One Week to Go!
It's exactly one week before #plasticfreejuly begins, and I gotta say I'm feeling a little nervous. Plastic - especially single-use - has become such a pervasive part of our daily lives that I didn't even notice just how much I use, and how much of it isn't necessary. For some things, there are pretty easy and painless swaps. Others feel like they might not be as painless. All this plastic we're swimming is why we need something like Plastic Free July in the first place.
The initiative started seven years ago in Western Australia (which abbreviates to WA. This was a source of confusion for me for longer than it should have been). The movement is really looking at cutting out single-use plastics - aka the shrink wrap on produce, shampoo bottles, the wrapping your Amazon delivery may come in, what have you - as these are not sustainable and choke out the ecosystems they end up settling in.
I already had some plastic-reducing habits, which is why I thought going all in next week wouldn't be too hard. I almost always bring my reusable shopping bags (unless I forget, but the county I live in has a plastic bag ban at grocery stores), at my office I am never without my trusty travel mug and reusable water bottle - my mug is also helpful because a lot of coffee shops will give you a small discount for bringing your own mug, and I stopped buying plastic baggies I don't even know how long ago. But in the past few weeks I realized I have a ways to go.
So now some challenges. Eating out will be really hard this month, at least for fast food/ takeout. But this is probably for the best - my wallet and waistline will surely be thankful. At my office, the free coffee provided comes in single use plastic pouches (we have a really fancy espresso machine). And the grocery store is a multi-headed plastic beast. I'll also be traveling later in July, flying to South Dakota for my aunt's wedding(!!! - congrats!!), plus a weekend road trip to Bend. The road trip should be easier, but flying there are so many restrictions for what you can bring on the plane. But my biggest pain point has to do with an unfortunate fact every dog owner must learn - dogs poop. And I live in an apartment so I can't just leave my dog's poop where it falls (I mean I could but it's so rude). So what is a good alternative to plastic bags?????
Welp, I did find an article about using newspaper to replace dog bags. But how sanitary is that? I'll want to use like 20 layers of paper to be safe. If you have other alternatives (it's gotta be something that's easy to carry on a walk) I'm all ears, please comment! I am giving myself a break and declaring that using plastics I already have is okay, I just can't buy more for the month of July. That said, I have a ton of dog bags and I'm going back and forth on if I should include those in the break or not. Switching gears back to grocery stores, I have been doing some research on shopping plastic-free. I bought some reusable produce bags and am going to start bringing mason jars to places with bulk bins (I know Whole Foods has them) for pantry essentials. *EDIT: Whole Foods does not allow you to bring your own containers for bulk items anymore* I'm also going to start buying all my meat at the counter and bring my own containers or ask them to only use paper to wrap the meat. Farmer's markets are wonderful because you know you're getting fresh, local produce (hello smaller carbon footprint) and there's no (or at least very little) packaging. There's one a block from my apartment every Friday, so I get a nice little walk in the evening too when I go. I'm sure my mom will be delighted to read this, but it's really hard to find plastic-free processed foods so I'll have to cut those out (which, like with fast food, is actually for the better.) In the bathroom, I'm ready to phase to bars for everything I use in the shower. I actually just bought a face bar from the farmer's market a couple days ago, and Cam has been using a shave bar forever and it works sooo much better than shaving cream. I also bought a double-edged safety razor - which uses real razor blades - since more traditional razors house the blades in a plastic cartridge. I am also going to try experimenting in making some of my own bathroom products and food stuff that I can't find in non-plastic packaging. Maybe cheese-making will become my true passion.
So all-in-all, while it seems daunting to cut all plastic out for a month, I feel better when I review the action plan above. Let me know what you plan to cut out, or any plastic-eliminating tricks you might have!
Until next week
The initiative started seven years ago in Western Australia (which abbreviates to WA. This was a source of confusion for me for longer than it should have been). The movement is really looking at cutting out single-use plastics - aka the shrink wrap on produce, shampoo bottles, the wrapping your Amazon delivery may come in, what have you - as these are not sustainable and choke out the ecosystems they end up settling in.
I already had some plastic-reducing habits, which is why I thought going all in next week wouldn't be too hard. I almost always bring my reusable shopping bags (unless I forget, but the county I live in has a plastic bag ban at grocery stores), at my office I am never without my trusty travel mug and reusable water bottle - my mug is also helpful because a lot of coffee shops will give you a small discount for bringing your own mug, and I stopped buying plastic baggies I don't even know how long ago. But in the past few weeks I realized I have a ways to go.
So now some challenges. Eating out will be really hard this month, at least for fast food/ takeout. But this is probably for the best - my wallet and waistline will surely be thankful. At my office, the free coffee provided comes in single use plastic pouches (we have a really fancy espresso machine). And the grocery store is a multi-headed plastic beast. I'll also be traveling later in July, flying to South Dakota for my aunt's wedding(!!! - congrats!!), plus a weekend road trip to Bend. The road trip should be easier, but flying there are so many restrictions for what you can bring on the plane. But my biggest pain point has to do with an unfortunate fact every dog owner must learn - dogs poop. And I live in an apartment so I can't just leave my dog's poop where it falls (I mean I could but it's so rude). So what is a good alternative to plastic bags?????
Welp, I did find an article about using newspaper to replace dog bags. But how sanitary is that? I'll want to use like 20 layers of paper to be safe. If you have other alternatives (it's gotta be something that's easy to carry on a walk) I'm all ears, please comment! I am giving myself a break and declaring that using plastics I already have is okay, I just can't buy more for the month of July. That said, I have a ton of dog bags and I'm going back and forth on if I should include those in the break or not. Switching gears back to grocery stores, I have been doing some research on shopping plastic-free. I bought some reusable produce bags and am going to start bringing mason jars to places with bulk bins (I know Whole Foods has them) for pantry essentials. *EDIT: Whole Foods does not allow you to bring your own containers for bulk items anymore* I'm also going to start buying all my meat at the counter and bring my own containers or ask them to only use paper to wrap the meat. Farmer's markets are wonderful because you know you're getting fresh, local produce (hello smaller carbon footprint) and there's no (or at least very little) packaging. There's one a block from my apartment every Friday, so I get a nice little walk in the evening too when I go. I'm sure my mom will be delighted to read this, but it's really hard to find plastic-free processed foods so I'll have to cut those out (which, like with fast food, is actually for the better.) In the bathroom, I'm ready to phase to bars for everything I use in the shower. I actually just bought a face bar from the farmer's market a couple days ago, and Cam has been using a shave bar forever and it works sooo much better than shaving cream. I also bought a double-edged safety razor - which uses real razor blades - since more traditional razors house the blades in a plastic cartridge. I am also going to try experimenting in making some of my own bathroom products and food stuff that I can't find in non-plastic packaging. Maybe cheese-making will become my true passion.
So all-in-all, while it seems daunting to cut all plastic out for a month, I feel better when I review the action plan above. Let me know what you plan to cut out, or any plastic-eliminating tricks you might have!
Until next week
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