HEALTHY PLANET: PLASTIC FREE JULY: WEEK FOUR - THE WRAP UP (BUT NOT SARAN WRAP)

 

Plastic Free July is over for this year. I failed to be plastic free.  But I'll visit the whole plastic topic again in this blog and report on how I'm doing over time...

It's a little (a lot!) overwhelming isn't it?  How can we possibly be "plastic free"?

This chart, if one has better eyes than mine or a magnifying glass, is helpful, but just looking at it makes me want to give up before I start.

Plastic Free July has at times made me feel that way -- like giving up.  

By Week 4 my consciousness has been well and truly raised.  I wasn't UNconscious before, but you know how it is -- it's easy to just tune things out, overlook, and take for granted until one makes an intentional effort to be aware.  Now I am just gobsmacked at the plastic world in which we live.

Look around your home, your car, your workplace, your community.  Just sit in one indoor place and look around.  Count the number of items you see that are made, all or in part, of plastic. Or came packaged in plastic.  Or will be thrown in a plastic trash bag when you are through with it.  

There is no going back, of course.  So let's forge ahead!  Are you still with me???

I feel I've made some paltry efforts and that I'm also decades late to being a good earth steward.  I visualize all the "earthy" folks I know and admire who have forever been using old yogurt containers for storing nails or whatever; who have pantry shelves lined with Mason jars full of bulk-purchased beans and rolled oats; who have carried their own hand-sewn shopping bags into whatever health food store they frequent for buying their whole week's worth of organic vegetables and scratchy T.P.  You get the idea.  I have done all of that too -- occasionally.  But I confess: I've been lazy and inconsistent and cost-conscious. Convenience-Cheap is my hyphenated middle name. (Not really.)

So I'm heartily patting myself on the back for every effort I've made this month to make a better choice.  

Our local plastic bag ban has made it easy to take reusable shopping bags to the store -- or pay 8 cents for a paper bag, which "cheap" me won't do.  

I've always lamented those rolls of plastic produce bags if for no other reason than how foolish I feel trying to open one of them to receive my apples, especially in Covid times when spitting on my fingers to gain traction is so frowned upon.  I purchased fabric produce bags that I sometimes remember to take into the store with me; I think I'll get better at this.  

I have given up almost completely my beloved Saran Wrap using instead some silicone stretch covers I ordered from Amazon (I know...Amazon...another blog post about them!) that are technically maybe still a plastic product (some say rubber, some say not safe, I say no easy answer), but can be washed and used over and over.  I also often just put a plate over the bowl of whatever in the 'fridge to keep it fresh enough.  

At the bulk foods bins, which we aspire to use more frequently, we use paper bags when they are available, but often they are plastic.  We are committed to bringing our own reusable containers but that's a goal at this point more than a reality since we are unsure how that works re measuring the poppyseeds and not the glass jar we put them in. More info and experience needed.

And I'm learning so much about plastic recycling and what should go in the curbside bin (not everything), what will actually get recycled (not much), and finding resources for those things curbside won't deal with (not many).

So the bottom line is plastic is everywhere, all the time.  Increasing our awareness and changing our behavior is important.  It's also easy to believe that any individual effort is a drop in the bucket, a fruitless and impotent attack on an industry and a culture that just doesn't care.  But doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do is in itself a rewarding experience.  And every little bit really does help -- especially as we model that little bit for others and they adopt some of those practices and soon we've shifted the culture and put pressure on industries to meet our demand for a better way.  I want my grandkids to know I tried to help clean up some of the mess they are inheriting, not for them to notice that I contributed to it without a second thought.

And if bigger action is your thing....politics and pressure.  You know the drill: be aware of pending legislation; contact your legislators.  Vote for those who understand and care about all the contributors to climate change.  Write letters to the editor or post your views and actions on social media. Rally, march, speak out.  

The more we know, the better we can do.  Let's do better.

