Plastic plastic everywhere, challenge

[larknm]

I've gone off plastic from the example of people who are nonegotiable about it. First was the book No Impact Man. Then a friend who drinks water anywhere only out of a washed-out food bottle, and one who in a nice way refused a drink of water at a celebration, explaining when asked that it was because it came from a plastic jug. People who don't think twice about doing it when it's hard. Last winter in Santa Fe, where I live, a woman opened a store called the Soap Refill Station, which is about more than soap and mainly about using everything that needs a container in glass, which you can buy from her or, like me, bring your own glass jars. Now I don't have to buy any of these in plastic: shampoo, dish soap, laundry soap, hand soap, and she sells other things made of bamboo: (toothbrush, dish (tiny broom style) scrubber, bottle brush. I several months ago a friend told me he doesn't use toothpaste or powder for his teeth, just a toothbrush ten times in each tooth. He's beendoing it 10 years with no cavities. So no more of all that for me and my teeth actually feel cleaner. IF I'm buying a food or supplement thing, if there's a choice of buying it in a glass or plastic jar, I get the glass one. So bit by bit I chip away at it. Sometimes I think, how would I explain it to a fish if I got something in plastic, and how would I feel about all this if I were a fish myself.

[happystuff]

larknm - I love the idea of taking my jars and filling them. There used to be a small "natural" store in the area many, many years ago that I could do that, but it has long closed. And I read the same thing about brushing teeth in the Tightwad Gazette years ago as well. Another of Amy D's experiments. lol

[Tradd]

Interesting NPR piece a friend posted on FB.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/89769...qy0ZkMBarHQw-I

[catherine]

Interesting NPR piece a friend posted on FB.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/89769...qy0ZkMBarHQw-I

Very discouraging.

I don't know how we get out of the plastics mess... I was thinking about it today--I've been ordering stuff online that I need for the house and/or the wedding and there's so much plastic in the packaging! And one of those things I bought was a kitchen organizer. So as I was re-organizing my pantry, I pulled out the plastics: the plastic garbage bags, the plastic freezer bags, the plastic sandwich bags. And I like all those bags! Yes, I could use glass containers or beeswax covers, and I do, but the plastic bags are so much more convenient. And obviously, who would consider NOT using a plastic garbage bag in their garbage cans? I think when I was young, we just threw trash in the garbage cans with no bags, but that seems so icky now.

Vermont has outlawed plastic shopping bags, which is great. It has forced alternatives, namely the reusable bags that I have a ton of but would frequently forget to use. Now I don't forget as often. I have a big tote bag I use as a purse now so that if I go into a store and forget a bag, I can put quite a few things right in my tote.

It's frustrating to read that once again we're duped into feel-good beliefs set up by corporations, like "I can feel good about myself because I recycle my plastic." I think if I am serious about doing something to mitigate plastic pollution, I need to think harder about how to practice ALL the R's that come before "recycle": Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose." Recycle should be the last step, not the first.

Thanks for the article, Tradd.

[Teacher Terry]

We never put our garbage in the can without a bag. I think we used paper bags. I did buy glass see through bowls with lids for leftovers. Still plastic is everywhere. Since the virus started we aren’t allowed to use our own bags.

[happystuff]

I have several of these and keep one clipped on my backpack and purse all the time:

DSC02947.jpg

We are allowed to use our own bags at the various stores, but have to pack them ourselves - which I don't have a problem with. I agree the plastic is still everywhere. I'm still trying to not buy so much stuff in plastic, but it is hard. I'm also starting to use more of the glass jars for stuff once they are emptied and cleaned, instead of recycling all of them or running out to get more canning jars. It may not be much, but it's something.

[happystuff]

Thanks for the article, Tradd. The very last line reads like a death sentence to me:

"Analysts now expect plastic production to triple by 2050."

[ApatheticNoMore]

And obviously, who would consider NOT using a plastic garbage bag in their garbage cans? I think when I was young, we just threw trash in the garbage cans with no bags, but that seems so icky now.

If you take paper grocery bags (and you could instead of a reusable bag in order to get them for this purpose) you could try using them for trash. I mean I generally do, but it's a pain.

There is basically nowhere to recycle anymore even for things more readily recycled like glass or metal or paper so I've given up. I mean I tried driving miles away for recycling before (that was closed half the time because even though I got there within their open hours they had closed early). But in the pandemic, too ridiculous by far. Plastic may not be recyclable, but want us to recycle glass etc., make it not an impossible pain to do so. Oh sure they still charge us taxes to recycle stuff it's now near impossible to find anywhere to recycle but that's just because they enjoy taxing us just because.

[happystuff]

Now that someone mentioned it, I remember using paper bags as garbage bags when I was a kid. We used to wrap good waste in newspapers. Nowadays I compost food waste, but I think I will take some paper bags every now and then and give this a try.

[Tradd]

Now that someone mentioned it, I remember using paper bags as garbage bags when I was a kid. We used to wrap good waste in newspapers. Nowadays I compost food waste, but I think I will take some paper bags every now and then and give this a try.

The senior lady I grocery shop for still uses paper grocery bags for trash can liners. She makes sure I ask for her groceries to be in paper rather than plastic.

But if you use communal dumpsters, etc., using paper may not be possible. My complex mandates sealed plastic bags to help keep out critters.