#choosetorefuse

in rotation: plastic containers

There are those days when I don’t pack a lunch to work. I have my excuses: I don’t have enough leftovers, I don’t want to eat my leftovers, I forgot to pack my lunch, I don’t have time. So when I have to buy a quick lunch, I usually walk to a cafe down the street from my office that has house made vegan soup which, unfortunately, always comes prepackaged in a plastic container.

I could go to another restaurant and do the whole “Thank you, but I don’t need any disposable cutlery/plastic bags/extra sauces/napkins/xxx” dance and save a few items from going into the trash. Or, I could buy the soup at the cafe “for here” so the cashier can transfer the soup from the plastic tub into a bowl, heat up the soup, and (hopefully) keep the plastic tub to be used again. I’ve been trying to get into the habit of weighing all of my options when making a decision and the potential waste involved, but here is a reason why my plastic-free life is not actually plastic-free. I choose to purchase the soup and the plastic tub even if it’s not ideal.

Plastic containers used to be the bane of my existence. They’re not the prettiest  and can be just another sad item sent to the recycling bin after a single use. But lately, I’ve been keeping them around for a bit longer. Isn’t this moving backwards? Shouldn’t we use less plastic? I think it’s always a good goal to use less plastic and to be aware of its harm, but I also think it’s just as important to use up what we acquire. So because I still let a plastic container into my life every so often, I’m trying to find ways to squeeze more uses out of them:

Freezer storage. I haven’t tried storing things that need to be microwaved directly in the container (like soups and beans), but I’ve had success freezing foods like dumplings and fruit.

Leftovers to give your friends. So much harder to miss than your favorite glass jar/pyrex.

Travel/camping snacks. Lighter on your pack, less likely to break on the go.

Mixing paints, dyes, etc.

F**k Plastic. Really. No, really. Apologies for the swearing but I feel like it’s warranted. Today I wrote an article about the potential of the diving industry to be a role model private sector to taking concrete actions to reduce their plastic footprint and lead the charge in what feels like a turning of tide in global opinion of plastic. 

It reminded me of the changes I’ve seen since I started diving in 2001. How a plastic bag here or there turned into hour-long clean up dives, finding nappies and sanitary napkins, straws and plastic bottles that are used once and scar the Earth forever. And so much of it is under the sea - out of sight and out of mind for most of us. 

We’ve all seen the straw in the turtle’s nose, the seahorse wrapped around a cotton bud, the fish that grew around a six-pack ring, and been disgusted. I urge you to take a minute and consider your actions as a consumer - the effort it takes to refuse a straw (it takes practice but I promise you can make it a habit) is far far less than the number of centuries it will take for that straw to disappear from the planet. 

The photos are of a volunteer from Zoox on a clean up dive we did. This Trumpetfish was entangled in a (plastic) fishing net. It took over 10 minutes to free it, and you can see the scars it caused. If you don’t live near the ocean, there isn’t much you can do about ghost fishing (except learn about it, spread the word) but you can refuse straws, bring your own coffee tumblrs and shopping bags. And if you forget them (as I often do), don’t beat yourself up too much. Just keep trying, so they can keep swimming 😉

Some helpful resources to get you started:

https://mylittleplasticfootprint.org/

http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/

http://www.plasticfreejuly.org/

waste journal 01/21/19

Receipts (trash)

Plastic shower curtain wrapper (trash)

Cardboard floss box (recycled)