Less plastic

I recently discovered a blog that follows the life of a woman trying to live without plastic called Life Less Plastic.  There are many reasons why one might want to reduce their own use of plastic:

  • The U.S. produced 27 million tons of plastic waste that ended up in landfills in 2005.
  • It takes hundreds of years for a plastic bottle to degrade in a landfill.
  • Many plastics contain BPA, which give polycarbonate (PC or often #7) strength.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that 92% of Americans over 6 years of age test positive for BPA.
  • Some plastic additives, like BPA and phthalates, are endocrine disruptors.  They mimic hormones, such as estrogen, which can affect many different systems in the body.
  • Declining sperm counts in men and early puberty in girls may be linked to phthalate exposure.
  • In 1960, 1% of our trash was plastic.  Now it is 12%.
  • Less than 6% of the plastic used by Americans is recycled.
  • The manufacturing of plastic requires petroleum.  (all stats from the article The Truth About Plastic, TIME magazine, July 21, 2008).

If you stop and think about your life, you’ll see how much plastic you really do use.  Most of your food is packaged in plastic.  Many of the things you use daily come in plastic bottles–cleaning chemicals, shampoo, lotion, sunblock, cosmetics, etc.  When you’re on the go, your lunch is served in plastic and eaten with plastic.  The straw you drink out of is plastic.  And much of this plastic gets thrown in the trash.

Please check out her blog for more suggestions, but here are some really practical things she is doing to reduce her consumption of plastic:

  • Bringing cloth bags to the grocery store.
  • Giving up convenience foods packaged in plastic.
  • Eating more fresh foods (no packaging!)  Bringing her own bags to the store to hold produce.
  • Bringing her own coffee mug to the coffee shop.
  • Never drinking bottled water.  Using a reusable water bottle.
  • Composting in order to use fewer plastic garbage bags.
  • Avoiding plastic plates, silverware, and straws.

Filed under: Environment, Plastic on August 18th, 2008

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