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.

She who depends on plastics...

Kelly Kohrs-Discussion 312-Emma

At first I was a little unsure of the plastics challenge because I’m either at work or at class and I knew I would fail the minute I woke up, especially considering I use my phone as an alarm. At work we use plastic gloves and plastic containers to store food and some plastic utensils and plastic wrap and the list could go on forever.

I quickly changed my mind in discussion when news of the first snowstorm came about. Emma mentioned it may be the perfect weekend because if we don’t leave our house it would be a little bit easier to handle the challenge, so I took it.

I started off sleeping on the floor, which actually wasn’t too terrible. I had my fleece blanket and I went without a pillow which isn’t anything too out of the ordinary for me. Since it was a Sunday and Sundays normally consist of bumming around at home doing homework I figured I could last quite some time (no need of an alarm!). I wrote myself a note the night before reminding me that I should eat either oatmeal or my favorite winter breakfast treat Coco-Wheats because they are in cardboard packaging.

We have glass bowls and it was easy to stray from the plastics but after I poured myself some Coco-Wheats and added the water (just guessing amounts because our measuring cups are plastic) and realized that there was no way for me to warm up my cereal because our microwave is totally plastic. So I offered the delicious bowl of chocolaty goodness to one of my roommates and went with a pear instead. It was delicious but I was still hungry. I decided to fill a glass cup with water and see if that would help me out but it didn’t.

Then as my normal morning ritual goes, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I had mindlessly picked up my toothbrush and opened the cap of my toothpaste, completely disregarding the fact that the cap, the tube, and the toothbrush are plastics. That wasn’t a huge surprise to me but I felt so defeated that I couldn’t even make it an hour of full consciousness (probably about 8 or 9 if you include sleeping, but I don’t really think that counts) without the use of plastics.

After that I went into the kitchen to turn the sink on, to avoid more of the plastics in the bathroom, and brushed my teeth. I then decided that I’d pay attention to the choices I would make throughout the day and instead of go without plastics completely to just limiting my use. I was a little melodramatic because my roommates were watching TV and I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t watch it seeing as it’s made of plastic. Then I spent a lot of time at my desk which is made of metal and wood. I read my biology book which probably has some type of plastic in the cover for protection and took notes with a wooden pencil to avoid the mechanical pencils I’m so used to. Then I checked the to-do list that I write up weekly and after reading biology I had to work on my semester paper for geography because if I didn’t work on it over the weekend I’d be too pressed for time during the week. So I gave in and grabbed my computer and did research and typed up more of my paper. This took up a great deal of time and all of it was centered around my computer which just so happens to be primarily made of plastic.

Since I woke up pretty late without the use of my alarm my breakfast was more of a brunch and my lunch and dinner were combined. When it came to making my ‘linner’ I chose to make pasta because it comes in a cardboard box and the only plastics I came in contact with were the plastic on the handles of the pot and the knob to turn the stove on. Then I opened a can of pasta sauce and realized that I couldn’t really heat that unless I used the microwave or the stove again so I went with the stove. After I finished eating and the food had cooled I put the leftovers into one of the few glass containers that we own. But still had to use the fridge...

Finally I went back to typing my paper, still feeling defeated by the challenge. That’s basically how my Sunday went. It’s a little bit scary now when I open the fridge door and try to find something that isn’t encased in plastic or that uses plastic as a container.

I am more aware of how the world basically strives because of plastic. I’m not condoning the use of plastics but I do realize its convenience and relevance to all of our lives. I haven’t been to the grocery since the challenge but I will make my best attempts to find food items that have lesser amounts of plastics and not only when it comes to food but expand what I’ve learned from this pretty eye opening experience to all of my life choices.

Plastic challenge failure

Brigitta Rongstad (section 307 Tiffany)

I knew before even starting this challenge that it was going to be impossible to last more than five minutes living without plastic. I decided instead of the challenge just being about trying to last all day without plastic, that it was going to be more about helping myself realize how much we all rely on plastic for simple every day tasks. I knew that plastic is a huge part of our culture, but I never really took the time to think about the implications. So here's my day, my thoughts, and my many, many failures:

Morning
I immediately failed the challenge just by being in my bed. I realized my mattress contains a form a plastic (something I had no idea about until my roommate, a chemistry major, informed me). I then had to take my medicine, which was in a plastic container; I had to put on my glasses, which are made of plastic; I had to take my glasses off and put my contacts in, which are protected in a plastic container; I had to brush my teeth, with a handle that is entirely made of plastic; and I had to wash my face with face wash, which was in a plastic bottle. There was absolutely no hope for me in successfully completing this challenge. Almost all of my shoes contain plastic and even some of my clothing too. I didn't have any alternatives at my disposal and the ones I could find would not have helped me complete this challenge successfully.

