ShawnSaucier
Well-Known Member
Good Morning,
Just sitting on my porch enjoying a morning coffee and perusing the news. Not that it’s a new subject, but reading about plastic waste and single use plastics polluting the oceans got me thinking. Our hobby industry has dramatically changed over the years to a predominately aquaculture based supply system, man made or mined rocks and slowly more and more captive bred fish. This is great as corals tend to be a bit more accustomed to aquarium growth, hard to feed fish are a bit more adapted to aquarium life and we are not destroying possible habitats for rock.
Im not trying to get on a soap box and dang any vendors , but the main way of shipping has been in single use plastic bags and boxes filled with plastic foams. Not to say that this is a leading cause to the issues that we are seeing world wide, but for something that we all wish to protect, is this something we could change? And we as customers, be willing to go through possible extra steps or costs to help with these changes?
As an example, my wife has a soda stream unit that uses CO2 containers. As you are coming to the end of a tank, if you order from the website you receive a discount on your new tank as long as you return the old empty tank within so many days of the delivery. If you fail you are charged full price, so the incentive is there to get those tanks out. Also the empty tanks are refilled and recycled.
So how do we implement this to our hobby? This is just a thought and one of many possible solutions, I would love to hear every ones input. What if we used a solid container type ( glass or plastic) that was recycled with each vendor? And maybe use something like a neoprene wrap( think of a beer koozy ) on each container for insulation. What if each container also had markings for acclimation water levels and you are not having to transfer your purchase to buckets?Get your shipment in, acclimated the fish and coral, ship back the empty containers. If you do not return the containers, you as the purchaser are charged for it.
If you keep the containers, they could be used for when you go to your LFS, maybe getting a discount if we could get everyone on board, or frag swaps to hold your new purchases. Depending on the size, maybe a frozen food holder, or a dosing container if it’s on the larger size.
I understand that vendors would possibly need extra space for storage, also equipment for sterilization of pre-used containers and employees to facilitate the process. And we as the customers would acquire slightly larger costs for shipping and the hassle of return shipping. But wouldn’t it be worth it?
Your thoughts?
Just sitting on my porch enjoying a morning coffee and perusing the news. Not that it’s a new subject, but reading about plastic waste and single use plastics polluting the oceans got me thinking. Our hobby industry has dramatically changed over the years to a predominately aquaculture based supply system, man made or mined rocks and slowly more and more captive bred fish. This is great as corals tend to be a bit more accustomed to aquarium growth, hard to feed fish are a bit more adapted to aquarium life and we are not destroying possible habitats for rock.
Im not trying to get on a soap box and dang any vendors , but the main way of shipping has been in single use plastic bags and boxes filled with plastic foams. Not to say that this is a leading cause to the issues that we are seeing world wide, but for something that we all wish to protect, is this something we could change? And we as customers, be willing to go through possible extra steps or costs to help with these changes?
As an example, my wife has a soda stream unit that uses CO2 containers. As you are coming to the end of a tank, if you order from the website you receive a discount on your new tank as long as you return the old empty tank within so many days of the delivery. If you fail you are charged full price, so the incentive is there to get those tanks out. Also the empty tanks are refilled and recycled.
So how do we implement this to our hobby? This is just a thought and one of many possible solutions, I would love to hear every ones input. What if we used a solid container type ( glass or plastic) that was recycled with each vendor? And maybe use something like a neoprene wrap( think of a beer koozy ) on each container for insulation. What if each container also had markings for acclimation water levels and you are not having to transfer your purchase to buckets?Get your shipment in, acclimated the fish and coral, ship back the empty containers. If you do not return the containers, you as the purchaser are charged for it.
If you keep the containers, they could be used for when you go to your LFS, maybe getting a discount if we could get everyone on board, or frag swaps to hold your new purchases. Depending on the size, maybe a frozen food holder, or a dosing container if it’s on the larger size.
I understand that vendors would possibly need extra space for storage, also equipment for sterilization of pre-used containers and employees to facilitate the process. And we as the customers would acquire slightly larger costs for shipping and the hassle of return shipping. But wouldn’t it be worth it?
Your thoughts?
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