Plastic Free July

This will most likely be my last post on the topic of Plastic Free July.

It has been an eye opening experience.

I have been a conscious consumer for a long time, but when it came to the plastic packaging issue, I now see that I was pretty complacent.  I just wasn't seeing how much of it was really out there.  So my participation in Plastic Free July has been very educational.

• It has also gotten me to be more proactive in asking for what I want.

If I see a company is using plastic packaging where they might be able to avoid it, or use an easy alternative, I write them and ask.

After reading about Beth Terry's campaign to get Brita to recycle filters in the USA, I see that letter writing is a great place to begin, but if a company expresses reluctance to reform, then we as consumers must insist, using other methods to prove to corporations (and small businesses) that we are serious.

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2007/06/water-filters-my-letter-to-brita/
http://myplasticfreelife.com/2007/07/brita-water-filter-follow-up/

These first two posts talk about the letter writing, and the BS response she was given by the corporation.

But that was not the end of the story.  She decided to take action, and conducted a campaign to get Clorox to recycle the Brita filters in the USA.  That story can be found in her posts by searching "water filters" on her blog.  I would not have known where to begin to bring about change on this scale, but she figured it out, and the story is inspirational.  So is her website.  http://myplasticfreelife.com/

• It has made me realize that I can't be sure what happens to the plastic I put into the recycling bin.  Where is it going?  Best just not to generate disposable plastic if at all possible.

• It has made me use creativity and ingenuity to come up with solutions to the plastic packaging problem.

Try going plastic free once a week ( like Plastic Free Tuesday ) or try it for a week, to really increase your awareness.  Go to Beth Terry's website (see the link for my plastic free life) to educate yourself and become inspired.

So now I have a confession to make.  I got a little sick of going without meat, because it all comes in plastic packaging (except poultry that I buy at a local farm).  So I bought some meat this week.

This doesn't mean that I've given up.  It means that I was hungry. And my husband (good sport that he is) was also missing it.

I haven't given up.  And I have been researching local alternatives.  Grass fed beef raised locally, ethically, and humanely.  Maybe these local farmers can help me come up with an alternative to plastic packaging.

Plastic Free July Days 21-23

After 23 days of trying to be plastic free, I find myself missing bacon.

I did find some at a local butcher shop, but I didn't want to trade organic, and humane certifications for non plastic bacon, so we have been doing without. And we talk about it with longing and nostalgia.

Besides, I'm afraid butcher paper has plastic in it too.

Plastic free is a hard discipline to follow.

I'm not sure it can be done 100%, unless you're willing to unplug from the mainstream and live a completely self sufficient lifestyle.

Otherwise, plastic will find you. It will come through the mail, and it will come via well meaning friends, family, waitresses and people in customer service. It comes from the bank and the government and the grocery store. It is all around us and all pervasive.

You can run, but you can not hide.

The good thing is, I am remembering to anticipate the arrival of plastic, and sometimes to head it off. Mostly by going without things.

If I'm in a restaurant, even one which uses glasses, I don't even order water because I know the waitress will stick a straw in it, even though I asked her not to. Because she's not really listening to my request, her mind is on a million other things. So I've just learned to bring my own glass water bottle with me into the restaurant. 

"No thanks, I've got my own".

Plastic Free July Days 18-20

I'm coming to the conclusion that there is no easy way to avoid plastic.

And so I decided to stop obsessing over it, and play this thing a little more gently.

I am learning a lot.  I am learning that there is a lot more disposable plastic than I thought there was.  I'm learning that no matter how hard I try it's almost impossible to avoid.  I'm learning that it's going to take more than .01% of the world population knowing about this problem and actively doing something about it.

I'm learning to smile at the inevitability of generating disposable plastic every time I go shopping.  People mean well, but they just don't know.

So I was at the bulk bins.  I was over loaded with my glass jars, and all manner of cloth bags, and paper bags that I keep reusing.  The girl at the customer service desk was dancing to the music playing in the store.  We smiled at each other and I felt pretty good.  So far, I had managed to go to 2 places and not generate any disposable plastic.  I needed pasta.

Imagine trying to liberate dry fettuccine from a bulk bin with a pair of slippery plastic tongs.  Honestly, I usually just dip my hand in and grab what I need, but the customer service girl was watching me, so I said with a laugh, "Is there a trick to getting the pasta out using these tongs?"