Classes
If I were to start my day when classes began, I would have still failed the challenge. My notebooks have plastic covers, my pens and pencils are all made out of plastics, and my backpack is covered in tiny plastic pieces. Even many of the desks I sit at are made of plastic, and in my physics lab everything was made of plastic (something that I could not have avoided even if I had tried, unless I would have decided to take a failing grade for that day). As the day wore on I was becoming more and more aware that almost every action I made involved plastic in some way.

Night
Dinner would have been extremely difficult without plastic. I tried my best to avoid it, but all of my food was already in plastic containers (thanksgiving leftovers) and my lack of other ingredients and products sealed the deal. I had to use plastic. I'm also a huge milk fan, and milk comes in plastic containers. Most of my utensils, plates and bowls are made of plastic (mainly because they are cheaper, and college is expensive). I realized that any kitchen utensil I have that is not plastic, once belonged to my parents. It appears that without realizing it, I have been sucked into the plastic world. I had never thought about it before, but now it disturbs me knowing how much I rely on these products even though I know they aren't always a healthy choice.

Writing every single object of plastic I encountered during my attempt at the day without plastic would take pages and pages. I thought it would be more effective to use some examples of certain parts of the day to show how difficult the challenge was for me. This challenge helped me realized how horribly dependent on plastic we have become. I don't know what the solution is, or even if there is an easy one, but it is clear to me that this knowledge is something that everyone should have.

Drastic Plastic Failure

So the plastic challenge eh? Hmm sounds virtually impossible to achieve, considering how everything in my plain view right now, as I sit on my couch, at the crib, has been “tarnished” with plastic. I mean I’m not going to lie, humans, including myself use plastic everyday, even when we think we are trying to avoid it. I’m not saying that nobody should try, because I am environmentally conscious and actually do try to recycle, pick up litter, turn off lights and etc. But living without plastic in today’s society is like trying to live without water. You might last a couple miserable days before passing out or dying.
I’ve read a lot of the previous entries and ill admit that people have made valiant efforts to try. Of course no one has honestly successfully achieved the plastic challenge unless they isolated themselves all day outside for 24 house, with nothing to eat except grass and tree leaves, wearing no clothes that had plastic in them, or coming up with any activity that even has the slightest amount of plastic in it. Therefore, I am going to give and honest account of how my last Wednesday unfolded, while I truly tried to go the entire day without plastic.