Here's to health, for ourselves and our planet...©

Read and Learn:  https://lifewithoutplastic.com/about-us/  (A book and website with lots of info; just google for more resources -- not gonna list them all here)

Watch and Learn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37PDwW0c1so  (Watch full doc on Amazon Prime, maybe elsewhere)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RDc2opwg0I  (YouTube of the PBS doc)

HEALTHY PLANET: PLASTIC FREE JULY: WEEK THREE: COVID AND MEDICAL PLASTIC WASTE

Well, it's not going great. I got Covid.  Which made me recall that medical waste is a tremendous contributor to our plastic scourge. One source (the non-profit, Practice Greenhealth) estimates that 24% of all medical waste from hospitals is plastic.  That's a lot!!!  Every hospital in every city/county/region/state is throwing plastic away as an amazingly large volume.

But we are up against the usual:  cheap to produce, easy to use, sterile, and easy to toss out. Some medical facilities are trying to cut the plastics habit and remembering that not every single piece of medical equipment needs to be new and can be reused: surgical basins and sterilization wraps for example do not come into contact with patients.  Some hospitals are trying to recycle their plastics, but this is fraught with inconsistency and it's easier to just not try.  Most of it goes into the landfills or incinerators -- emitting toxic plastic fumes into the air as smoke belches from the incinerator smokestacks near where many people live and work.

Medical personnel and patients alike are growing in awareness of the financial cost and the "it never goes away" cost of tossing plastic into the waste stream. 

I thought of this as I made my Covid journey last week.  I tested once to see that I was positive.  I tested again after 4 days after starting Paxlovid treatment and again at 5 days post-treatment.  I tested again the morning I left on a trip.  I tested again the day I got home.  And with each test I opened a plastic outer packet within which were 3 plastic inner packets of the test kit, every component of which was also made of plastic.

Awareness abounds.  The solution evades.  But I do know that there are places I can make different choices and places where I cannot.  We can only do what we can do.  But at the very least we must do something.

Here's to our health, for ourselves and our planet...©

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/can-medical-care-exist-without-plastic#:~:text=Practice%20Greenhealth%2C%20a%20non%2Dprofit,most%20of%20which%20is%20plastic.

HEALTHY PLANET: PLASTIC FREE JULY: WEEK TWO: STYROFOAM, A SCOURGE

 July 8:  Hmm..."Miscommunication", he said.  Remember that shipping place I mentioned last post that said they'd take my styrofoam? Nope. 

I had an eye exam appointment early this morning and the shipping place was less than a mile away.  How convenient!  So after my appointment I drove over there to do the drop off, only to discover I had 30 minutes to kill waiting for them to open.  Went to Starbucks at the neighboring QFC grocery and got a Starbucks latte.  Then my dilated eyes spied the bakery department.  Some demon took control of my mind/body and I bought a Top Pot (the best!) apple fritter.  I walked back to the shipping joint, sat in my car reading my Noom (weight loss program) lessons for the day while eating my pastry and drinking my latte, waiting for the the store to open.  (There is SO much wrong with that sentence!)  

Once inside I joyfully announced I was there to recycle my styrofoam and the guy (not the woman I'd spoken with on the phone) told me no.  They will take "some packing peanuts" but no solid styrofoam nor other packing materials.  "Must have been a miscommunication,"  he said.   Uh-huh.  Must have been, even though I clearly explained what I had to the woman on the phone.  Oh well.

I got back in the my car cursing the petrochemical industry for styrofoam, plastics, and wrecking my healthy eating intentions.  I hold them personally responsible for all the ills of my life right now.  Plus, I was in such a sugar junkie fog buying my next fix that I didn't even consider that the fritter came in a little plastic bakery bag until I went to throw it away at home.  Fail. Fail.

July 10:  Still on the hunt to get rid of my styrofoam.  Back to Ridwell.  They will take it in a 45 gallon trash can liner for an extra $9.00 above my monthly pick up fee.  I get it.  Styrofoam is awful and they have to deal with it when I don't want to, or can't, beyond filling up my trash can.   I'm looking at it as the "shipping fee" I didn't have to pay to Wayfair for ordering online and "free" delivery.  Note to self: stop ordering online.  

