my PLASTIC FREE SECOND WEEK - the challenge continues
Last week I did an experiment by CUTTING OFF PLASTIC. You can find see how it went here: https://steemit.com/life/@purplemoon/plastic-free-week-a-challenge If in the first week, I just got 3 items of plastic (3 stickers from the mangoes, the gas bottle lid and some bindis for my kid), this week was more challenging.
This week I got a total of 6 items of plastic (a straw, a single plate, a reusable bag, a super-glue, an disinfecting alcohol bottle, a 3cm plastic tape). So here is the story:
On a daily basis, the fruits and veggies I manage to buy without a wrap. I just get them fresh from the market in my own bags, so no plastic bag is involved at all! :) Very happy for this achievement! All the grains I get them bulk also - there is a sufi shop (sufi like the mystic islam religion, that's right) that sells grains here and you can bring your own cointeiners. So whn the shop opened I was the happiest in the world. No more plastic rice, plastic pasta, plastic lentils, etc. I can really reduce now!
BUT there are the other things, which are I guess almost impossible to get without being wrapped in plastic! I need alcohol for disinfection. It is a need for my work. So this comes in a plastic bottle...
This week, I lend my friend the car so that he can park it lateral (i still don't know how to do it :)) I live in a small village, i don't need here this kind of skills :) ) so he broke my lights. So I had o buy some GLUE! And guess what, the GLUE comes in plastic! Where to find super-glue urgently that is wrapped in another thing?
I admit I got one plastic bag when I bought my rice... but this one i will reuse it for several of times... so it is not such a terrible thing :(
Unfortunately, my daughter came back with a single use plastic plate from a fair. She got herself a cake so she came back with the plate... I was kind of frustrated, but the person which went shopping with her, her teacher from school, didn't know that her mum is a freak :)) So I got a plate...
Somebody offered her a straw also in a bar... so here comes one more straw in the ocean.
And i guess that's it!
I managed once again to get all my veggies plastic free! My eggs plastic free! Milk I don't get anymore and if i will get, i will get in it jar. I managed to refuse some straws when i had the power to do it. I choose not to buy all this horrible yogurt 125ml packages that come in plastic and told my daughter I will gonna make her some fruity yogurt. Just get some goat yogurt and mix it with fruits. Healthier for us and the environment then the shitty danone ones.
I went to the chocolate factory one day and especially I choose the only chocolates that came without plastic (although the nice lollipops looked much better!) and she put them in a carton bag! I was so happy! But in the end, without me noticing it, the seller put a bit of plastic tape on the bag! Oh, man!
Strategy for the future - maybe I should just mention in the beginning before ordering anything - I don't want plastic. And not assuming that the shoppings will come plastic free.
That's it! But there is one more day ahead of this week! I will keep posting on this subject! :) Thank you for the woooonderful and positive messages I received last week when I started my experiment!
Your challenge is awesome! When I started thinking about my plastic consumption it blew my mind how often it is used as unnecessary packaging. We as a consumer have to show the producer with our buying decision that we value the environment and therefore choose alternative or even packaging-free products instead of those wrapped in a thick layer of plastic. Thank you for taking part in this!
thank you @rawadventuress for the comment! indeed, the most important thing is to cut the unnecessary packaging first! some things like shampoo, tooth paste, glue, paintings are harder to cut, but the daily plastic we need to worry about! thank you for taking part in this too! :)
This is really admirable. Keep up the good work.
What is the hardest thing you have had to do without because of plastic?
i guess i have to rethink the online orders... because they come wrapped in plastic.
and to cut my kid off some toys, pencils, sweets "like the normal kids". so i still haven't find a compromise over here :)
Yes this article is amazing, please keep up the good work!
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
- Winston Churchill
disinfecting alcohol tough i meant.
Well done @purplemoon, it's great what you are doing, keep it up.