It was a cold Wednesday morning, actually it was 5:30 am and about 60 degrees in my apartment in the Equinox, in which I pay TOOO DAMMM MUCHHH for this place to be freezing cold. I might as well just go sleep in the lobby or something, dam. But anyways, I woke up to my roommate waking me up off of the floor at 5:30. The cold floor that had no plastics interwoven into it, so BAM its all good, I woke up without plastic. So I purposely don’t turn on the lights and throw some clothes on that I had lying on the floor, I mean you know how us boys keep the college apartment! Then I go to the bathroom sink, where I gargle a little Listerine to get rid of that o’so fresh morning breath. The night before I poured the mouthwash into a paper cup so I could last just that much longer without using plastic. So when I was done with that, I go up to the roommate and tell him, “ Hey bro, I think ill walk to lift this morning.” He looks at me with that morning ‘I-could-careless-look’ and tells me, “Alright Feast, just know that if your late, you know our consequences.” (He’s referring to the fact that if we do not show up on time at 6 a.m for the lift, the whole lift group gets punished. I mean you know how it is, that whole ‘the chain is only as strong as its weakest link’ concept). So I tell him “Don’t worry, it takes 16 minutes to walk from the equinox to the stadium, ill arrive at 5:56 and be ready to go.” So I set down my scooter keys, locked up and got to walking. Now, of course, which most people forgot in their account of their plastic challenge is that their clothes usually have some form of plastic on them, whether it be a button, zipper, or even draw string. But anyways, I arrive at the stadium. I can’t use my key fauve to open the door to the stadium, but luckily the door was open. I arrive at my locker, get changed, and here is where I had to choose between my ass or my class. Quite frankly I’d rather have my ass, so I proceeded to lift for an hour and a half. And Oh, did we use plastic! Plastic bands, plastic cleats, plastic sleds, plastic hurdles, plastic perfect push-ups. To be honest we use way more metal than plastic, so I guess I felt environmentally conscious when I was lifting. However, when we were done, I went to get a plastic cup to fill up with powerade out of a huge plastic dispenser. I went and grabbed some ice in a plastic bag, then went to shower, where I used soap out of a plastic dispenser. Then I proceeded to put my sweaty clothes on a plastic loop, which is thrown into a plastic bin.
So, here I am 8:00 am and im exhausted, without a scooter to get to class which starts at 8:50. So I slowly walk to my philosophy class, which took about 30 minutes due to the slowed pace and cold conditions. I show up in class about 20 minutes early and sit down in the back and decide to close my eyes for a second. Next thing I know, the class is midway through the lecture! So, I pull out my laptop and I think to myself, wow great, this is plastic. So I put it away and turn to my friend and ask him to email the notes to me. Him, being the nice guy he is, emails the notes to me and takes care of that problem.
The class bell rings and everyone scrambles out. I casually make my way out and begin my journey to math. Midway through this journey I realize, like many college students do, that I really don’t feel like going to class! So I continue my walk, passing Van Vleck, and just head to the stadium to go to sleep. I arrive at the stadium and go straight to the locker room and pass out on the couches. I proceed to sleep for 4 or more hours without any plastic interference. I wake up to go to our meetings that begin at 2. We do sit in plastic chairs in front plastic tables for our meetings, where we are forced to take notes with plastic pens into our plastic binders, while watching a plastic projector cast an image on a plastic whiteboard. So yes, there was another epic fail.
Moving on, after 2 hours of ridiculously monotonous meetings, we have to get dressed for practice. It was at this point where I came to a conclusion that it really is impossible to go without plastic, especially in football. My helmet, my shoulder pads, my thigh pads, my jersey, my pants, my ankle braces, my shoes, my gloves, the tackling dummies, the tackling pads, the indoor goalpost, and pretty much everything is made from plastic! And yes, I went to practice!
To make a long story short, I simply gave up after practice. I double scooted home, sat down on the couch, turned on my T.V and my Xbox, went on my laptop, blasted music, brushed my teeth, and went to bed.
Yes I’ve come to realize that I use plastic way more than I have too. However, I would also like to point out that plastic has an extremely integral part of our lives. To be honest, he innumerable and beneficial uses of plastic outweigh any environmental concern that we may have. Of course there are sometimes when plastic could be replaced with wood or metal, but that is simply a capitalistic problem, in which plastic is ten times cheaper than wood or metal. Until people are more environmentally concerned, or until something drastic happens, I feel as if people will not go out of their way to change their habits to inconvenience themselves. I know this view seems pessimistic, but I’m a realist. What I have learned from this class is that every individual effort to save our environment counts, so I can encourage my friends and family to be more eco-friendly!
-Darius Feaster signing out
-You can find me Peter Boger's 11am discussion on Fridays

My Plastics Challenge - A Failed Attempt to Live a Day Without Plastics by George Reistad

MORNING

So to start things off, the plastics challenge was an absolutely epic fail, at least for me. Now to shed a little light on the situation and also to let myself off the hook a bit, I didn’t exactly pick an ideal day to conduct this challenge. My procrastination caught up to me in this regard and made completing the challenge successfully all but impossible.

This weekend I went home to Milwaukee to spend some time with my family. I had to come back early today (Sunday the 5^th) to go to a meeting and then go to work. The first instance of failure came at 8:20am when my alarm from my cell phone, infused with plastic, went off and woke me up. I then went upstairs and disabled the alarm system… that was encased in plastic and had plastic button. I neglected to go outside and get the Journal Sentinel, because it was wrapped in a plastic. However, even with this moment of awareness, my morning was off to a terrible start. I then took a shower and used a bar of Lever 2000 for my body and abstained from washing my hair, as the shampoo was in a plastic bottle. 

