Just Do It: Detox Your Life from Plastic! (Part One)
Plastic is starting to get to me. It’s everywhere. I can’t escape its ubiquitous presence. Everything I buy comes wrapped in it or contained in it. Even the containers I use to store my stuff are made of plastic. Is there any way to be plastic-free?
The news has been slowly seeping out for years. The ugly rumors are true: We are being lied to. The plastic we have been carefully saving for recycling is NOT being recycled; instead it is being sent to the landfills, just like our regular garbage. We have been wasting all that effort: cleaning, sorting, doing our earth-friendly duty by making sure it goes into the recycling bin.
Why does the myth persist? This is nothing more than gas lighting. Somehow, the act of pretending we’re recycling all that plastic relieves corporations, government, and people like us of the guilt and responsibility of actually addressing the plastic crisis.
Not only is plastic not being recycled – maybe 5% of it, that is, and that number is dropping—but even more plastic is being produced! How is this possible, when the producers of all that plastic know it will not be recycled? It’s possible because people like us are still buying it.
Knowing all this, how many of us really care? For those of us who do, what can we do?
This is what I decided to do: I began to collect it to reuse or repurpose. But all those plastic bags and containers pile up fast! Soon I’m afraid I’ll be buried in plastic. Help!
Do I just give up, let myself be buried in plastic? Maybe this is a good way of knowing how earth must feel, how the ocean must feel. But is this really the only thing I can do? Think about it?
As I thought about it, I remembered there are movements of people who are reducing their consumption of everything. Minimalism and Zero Waste are popular movements, and some folks are actually changing the way they live.
Would it also be possible to break the addiction to plastic as a lifestyle?
I have read the Minimalist books and watched the Zero Waste You Tube videos, and I know how it’s done. This is how it begins: start as though you’re breaking a bad habit like smoking, or eating junk food. Start small. With Minimalism, it’s the 30-day challenge of throwing away a certain number of items every day. The idea is that, by the end of the 30 days, the participant will be aware of her behavior, which will eventually result in permanent change. Raising awareness is the first step.
What if I try this with plastic? What if I start with just one day of going completely plastic-free?
But what does this even mean? I would have to use baking soda instead of toothpaste (I already do), use a bamboo toothbrush (I already do), use shampoo and soap not packaged in plastic (still working on this). I do prefer 100% cotton towels, at least.
What about food? Everything I eat must be packaged loosely—as in fruits and veggies from a farmers’ market, not from a supermarket—and everything I use to eat with must be stainless steel or glass. No processed food, plastic-wrapped cheese, oils or condiments in plastic bottles or tubs.
Washing the dishes, I can’t use a plastic sponge—but I can use a Norwex cloth. What about dish soap in a plastic bottle?
I can’t use a computer or phone. I can’t write with a Bic pen. I can read a book, but unless my eyeglasses are wire-framed, I can’t wear glasses.
Unless I return to life a century ago, I’m afraid it would be impossible to go even one day without using something made from plastic.
But trying to will serve to open my eyes, make me aware that plastic is everywhere. And do I want it to be? Do I have a choice? YES.
I can choose to use plastic alternatives whenever possible.
I can choose to be the change I want to see in the world.
I found a way to at least reduce my purchase of new plastic. A neighbor here makes Greek yogurt and sells it to us in heavy duty plastic containers meant to be reused. I was overjoyed to find this semi-sustainable source of yogurt, because it grieved me every time I had to buy yogurt in disposable plastic tubs, grieved me to the point where I considered giving up yogurt. Or making my own.
With the Greek yogurt that comes in reusable plastic containers, I immediately got the message: we are supposed to return them for refill.
So, I was shocked to learn that it hasn’t even occurred to most of her other customers that they’re supposed to bring these containers back. They either keep them for their leftovers or discard them. This neighbor has had to request, several times, that people bring back their containers. She has had to explain why. In other words, too many people, even those who consider themselves earth-friendly consumers, are still not aware of their addiction to plastic.
But I cannot give up hope: If we really want to find a way, it will begin to appear.
What are some ways you have found to detox from plastic? Leave your comments here!
