Less to Waste

It was time for a new bottle of zinc. I have taken zinc for a long time. It seems to help with regards to warding off colds, flu and other such things. I take 50 mg a day, which is one capsule. It, a calcium and vitamin D supplement, and Folic Acid are taken every morning with breakfast.

So I open the bottle. Inside is the cotton plug. I remember reading some place a long time ago that, in the spring, putting these out for birds to take is a great idea. They will pick them apart for nesting materials. Well, it's October and, other than lining the nest to keep out the cold, I can't see them taking this.

I was thinking about all that as I started removing the wad, and removing, and removing and removing. Sheesh. There's half a field of cotton in here. After I pulled the wad out, there is half a bottle of zinc. I am not making this up. The line in the photo more or less shows where the zinc started and the cotton wad stopped. I wondered why the bottle I emptied was smaller. There was less cotton and less plastic bottle. The brand I had emptied was not available at CVS.

I understand the need for the cotton. It prevents the pills from shifting in the shipping process, smashing together and breaking apart. Zinc isn't that expensive and I can recycle the bottle easily. I used to have a cat who loved to play with the cotton. You'd ball it up and throw it around and she'd chase it. These two, when offered the ball, sniffed it and the looked at me as if to say, "Now what?" Still, it just seems to be such a waste of resources to have half the bottle stuffed with cotton.

Beverage:  Water

Deb