July 11:  This should be a no-brainer.  But since I'm doing a consciousness-raising exercise this month re my use of plastic, I am not beating myself up too much.  I reach for plastic baggies far too often!  I had some herbs to take to my daughter-in-law yesterday from my proliferating herb garden.  I reached for a baggie.  Caught myself, and rummaged through the "clamshell" recycling I'd set aside for Ridwell, and repurposed a container for the herbs. I asked her to return it to me for recycling.  Same with the fresh raspberries I'd picked for her.  First thought: quart-sized ziplock baggie.  Second thought: that dip container (#5 plastic) that Hub had emptied and can't be recycled.  I repurposed it for at least one more use and saved a baggie.  I bet most people always do this sort of thing; but I really, really dislike a cabinet full of miscellaneous empty containers that may or may not be the right size for whatever I need to store. Yet,  now I'm giving up my cabinet aesthetics to ditch my automatic plastic baggie habit.  When you know better (and live into that knowing), you do better.

July 12:  I got a new little table that of course I had to assemble myself.  Why, oh why, did the assembly parts have to come in individually sealed plastic inside an orange plastic bag?!?  The plastic packaging manufacturers have convinced retailers they need to wrap things up double and triple so their buyers can be assured that little allen wrench won't slip away I guess.  Sheesh.

July 13:  Almost every night I have a little 100 calorie frozen dessert treat while watching TV.  Either a Yasso Bar or a Healthy Choice fudge bar.  I look forward to it.  But now it's ruined by my full awareness that every bar is wrapped in non-recyclable plastic that I throw into the garbage can.  Maybe I can wean off?  Stay tuned.

July 16:  Well, I'm already into Week 3 and have not posted this.  Good excuse though: Covid.  It caught up to me.  I'll write more about that later over on my other blog, "My View From Here", which you can find and click on the top of this page. (Maybe only the browser version?  I'm not sure how this works.  LOL)

Tune in for more plastic awareness next week when I tackle getting all the styrofoam in a big bag for Ridwell to pick up.  In the meantime I share a resource linked below from Plastic Free July -- DIY fun!

Here's to our health, for ourselves and our planet...©

https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Make-your-own-beeswax-wraps_compressed-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3gAZCJet8RAnWBPulDbw5FB6V7QU0vatQdvxDxHn2x2z3TBMoNNxCQKwg

HEALTHY PLANET: PLASTIC FREE JULY: WEEK ONE: CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING

Week One Finished.  Awareness increasing.  Impossible to avoid plastic use completely, but every choice within my power not to is worth something, right?

July 1:  We are doing an aesthetic "remodel" inside and outside our home this summer.  Hub's setting a huge patio of flagstone; I'm re-imagining our indoor spaces with some furniture, accessories, and art updates.  I ordered a couple of chairs and a lamp.  As you might imagine, they all showed up wrapped in plastic and packaged with styrofoam.  Ugh.  Not a good start to Plastic Free July.

With a guilty feeling of dread and defeat, I stuff all that styrofoam in the trash can.  Then I took it all back out.  Instead, we Googled where to get rid of styrofoam -- notoriously hard to recycle.  There are drop off places outside our county (if you live within the jurisdiction, which we don't) and I could pay Ridwell (link to resources at end of post) to take it.  But we found a postal/shipping place not far away who said they would take it, keep what they can use in their business and put the rest in their recycle container for pick up.  Sounds good to me, even though it's a 40 minute round trip.  (Not burning gas in my little EV Leaf!)  So my styrofoam won't go in my garbage can straight to the landfill.  I trust this place has a recycling partner?

I checked with Ridwell -- at least they can take the huge swaths of plastic wrap that came around each chair.  

July 2:  I seem to collect "pretty" rocks that I think I'll strew about my garden or display in a dish or something.  I also have some of those glass pebble things you get at craft stores which I've accumulated for some unknown and undone craft projects.  Gathering up the loose ones rolling around in a shoe box for no apparent reason, I decided to separate them out and store them more efficiently. Of course I ran to the kitchen for a handful of plastic baggies!  Perfect for the job!  Oops.  Nope.  Well, let's see, how about my food storage containers?  Well, then where do I put my food?  Wait!  I just threw a couple yogurt containers in the recycle bin that most likely will never get recycled anyway (#5 plastic -- a type that gets sorted and landfilled).  I dove into the bin, retrieved the containers and voila!  Re-used!  I see how my automatic "go to" is not the best, even if it is a bit more convenient.  I'm still using plastic, but I'm using it more than once...better, right?  Now I just have to learn to make my own yogurt to ditch those big yogurt containers! 

