A day without plastic

The Industrial Revolution changed the world forever, but was it for the better? Cars and factories burn fossil fuels that we all inhale and all materials that we produce have the possibility of getting us sick, including plastic. The Industrial cycle is a one-way route from the manufacturer to the consumer to a land fill called cradle-grave.  The landfills are not going anywhere, they are just accumulating; we need to make a change. 

 A day without plastic. 

Is this a feasible option in our society today where almost everything is manufactured with plastic?  To me, in order to not use plastic I would have to stay in bed and literally do nothing because almost everything we touch and use has some form of plastic in it. Our food is wrapped in plastic. Our cell phones and computers are made of plastic and were probably wrapped in a form of plastic so there were not any scratches on our new purchases. Our shoes, helmets, sinks, dishwashers all have plastic in them. Did you know every single item that is delivered to a store in the mall is wrapped in a plastic wrap then grouped together with similar products in another piece of plastic? Working in a small store we would throw away three full garbage bags of just plastic wrap when processing shipment. Multiply that times the number of days in the week and the amount of stores in the mall and the numbers shocking. So where does this leave me on this project, if lying in bed all day isn’t an option (although I definitely contemplated doing this). 

I believe that if we want our world to survive then there needs a change in the way we use our resources and products; there needs to be a cradle-cradle life cycle. Rather than focus on not using any plastic, I believe it is more beneficial to think of the ways we can modify our lives in order to cut out the unnecessary use of plastic. For instance, one could bring their own bag to the grocery store. We could use glass dishes and cups instead of buying plastic. One could use a mason jar for a water bottle instead of using plastic bottles. If we grow our own food then it does not need to be packaged individually. 

  Another instance is in the case of home building and building green buildings. One can choose to use shredded newspaper to insulate their home instead of toxic insulation; which works the same as the insulation but does not have as many cancer causing toxins. Green materials can create a healthier and safer atmosphere for everyone and either cost the same or less than standard materials, so why are we continuing to use the other materials?

A day without plastic just isn’t realistic in the world we live in today; however it is possible to make changes to our lifestyle in order to reduce the use of plastic. As always reduce, reuse, recycle!!

Lauren Heffron, Vanessa, Thursday 12:05

Plastics Challenge

My attempt at a day without plastics had many of the similar difficulties that other students had. Basics survival needs such as sleep and food were almost always associated with plastic products. Awaking to an alarm clock from my phone, clock, or computer would incorporate some sort of plastic, so I choose my clock as the poison. I value my sleep so I also slept on my bed, which contains plastic. Eggs, a banana, and some applesauce seemed to be the only thing that I could eat for breakfast. I used a metal spoon, spatula, and saucepan to prepare and eat my food. 

Walking to class from Mifflin Street would be longer and colder without the bike, but there is too much plastic on my bike for an attempt without them. Just as others have mentioned, even taking notes has its obstacles. Pens, pencils, and notebooks can all contain plastic elements. Instead of answering the note-taking dilemma, I intentionally chose a day with few classes that I don’t take notes in anyways. This goes to show that you can’t just pick any day for a challenge like this. What if you had an exam?! You couldn’t sit in a plastic seat if that’s the entire lecture hall had. After a morning lecture, lunch is in order. 

Any take out or dine in would be difficult since plastic is one of the main components in food transport and storage. So, I walked back to the apartment to prepare some fresh food. Pasta from a paper box and fresh veggies would suffice for a plastic-less meal. This of course is omitting the transportation materials it took to get to my house, not to mention the cultivation of the wheat, production of the noodles, etc. 

What to do with the rest of my day now? I couldn’t go outside anymore because shoes and winter clothes contain plastic accessories. Staying inside, I took a comfy seat on my papasan chair made of fabric and bamboo, and read some books for class. I tried to retain as much as I could without taking notes. After many hours of reading, I wanted a study break really badly. I would usually browse the internetz or go workout, but both are out of the question. And to think, even if I was able to posses a plastic free computer, the entire system of electricity and cable internet relies on plastic parts. Every single website relies on a server, which contains plastic bits. This blog would not survive without plastic. Ironic, eh? For dinner, I went back into the fridge and pulled out the pan I used to cook my pasta in, re-opened the sauce jar, and re-heated it on the stove. To continue to keep true to the challenge, dishes would have to be done the next day (woo hoo). With nothing more to do, I called it an early night in order to get up the next day and continue my plastic life.