My helpful, dancing angel skipped away and came back wearing a plastic glove where upon she dipped her hand in and filled my bag.  My dismay lasted about 3 seconds while I made a note to self to keep my big mouth shut in future.  Then I basked in the glow of a helpful, joyful exchange with another human being who assured me that anytime I wanted help with the pasta, anyone could get a glove on and get it for me.  I resisted the temptation to say, "In that case, I'll just go back to buying it in a plastic package. It's cheaper for one thing, and I don't have to pick it up off the floor." (Did I mention, she dropped the bag and my pasta came into contact with the floor?  Which most certainly is dirtier than my hand.  Good thing it cooks in boiling water.)

It just felt a lot better to focus on her willingness to help me, and her pure joy, than to think about the comedy of errors that resulted all because I was trying to avoid plastic in the first place.  The Trickster hangs out in my back pocket, and I have learned to laugh, when he strikes.

And the biggest laugh I get is from thinking I'm doing any good at all by buying from the bulk bins, when I know that much of that stuff comes in plastic to begin with.

Here's another candidate for an email. Just leave it in the burlap bags, you don't need to repackage it.

#doingmybest

Plastic Free July Day 17

I started out today expecting to come home with plastic.  Hoping not to.  But I knew it was a possibility.  Because I needed to buy some chicken wire, and that usually comes with some kind of plastic.  Either straps or plastic film packaging around the outside.  So I was really gratified when I went to the farm store, and found 50 feet of chicken wire with no plastic at all.  That gave me hope and encouragement

But the straw came with the dreaded plastic straps.  Not even good ol' plastic hay twine, which can be recycled, but plastic packing straps.  Even strapped, straw is a material that manages to go flying all over the place.  I was  bummed. I wasn't expecting that kind of plastic.  But I see why they do it that way. (sigh)

But the real downer today was when I went into town for bread to the local bakery with my bread bag, and decided to order sandwiches.  One sandwich was wrapped in paper--non plasticized paper--yay! but tied with plastic raffia??? --really? Shite! The other sandwich was a total fail. It came in a brown paper box, lined with shiny plastic. Worse! Tucked inside the box was plastic utensils & a plastic cup with mustard in it.

Oh come on!!

I am starting to lose ground here.  Even when I try as hard as I can not to get plastic, I still get plastic.

Some kind soul comes for a visit bearing dessert...it's ice cream encased in disposable plastic, which looks like paper.  The plastic seal was so tough, I had to use a hefty knife just to whack through it.

This is the reality of the situation.  Honestly, it makes me want to cry.

So I'm going to have a little rant here.  Just a little one, and then I promise, it will turn positive.

Here's the things I'm sick of.  I'm tired of not being able to eat almost anything, because I don't trust food anymore. Between GMOs and artificial ingredients (made from the gmos), and toxins, and hormones, and animals that have been tortured and fish swimming in polluted seas, filling their bellies with plastic.

I'm sick of having to examine everything I buy under a microscope to find out if it was grown, or manufactured under organic, humane, safe, ethical, fair trade practices...

You know what? I'm just gonna stop right there.  Because I could go on about all the things I'm sick of and it would fill pages.

And I did promise to make this a little rant.

The truth is, that all the things I am sick of all have the same root cause.  There are too many greedy, sick, twisted, monstrous, psychotic, sociopaths running things.  There! Rant-in-a-nutshell.

I believe in telling the truth and speaking my mind.  So now that I wrote the words, what does that all mean?

It means, I see it.  I see it all.  I see all the things that make me sick, and in spite of how overwhelming it all is, I  will continue to live as I have been.  Doing the best I can, and breaking the cycle whenever I can.

And I will try to remember that we're meant to experience love and joy and peace and reverence and gratitude and abundance on Planet Earth, as well as taking a hard look at the experiences that contrast those things.  By holding those things up to the light, we are able to see them for what they are.

My heroes are the ones who live their lives fully with integrity and authenticity, in spite of what the rest of the world is doing.  So I try to follow their example and just get on with it.  Even when it seems overwhelming.

Can I get an order of love to go with a side of joy? Hold the plastic, please.  I'll pay for that with a hug and a smile.