July 3:  I thought I needed a new hose nozzle.  (Turns out I didn't -- Hub found a plethora of them in the garden shed.)  The one I bought, because I have another like it and love it, was plastic but it's not single use, so I felt sort of OK.  But the tag and zip ties that came attached were throw-away plastic. Why???  Sigh.

July 4:  My son gave me a bunch of bamboo toothbrushes for a gift at some point.  He knows my "save the earth" tendencies.  (He buys Hub carbon offsets. LOL)  But I was recently at the dentist and got my "good girl" parting gift of a new (plastic) toothbrush and (plastic-encased) floss.  This morning I decided I might be able to do better.  I Googled and there are eco-friendly alternatives!  I've order the "Starter Kit" from "Bite" (link in resources).  I'll get a bamboo toothbrush, a refillable bamboo floss container with non-plastic floss, a tin of "mouthwash" tablets, and a reusable glass jar of "toothpaste" tablets (you bite into the tab and start brushing and it gets a little foamy), also saving me from buying toothpaste tubes which are not recyclable.  I'll let you know how it goes!

July 7:  Farmer's Market temptation was an amazing looking chocolate toffee candy thing that was enough to share with Hub.  I wanted it!  But the portions were all pre-packaged in clamshell containers.  I asked the proprietor of the booth if he had any that he could just stick into a little paper bag or wrap in a napkin or something.  Nope.  So I said I'd have to pass; explained I was foregoing plastic when I can.   I was sad; he looked perplexed.  

I've noticed that every single day I've dealt with something housed in plastic.  Containers of every type, blister packs, molded plastic containers, wraps and double wraps, styrofoam packaging.  I don't yet know how to avoid it in today's world.  

But...on to Week Two.  Wish me luck.

Here's to health, for ourselves and our planet...©

If you live within their service area, Ridwell is a great recycling resource.  Check out their website here: https://www.ridwell.com/

Here's some dental alternatives to traditional toothbrushes, floss, etc. : https://bitetoothpastebits.com/

HEALTHY PLANET: PLASTIC FREE JULY: READY, SET, GO!

I'm doing this thing my friend told me about: Plastic Free July.  

Plastic Free July actually started in Western Australia way back in 2011 by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and a small group of government employees, according to their website.  Now it has become just one initiative of the Plastic Free Foundation, an award-winning organization working toward a plastic free future.  A daunting task.

Plastic is, of course, a fossil fuel product made from natural gas, coal, and petroleum.  So our "friends" in the fossil fuel industry, and plastic manufacturers as well, are pretty invested in seeing to it that plastic remains a growth industry and something consumers just can't do without -- or easily avoid.

Since fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource that's not good.  And since plastic doesn't easily break down and degrade back to the earth in a healthy way, and does lots of terrible damage to the environment while it hangs around, it is pretty awful in many ways.  The plastic cup your yummy iced coffee comes in could live on for 50 years!  Even if you throw it in the "plastics" recycling bin.  (Unfortunately very little of that stuff is actually recycled.)  More on all of this in future posts.

So, what's a concerned and earth-loving human to do?  Well, I'm doing Plastic Free July.  I know I won't be "plastic free".  But I plan to become more "plastic aware".  

My first step is to raise my own awareness about what actions I can take.  Since plastic is so ubiquitous, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and just give up.  "I'll never be able to NOT use plastic!"  Maybe not.  But I'm starting with watching and noticing every time I DO use and/or buy something plastic (or which is packaged in plastic).  Noticing is the first step.

Next, I will ask myself, "What alternative is there?"  I might come up with some innovative and creative ideas!  

Or I might ask,  "Can I do without this?"  Hmmm...a lesson in discernment between "want" and "need".  (This popped up yesterday when I decided to forgo my much craved Starbucks iced mocha because of the plastic cup it would come in.  I survived.)

I have no solid answers at the moment, just an intention of consciousness-raising and creative problem-solving.  I'll let you know how it goes.  If you want to join me, here's the link to Plastic Free July.    https://www.plasticfreejuly.org

The antidote to despair is action.  Let's act!

Here's to health, for ourselves and our planet...©

Photo Credit: www.pixabay.com