When I got out I decided to let my hair curl up naturally from being wet instead of using product. I then brushed my teeth with a washcloth to avoid using a toothbrush, because the only ones at my disposal were made of plastic. I then got dressed and again flunked the challenge because my shirt contained polyester, which is a derivative of plastic.

Once I got dressed, I proceeded to pack my bag to catch the badger bus back to Madison. My duffel and book bag both contained polyester. I got a ride from my father, whose car contains elements containing plastic, and boarded the bus. The seats were anchored to the floor with plastic supports and it being a 2-hour drive, I definitely sat down in them.

AFTERNOON

When we got off the bus, I went to a meeting at the red gym for WUD’s Alternative Winter Breaks and we talked logistics of the trips. We also were served snacks on plastic plates so I opted out of that by putting my food in a napkin. After the meeting I went to work next door at the union.

I work as a catron for UW’s Catering service at Memorial Union. This particular evening we were putting together the fifth night of The Union’s annual Tudor Dinners, where people come in and enjoy food and drink and listen to the sounds of Madison’s Philharmonic Chorus throughout the evening. The first thing I was designated to do was to put out the water glasses at the place settings in The Great Hall. The Cups were made of glass and were served on trays of cork and plastic. So yet again, I chalked up another encounter with plastic that was unavoidable. I then made breadbaskets for the tables. This involved no plastic components to my knowledge, as it used wheat and white rolls, wicker-like baskets, and cloth napkins. The rolls themselves were contained on a metal cart. I was assigned with two others to be a host and lead people to the seats they were assigned by their tickets. This process did not require the use of plastics either, as I just escorted people to their seats for a half hour or so.

After this we served salads to the tables. The bowls were made of plastic. I believe this brings my total number of encounters with plastics on the day to at least nine that I can recall. After serving salads we cleared salad plates and salad forks, which were ceramic and metal. We then served the main entrée, which was steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a whiskey pepper sauce. The plates were ceramic but were topped with plastic covers to keep them warm. However, I never actually touched the plastic tops as the people taking them from the hotboxes did this for us and we proceeded to carry them out to the tables. So I’ll say I avoided plastic use here. After serving we provided refreshments like coffee, iced tea, and milk. The coffee was served in plastic coffee pitchers but the milk cartons and iced tea were housed in paper and glass containers respectively and then served in glasses. The rest of the serving experience saw an impressive evasion of plastics as I cleared all ceramic, metal or glassware. I then helped to serve the Figgie pudding, which was prepared on a metal rack, served with a metal spoon, and placed on a ceramic plate. The Hard sauce that topped the pudding was ladled from a metal pitcher using a metal spoon. After dinner was over and the clearing process began was when the real plastic encounters at work began. We go through the tables with assignments to clear particular dishes and almost all the racks we use for plates, silverware, and glasses are plastic. However, I was assigned to clean out the coffee makers, which involved throwing away the paper (or cloth?) filters in metal baskets and refilling the chambers with hot water. The coffee makers themselves were also metal. I then began to clear wine glasses and, as stated before, had to place them in plastic racks. All in all, work could have had me use much more plastic than I did that day. However, there is still pretty prolific plastic use at my catering job because of its durability and inexpensiveness.

EVENING

When I got off of work, I went home, and being exhausted sat on the couch and relaxed for a few minutes. I then made a cheese quesadilla because I hadn’t been grocery shopping in a while and didn’t have many food items in the house. I had my roommate get the tortilla, cheese, and sour cream for me because they were all in plastic, re-sealable containers. I then realized this step was kind of pointless because I had to use my microwave anyway, which contained plastic components, and I was tired of recruiting my roommate’s help because if I kept doing that I don’t know where it would have stopped.

