Life Without Plastic - Day 28 (ending with a whimper)
I really started to understand just how difficult eliminating plastic is this weekend. I went to the hairdresser and got doused in a variety of products to bring my hair back into condition. Usually, this is not an issue, so I think I have to lay the blame on the homemade alternatives to shampoo and conditioner. The real problem, though, was how good my hair felt. As much as I want to avoid commercial hair products, I'm pretty sure I'll be seduced by the plastic bottles of wonder goop the next time my hair feels like straw.
The grocery store was equally depressing. I avoided plastics in the vegetable section easily, and didn't buy any meat of significance. However, I stocked up on supplies of things the girl likes - various kinds of cheese, hummus, kielbasa, rice crackers, apple juice. Everything came in plastic (I could have avoided plastic juice bottles, but I can't afford to skip a sale in favour of my principles right now). Even the chocolate chips I bought to make her muffins from scratch came wrapped in plastic.
Then I bought her some ice cream. There was an entire wall of ice cream, frozen yogurts, sorbets, etc. to choose from. It's hard to believe that, less than a century ago, it was an exotic treat. I found myself singing this under my breath: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfh7FTV2CYQ.
In fact, far too much of the store was filled with convenience foods. However, the reality is that, as a society, we have lost the time and skills to produce sufficient food locally, let alone survive through a long winter. Short of willingly going back to a time when we had a much lower standard of living, with most of us doing hard physical labour every day, I can't see how to eliminate this insidious product.
And the fact is, it does have some value. It keeps food more safely (and reduces smells in the fridge, as I discovered when I stored something in its earthenware pot this week). It is essential for biomedical safety (for which I was grateful as I donated blood to a health research project this morning). There may be ways to reduce plastic use in these essential areas, if we were to reintroduce latex where possible, and increase our use of glass or metal containers.
Mostly though, we need to reduce our consumption, bring our own bags to carry purchases, bring our own water bottles everywhere, cook from scratch whenever possible, recycle every scrap we can, and push for support to researchers and entrepreneurs who are working to find uses for plastics that can't be recycled now, and those who are finding biodegradable alternatives.
The grocery store was equally depressing. I avoided plastics in the vegetable section easily, and didn't buy any meat of significance. However, I stocked up on supplies of things the girl likes - various kinds of cheese, hummus, kielbasa, rice crackers, apple juice. Everything came in plastic (I could have avoided plastic juice bottles, but I can't afford to skip a sale in favour of my principles right now). Even the chocolate chips I bought to make her muffins from scratch came wrapped in plastic.
Then I bought her some ice cream. There was an entire wall of ice cream, frozen yogurts, sorbets, etc. to choose from. It's hard to believe that, less than a century ago, it was an exotic treat. I found myself singing this under my breath: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfh7FTV2CYQ.
In fact, far too much of the store was filled with convenience foods. However, the reality is that, as a society, we have lost the time and skills to produce sufficient food locally, let alone survive through a long winter. Short of willingly going back to a time when we had a much lower standard of living, with most of us doing hard physical labour every day, I can't see how to eliminate this insidious product.
And the fact is, it does have some value. It keeps food more safely (and reduces smells in the fridge, as I discovered when I stored something in its earthenware pot this week). It is essential for biomedical safety (for which I was grateful as I donated blood to a health research project this morning). There may be ways to reduce plastic use in these essential areas, if we were to reintroduce latex where possible, and increase our use of glass or metal containers.
Mostly though, we need to reduce our consumption, bring our own bags to carry purchases, bring our own water bottles everywhere, cook from scratch whenever possible, recycle every scrap we can, and push for support to researchers and entrepreneurs who are working to find uses for plastics that can't be recycled now, and those who are finding biodegradable alternatives.