Plethora of plastic

At Toastmasters a member gave a speech regarding plastic pollution in our oceans and it really brought home what a throwaway society mankind has become. Littering proliferates as people have no concern for the environment, how it impacts on the flora and fauna or even the fact that untidiness around you makes for a cluttered and unfocused mindset.
We have filled our lives with busyness and forgotten that a fulfilled life doesn't have to be about working and achieving relentlessly. We have allowed a huge industry to be built around packaging to attract consumers that has increased the costs of the goods consumed without adding any value. We have only to look in our rubbish bins each week to see the level of throwaway packaging we have paid for and discarded.
There are two things that I get on my hobby-horse about: the first is picking up dog poo in a plastic bag. If plastic takes hundreds of years to disintegrate, why would we want to encase fully compostable matter in it and send it to landfill? The very thought is revolting, not only for the unfortunates who dig around in such areas, but because the best place for it would be to dry out naturally and return to the earth in time.
The other is packaging of fruit and vegetables. We are all guilty of snatching a few pre-prepared items in the supermarket, because maybe we think we will use the time saved more productively, or for more leisure. But we overlook the therapeutic value of handling the food we eat; feeling the textures, scrubbing under running water to preserve as much of the nutritional value as possible without peeling, skilful handling of a knife to chop and slice and development of our creative side in presentation of the food in just the way we would like to see it. Not to mention that such activity allows us to daydream and give our minds a rest from the overthinking we are all plagued by. By getting your fruit and vegetables as close to the source as possible and avoiding packaged items, we are both saving the planet and ourselves at the same time.