My plastic-free day started the day before when I pre-planned and reorganized much of my daily routine for the next day. The success I had can be attributed to good preparation! I had plastic-free clothes laid out and floss and baking soda ready to clean my teeth! I did not take a shower because my shower is lined with plastic and my shampoo is in a plastic container. Breakfast was a challenge. I ate applesauce, a banana, and some water. I walked to class, avoiding my plastic-ridden bike.
I planned on taking mental notes for classes but later found a Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil and used it to take notes on loose-leaf paper. I carried a glass jar around for hydration. I organized the plastic-free day to be on Tuesday, a day in which I only have one class. This proved to be irrelevant, maybe even detrimental. Plastic infiltrates all aspects of life, but at class I managed to sit in wooden desks and take notes on paper. However, once I got home, there was plastic containing food, my computer, chairs, and many more objects pervading my abode!
I had a swim scheduled for my workout but in order to avoid using plastic goggles I went for a run instead. I was unable to avoid the small plastic pieces in my shoes, but I had to get out of the house, away from all of the plastic! This is when my planning ahead of time started to fail. I was sweaty from the run, but unable to use the shower. I was also hungry from the run, but unable to eat a lot of the food in my kitchen. I munched on some plastic-free fruit and cooked some vegetables in plastic-free pans.
For the rest of the night I read a lot. I put off all of the computer work for the following day. Reading did not help stifle the hunger pains and sweaty stench. The hunger was a constant reminder of how much food comes in contact with plastic, and how plastic has become unavoidable. I thought throughout the day of tactics for eating foods without plastic, but I realized a substantial diet inevitably involves plastic. Milk, bread, meat, some noodles, and cheese are just a few items that are very hard to get in non-plastic containers. Even many glass containers have plastic labels.
As a result of the day without plastic I am much more conscious to the omnipresence of plastic. Will I change my daily routine and habits? Yes and no. I have avoided Tupperware since the challenge by developing methods such as making food for only one meal, or storing leftovers in porcelain dishes, using other dishes as tops to preserve the food. I bought a metal water bottle, but was unable to find one without a plastic top, drawing more attention to the resilience of plastic. As far as clothes, showers, some food containers, and school material, I cannot think of non-plastic alternatives. Plastic seems to dominate the world today and is proving to have detrimental effects, both on humans – leaching into foods and eventually our bodies, and on nature – disrupting hormones and habitats in animals and collecting in mass piles such as the Pacific Garbage Patch.
Attached is my video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3GBg3oCF7k
Will Weggel
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