Away with the Disposables! - Courtney Sian

Growing up with a household of people, we became accustomed to having disposable plastics in our everyday dinning routine.  Items from plastic plates and silverware, to Ziploc bags and grocery bags were used on a regular basis.  To my family, using these items was more for convenience than anything else.  It simply cost a few dollars to buy them and when you were done, you would throw them away, saving time from having to do all the dishes (and the more people there was, the more dishes!).  

Over Thanksgiving break, I kept track of the disposable plastics that were used over a two day time period, and most of those items are shown in the figure below. After explaining how disposable plastics cause harm to the environment and wildlife, I challenged my family to go two days without using any disposable plastics. At first my family had no idea what I was getting them in to, but after explain how easy it would be, they were all for it! It would be simple, just stop using plastic plates and silverware, and get rid of the plastic bags.  

With a basic understanding of how important it is to properly recycle or simply put an end to the use of the disposable plastics in our household, we created a strategy on how we can become more environmentally friendly in just two days timing.  The first object on the list to tackle was the plastic plates and silverware.  An easy solution to cutting the use of these plastics was to substitute glass and silver items that could be washed in place of the disposables.  As mentioned before, the only problem with doing this, especially if you are my 16 year old brother, was having more dishes to do by hand. 

Another one of the items that are used frequently in my household and disposed of so regularly is Ziploc and grocery bags.  Ziploc bags are used to store food and when they are no longer of use many people just throw them away.  Instead of throwing away the bags, we have decided to recycle them by washing them out and reusing them.  In cases where the bags are not necessary, we made the decision to use Tupperware containers for short storage. In regards to grocery bags, which is another convenient item by being available at the store, store now provide grocery bags that are reusable.  These bags are available for purchase and then can be reused over and over.  Although in the two days we did this experiment there was no grocery shopping done, the next time we went to the store we picked up some of the reusable grocery bags and plan on bringing them with us on every shopping spree. 

Through this experience, not only myself, but my family learned the importance of recycling and together we made a few changes in regards to the amount of disposable plastics that were used on a daily basis.  Just because it may be cheaper and save you personal time, it doesn’t mean it is safe for the environment!  (Sorry there is no after photo!)