Plastic Domino Effect

I use a lot of plastic. I use a lot more plastic than I thought. These were among the deeper lessons learned while answering my friend Seth's green challenge to report on my plastic use (for food) over the span of a week.

Here are the results of 10 days worth of food consumption:

-6 plastic coffee cup lids

-2 large yogurt containers (What? I eat a lot of yogurt!)

-2 large hummus containers (" ?" " " " " " hummus!)

-An unthinkable amount of plastic fruit/veggie baggies at the grocery store (Note: Even though Whole Foods sells fabric bags for fruit/veggies they ask you not to shop in your own bags. I know I could remedy this by shopping more at farmer's markets. I will, I will, I know.)

-4 plastic squares (not quite bags) for meat from the butcher

Granted, most of the things I used on this list were later recycled (coffee lids) or reused (if anyone wants to build a house made entirely of yogurt containers, give me a call). However, plastic bags are a different story. At various points in my life I have washed plastic bags out to reuse them. But the skimpy ones from the grocery store basically fall apart under water. Which, in my house, means they go into landfill. Which means excess waste.

This got me thinking about all the plastic I used by default, often without realizing it or intending to, over these last 10 days. For instance, plastic coffee lids are usually stored in a plastic bag in the back of a coffee shop. Plastic bags destined for landfill ironically go into a plastic garbage bag. The plastic domino effect seemed endless. And that's just for food...

Another surprise was realizing that (gulp): I like using plastic. I'm kind of addicted to it actually. The thought of my plastic coffee lid sitting in a plastic bag on the floor of a grimy coffee shop kitchen gives me some peace of mind about health and safety. It makes me think of cleanliness in a way that I probably wouldn't if those lids were sitting in a paper bag. Of course, I don't like that I like using plastic in the bigger sense. Each decision to use plastic in these instances meant being out of touch with my larger waste reduction goals. Where is the disconnect?

Looking at my list I realize that a desire for convenience and cleanliness determined many of my choices about plastic use. Lack of time, lack of energy meant more plastic. Those are some pretty core issues for the average busy worker bee like me and probably you too. Changing my plastic use in the future will mean really looking at these core issues and finding more creative ways to meet them. For instance, I could avoid much of the plastic on my list if I simply brought a travel coffee mug to a coffee shop. That is not a signficant inconvenience, and actually gives me more control with cleanliness! It is not a new idea to me; my excuse is that I always forget my travel mug. Perhaps when I forget a travel mug I will simply not get coffee?

Also, I could shop with reusable fabric bags at a farmer's market and avoid so much plastic bag use at Whole Foods. This is mostly a convenience and timing issue, but the net benefit is that I would be using much less plastic, getting fresher produce, and participating in a community function that I love.

I can't control all the plastic use in my life but I can control what's in front of me. After these 10 days of observing my plastic usage I want to better align my overall waste reduction goals with my everyday practices. I'll check back in in a couple of weeks and let you know the extent to which I disciplined myself about travel mug usage and farmer's market supportage. Also, I would love to hear your ideas about plastic use reduction! Leave a comment on my blog so everyone can read it.

Thank you Seth for a great challenge:)