I may not have been as dedicated as others were to this project but it did make me more aware of the staple that plastics have in my life. It reminded me of the lab work that I did this summer. While going through countless plastic tubes and pipette tips, I realize that the success and productivity of modern laboratories rely on plastics. Items are cheap enough to be thrown away and therefore can be used to keep contamination to a minimum. Smaller and smaller concentrations on the mass spectrometers can be read yielding more efficient pharmaceuticals. With the talk of BPA, it’s interesting to think that these plastics can take away AND give contamination– A true double edge sword.

Alex Dean - Tiffany, Section 308

Plastic is Fantastic!

Adelyn Allchin

Vanessa Wishart, Discussion Thursday at 1:20pm

Plastics Challenge, Thursday December 2nd, 2010

Today seemed like a great day for sustainability – starting off with Mugs on Mall sponsored by ReThink Wisconsin. I had signed up to work the early 8am-9am shift. However, my day began at 12am, since I was still up and "diligently working" at the library. With three papers due in the next two days, there was no way I could spend time sleeping. I got to the library after midnight, and first things first I had to swipe my plastic student ID card to verify I was a student. The ID contains all my information with one swipe, while maybe a paper ID could contain a barcode, it would easily get destroyed by water or just by general use. So a paper ID wouldn’t work. And then I thought maybe a metal ID would work, but who knows if you can swipe one of those babies.

Moving on, I began work on my laptop (plastic, of course). Although many of the pieces inside of the laptop are metal, they are surrounded by plastic in order to protect the integrity of the parts. I spent long enough at the library that I had to use the restroom, and doing that at College means using those crazy hand driers, again, made out of plastic. Finally I finished up the night by eating some pretzels out of a plastic bag. I got home, took off my glasses (plastic), used washes and creams (in plastic containers), and set my alarm (my phone, made out of plastic). My eyes had been hurting me all day, so sterile eye drops in a plastic container was a must.

After a solid 2.5-hour nap, I was ready to truly start my Thursday. Eye drops were number one on my list, followed by finishing my paper on my plastic computer. It looked like I wasn’t going to make it Mugs on the Mall to help my shift. I mean, my mug did contain plastic, although it was mostly metal. But it was more sustainable than a one-time paper cup? So not only did I miss my shift, I missed my statistics class for the third time in a row (whoops). I printed off my paper on my plastic printer, and got a ride to class in car containing numerous plastic parts.

After class I grabbed some lunch at Coffee Bytes. I got a cup "for here" but unfortunately my wrap was in a plastic container, but since time was short with my reading response due in about an hour, I didn't have time (or groceries available at home) to bring a lunch with me. Which I would have brought in a plastic container anyways, just a reusable one.

Discussion was followed by the spin class I teach at the Serf. Between using my plastic ID to sign in, checking into the computer to log my hours, and using a bike, a stereo, a microphone, an ipod, and a clock that were just dominated by plastic, it seems that spin class would not be possible without the use of plastic. I can't imagine sitting on a metal seat, yelling out to people, with no music! I went straight from my spin class, to my statistics club meeting, but I had some time to spare. I luckily brought peanut butter (in a plastic container) and some crackers that were in a cardboard box, but packaged in plastic, to eat while I waited.

I stopped at Fresh Market after my meeting to pick up some milk that was in a plastic container of course! It seems like I could go on and on about all the things I used plastic for on this very day in December. I then determined the main uses of plastics in my life:

1) Food, to preserve it and keep it fresh

2) Electronics

3) Medical (for me, wearing glasses and using sterile eye drops)

END RESULT: Could I use less plastic? Yes. Could I go a day without it? Yes, but I definitely could not maintain the lifestyle I live today. Plastic has many benefits and I can see why as a society we use it so often. However we never ever think what happens to the plastic after we recycle it or what processes are used to make it! We need to have a Bill Nye consider the following moment, where we consider the impact of our daily consumption of plastic on the health of the environment...

Cheated and Still Failed

Using no plastics for one day was a sinch.

Just kidding.

I cheated and I still failed. Not only did I shower in my plastic shower curtain-lined bath tub the night before, I took the plastic dolphin from Florida off my keychain, and put coffee in my metal and glass French press the night before, too (I high-fived myself and then took it back, as one of my bags of coffee is made out of paper but it has a pointless window made of a plastic film).

Uh oh, we've got trouble. Every day I work at Memorial Library where I use a plastic computer, a plastic printer, a plastic coffee maker (could I be so self-centered as to deny my fellow librarians fresh coffee? No!), pens and mechanical pencils made of plastic, et cetera. I didn't want to get fired, so I worked as usual and thought about how big a role plastics play in my life, and how I wouldn't be able to go about my normal routine without them.

