SS3300
After two days
of disposable plastic collection it became apparent that most of my disposable
plastic use is related to my food consumption. Much of the food that I consume
has at least some plastic packaging. I will admit the pile of plastic in my picture
below is probably less than it normally would be. I had just went grocery
shopping and I tend to buy in bulk so many packages were not emptied during the
days I was collecting.
The amount of disposable plastic
that I encounter on a daily basis is astounding. I had to change up my routine
considerably in order to remove disposable plastic use. Some of the changes I
had to make are listed below.
· I switched to bars of soap instead of
bottles in the shower and at the sinks.
· I
had to cut out my normal cereal breakfast as both cereal and milk come in
plastic containers.
· For lunch I could no longer have a
sandwich with yogurt. Instead I would
have to make soup from a can or pasta from a box.
· Even cooking was difficult as all of
the meat in my freezer is wrapped in plastic. Leaving me only canned chicken
for meat during this project. Even worse was that all spices are contained in
plastic so I couldn’t use them to flavor up any of my meals.
· I did cheat as I brushed my teeth with
a plastic toothbrush and used toothpaste from a plastic tube. The box of
noodles that I bought prior to starting the experiment had a small plastic
viewing window and, I elected to continue taking my
vitamin supplements so I did not become ill so close to finals.
Overall, the
most surprising thing to me about this whole experience was how expensive it
would be to cut disposable plastic from my life. Even during just two days I
noticed how expensive and nearly impossible it is to eat food that is not
packaged in plastic. Just buying food becomes more expensive as I would have to
buy my own bags. The food that you can purchase is generally either canned or
in boxes. This project resulted in a loss of quality of the food I consumed and
led me to appreciate my normal eating habits even more. (I will say that
Houghton is not a great place to conduct this experiment as there is not a
large green culture here as in other places I have lived. In Denver I am sure I
could have shopped at stores that would not have used plastic packaging.)
After
two days without disposable plastic it became apparent that not only would it
be extremely difficult to cut it from my life but it would be expensive.
Without sweeping changes to not only how products are packaged but to our own
attitudes toward plastic use and disposal I believe it would be nearly
impossible to cut disposable plastic from our lives and still maintain the same
standard of living.
I agree with you that this would be much more difficult if conducted in Houghton! Doing mine in a larger city, Green Bay, I had more access to different options for my days without plastic.
ReplyDelete-Kim Wittig
It seems more expensive at first, but once you get used to buying food in bulk, it becomes cheaper. But then you need to make time to cook from scratch, which isn't easy at first.
ReplyDelete