Just How Precious are Cookies?

In the big scheme of things, wouldn't you rather have your evening shattered by opening up a package of cookies to find that some were in shards and crumbs than to open a package of cookies and find that you had four pieces of non-recyclable plastic to deal with?

Welcome to Tate's, a delicious treat and maybe my favorite grocery store cookie.

In each bag comes two plastic trays full of about 10 cookies each. And, each tray is individually wrapped in plastic to keep them crispy and fresh. And they are quite crispy, these cookies. But I ask you to think about that and the consequences. Voila-

Now personally, around 9:30 most nights other than another glass of wine all I really want is a few of their chocolate chip with walnut cookies. You can taste every ingredient. But do I love these more than a clean beach? Or a healthy sea turtle. Or even more than a litter-free freeway on-ramp? I must, because I keep buying them.

But would I love them less if they were packaged in a paper tray with maybe paper wrapping each tray? Just how much less crisp would they be? I'm a fairly well-read guy and I don't recall many, if any, stories of people rampaging or killing themselves over the state of their cookies in days prior to ubiquitous plastic packaging. No, I think they just put them in a tin, like those other bits of preciousness in the kitchen, saltines. Sure, by the time they were gone some weren't as crisp but I bet they still were just fine.

Did we, the consumers, push for this packaging? I suspect not. I imagine it was the plastic industry proposing solutions to big issues way more important than something so silly as our environment.