Each morning I use a plastic toothbrush with my toothpaste that is in a plastic casing, I put in my plastic contact lenses or wear my plastic-framed glasses in order to see the front of the classroom, and I use my plastic toaster and plastic-lined refrigerator for breakfast. In this day and age, many women wear some quantity of make-up, and I admit that I do (and I enjoy it). I have been trying to switch over to more natural/organic brands, but they still come packaged in loads of plastic. It's too bad there isn't a recycling program for empty cosmetics items!

I tried planning meals around the non-use of plastic, but I failed again. I thought I could use my glass storage containers to transport food to work and class, but they all have plastic lids. With my relatively hectic schedule, I forgot that I could have used the empty salsa, applesauce and spaghetti sauce containers of glass and aluminum my roommate and I have collected. I constantly wonder what sorts of gunk is leaching into my food and water. Yikes.

Alas, even my bedroom is overwhelmed by plastic materials. How could I possibly read "My Year of Meats" without the assistance of my ridiculously adorable IKEA reading lamp? Why do a lot of plastic things have to be so gosh darn adorable?

All in all, I continuously try to decrease my consumption and usage of plastic materials, because every time my wonderful roommate or I take out the recycling, I feel so guilty about its quantity.

If I didn't use plastic materials every day, I would never use my computer or cell phone, I would lay in bed all day and read or go outside and frolic and ask my boyfriend to cook meals for me with all of my plastic utensils, refrigerator, and storage containers. This sounds like a perfect vacation, but I couldn't do this forever.

Lastly, now that it is of a holiday-worthy temperature, I wear my bulky Columbia coat that has multiple kinds of plastics in it (along with my bulky but reliable boots) and I take the city bus that is comprised of all sorts of plastics. If I didn't do these things, I would either be frostbitten every day or never leave my lovely house.

These are a few of the thoughts I had of this day (more like week) of trying to not use plastics. Don't worry creatures of the Pacific Ocean, I will try as hard as I can to not add to your already gargantuan garbage patch!

-Melissa Flores, TA Tiffany Grade

Plastic is EVERYWHERE

Meghan Schulze

Peter-309

My first thought was “How am I going to make this as easy as possible?”. I was going to pick a day, most likely a Sunday, where I was going to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling, not touch my phone, computer or TV for the entire day and call it a wrap. And so it began, my Plastic-less Sunday and before I could even begin, I was already failing. Laying in my bed I quickly began to contemplate how I was going to get off my lofted bed with no step ladder. I then decided to shimmy down my bed landing smack on my floor right next to my box of plastic garbage bags. I then went to open the fridge and realized that I couldn’t open my fridge because it was in fact plastic. What I predicted to be my lazy plastic-less Sunday was starting to cause some major frustration. So, “Screw breakfast” I thought and I decided that instead I was going to go brush my teeth and wash my face. 

 As soon as I went to grab for my toothbrush I realized yet again that my enemy (plastic) was staring directly at me. My eyes quickly turned to my face wash and I realized that the top of it was plastic. At this point I had about given up. It was only 11AM and I realized that there was no way that I was going to able to avoid plastic for an entire 24 hours. For the rest of my day, rather than avoiding plastic all together I instead began to document and list all the plastics I used on a daily basis. 

 After compiling my list I noticed that virtually everything I used, from my phone and computer to my Wiscard and Credit cards were all made of plastic. There was truly no way of avoiding it. This whole thing really made me, for once sit down and focus on the things I use every day and their impact on my environment, on OUR environment. True, we hear about it on the news and in magazines and in the newspaper but many of us never think about our individual behaviors and how they have the potential to ruin what we have. My day, or rather few hours without plastic truly made me recognize the fact that I need to reduce my impact and really think about what I’m using and how it could harm the environment.

Jolie Lizotte's Day Without Plastic (TA Tiffany)

I decided to do my day without plastics on Thanksgiving Day, partially because I would have no need to use a computer, ride my bike or drive a car on that day (since both cars & bikes are made with plastics). The day before my day without plastics I started walking around my parents house thinking about what I would not be able to use the next day. I quickly realized that it would impossible to go 100% without using plastics since both my glasses and contacts contain plastics. Since I have extremely weak eyesight it would not be safe to go without my glasses or contacts for a day. I also noticed that I would not be able to use the toilet without using plastic. Another unavoidable item in the house was doorknobs made with plastic.

