2 Day Discarable Plastic Challenge - Halley Shawbitz 12/12/13

I've always considered myself to be an environmentally conscious person. I eat mostly organic foods that are made my sustainable companies. I also dont eat a lot of processed or premade foods. So when I was told to collect all the discardable plastics that I went through in a matter of two days, I automatically thought I wasn't going to really have too much to show. Well, I was terribly mistaken. Everything from the beer can rings to the plastics my breakfast burritos came in, were all made of plastic. Even the gum that i chewed were in plastic blister packs. During the two days I kept a cardboard box next the trashcan at home and a plastic bag in my backpack to collect all the discardable plastics that I went through. I was astonished at how quickly both of them filled up.

After day one I emptied the contents of both the cardboard box and the bag from my backpack. The contents were, Three burrito sleeves, a bagel bag, a bread bag, more food packaging, beer can rings, and a blister pack for chewing gum. Again, I was pretty blown away even though I'm sure there are people who consume far more than I did.

Day two yielded similar results. In the 24 hours of collecting all the discardable plastic that I went through, I managed to have quite the pile. This day I collected, a plastic baby foot top, packaging for a Christmas ornament that I hung on my tree earlier that day, tv dinner packaging, Fudge bar wrappers (healthy isn't it), more beer can rings, and a plastic wine bottle cork. I think what shocked me the most was the cork. We all assume that your wine cork is made out of actual cork, but these days Anything can be substituted by plastic. 

The following two days though, did not prove to be too much of a challenge. I didnt opt for my usual microwaveable or oven friendly foods that I normally would. Instead I went to the local co-op with my canvas bag, picked up some fresh veggies and made a yummy zucchini mushroom and eggplant burger dinner. At school, I didnt opt for any sort of snack that came in wrappers, I ordered a grilled cheese from the MUB and had to opt for actual silverware instead of the disposable plastic alternatives. I actually really enjoyed consciously making decisions not to use plastics. It did open my eyes to a real horror of how much waste we consume. I think what shocked me the most though, was how easy it was to choose alternatives that werent made of disposable plastics. I was shocked at this because the convenience of discardable plastics isn't at all necessary. Yet, so many people gravitate to this alternative because of the convenience and laziness factor. Our laziness, and need for convenience is killing the planet and it is not a necessity to even have a choice.