After eating my quesadilla (which was delicious) I started work on typing up my account of my day attempting the plastics challenge. I worked on it for about 45 minutes and then watched my friend play NBA 2K11 and poured bourbon over ice (in a glass cup) ;). Shortly after that, at around 1:50am, I brushed my teeth, again using my plastic toothbrush and laid in my bed, on which on the mattress is wrapped in a PVC cover because I got it from the basement of my apartment and didn’t know who had used it last or what they had done with it (yuck). At around 2am I fell asleep.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I don’t think I put 100% effort into the plastic challenge because I picked an absolutely awful day to attempt it and I also did not implement my original plan of meticulously planning out ways to maneuver around plastics use. Even so, I don’t think it should be so, for lack of a better word, impossible to avoid plastics in your daily life. Plastics are so engrained in our society that they are present in nearly every application of what we do. From work to leisure, plastics follow you wherever you go, and play a big part in how we live. I personally believe that plastics make many things much more convenient for people. However, society should have an alternative to using plastics if they don’t want to use them. The plastics challenge opened my eyes to how widespread plastics use is in American life.

Lost without plastics: Casey Sweeney

Casey Sweeney discussion section 304 - TA: Vanessa Wishart

Friday December 3rd

I finally decided that today was going to be the day I would take on the plastics challenge. I knew that it was going to be quite difficult, virtually impossible from what I had been hearing from peers, but nonetheless I woke up ready for the task. After rolling out of bed I quickly grabbed a pair of socks from my dresser and put them on in order to avoid my fake tile bedroom flooring that is made of plastic. I grabbed my towel and clothes and was off to shower, plastic free at the moment.

Once in the shower my task was a little more difficult. First, to turn the shower on you must turn a plastic knob. I avoided this by using my wash cloth. After that the next obstacle was my shampoo bottle that was made entirely of plastic. Guess shampooing will have to wait until tomorrow...

Once out of the shower, I found some necessary tasks unavoidably using plastics. I needed to brush my teeth using my plastic brush and get toothpaste out of the plastic tube and put deodorant on out of a plastic case.

Next when I was making breakfast I could not pour the cereal out without touching the plastic bag, but my silverware and bowl were all non-plastic.

But so far I was feeling pretty good, avoiding the plastic covered keys on my ring I locked my door and was off to my lab. I had made it through my morning routine fairly unscaved. Once at my lab I could not do non of my usual tasks if I were to avoid plastics. Once I put on the plastic gloves I went grabbed the plastic tupperware container that contained a plastic ziploc bag that contained even smaller plastic bags that were used to hold the individual fish. After that I grabbed the plastic binder and the plastic petri dish and made my way over to the plastic microscope.

After lab I started walking to class trying to avoid my phone because of it being comprised almost entirely of plastic. I used it against my better judgement to send a few text messages. At class I had to use my only plastic pen and the plastic binder that I took my notes in. Also to take my notes the desk that I pulled up to take them on was plastic. Soon I realized too that most of my backpack was plastic and there was no way I was avoiding that all day.

Back from class I got ready for a banquet I was going to and my suit was contained in a plastic bag holder, hanging on a plastic hanger. My belt almost most certainly had some sort of plastic covering and once again I was using the plastic toothbrush.

At banquet I was asked to use a plastic camera and of course I could not reject, and I needed to use my plastic filled computer to take a quiz. At this point I was being conscious of what I was touching but I found the quest to avoid all of the plastic too difficult.

I went through the rest of the night looking out for plastics around but it was pretty hard, I mean even our table cloth was plastic. If anything I have been much more conscious of tupperware containers.

A Day Without Plastic? Seemingly Impossible.

Kristin Kern, discussion section 304 (TA: Vanessa)

As I went into this challenge, I knew that there was absolutely no way I could live a day completely without plastic. So instead, I decided to use it as an opportunity to help myself realize how much plastic I actually use.

In the morning, I woke up to my alarm, set on my phone, and realized that I had already encountered plastic, as my phone is made of plastic. I got out of bed and grabbed my contact case (also plastic,) realizing that I was not going to come anywhere near close to living a day without plastic in it.

I turned on my laptop and got dressed, noting that my laptop and even my clothes had parts of plastic on them.

After I ate breakfast - where I encountered countless amounts of plastic in the tray, cup, and containers storing the food, not to mention my wiscard, which I used to purchase my meal - I went to brush my teeth with my plastic toothbrush and toothpaste tube made of plastic. (Lunch and dinner later were very similar experiences in terms of plastic use.)

My use of plastic continued as I used my mechanical plastic pencils, binders, and my plastic pens in my classes.

After my classes were done for the day, I went to work out at, and found that all of the machines contained at least some plastic. Even my ipod, which I always use while I run, had plastic in it.