On the morning of the my No Plastics Day I looked at all of the tags of the clean clothes I had with me at my parents house. I realized that all my pants and shirts were made with at least some rayon, polyester, or spandex, which all contain plastic. So I borrowed a shirt and pants from my mom that were made with 100% cotton. I wore underwear that was 100% cotton except for the elastic band. I chose not to take a shower that day since the shampoo & conditioner were in plastic bottles. Instead of brushing my teeth with a toothbrush and toothpaste, I rubbed my teeth with a non-plastic substitute: baking soda (which my parents store in a glass jar).

Luckily, since it was Thanksgiving all of the food I ate that day was made from scratch so I avoided the problem of food wrapped in plastic. However some of the ingredients my mom used to make the food came from plastic containers. such as the goat's milk and feta cheese. Also after the Thanksgiving meal most of the leftovers were put in plastic containers since we did not have any non-plastic alternatives. We used glass/ceramic dishes and silverware all day to avoid plastic.

I avoided using my phone for most of the day, although I made a exception to talk to my grandparents in Florida. I did not use the computer or television that day. Since it was a day that I had off from homework and my job I did not have to use my computer, but on most days this is really hard to do since most of our homework requires a computer and I have to use computers at work. While doing more electronically can be better for the environment because it reduces paper usage, it made me realize that most electronics are made with plastics, which are not environmentally safe.

I had my next encounter with plastic when I decided to go outside to walk my dog with my sister. In order to go outside I had to use plastic. My shoes have plastic in them and on the shoelaces. The zippers on my jacket were made with plastic. After experiencing some guilt about the necessity of plastic in order to experience nature in the cold, I decided to forgo not using plastic during my walk. My sister had to use a plastic leash and a harness containing plastic in order to get my dog ready to go for a walk.

At the end of the day when it began to get darker I realized that the light switches were all made from plastic. In order to have enough light in the kitchen to clean up from Thanksgiving dinner we had to turn on the lights. The light fixtures probably also contained plastic. Since all writing tools (ie pens and pencils) contain plastic I had to wait until the next day to write down my notes about my Day Without Plastics.

I think my family got a kick out of watching me go without plastics. They still used plastic (such as playing CDs in the living room CD player), but helped me avoid using it. My parents original suggestion was for me to spend the day in a tent in the backyard to avoid using plastic ... however we realized that would not have even worked since our tent is made with plastic. I imagine it would be very hard to find a tent these days made entirely from cloth. This day made me realize how surrounded we are by plastic. Even looking around my room right now I can see at least 60 objects made with plastic. Most of them I use everyday, such as my alarm clock, CD player, lamp, computer, clothes hangers, vitamin containers, etc. In order for our society to stop using plastic, it seems as if we would have to throw away everything and start over. Except that throwing everything away would create a lot of waste in our landfills. So the next best solution it would seem would be to start reducing the amount of plastic we produce and re-use as much as possible of the plastic that is already in our daily lives.

It Turns Out Our University Is Made Almost Entirely of Plastic

Plastics Challenge - Mindy Preston, Sect. 307 (TA: Tiffany Grade)

As an extremely stubborn person willing to do ridiculous things for the flimsiest of reasons, I was excited to see the description of the the Plastics Challenge. I immediately wrote up a list of things I'd have to do without, or try to substitute, on No Plastics Day:

• mechanical pencils
• pens
• elastic
• backpacks
• bicycles with brake cables or derailleurs. Bike helmets too, and lights, and fenders, and...
• raingear
• clothing with synthetic fabrics in it, including every pair of gloves I own
• shoes with plastic grommets or zippers or synthetic insoles
• plastic folders
• softcover books
• public soap and toilet paper dispensers
• pretty much all carpets
• many tables and chairs
• anything soft and cushy (almost all cushions are made from plastic foams)
• my refrigerator and oven
• anything electronic (printed circuit boards are made of plastic)
• wires, and anything that uses them (they have plastic insulators around them)
• my student ID, credit cards, drivers license, and other plastic identifiers

Preparation

With this list in mind, I took some preparatory measures for No Plastics Day. I went through all my clothing and found the least synthetic items I owned. I was able to find shirts and pants made entirely of cotton and wool. I have a pair of leather shoes that just had a pair of plastic shoelace ends, so I snipped those off and tied off the ends. I put some leftovers in a metal bowl, covered it with aluminum foil, and put them out on the porch to stay cool outside the refrigerator. I put some cardboard down over hardwood floor to substitute for my mattress, got another box to use as a pillow, and rounded up some old candles to use for illumination. I couldn't find a blanket that wasn't made of synthetic fabric, so I took the wool lining out of an old coat to use for a blanket. I took a cake of soap and put it in a cotton handkerchief, for hand-washing in places with plastic soap dispensers, and grabbed a roll of toilet paper to carry around. I got ready to walk around all day, rather than bike or take the bus.

