Theme: Congratulations on completing two weeks of the Plastics Challenge!
Congratulations on completing two weeks of the Plastics Challenge! It’s likely that your
household has a tidy stash of soft plastics piling up. Still confused about what to
collect? Go to the recycler’s site for a full list of what is, and isn’t, recycled. https://merrickinc.org/plastic-recycling/
Our goal for this Challenge is to raise awareness of the amount of plastics in our
households and our lives. The reason? Plastics are contaminating our air, our earth,
and our water. Microplastics are being found in remote regions far from our use and
their production. They are found in our fruits and vegetables, our meat and fish,
and…ultimately…in us. If they were just annoyances, that would be one thing. But
microplastics are being implicated with a whole host of problems for the living things
that absorb them, including increased heart disease, cancers, neurological problems,
and fertility issues. So removing them as much as we can from our lives is both an
altruistic goal for the good of all creation, as well as a personal goal for safeguarding our
own health.
What to do? Well, we aren’t the first to think about this issue. One helpful source is the
website https://myplasticfreelife.com/.
Watch a video, read a blog entry, and try one
thing on for size. You’ll be amazed at how many opportunities there are for avoiding
plastics – not buying them, not using them, and ultimately not “absorbing” them.
In the meantime, here are some easy steps that will get you started:
1. Invest in some reusable shopping bags (or use the ones already stashed in your
closet). Ditch plastic bags for tote bags (cotton or recycled plastic) of any size, color, and
design. They are incredibly functional. Invest in something that can stay with you longer.
2. Go old-school and use glass or metal food containers instead of single use plastic
packaging. For example, bring your glass storage containers and shop from
supermarket bulk bins. A number of local stores have bulk bins pasta, oats, rice, beans,
chia, spices, sugar, protein powder, nuts and dried fruits. And use glass or metal
containers for leftovers as well.
3. Invest in reusable mesh produce bags instead of using those annoying plastic bags
at the store. Bonus - they can also be used when traveling or going for a picnic. Don’t
limit your imagination about how you can use them – whatever you would put in a small
plastic bag would perfectly belong there.
4. If you must use straws, us compostable…and then compost them!
5. Ditch the take-out plastic utensils. If you’re traveling, stash some bamboo recyclable
utensils in your bag. And if you’re at home, use the real stuff.
6. Use Beewas food wrap to cover dishes instead of plastic wrap and ditch the plastic
wrap.
7. Buy a tea infuser instead of single-use tea bags. It might sound surprising, but most
teabags brands use plastic either while sealing the bag or in a production of a
bag/packaging itself. They put plastic into your tea, and they are not compostable and
so end up in the trash.
8. Consider bar soap and shampoo – or if you are dedicated to a particular shampoo,
buy it in bulk to reduce the number of plastic bottles that enter your house.
9. Ditch your single use plastic water bottles in favor of reusable glass or stainless-steel
containers. That plastic bottle of water from the convenience store not only exposes
you to plastic and creates one-use waste, but involves packaging and transporting that
water, which is the same quality as your home tap.
10. Ditch the paper plates and cups. We hear “paper” and think they are good to use –
but they are coated with plastic (that’s what makes them resistant to liquids). Instead, if
you must use something disposable, choose a compostable plate or cup – and then
compost it! Best choice, of course, is to use real plates and cups.
Did anything on this list sound doable to you? Now’s the time to start!