Discardable Plastics John Parker

John Parker

Plastic is one of the most essential items in America today, we use it to package things, we use it to carry things, heck we even put it our house as a layer of insulation. I personally didn't have a very hard time with this challenge because I didn't go home to see how my family does with consuming plastic. I stayed here and managed to keep track of every piece of plastic I ever used and it was quite shocking how much I used. I collected a total of 24 Gatorade bottles, a few plastic containers of turkey that I used to make sandwiches and a plastic bag of Reese's that I had over break. In order to save plastic on these materials, what I did was I came up with some solutions to not use as many Gatorade bottles because that was my main problem. What I did was instead of buying the plastic bottles, I bought a small jug of the powdered Gatorade mix and I bought One of those Gatorade sport bottles at Dunhams and I mixed water with the powder in the same bottle multiple times in order to conserve plastic. This in turn also saved me about 25 to 30 dollars as well since I only spent 3 dollars on the Gatorade bottle and 5 dollars for the powdered mix of Gatorade. My solution to my minor plastic problem with turkey was that instead of buying it in the package, I got it fresh in the deli and used my own tin foil wrap instead of the plastic bags that they give you. I really liked this experience because it showed me how much plastic I use, and this is at college, I don't want to know how much I would use if I actually went home. Another thing that I had trouble with was my yogurt containers, I really couldn't find a substitute for what I could do for the plastic yogurt containers so if anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it.

Thanksgiving Plastics Kim Wittig

Kim Wittig

Over my Thanksgiving break, I went home to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Throughout my break, I visited many family members and friends within the state; therefore, I was not home very often except for family functions and dinners. With this project to keep track of my plastics and the plastic of the people around me, I thought I would obtain more than what I did.

However, my first day of observing our plastic usage was spent at home for an evening with the rest of the day out shopping with my friend, Brennan.

While I was home, I noticed the snacks my father was eating had been wrapped in a plastic coating/container. These included beer dip, chips, bread, peanut butter and jelly, and leftovers from thanksgiving in a Tupperware container. Majority of the store bought snack-food items around my house are somehow intertwined with a plastic whether it be their container, wrapping, or how they got to my house within a plastic bag.

Joe Fedie

Joseph R. Fedie

SS3300

               

                This Thanksgiving it was surprising just how much plastic is can be used for a single meal. Paper plate with food that has been involved in plastic in some way, a plastic fork, spoon, knife and either a plastic water bottle or cup. Then after all this has been used once or twice it is thrown into a plastic garbage bag that is thrown away. This was the same thing for twenty people all for lunch and the same thing happened for dinner. Now this is a once a year thing for us, but some people rely on this exclusively and that is a staggering amount of plastic used for one meal that is then discarded, never to be used again. I never realized how reliant we are on plastic in our day to day lives, how securely it has cemented itself into our lives. If you buy almost anything plastic is involved in some way, it could be wrapped in plastic, come in a plastic bag or be made of plastic. Just a simple trip to the store can result in an astonishing amount: items made of or packaged in plastic then placed in plastic bag (unless you bring your own) then brought home. If it was just packaging it has a life of about three seconds before it is thrown away into another disposable plastic bag, not to mention the store plastic bags that then get thrown into this bag.

                In my two days of no disposable plastics it was more difficult than I thought. I got paper bags to throw my trash into and stayed away from any sort of vending machine. Plastic utensils or cups are something I rarely use so avoiding these was much easier. Food is where things got tricky, yogurt, hamburger, chicken, rice, cheese, really almost anywhere I looked was packaged in disposable plastic. The only option I could find was buying bread from a bakery and telling them I dont want a bag and buying meat from a deli. Fruit was fairly easy as I could simply put them in cloth bags. The amount of plastic I had left over was significantly less after I took these measures but ended up costing much more than a normal trip would. It also involved significantly more travel than normal instead of stopping at Wal-Mart like I normally do. Overall the experience was much more expensive and difficult to accomplish which would explain why so many people don't do it. So I concluded that going without any sort of disposable plastics at this point is practically impossible for a modern individual but there are simple steps that can be taken. The cloth bags are relatively simple and work for small trips and using an aluminum water bottle or a drinking fountain instead of buying water. The biggest one is probably using real utensils as they can be washed and reused over and over again for little to no work involved.

Average use (plastic bag from Wal-Mart, yogurt cup, bread bag on the left)

Above is a simple way to drastically reduce plastic usage inspired by my Thanksgiving meal.

