The past few months I've tried to be much more aware of my plastic waste and have made efforts to limit it where possible. Some stuff has been really easy: a lot of standard home and hygiene...
The past few months I've tried to be much more aware of my plastic waste and have made efforts to limit it where possible. Some stuff has been really easy: a lot of standard home and hygiene products have easy, plastic-free swaps. I now use (and actually prefer) bar soap, shampoo, and conditioner, for example, and I buy brands that package them in compostable cardboard.
Stuff like that is an easy, effortless swap, but when it comes to food and groceries, eliminating or even reducing plastic is nearly impossible. Everything I get that doesn't come in a can comes in plastic, and I'm not lucky enough to live near a store that does zero-waste, fill-your-own-container sales on stuff like rice, beans, and nuts.
Furthermore, I've realized just how invisible plastic can be in our everyday lives. I'd been diligently trying to reduce my plastic consumption for months and it didn't even ping for me that the pens I use on a regular basis were made of it, of course, until I finished one and mindlessly tossed it into the garbage bin. Now I'm on the hunt for more environmentally friendly office supplies. As a teacher, I and my students use a ton of those, so my impact in that area is disproportionately large.
I'm totally aware that I'm just one person and my cutbacks are not only unlikely to make a huge difference but are the wrong way to think about the issue in the first place. The article directly notes that this kind of individual responsibility framing is encouraged by companies, as it makes the problem of plastic waste out to be one of consumer habits rather than industry practices. Nevertheless, trying to minimize my plastic use feels right and good to me, and railing against companies for their overuse of plastic while continuing to avail myself of their products would be transparently hypocritical.
The past few months I've tried to be much more aware of my plastic waste and have made efforts to limit it where possible. Some stuff has been really easy: a lot of standard home and hygiene products have easy, plastic-free swaps. I now use (and actually prefer) bar soap, shampoo, and conditioner, for example, and I buy brands that package them in compostable cardboard.
Stuff like that is an easy, effortless swap, but when it comes to food and groceries, eliminating or even reducing plastic is nearly impossible. Everything I get that doesn't come in a can comes in plastic, and I'm not lucky enough to live near a store that does zero-waste, fill-your-own-container sales on stuff like rice, beans, and nuts.
Furthermore, I've realized just how invisible plastic can be in our everyday lives. I'd been diligently trying to reduce my plastic consumption for months and it didn't even ping for me that the pens I use on a regular basis were made of it, of course, until I finished one and mindlessly tossed it into the garbage bin. Now I'm on the hunt for more environmentally friendly office supplies. As a teacher, I and my students use a ton of those, so my impact in that area is disproportionately large.
I'm totally aware that I'm just one person and my cutbacks are not only unlikely to make a huge difference but are the wrong way to think about the issue in the first place. The article directly notes that this kind of individual responsibility framing is encouraged by companies, as it makes the problem of plastic waste out to be one of consumer habits rather than industry practices. Nevertheless, trying to minimize my plastic use feels right and good to me, and railing against companies for their overuse of plastic while continuing to avail myself of their products would be transparently hypocritical.
This is a great article, but I'm going to have to read the second half of this tomorrow because the first half made me feel too angry and helpless.