The Discardable Plastic Challenge - Eric Maise

I never realized quite how much plastic I use over the course of two days. The most shocking thing is that the majority of that plastic I end up throwing away. I’d guess that almost two thirds of the garage in my kitchen waste basket is comprised of plastic. The biggest use of plastic I noticed was for food. The bag to carry the food, the package the food is in, the wrapper surrounding the food - all plastic and all thrown away. I came to realize that the seemingly irrelevant and small pieces of plastic that I use daily start to add up. I chew a lot of gum and every wrapper is another piece of plastic that to be honest, doesn’t always make its way into a trash can. As an environmental engineer I consider myself a pretty environmentally conscience and friendly individual. I was well aware of the negative environmental impacts of discardable plastics before taking this class. Yet until this challenge I had never really tested myself to try and eliminate the use of discardable plastic from my daily life.  

When I began my two days of life without discardable plastics I quickly realized just how easy and convenient it is to use discardable plastics. The use of trashable plastics requires no future planning and doesn’t require you to carry receptacles on you wherever you go. Yet, if one wishes to eliminate their daily use of plastics then one must think ahead. The easiest way to prevent the use of discardalbe plastic is to bring reusable plastic receptacles with you wherever you go. Each day I would have to remember to bring my water bottle, a snack in a Tupperware container, coffee in a thermos, and a reusable grocery bag with me to campus. This prevented me from buying bottled water when I was thirsty, a candy bar in a plastic wrapper when hungry, and using plastic grocery bags to carry food home from Jim’s.

I believe that it is much easier to eliminate discardable plastics from your life if you are an individual of habit and foresight. Once you get into the routine of bringing a water bottle and reusable grocery bags everywhere you’ll greatly reduce your use of discardable plastics. If you are more of a spontaneous or compulsive person eliminating discardable plastics from your life may be more difficult. For instance, if you’re not on a strict lunch schedule you’re constantly having to buy lunch from the MUB instead of bringing a lunch with you in Tupperware and a lunch bag. Compulsive purchases result in more plastic use and subsequently more spending for the individual.

After completing my two days without any discardable plastics I realized how deep plastics have infiltrated our lives. I also came to the scary realization that for the majority of my life I paid no heed to the discarding of potentially immortal plastics. Although I’m not a person of habit or routine I found it relatively easy to eliminate much of my discardable plastic use. I can honestly say that this challenge has altered how I will go about my daily life. 

Discardable plastic used within the span of two days.

Alternatives to discardable plastics used.