Plastic Free July Day 16

I spent the evening up-cycling some lanterns that I removed from my shed, (soon to be hen house).

You know those pretty solar lanterns you put in your yard, until you find out they're meant to last one season?  I had about 8 of them of different kinds.  The original two were made better and I think they're still going.  But the other six were purchased only 1 year later, and were so cheaply made, that the plastic over the solar cells oxidized and the batteries couldn't charge.

But I love the designs and so this evening I began to meticulously take each one apart, with the intention of taking the solar panels and spent batteries to hazo-house, and seeing if they'll also take the plastic housing I removed, which has what looks like a little circuit board inside.  And need I say it?  That housing is made entirely of plastic.

So far I've reclaimed 3 of the 6.  These two crackle glass globes...




The photo doesn't do them justice.  I love how the light sparkles off the fragmented glass, and casts interesting, lacy shadows on the wall.

And one of these pretty Asian style lanterns, with a dragon fly etched into the glass panels.


Now they are back to being useful items, instead of a big disappointment.

Plastic Free July Day 14

I was cleaning out my shed yesterday getting it ready to convert to a hen house.  During the process I removed enough tape and labels from cardboard boxes to fill a grocery bag.  I also found two small to medium size boxes with polystyrene foam peanuts (which I can now recycle).  Then I found a box containing plastic bags of all sizes and a plastic picnic plate.  The plate was a remnant of a Christmas gift someone had given me--goodies wrapped in cellophane on a blue plastic plate, and tied with plastic ribbon.

So much plastic tucked away--in storage, no less.  You might wonder why I would do that, but I have been recycling since the 1980s and it's become some kind of weird obsession to hang on to something until I find a way to recycle it.  Because I have seen recycling evolve (I remember when they didn't take batteries; and when they first started taking plastic bottles, but wouldn't take yogurt containers.)

If someone gives me a gift on a plastic plate, my gratitude comes into conflict with my heart sinking at the prospect of dealing with yet another piece of plastic.  And if I get overwhelmed and chuck it into the garbage, my guilt deals harshly with me as if I've committed mortal sin against Planet Earth, which truly I have - because I know better.  So I will find things tucked away every now and then.

This is a living example of the plastic problem in miniature.  Around the globe, the way to deal with trash is to "put it into storage" by burying it in the ground or dumping it in the ocean.  But it's still always there.  And it's growing.

Am I singing The Plastic Blues?  Well, maybe a little.

There really is only one solution.  And the answer isn't so much in the recycling of it, as it is in simply not creating it any more.

There is no need to create disposable items out of non degradable materials.  

That doesn't even make sense.

My solution is to stop allowing it in my life, while at the same time, trying to find an ethical, responsible way to get rid of the useless plastic items I still have.

Reduce Reuse Recycle was my mantra.  Now Plastic Free heads that list.

Plastic Free July Day 13

I saw a great video today on Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola who operates a recycling company in Lagos, Nigeria.

The code to embed the video didn't work for me, but here's the link to watch Entrepreneur makes money from trash.  What we find out is that she isn't really making a profit, but when I watched other videos about Wecyclers I could see what a huge difference they were making in Lagos.  One video talked about the flooding that would happen from all the trash making it impossible for the water to drain away during the rainy season.  Wecyclers is having an impact on that problem.  

It's overwhelming to think what we're up against with all the non biodegradable trash accumulating on Planet Earth.

But I believe, it's possible to turn this problem around.  Stories like this one, and stories like The Ocean Cleanup give me hope.

For myself, I spent the day cleaning out the shed to get ready for the hens to move in.  I was going to pick them up tomorrow, but I asked if I could postpone another few days.  My yard is secure, and the shed will be adequate, but I need to get some straw and nesting boxes.

And for a small 6 x 6 foot shed, it sure had a lot of stuff in it.  Mostly cardboard boxes from last Winter waiting to go on the garden as mulch.  But out of site, out of mind.  I spent the day breaking down boxes.

I will also have to find a new home for my bike and my lil' electric lawn mower.

Breaking down boxes was a bitter-sweet task.  I'm so attuned to the whole plastic problem now that pulling tape off of boxes so it won't hang around in my soil when the boxes break down, reminds me how much plastic there is, everywhere.

Any way, I will never be lazy or complacent about plastic again.