The Problem with Plastic

A university student on a journey to reduce her plastic consumption.

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Landfills

In a landfill, plastic materials take a long time to break down. According to this article, 20-25% of landfill weight is plastics and approximately 11.3 million tons of plastic packaging alone ends up in landfills every year. Click here to read the article.

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One Week Without Plastic: Day Seven

Reflecting on this past week it is easy for me to see everything that I have had to give up. But I think I need to focus on not what I have lost this week but what I have gained. Not purchasing plastic or using plastic bags and water bottles was rather difficult in our plastic world but I think I have gained ways to be a more conscious consumer. I find myself pausing to think before using plastic and stopping my boyfriend from grabbing a plastic produce bag at the grocery store. Overall, I think this week off of plastic has opened my eyes and now encourages me to think before I consume. Do I really need a plastic bag or water bottle or is it simply a convenience? I think that reducing my consumption comes from first THINKING about my consumptive habits. I think this week has given me an opportunity to think beyond my life and how my plastic consumption affects those living elsewhere in the world. 

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Amazing Ways to Reuse

From plastic bottles and bags to buttons and styrofoam this website shows you how to reuse just about any type of plastic! Click here to see the link!

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Types of Plastics (1-7)

I had no idea there were so many different types of plastics and that those little numbers on the bottom correspond to their type. I have been putting anything and everything that appeared to be plastic into my recycling bin without giving a thought to how easily it breaks down. Click here for the full article.

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One Week Without Plastic: Day Six

Today it dawned on me that my local gym doesn’t have a water fountain for members to refill their water bottles. For the most part, people just purchase bottled water at the front desk. Well today I decided to take action and I asked the manager at my gym about getting a water fountain. I explained to him that I personally don’t like using plastic bottled water because it is very wasteful. So therefore, every week I bring my own refillable bottle. I told him that having a fountain would not only be very helpful for me, but it might encourage others to start using a refillable bottle. I think understood where I was coming from and he said that in the near future he would like to install a water fountain! Yay!!!

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Don't throw out your plastic bags! Here is a link with 16 different ways to reuse them. (Click the picture!)

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One Week Without Plastic: Day Five

I went to buy groceries and I am realizing how much plastic is everywhere in stores and in things we buy. It is literally EVERYWHERE. This grocery trip was particularly overwhelming. I guess I never really noticed the amount of plastic products that we purchase. Now, I love yogurt; especially Greek yogurt. Unfortunately though it only comes in plastic packaging. I just couldn’t part ways with my yogurt so I had to buy the big plastic tub… ugh. I guess I broke one of my rules, rule number 1! However, I think I have done pretty well so far this week though. Either way I am going reuse the plastic container. I am thinking of using it to organize a drawer at home that is filled with little odds and ends. Elastics, paper clips, etc.

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

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Ban the Bottle!

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One Week Without Plastic: Day Four

Today I brought my own tea in a glass coffee mug to class! I know it has a rubber lid but it is definitely something that I wash and keep instead of throwing out. Reusing is key! Today I thought I would look into one of the worst plastic offenders: BPA. I don’t know a whole lot about Bisphenol A other than not to buy plastic items that contain BPA. It is a “chemical found in hard plastics and the coatings of food and drinks cans which can behave in a similar way to estrogen and other hormones in the human body”. Unfortunately this can lead to a myriad of health problems such as cancer and reproductive problems. That’s scary stuff! To find a source list as well as to read on click here. 

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One Week Without Plastic: Day Three

It’s day three and things are running relatively smoothly. I’m getting in the habit of not using ziplocs everyday which was definitely one of my worse and more wasteful practices. Today I came across an article by the Breast Cancer Fund that lists the various chemicals in plastics. Some plastics leach toxic chemicals when you heat them and others pose huge risks to the environment. Click here to read more.

If you're wondering what you can do to protect yourself from these nasty plastics you can read more about it here. This article suggests using bpa free plastics and avoiding plastic water bottles.

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Here is a great article on National Geographic about the benefits of recycling plastic. The article says that recycling saves oil and energy, as well as reduces landfill waste. I know that it can seem like such a small thing to do but really every little item adds up!

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One Week Without Plastic: Day Two

It’s Day Two and I still haven’t broken any of my rules, although I did have a close call! I stopped by the grocery store for some apples on my way to class and nearly committed a SIN! Goodness, let me tell you all about it.

So I bust into my local grocery store (you know those big horrible ones with the fluorescent lights where all the fruit looks unnecessarily glossy and shiny?) on my way to class to grab so apples. I love having an apple everyday. So just as I am zeroing in on the shiny red delicious apples I realize I am reaching for a (GASP) plastic produce bag. Yup, in my hustle to not be late for class I nearly broke my own rule! NO disposable plastic bags and I completely forget about these little devils. Anyway, I stopped right there and decided I would just pick them up with my hands. Of course, first I picked off those little stickers and stuck them onto the side of the display because I was not going to even purchase that SMALL amount of plastic.nI grabbed four apples and bee lined to the checkout. “NO grocery bags for me thanks.” But of course, in my rush, I forgot my cloth grocery bag at home so my poor apples had to go for a joyride on the front seat of my car.

This whole going without plastic thing is getting a little more difficult then I thought it would be. Sadly, plastic is everywhere. It’s in so many places that we don’t even notice it at all.

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One Week Without Plastic: Day One

As a part of my Green Citizenship Project I have decided to spend one week without using plastic. Today I decided on the rules I will be following for the next week. Looking at them now it doesn’t seem too daunting but that could change as the week progresses. We shall see!

Rules:

#1 No purchasing any new plastic items.

#2 No purchasing items that are overly packaged in plastic.

#3 No use of disposable plastic items. This includes ziploc bags or grocery bags.

#4 No plastic bottled water.

I started out my day on a high note, knowing that I was going to make amazing changes by not using plastic. I marched downstairs and went to pack my lunch and skipped over the Ziplocs and opted for a reusable container. I didn’t make any purchases of plastic items.

Then later on, I was ready to go to the gym and I realized I usually take plastic bottled water with me. I do this because it’s easy, fast, and I don’t need to worry about cleaning my reusable bottle properly (I’m a germ freak!). Well I had to suck it up and fill up my reusable bottle.  It was nothing a bit of bleach and hot water couldn’t fix! Bye-bye germs.  No more plastic bottled water EVER for me.  I realize how awful they are, I mean what’s so bad about tap water anyways, not to mention they are made of PLASTIC! Seriously, I can chug one of those in one sitting then it just goes straight into the trash (err, recycling). So, no more bottled water for me.

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I should be doing homework... Wait a sec, this is homework! I swear I always say I'm going to sit down and do school work and then I end up surfing the net for two hours. ugh! Seriously though, check out this link! This is a place to buy plastic-free everything! The thing that interested me the most was plastic-less food storage. I never even thought about stainless steel or glass containers with stainless steel, leak-proof lids!!!! One day when I have some money to spare I'd LOVE to invest!!!!!  (Oh, click the TITLE for the link to the site!)

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Plastic Sea