Plastic is ubiquitous. It’s everywhere, infiltrating every aspect of our lives.
Pick up a pen. It’s plastic.
Open up a cereal box. Inside the cereal is packaged in plastic.
Get a cup of coffee at Dutch Bros. The lid is plastic.
Buy a box of screws. There’s a window into the box made of clear plastic.
Order something on Amazon. Most likely it’s made of plastic, shrink-wrapped in plastic, and mailed in a plastic bag or in a box cushioned in plastic.
Plastic bags. Shrink wrap. Molded plastic handles. Stickers. Bottles. You-name-its. We are continually bombarded by plastics of many kinds. Most of it is packaging, but much of it is the item we buy itself.
And the problem is that most plastics are not reusable or recyclable. Glass, metal, and paper packaging items are highly recyclable. Not so those damned plastics which keep collecting in landfills, requiring us to set aside new landfills to receive them. Don’t believe me. Read the article “Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work” in The Atlantic. It’ll make your day.
In order to increase awareness of just how prevalent plastic is, I’m creating Consume No Plastic Week for myself during the last full week of August. Yes, I want to ruin the last full week of summer. Actually, I’m just picking that week because my wife is out of town and I don’t want to inconvenience her.
Here are the rules if you choose to join me:
- No stocking up in advance. The idea here is to face consumption decisions during the week and to be forced to struggle with them.
- Previously purchased items made of plastic may be used. Frankly, I don’t think we can make it a day without using plastic items. I mean, the keys on the MacBook Air I’m typing this on are made of plastic. As is the steering wheel and much else in the Toyota Tacoma I’ll drive to work. And the seat I’ll sit on one I get to the office. And the phone I’ll use while there. I think you get the point. So using previously purchased plastic is OK. In fact it’s the only way this is going to work. For instance, I plan on using old bags for the produce I buy so I don’t have to use in-store plastic bags. The exception here is food products. No previously purchased food products packaged with any sort of plastic may be consumed.
- No new plastic may be purchased or used whatsoever. This means no glass bottled Starbucks drinks because they have a plastic seal. No apples with the small plastic sticker bar codes on them. Forgot about those? Yep. All of a sudden, produce got much more difficult to buy.
- Feel the pain. This is going to hurt. And it’s supposed to. It will mean not using a utensil at the hospital cafe for me and eating salad with my hands if I forget to bring in metal utensils from home. Actually, it may mean having to skip entire meals if I can’t find anything not packaged in plastic.
I’m exceedingly curious what the experience will look and feel like. And I’m also curious how many others will join me in it. Will we make it through the entire week? Or will it feel like a bad choice for a Lenten fast?
If you read this, please do join me. And if you read it during some other time of the year, consider picking an upcoming week to try it out. My hope is that the idea will catch on and that people will adjust consumption methods to avoid at least some of the thoughtless and unnecessary plastic consumption we engage in.
Awareness is the first step in making real change.
And I’m sorry if I just ruined a whole week for you. Ok, I’m not sorry. It just might be one of the most important miserable weeks of the year. But there’s only one way to find out.