Mission Impossible

Nick Rashid

Section 305

12/5/10

on a cold, sunny, plasticless day in December...

12:43pm

It isn’t until I sat down and begin to plan out my strategy to spend a day without plastic that I’m hit by the sheer magnitude of this daunting project. I started going through my daily schedule in my head and picking out everything that involved plastic. Much to my dismay, I shortly discovered that nearly every part of my life is dominated by the use of plastic products – my list had 15 items I had to avoid before I even stepped out of my door! I quickly determined that it would be impossible to go the whole day avoiding plastic entirely, especially while living in the dorms, so I set some simple ground rules: contacts/ glasses are okay, since I’m useless without them, and on the account I have to go out in public today, I’m allowed to shower (although I managed to do it without using any plastic bottles). Additionally, for the sake of chronicling this “adventure”, it’s kosher to use my computer, but solely for blogging purposes (and to watch the BSC Selection Show to confirm that Wisconsin is playing in the Rose Bowl). Aside from that, I must do my very best to avoid using the plastic products that I use every day.

I can say right now that some of the hardest things to give up using will be plastic pens and pencils (Sundays ARE for doing homework, after all), my cellphone, computer and water bottle. This will be a difficult day, so wish me luck – and I’ll check in in a few hours.

6:29 pm

Well- so far so good, I suppose. I have more or less managed to avoid plastic so far today. However, while recounting my afternoon to write this I noticed that I made a few minor blunders. I was forced to use my Wiscard to purchase dinner at Pops (but managed to avoid any other plastic there). At the Indian Buffet I had lunch at (Maharani – two thumbs up), I had to use plastic-handled spoons since no other alternative was available, and I just realized that I had also mindlessly eaten some cookies and a Kit-Kat bar, both which were packaged in plastic. I think this goes to show how accustomed we’ve become to using plastic in literally everything. Aside from these few missteps, and the inevitable wearing of synthetic jackets and walking on synthetic carpets, things haven’t been much different. If someone was really trying to avoid plastics I think the biggest changes to their lifestyle would arise from “sanitary” sectors – mainly health/beauty products and food. I would say that these two industry sectors make up the bulk of most plastic packaging and use, and products from these two areas are generally unavoidable. Plastic is also a dominant player in electronics, but if it really came down to it, I think we all could survive without our cellphones, iPods, computers, TVs and gaming consoles, even though we often refuse to believe this.

8:13pm

As one might suspect, not using plastic became slightly difficult when it came time to start homework. Granted, I’m sure there are alternatives available to plastic encased pens, pencils, rulers, calculators (well maybe not calculators) but given my time, motivation and college budget constraints, I took the hit and used them anyways. On that note, if it really came down to it, it would be possible to eliminate plastic from our lifestyles. There are countless substitutions for products we use every day- glass bottles, wooden toothbrushes, ceramic bowls, steel pens- but the reason we refuse to substitute is these substitutes are often inferior to the plastic we use: glass breaks, wood is less hygienic, and steel is heavy and expensive. We could do without plastic, but it would come at the expense of the convenience, hygiene and disposability we have come to associate it with, and that’s something that not many of us are willing to do.

In this era, avoiding plastic products altogether is virtually impossible, especially while at school. If I was at home or living on my own with the money to purchase expensive steel bowls, iron pens, wooden toothbrushes, organic cotton clothing and wool carpets it could be significantly easier, but going plastic free in any normal consumer home is extraordinarily difficult. It's only possible if the will and the money is there, and for many college students (and many families in general) these are often lacking. I think until there are concrete, undisputed reasons to avoid plastics, they will continue to play an integral part of our modern lifestyle.