Disposable Plastic- Ryan Anderson

    Ryan Anderson

    SS 3300      

            As I collected items that our household uses that are plastic or have plastic components I soon realized how our lives are infused into a world of throw away plastic, paper, metal, and glass containers and packaging. Our use of these plastic items begins each day as we get out of bed and continues during our whole day. To live without plastic in our lives is impossible simply because everything we need to carry on our daily lives involves plastic in some way, shape, or form.

            An analysis of my typical day shows that plastic is king. Upon rising from bed in the morning I shower with a plastic container of body wash and shampoo. After that comes brushing my teeth with a plastic handle toothbrush with paste out of a plastic tube followed by mouthwash from a plastic bottle. Before leaving the bathroom I brush and comb my hair with a plastic brush and comb. At the breakfast table I have juice from a plastic bottle and make toast from bread that comes in a plastic bag. The bread is toasted in an appliance that has a plastic handle. After breakfast I get fully dressed for the day and notice some of my clothes have plastic buttons and my jacket appears to have a plastic zipper. I look down at my shoes and notice some plastic on the shoe lace ends, eyelets, and other areas of my shoes. I leave the house and upon entering my car, I reach for my keys and notice a plastic fob and some plastic on the key. I enter the car by using the plastic handle on the door and as I sit behind the wheel I am surrounded by plastic. From the steering wheel to the entire dashboard with all the knobs and controls to the plastic windows on the instrument panel, plastic overwhelms me. All of this and I haven’t even left my home yard yet. I get to school and notice my book bag has some plastic parts on it, and when I open it I see my plastic binding. I could go on with describing the rest of my day, but I think that anyone reading my daily experience to this point gets the idea of how plastic has become a part of and dominates our lives. We are to a point that we can’t live without it.

            For the class I collected a variety of plastic items from a couple of days of normal living and found it reinforced my above assertions. Some of the plastic items I collected over two days are as follows. A plastic pop bottle, a toothpaste tube, mouthwash bottle, bakery containers, a milk container, plastic silverware, a plastic TV dinner container, plastic vegetable bag, a plastic coffee can lid, plastic deodorant container, plastic aspirin bottle, plastic sandwich bag, plastic freezer storage bag, plastic drinking water cup, and a plastic bag from the grocery store.

            To replace the items I used for two days was the most difficult part of the project. The only things that were easily used as a replacement were a paper bag, a glass water bottle, baking soda to brush my teeth, bar soap for showering, a glass plate and silverware for meals, and a cardboard juice container.