cable slide. When they called back, they said they are selling a lot of trailers and are servicing existing customers. They said if I call back in October, they may take a look. Second, they said they would have trouble getting parts — doubtful. When I call Monaco, I have never had a problem.
With dealership chains gobbling up local dealerships, soon there will be no places to get repairs done. Just yesterday I read in RVBusiness about this same dealership network purchasing two independently owned dealerships in New Jersey. In these times of shrinking places to camp and fewer and fewer places to get service, the future down the road doesn’t look very bright.
— Hank & Judie Blatt, F45536
Richboro, Pennsylvania
Where To Mail The Mail?
We travel from Florida to Maine and back in our coach. On the way up and back, we stay a few nights in campgrounds. I wonder why there is almost never an outgoing mail slot at campgrounds.
— Bob & Brenda Morse, F509435
Moore Haven, Florida