Forget defining ourselves as Baby Boomers, Gen Ys and Millennials – we are all one generation: the plastic generation. I have set myself the challenge of giving up plastic for one year, in 2018.
Day One did not go well…
It seems simple enough: avoid plastic for 12 months. Based on my first day’s effort, this is going to be easier said than done!
“We plan to phase out avoidable plastic waste by 2042.” – British PM Theresa May (11 January 2018).
That bold announcement by TM was the last straw (excuse the pun) for me – we hardly need experts to tell us we don’t have another two and a half decades to clean up our oceans, landfills and suffocating planet.
So I decided to get started this very day – ditching plastic – and I soon realised how difficult a quest this is.
How much plastic do we encounter in an ordinary day? Here is my diary for Day 1, 12 January 2018:
Early morning walk with the dog before work:
I broke a council by-law by using a large leaf (it’s a very small dog) to shuffle a doggy poo into a garden bed to avoid using a plastic bag that won’t decompose for centuries.
The battle against plastic: 1-0 for the good guys.
Breakfast
I prepared my usual breakfast: cereal from a plastic bag, pouring on milk from a plastic bottle, lacing this healthy fare with blueberries from one of those absurdly small and extravagant plastic (non-recyclable) containers. Even my coffee had a connection to plastic since I’ve lately been buying the Nescafe refill (plastic) package.
The battle against plastic: 1-4 to plastic
Work
To kick-start my brain and heart into gear for work, I require a double shot espresso which I asked, as usual, to be be poured in my ‘keep cup’. It’s plastic, of course, but at least I use it every day, so I’m calling this a draw in the battle against plastic.
My work day was a flurry of meetings, not enough time for proper lunch, so I bought a small packet of cheese and biscuits and a juice from a vending machine. More plastic!! The battle against plastic: 1-6
After work
Second walk of the day with the dog, so feeling a bit guilty about that garden bed (free fertiliser for the garden bed notwithstanding), I dug out some brown paper bags for my evening stroll. With two dogs in tow this time (I walk my dog with my neighbour’s cranky hound), I used all three paper bags I had with to manage the pooches’ healthy bowel movements. I’m glad they are both small breeds. The battle against plastic: 2:6
Dinner
So being a Friday night, we ordered a takeaway pizza and I was relieved when I picked it up it was in a cardboard box! However, as it is the end of the week, my last stop was bread and milk for the weekend from the corner store. Of course, both staples were only available in plastic packaging. I at least refused the plastic bag to carry them to my car.
So my day ended 4:8 a win for plastic – and this was with some conscious effort on my part.
Changing habits I’ve grown up with is not going to be easy. But I’m giving it a go. I lost the battle today but I’m determined to win my personal war against plastic.