I couldn't prepare away my need for a few items without spending money, which I wasn't willing to do. I don't own any all-natural undergarments, so I wore the least-synthetic of these I owned. I need to carry my cell phone because some members of my family are in delicate health, but I did not answer the phone for anyone other than family during No Plastics Day. I couldn't find gloves that didn't have a synthetic fabric lining, so I wore partly-plastic gloves all day rather than lose my hands to frostbite. The coat I wore is either 100% wool with metal accents or 100% scary polyester from the 1970s; I strongly suspect it's the former, but I can't prove it. (That coat also causes random strangers to yell "Hey, Sgt. Pepper!!!" at me, but that's probably not relevant to the Plastics Challenge.)

No Plastics Day

I started No Plastics Day at 8:00 on Sunday night by changing into my plastic-light clothes, lighting some candles, and trying to read a hardcover book. I couldn't get enough light from the candles, so instead I sat around in the dark, playing the bass and then playing Go by myself, waiting to get tired enough to go to sleep. (I also drank a lot of brandy, mostly because it was in a glass bottle. Hey, I'm of age, I can drink alone in the dark if I want.) Eventually I got tired enough to lie down, which cued the third worst night of sleep I have ever had. The floor was really cold, and cardboard is in no way an awesome substitute for a comfortable mattress. My cardboard-box-pillow seemed awesome at first, but it got pretty old after a couple of hours. I was excited when I woke up for the 3,237st time and saw that, finally, it was light out.

I started my day by brushing my teeth with my finger (plastic toothbrush, but my toothpaste comes in a metal tube), looking sadly at my plastic refrigerator, and going out for coffee. I bought everything with cash, but the barista used a plastic cash register to ring me up. While she was hitting buttons, I thought about what constitutes "use" of plastic. Is it cheating if someone else uses it for me? What about if I can't help using it? The lights in the shop were on; music was coming out of a plastic speaker. There's likely PVC plumbing somewhere in the line of water that leads from the water table to the espresso machine. Even if I'm sitting on a wooden stool at a wooden table, drinking coffee out of a ceramic mug and eating a fresh-made sandwich off a real plate, there's still a real sense in which I'm using plastic. Over the course of the day, I looked at a lot of plastic things that convey information; for example, clocks, billboards, and shop window displays. By looking at them, I'm definitely using them, but how can one abstain from that?

Once I went to class, it was even harder to avoid using plastic. My first lecture had wooden seats and tables, but the lecturer uses a projector and a sound system - all pure plastic. The walls are covered in foam noise suppressant. My second lecture had plastic seats and tables; I could have stood awkwardly for the whole power lecture, but instead I sat and balanced my notes on my lap. I spent the middle portion of my day at the Historical Society, which has very little plastic except for its carpets - of course I used them extensively, to wipe the snow and ice off my shoes. I spent a few hours reading there, safely away from most plastic in the renovated Reading Room.

I returned home at about 4:30, and immediately had to clean up some cat vomit. I threw it into a plastic-bag-lined plastic garbage can. I will fully admit that I didn't even think about doing anything else with it, despite having several more hours of No Plastic Day. It would be possible to get a metal trash can and some kind of non-plastic liner, but even if I did, my trash would eventually have to go into the City of Madison's plastic refuse bins for collection. In this case, substitution seems kind of pointless.

After eating my delicious porch-refrigerated leftovers, which I was very glad to see hadn't frozen, I headed back to campus for a club meeting. We met in a plastic-carpeted room with plastic chairs and plastic tables, plastic whiteboards on the walls and plastic whiteboard markers to match. Most people brought their plastic laptops. I had to sharpen my non-plastic pencil, and so I shaved some wood into the plastic-lined plastic garbage bin. Our meeting lasted until 8:00, at which point I was very happy to conclude No Plastics Day by walking over to College Library and checking my e-mail for the first time in a whole day.

I was able to take many steps to avoid plastic use in my own home, but once I ventured out into the broader world, I was done for. The University, especially, presented me plastic at every turn. I expect most corporate environments would be the same - when you're shopping for cost-effective furniture in huge quantities, plastic makes a lot of sense. Considering that most worrying effects are those of chronic exposure, though, seeing plastic everywhere is worrying indeed.