Rural Lifestyle

Life in Rural America

Stockpiling Antibacterial Soap At The Bug Out Location

Are you stockpiling antibacterial soap? If you answered yes, stop buying antibacterial soap and buy regular soap instead . Seems antibacterial has not been proven to be more effective than regular soap at preventing the spread of germs.

Preparing for the end of the world as we know it

In 2013 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requested antibacterial soap manufacturers prove soap marketed as “antibacterial” was more effective than regular soap.  As of 2016 nothing has been proven.

Full FDA write up – Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It.

From the FDA website:

“Following simple handwashing practices is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of many types of infection and illness at home, at school and elsewhere,” says Theresa M. Michele, MD, of the FDA’s Division of Nonprescription Drug Products. “We can’t advise this enough. It’s simple, and it works.”

Stockpiling Antibacterial Soap for SHTF

For several years I stockpiled liquid antibacterial soap along with those nice pump bottles. Using the pump bottles is convenient and refilling the pump bottle is easy. I figured the less someone has to touch, the more hygienic things would be.  But it may not be as I thought.  According to the FDA, using regular hand soap is just as effective  as antibacterial soap.

Long term use/storage of pump bottles has not worked out very well. Pump bottles left at the bug out location slowly stop working.  The bottles are only used every few months and seem to work less and less as time goes on.

Then there is the waste of using liquid soap.  I buy liquid soap in 56  fluid ounce plastic bottles.  Which is equal to something like .43 gallons.  Why not just make it a half gallon?  Anyway, once the bottle is empty it goes into the trash.  Using liquid soap daily at my house, that is a lot of plastic going to the landfills.  By switching to bar soap I greatly reduce my carbon footprint.

Where Does The Trash Go

I live in a rural area with no recycling facilities anywhere near me.  Just about everything gets thrown away and picked up by a trash service.  Cardboard boxes will be burned from time to time.  If I have a box that is too large for a trash bag, it goes out to a field, thrown on a brush pile and burned when the pile gets large.  Being able to burn stuff is one of the joys of living in a rural area.

The paper wrapper off the bar of soap is easier to dispose of than a 56 fluid ounce plastic bottle.  How long does it take plastic to break down?  Years, decades, centuries,,,?  Our ape like ancestors who descended from the nuclear war survivors will probably thank us for throwing away all those nice plastic bottles.  Ten thousand years from now they will probably scavenge through our trash piles and wonder why we through away such useful things.  Our trash will their gold.

It is a gamble that my descendants 10,000 years from now will find the plastic soap bottles I threw away last month.  Maybe I should write them a note and put it inside the bottle?  Then again, after nuclear war and the ensuing ice age, written language will probably be forgotten.  Maybe I could put a bic lighter in the bottle and throw it away.  Imagine some ape like creature 10,000 years from now who finds a stick that can make a spark?  He, or she, would probably be a GOD among men.  Oh I wish I could see it.  But I will be long gone and forgotten by then.

I Did My Part

I did my part to ensure the survival of our ape like descendants.  Over the years I threw enough bottles away for a small tribe to keep water, berries, roots,,,, all kinds of stuff in.   The time has come to tone it back a little bit.  Maybe I need to stop throwing away plastic bottles and reduce my carbon footprint to something a little smaller.

Kevin Felts © 2008 - 2018