Why I HATE Plastic...

I'll get right to the point, here several reasons why I HATE plastic:

Reason #1: Since the 1950's, one billion tons of plastic has been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years. Much is floating around in our oceans, last I heard it was twice the size of Texas floating around in the Pacific.

Reason #2: Unfortunately, recycling of plastics has proven to be a difficult process. Under 7% of discarded plastic is currently recycled in the U.S.

Reason #3: Plastic is resistant to biodegradation, thus it will remain on the Earth long enough to become my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren's problem to solve.

Plastic is in every aspect of our lives at home, at work, at hospitals, at school, and the list goes on and on. What frightens me is that there are chemicals that leach from the plastic that can be potentially harmful to our health, such as Bisphenol-A (which is found in water bottles and baby bottles) as well as Polystyrene (PS or Styrofoam.) 

As a society, we don't question the products put on shelves for us to purchase. Instead, we put trust into companies in hopes that our best interests are being looked after, such as our health and well-being, though many of the chemicals used in making plastic are suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) or suspected carcinogens. Though most of us are blindly faithful to plastic and all that it has to offer, convenience and easy accessibility. 

Here are a few alternative products that will reduce or eliminate plastic from your life.

Reusable Water Container: Sigg reusable containers are also recyclable, as they are made from 100% pure aluminum. Does aluminum scare you away because of the suspected link to Alzheimer's? Don't be, the interior coating is unbreakable, even if the exterior is dented... it will not break the coating, nor will your liquids touch the aluminum.

"About 1.5 million tons of plastic are used in the bottling of 89 billion litres of drinking water each year." -The Green Book

Another alternative to water bottles is a water filter. By utilizing the water from your tap, which has higher standards for clean water than bottled, you are saving not only plastic waste from our planet but you're saving the use of millions of barrels of petroleum from being used AND keeping toxins out of your body!

Un-plastic Your Kitchen: I have long loved Evelyn Fields and her passion to keep plastic out of her kitchen. Evelyn also has an Etsy store where she sells reusable eco-bags for snacks and sandwiches, as well as napkins, bread bags, and coffee filters!! Not only will you eliminate plastic from your kitchen by using reusable bags, you'll save money too!

Another way to dispose of unnecessary plastic is to use glass straws instead of plastic ones. Straws are as useless as chop sticks, we use them once and throw them away, wasting plastic that will take hundreds or thousands of years to biodegrade. 

Straws by Carli are lifetime guaranteed, which means if it breaks she'll send you a new one. They're made out of Pyrex, which means they are microwave and dishwasher safe but can break if dropped. (Just like any glass.)

I love that she puts bends in some of them!!

Glass containers: This is a no-brainer for me, as chemicals will likely leach from the container into the food and where do you think the chemicals go once they're in our food?? If the product suggests not to microwave food in a plastic container... it's likely that it isn't safe to store your food in a plastic container as well. 

Take out containers: When you eat out at a restaurant, other than asking for TAP water instead of bottled water, ask for minimal containers to take your leftovers home in. (If possible, request that your container not be stored in styrofoam.) This is the fastest growing cause of plastic waste currently in the U.S. and if you're not going to eat the leftover food, instead of having the restaurant throw it away, ask for it all to be put in a cardboard container and take the food home to dump in your compost pile!! (You have compost piles, right?) ;)

Reusable shopping bags: This has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years, and throughout Ontario it costs you money if you forget your reusable bags and have to resort to plastic. I'm hoping that plastic bags become obsolete and a thing of the past as fast as they came into our lives, but if you do use plastic bags, I highly urge you to recycle them!

Product Packaging: Next to take out containers, product packaging is the 2nd fastest growing cause of plastic waste. Just think about how much plastic wraps your child's action figure! (With no good reason too!) Unfortunately, many of us do not have the power to make a company reduce the amount of plastic used, but we can purchase goods from eco-minded companies, which essentially makes the bad company use less plastic. (Because when we make a purchase we're voting on what we believe is acceptable and what is not, and hopefully they'll start to change their horrible packaging ways.)

One of my favourite places to search for children's toys is Etsy. Aside from the recycled, upcycled, and eco-friendly products, these sellers are mindful of how they package their item by keeping it minimal and plastic free! 

So, let's detach ourselves from the chemical filled and petroleum eating plastic monster and think simple, think of how your parents and their parents bought groceries, stored food, and drank water. Simple and without the ease of plastic. 

North American's are not only addicted to oil, they're addicted to plastic as well! We've become lazy and rely on the ease of plastic encompassing our lives with convenience. It is time to break that addiction and start cleaning up our Earth through recycling and using reusable products!

Until next time... think and be green.

Love,

Katie

"Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value." -Richard Buckminster Fuller