When I returned home, I got ready for a shower and saw that my shower tote, as well as my bottles of shampoo and conditioner were all plastic, furthering my total count of plastic use for the day.

Later, as I sat at my desk doing homework, I noticed even my lamp was made mostly of plastic as were many random items on my desk such as a stapler, calculator, and tape dispenser (just to name a few).

What I concluded as I got ready for bed, was that it would be nearly impossible for me to live a day without plastic. I never realized how prominent plastic really is in our everyday lives. It is everywhere. Most of the time it goes unnoticed, I don’t even realize, or think about the fact that I am using plastic at all. This is not to say that I would be against making changes that involve a reduced use of plastic. I just know that for me especially, the change would be very difficult and take a while to adjust to.

Stranded Without Plastics: Jenn Domenech, Section 309

After deciding that I would attempt this challenge, I quickly realized one thing: I had to try it on a day without classes. At college, there is so much plastic everyday that it would have been an automatic fail to attempt it. You can't go a day without using your ID for food or to get in the dorms; my laptop, which I use to take notes at least once a day, has plastic keys; the keys I use to get into my room have plastic tops; and my wallet is made of plastic, so that eliminates any alternatives to my ID card. Fortunately, I went home this past weekend. I decided that it would be the most opportune time to try to manage a day without plastics since I would easily be able to avoid the plastics associated with school.

Friday night I took time to print out reading homework for classes, so I could spend as much of the day as possible doing homework and studying. I also took a shower, so I could avoid the whole situation of plastic bottles in the shower, at which point I realized that the actual floor of my shower was made of plastic. That was a sad realization. I also opened the blinds for the four windows in my room, so natural light would help me avoid the plastic light switch.

Saturday morning I woke up, and went to the bathroom. I was confronted with the toothbrush/toothpaste dilemma. I realized that not brushing my teeth just wasn't something that I was willing to compromise on. I guiltily brushed my teeth, aware the entire time of the plastic in my hand. When I turned to the toilet, I was again faced with an uncompromisable situation. My handle and seat were made from materials that incorporated plastic polymers. It was unavoidable. I returned to my room to dig for 100% cotton clothes, and dressed from the natural light streaming into room. Deodorant was another thing I wasn't willing to concede. I'm not sure how I would have managed to get through the day without the abundance of windows in my room.

Breakfast consisted of some fruit from the bowl on my kitchen table since my fridge has plastic handles. I also realized that later meals would be a problem. I gathered my papers and a wooden pencil and turned to go to the basement to work. Unfortunately, the staircase was gated to keep my 3-year-old brother from going in the basement unsupervised. Surprise, surprise: the gate was made entirely of plastic. I turned back to my room and set about my homework on my bed. It was at this point that my brother decided to come running into my room with an array of plastic toys: I was literally forced to run away from him. I really wanted to play with him, but all of his toys are plastic: trains, cars, costumes, play tools, and an assortment of others. It was somewhat disconcerting to realize how much of a role plastic plays in children's toys.

Around lunch, I begged my mom to throw together a PBJ sandwich for me. There was noway to fend for myself, as everything in the pantry was wrapped in plastic or had a plastic liner and I was still unable to make my way into the fridge. Not that being able to get into the fridge would have helped much, as most of the food in there was leftovers, put in plastic containers or wrapped in plastic wrap. I got some water and put it in a glass and ate off of a glass plate. I know that I indirectly had incorporated plastic, but I needed to eat. I heard my phone ring and saw it was my dad, and, again, was forced to concede to plastic. My phone, as well as the case, is plastic. It was fail number three, and it was only around 1 o'clock.

I spent the rest of my day working on homework and sitting on the carpet, watching my brother play with his plastic. I would have liked to run some errands, but most of them required a distant travel. Cars are loaded with plastic: the steering wheel, dashboard, parts of the seat, and mirrors. I felt like I was almost stranded inside my house. Dinner came, and fortunately, my mother had cooked. Silverware, glass plates, and glasses for drinks were brought out. I couldn't sit at our dining table because it had a plastic table cloth, so I elected to sit on the metal chair on the living room's wooden table. It was the best I could do. The evening was spent sitting on my brothers completely fabric chair and watching movies with my family. Mind you, I know the TV was made of plastic, but it was a small compromise because I made sure I had no physical contact with it.