Somebody's plastic pictures

Check It Out- Neil Hagerty

http://ss3300finalprojecthagerty.weebly.com/

Link to the website I created. Never made a website before, pretty neat deal! Might have to make another when time permits. :-)

Ditching Temporary Plastic ~ Melissa Patterson

Living off campus has created a new challenge for myself as an environmentally-conscious person. Budgeting for food presents its own challenges as I realize just how cheap it is to buy foods wrapped in plastic versus other packaging options. Plastic is all over the grocery stores. I knew when this plastic challenge was issued that most of my disposable plastic came in the form of food packaging, usually one-use items. That being said, I found it surprisingly difficult to keep track of my household’s disposable plastic use for two days. Even with informing them of this project, it was hard to remember to separate out the plastic. Since the city of Houghton has limited recycling service, we usually throw it out with the trash, which we have always disliked. Ergo, the picture below represents an approximation of how much plastic we go through in two days time. We also used less plastic accidentally during this time, as most of my household went for pasta and other cardboard meals during the two days I tried to collect. I actually expected our plastic usage to be considerably higher. We had plastics from food packaging, cleaning supplies, and plastic bags from a recent Walmart trip.

 Collected Plastic:

 Disposable-Plastic free meals! (all jars are glass)

I expected the two day challenge to eliminate disposable plastic in my life to be difficult. Planning ahead to eliminate disposable plastic was far more taxing than I’d expected. I interpreted the challenge as an attempt to eliminate one-use plastic items – things that wouldn’t or couldn’t be used again and again. I eliminated any and all plastic bags, and stayed away from water bottles, but considered items like my hairbrush, toothbrush, and cooking utensils as non-disposable plastics, and continued to use them as normal. I had to skip cereal both mornings because of the plastic packaging on the inside, and I bought enough rice to feed the house for the rest of the year, because it came in a cool burlap bag. Most of the sauces I usually use were already in glass bottles, and I usually keep the bottles afterwards for other uses around the house. I enjoyed a meal of pasta and spaghetti sauce, as opposed to stir fry with frozen shrimp and veggies from plastic bags. We also prefer as a household to use Tupperware and other reusable plastic containers instead of plastic bags for storing food, so that wasn’t a huge change for me for the few days. The challenge did cause me to stop and think about all the plastic that surrounds my life. There is plastic in my clothes, in my shoes, in my backpack and my hairband. I have my plants in plastic pots, and plastic milk crates serve as shelves in my room painted in acrylic (plastic-ish) paint. My toilet has a plastic seat lid, my shower items are all plastic, and even my desk lamp has plastic. I try to imagine my world without the substance, and cannot comprehend it. Plastic is a thoroughly engrained part of modern society, literally engrained into every part of our lives. While it is certainly possible and almost simple to eliminate disposable, temporary plastic items from your life (Unless you like peanut butter  - I’ve never seen peanut butter in glass jars), at this point in history, it would be impossible to completely eliminate plastic from modern society.

Disposable Plastic - Duane Himmel

For the two days that I collected plastics, I did not collect a lot, largely because I stick to a relatively strict daily routine. I usually eat the same meals and carry around containers that are not disposable. I did collect 2 6-pack can rings, a plastic candy cane, bubble wrap and a few wrappers from slices of cheese, but aside from this I did not dispose of much. I do however, have several items that are not finished that are wrapped in plastic in my refrigerator, but since I had not disposed of them, I figured that they did not meet the requirements. I suppose that I could restrict my use of disposable plastics more by buying whole foods that are not wrapped in plastics, or making more of my own foods from scratch, but I honestly will probably not do this, due to a lack of motivation. When shopping at the grocery store it is far easier to grab the things that are pre-made and wrapped in plastic and I think that plays a huge factor in why so much plastic is disposed of throughout the country and the world. I'm not sure what remedies to suggest in terms of limiting plastic use, because it is such a convenient product to use, with a diverse range of applications. However, I do see that it is a huge problem to the environment and something should be done to limit its production and waste. The pictures below are of the 2 days worth of plastic, and the containers that I use to carry my food/drink around in everyday. I am usually somewhat conservative in my use of plastics, because I have had several classes where this has been a topic of interest, but it wasn't until only a few years ago that I actually cared enough to change the way in which I shopped and discarded of materials like this. I suppose being educated on the potential effects that plastic can have on the environment was what it took in order for me to understand that while I may not have the power to change the rest of the world, I can at least do my part. This 2 day experience was not much different from my normal routine, but as I stated earlier, there is always room for improvement and there are always opportunities to change things up, even if it is only slightly, to create a better world for tomorrow. After conducting this 2 day event, I will attempt to cut back even further on my use of disposable plastics, but I cannot say that they will be completely eliminated from my life. I do quite a bit of traveling in between semesters and these forms of plastic make it all the easier to stay on the road for longer stretches of time and the amount of planning and preparation that would be required for a week-long road trip would be highly inconvenient for me and whoever I'm traveling with.