Have you ever thought about what it would take to live plastic free? We’re all concerned now about how our actions affect the environment around us. After all, we want our kids to have a healthy future, and plastic is one of the worst offenders when it comes to polluting landfills and oceans. So let’s get started.
1. Stop drinking bottled water.
Not an easy choice in Northern California, where municipal tap water isn’t always great tasting. Get a water filter (with the fewest plastic parts), and switch to a stainless steel bottle.
2. Don’t use plastic bowls for your pets. They want to live plastic free, too.
3. Use paper bags for garbage and trash.
Using your garbage disposal and composting should eliminate most of your soggy kitchen garbage, and you certainly don’t need a plastic liner in your wastebaskets.
4. Skip plastic bags at the grocery store.
Just put your produce items in the cart, then they can be put in a single (paper or recyclable) bag as you check out. It’s OK if they touch each other, and the cashier can easily separate them for weighing.
5. Buy bulk foods.
All those “convenience” wrappers for individual slices of cheese or other snacks add up to a whopping pile of pointless plastic. Lots of staples from oatmeal and noodles to chocolate chips come in bulk, too.
6. Switch to non-commercial household cleaners.
Use vinegar (from a glass bottle), hot water, lemon, baking soda and Borax instead of products that come in plastic bottles. You’ll save money, avoid all those questionable chemicals and get the job done as well or better.
7. Use bar soap instead of liquid soap in plastic containers.
8. Read the label on personal care items.
Did you know that some toothpastes and face creams actually have plastic microbeads in them?
9. Traveling on an airplane? Take your own headphones, rather than using the throw-away ones they hand out in a plastic bag.
10. Get some inexpensive dishes and flatware for summer BBQ parties, instead of using disposables.
Why avoid plastic?
In a word, it’s poisonous. Several chemicals used to manufacture plastic products can cause cancer, disrupt reproduction or endocrine function, among other things. The problem is that plastic breaks down over time, even though you can’t always see that, then it releases its toxic ingredients into foods and beverages they contain. Plastics used for non-food items clog landfills. They don’t degrade efficiently, but they do continue to release more toxins into the soil and groundwater.
PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is widely recognized as the most toxic plastic, to people as well as the environment. It’s found in everything from plumbing pipe to food packaging, shower curtains and children’s toys.
Polystyrene, commonly called Styrofoam, has been known since the mid-70s to be highly dangerous, and many communities around the country have banned its use for disposable cups and food containers. You still see Styrofoam coolers and other products, though. And then there’s polycarbonate, another product used to make food containers. It has also been banned in many places, specifically for use in manufacturing baby bottles.
If you want to set a goal for your family to live plastic free, start with the easy things and work from there. At least you’ll be plastic free-er. You’ll probably be healthier, and the environment will certainly be better for your efforts.
