Problematic Plastic

This post has been a long time coming for me. It has even taken me three days to write it. I wasn't sure how to approach my own plastic comsumption, let alone blog about reducing it. This post has been pushed back and back and back...

My beautiful handwriting

But I guess the reason why  I was having such trouble is because plastic is just so problematic. It's everywhere! So much of my life seemingly depends on the substance suffocating our planet. Grappling with this warrants blogging about, so I am diving in. Problematic Plastic will no doubt become an on-going series as I figure out how to undo nearly thirty years of bad habits. It's all part of the journey.

My starting point was the Earth Day Plastic Pollution Primer, which was both inspiring and a little infuriating. It pushes the core message: Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Remove. All good, these are all things I can do. Reading further it even has a plastic calculator to figure out how much you use and make plans to reduce the amount you use. Here's where it gets infuriating, it included feminine products which I found wholly unfair. Yes, they use a lot of plastic but I cannot consciously try to reduse the amount I'm using. That's not how it works! But anyway, that is a feminist rant for another day.

So the basic principle stands. Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Remove. Simple right?

Unfortunately, wrong.

There is so much plastic everywhere. All my food contains some form of plastic packaging, everyday items like toothbrushes are made of plastic, even my beloved inflatable aquarium is made of plastic! It is overwhelming how much there is. And even more so just thinking about how to reduce the amount I consume. Looking at my weekly shop, there is a mind boggling amount of plastic which just gets immediately thrown away. Barely even used. Why does fruit even need that much packaging?

Now, good steps are being taken as this issue is getting more media attention, with articles like this one about the BBC cutting single-use plastics. And initiatives like the pact to ban them entirely. Single-use plastics are hopefully going to be something of the past, so that will help with my future plastic consumption. But how do I affect it now?

I've been wracking my brain over how to get round all the packaging, as that is my primary source of plastic. Things like toothbrushes can be replaced with bamboo ones as and when I need to, and there is absolutely no chance my inflatable aquarium will end up as plastic pollution. So that leaves food packaging as a good place to start. Or possibly the hardest. As you can see, I've been tying myself up in knots over this.

Another way I can reduce my plastic consumption is to use soap products which don't contain micro plastics, which have already been banned by the UK government. Washing synthetic clothes also releases microfibres made of plastic which then get into the water and do not degrade like their natural counterparts. To prevent this, the Guppy Friend washing bag has been developed. This catches the microfibres which would have gotten into the water, preventing pollution. This is something I definitely want to invest in and will hopefully blog about at a later date. The other obvious course to prevent this is to buy all natural clothing which if I had the budget to accommodate, I would do so in a heart beat.

Budget is a restricting factor for me. I don't have the disposable income I wish I had and, more often than not, the plastic alternatives are much cheaper. They also don't last as long as the all natural stuff does, so in the long run I am probably spending more than I would if I just invested in the decent stuff. But in the moment, a £10 pair of jeans from Primark is the much more inviting option to my purse strings. I am guilty of this, I will not deny it.

I also have another guilty confession. I drink bottled fizzy water. It started as a tactic to keep me hydrated a couple years ago, and it was the first one to actually work. So now, I have amassed rather a lot of plastic bottles. A few get reused, but until I actually moved in with my partner, they were just stock piled next to the washing machine.

This is probably over a year's worth.

Now that I have dug out the recycling boxes from the shed, we can actually start reducing this pile. In theory. By the time we get to green bin week, our boxes are full of the stuff we use over the two weeks!

Urgh, so much plastic!

So I've been thinking about alternatives. Soda Stream comes to mind and, again, seems like it could be something worth investing in. But it is something I need to research further, maybe ask someone who owns one about it. The easy (and cheap) option, is to just drink water. But after a week of dehydration headaches, I'm going to stay being a diva and requiring bubbles in my water. A mermaid's got to have her luxuries.

So I guess what all this rambling has been leading up to is my plan. Where have all my headaches and spirals got me? What am I going to do?

Well, cutting plastic out completely, straight away is unrealistic and, quite frankly, daunting. But I can do something. And I can make further plans and investments to reduce my plastic consumption. 

Firstly, I need to educate myself on what I can and cannot reycle. Going back to the trusty primer, it had a venn diagram showing the seven types of plastic and their recyclability. (Is that a word?) I have drawn a simpler one and put it up in the kitchen so I can check my plastics.

These seven symbols are on most plastics and indicate what type they are made from.

So following the Earth Day primer, here is what I am going to do as a start.

Reduce: First and foremost in a way which is not detrimental to my health, i.e. keep drinking the bottled water until I figure out Soda Stream. But I can opt for loose fruit instead of packaged, and transport them in a basket or paper bag rather than the plastic ones supermarkets provide. I can also choose clothing made from natural fibres, providing my budget allows for it. (If not, then I don't need the new clothes that bad and I shouldn't be buying at all.)

Refuse: Easy. Turn down straws. Request supermarkets don't wrap my already plastic clad meat in extra plastic bags (what is the actual point?!). Choose glass cups over plastic cups.

Reuse: Save takeaway containers. Take a reusable water bottle to work, instead of grabbing a plastic cup every day. Repurpose some of the more sturdy food packaging, like butter tubs, for perhaps storage.

Recycle: Work on my bottle mountain. Learn my plastics and sort accordingly. Enquire at my recycling centre if they can deal with plastics 5 and 6.

Remove: Organise beach cleans. Remove litter from my own town. Transfer recyclables from the main bin to the recycling bins.

And I have another R.

Research: Learn more about how I can achieve these Rs. Find realistic ways for me to act on them. And I guess, spread the good word with you guys so that maybe you can have a go too.

And if anyone does have any good tips or ideas please share them. Comment on here, drop me a message on Facebook or even tag me in an Instagram post. This is all new to me and I'm learning here as much as anybody. If we can help each other, we might just be able to help our oceans.