This can be a mind-blowing exercise.
For me, I woke up. I brushed my teeth, brushed my hair and made a cup of coffee. I watched a morning news show while eating yogurt and berries for breakfast. I sat down at my desk to get some work done. Basic? You bet ya.
During that morning routine, I used 3 different items that were made of – or packaged in – plastic material. It’s only mid-day, and I’ve got a whole laundry list of things to do today. I’m scared of what my count will be by the time I go to sleep tonight…….
We have a plastic problem, and no President, no member of Congress, no news report, no statistic can tell us otherwise. I’m writing this post in hopes that it makes us all more cognizant of what we’re using, wearing, and buying on a daily basis. The solution will derive from education, research, and putting into practice what we learn.
To kick things off, I held a Clean-Up party in Marina del Rey this month – brought to you by my weekly runs from my house. I feel SO lucky to live where I do, only a couple miles from the beach with immediate access to the Ballona Creek bike path. It provides a pretty view during a run…until you look closer and see that the neon pink straw doesn’t belong with the natural blue hues of the ocean. The styrofoam container from someone’s meal isn’t going to make a comfy home for the animals in the ecological reserve next door. I’ve always wanted to do a meet-up in LA, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to mix passion and purpose together: A Meet-Up with a Mission if you will 🙂 Now, I know what you’re thinking…did anyone actually show up on a Sunday afternoon to pick up trash in Los Angeles?! I’m insanely thrilled to say YES, they did. 16 beautiful humans came together on a summer day to fill 100 compostable trash bags with other people’s garbage. SAINTS, I tell you!
We found everything from styrofoam containers to old shoes to tattered purses to entirely too many single-use dental flossers to countless micro-plastics to syringes and needles. It was a sobering afternoon. We sat down at a nearby restaurant for drinks and apps afterwards, and I asked anyone if they had ever tried going 24 hours without plastic. Nobody spoke up but my boyfriend from when we tried to do it while in Budapest this summer. NEWSFLASH: IT’S HARD. But if you though we came here to mess around, you thought wrong. Plastic, beware!
I love coming in contact with like-minded people and big corporations who make me think and second guess my every action, a.k.a. my entire life. Last year, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health (parent company behind brands like Johnson’s®, Neutrogena® and Listerine®) joined forces with over 240 other organizations to be part of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. Cut to present-day and now over 400 companies have joined the movement! This makes my heart so happy because big companies have a massive opportunity and responsibility to take action and make an impact on the planet. In short, this means Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health is pledging to use more recycled materials in packaging, reduce reliance on the single-use model and ensure that 100% of plastic packaging be reusable, recyclable or compostable through a combination of design, partnerships and investments by 2025. If you don’t think our planet is headed towards a disaster that we can’t come back from, read the following…
Only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling, and the estimated 19 billion pounds of plastic that ends up in the world’s oceans every year is expected to double by 2025…making it more plentiful than fish.
More commitments from big brand names and states include Starbucks’ plastic straw ban in 2018, McDonald’s sustainably sourcing 100% of its coffee worldwide by 2020, Maine’s ban on styrofoam this year, California and New York’s ban on plastic bags, and LA’s ban on plastic straws in restaurants unless specifically requested. We are moving in a good direction, but we can all do better.
Here are some examples of how we can do our part in our every day lives (because I need a lot of work, too):
Bring a reusable water bottle around town and when you travel.
BYOS(nacks), BYOU(tensils), BYOH(eadphones) around town, to work, during travel so you don’t waste!
Utilize reusable bags while you shop.
Hellooo, compostable garbage bags!
Rid of the plastic straws (unless needed in the case of a disability) for metal or glass straws.
Opt for the ice cream cone over the ice cream cup. It’s super yummy, anyway 🙂
Buy bars of soap over body wash in plastic containers.
Brush your teeth with a bamboo toothbrush (I have one and it’s reallyyyy cool).
Brush your hair with a wooden/bamboo hairbrush.
Buy reusable cloth sandwich bags and more reusable food bags over plastic baggies & cling wrap.
Utilize stainless steel or glass over plastic food storage containers.
Use pet bowls made of stainless steel or ceramic.
Buy sustainably-made clothing and avoid buying plastic clothing (made from synthetic materials with names like: polyester, acrylic, lycra, spandex, nylon… a.k.a plastic fabric).
Celebrate Christmas with sustainably-grown real trees as most artificial trees are made from toxic PVC.
YASSS GIRL!!!! We are doing all of this except the toothbrush and hairbrush. Now I wonder how you and I and others can dig even deeper and do more…. We are finding the hardest thing is when grocery shopping, not to buy anything wrapped in plastic. Which means basically buying *nothing* and starving. It’s really opened our eyes to how much comes wrapped in plastic. And that’s taking into account that we already shop at the Farmer’s Market for anything we can get there so we don’t have to buy it in a grocery store.
This is always such a tough one!! SO much is packaged in plastic, and I think at the end of the day it’s really about changing our lifestyle in order to be better. Buying milk and juices in glass and brining along tupperware for meat in the deli section is all fine and good….but I find the absolute hardest to be fruits. I was at the grocery store yesterday for fruit, and while I shop at the Farmer’s Market as well, I either can’t always get everything I need there. Takes some more research and digging, I think!
We are doing all that too and we are using silicone straws instead of plastic. I work for the school system and its insane how much plastic the kids bring in their lunch boxes.
I can imagine! Yay for silicone straws 🙂
I love this!!! I definitely want to try to go 2 hours with as little plastic as I can. Seems like a really cool challenge!!!! I never really took into consideration how many times a day I use plastic. Definitely going to be more mindful!!!!
We have gone to silicon bags to store all of our leftovers, sandwiches and produce and cold meats when we go to the store, along with cloth bags to bring it all home with. I am going to start going to more farmers markets as well and that will help to eliminate more plastics. Whenever I am out on Beaver Lake in Arkansas I always bring along BD bags because I can’t pass up trash floating in the water or washed up on shore. Tip for boaters, keep track of your plastic in your boat so it doesn’t fly out accidentally when you head back to the dock.
To add on to your statistic, I just read a very informative article in Outside magazine which stated that, “less than 5 percent of plastic in the U.S. gets recycled.” This fact absolutely blew me away considering how much recycling we think we are doing. In reality, such little gets recycled. The article mentioned how big corporations got together on a boat to come up with a solution to this daunting reality.
Love Outside Mag and that is a staggering stat! We can definitely all do better. The earth needs us!
Good attitude