Overall, I felt like I had to spend most of the day in a kind of hyper-aware state. I never realized that so much of my life had plastic in it, and making myself aware of this required all of my attention. Every time I wanted to move to do anything, I had to wonder if there was some obscure form of plastic involved. Granted, I think the day would have been a lot harder if I had chosen to leave my house and go anywhere. Stores consist of shelves lined with things wrapped entirely in plastic, which is why I didn't even risk walking to one to shop. I'm not sure that it's possible to live a completely normal day without plastics because showering is a necessity. Computers and cell phones are essential to being able to maintain communication with distant friends, and would be difficult to eliminate. In all honesty, I walked away surprised and feeling a little dismal.

A heart of Soap-Victoria Herrera 303

Friday December 3^rd 2010

Began my morning turning off the alarm on my ipod touch at 7am and then again at 7:30am and thennn a final time at 8am; needless to say it was a wee bit rough getting up that morning. There was no way around the alarm; my internal alarm clock goes off at about 10am which leaves me doomed to make my 9am class.

The ipod is made mostly of plastic but figured it was better then my phone (which I my normal alarm) that has a considerable greater amount of plastic. After I rolled out of bed at 8:30, I hastily threw on jeans, a bra, a long sleeve, a pair of socks, and leather boots. Seeing as how I was running late, I skipped brushing my teeth (tooth brush is made of plastic) but did rinse my mouth with water and washed my face with a heart shaped bar of soap; little did I know that this bar of soap would have a significant impact on me later that day. I quick downed some mango black tea from a ceramic mug that I made the night before, ate a banana, put on a coat, a hat, a scarf, and glovesss, which all to the visible eye did not contain plastic, except my gloves. As much as I wanted to avoid plastic at all costs, I would not sacrifice my hands to the cold haha.

As I would discover that day, everything pretty much comes a side of plastic whether we realize it or not.

After I threw my necessary materials for class in my backpack including a glass snapple water bottle, I was out the door walking briskly to catch a bus to class. On the way, I tested my vocal chords to a few songs to keep me going as a compromise to my usual ipod background music. After the initial few seconds of crackling, my sound wasn’t half bad

In my class I used my plastic binder to follow along with the class powerpoint notes I printed off that has intricate pictures relating to genetics. I of course opted for a pencil the entire day that is out of my norm. Oh how I missed the sweet bold script of my black ballpoint…‘sigh’…moving on haha… the use of a plastic clicker to answer a class question that is required for participation points was unavoidable. My remaining class was easy to avoid plastic. I simply took notes with a pencil and looseleaf.

I then caught the bus back to my dorm when upon arrival I when straight to housing food and got some delicious pre-made food yuck ;/…I am not one for the housing food seeing I have no idea what preservatives were used and how it was prepared but it avoided my using of plastic which is what most of the food in my room is surrounded in. Paying for the food on the other hand, some what required my having to touch my wisc card to pay. It was when I got to the cashier that I realized that my card is plastic and that I lacked the cash to pay. I was temped to ask the cashierto go into my wallet to avoid my touching of the plastic but cowered out not wanting to receive the inevitable awkward glance and confusion.

After eating I went to the Geography Museum with my roommate to check out their holiday sale. I wasn’t interested in buying any rocks though the museum was pretty neat museum overall and was an overall plastic free activity. They dressed up a few of the exhibits for the season…a red nose on the dinosaur XD.

Afterwards I worked in a biochem lab for 2 hours where it is necessary to use plastic. Micropipettes are almost entirely plastic as are the plastic tips and collection capsules. When doing research it is necessary to conduct tests multiple times and using plastic makes this process a lot safer and cheaper.

Lots of Hair!!! à

When I got back to my dorm, I could avoid taking a shower no longer. The idea of taking a shower was dancing in mind periodically through the day. The question of how I would wash my thick wavy hair that reaches my rib cage left me flabbergasted. I would have to use a mere bar of soap?! Using regular shampoo from the bottle already leaves my hair undesirably dry; the use of a heart of soap was an experiment I was curious to test.

When in shower…I sudsed the soap in my hands and then applied it to my hair and repeated this process numerous numerous times. The rest of the shower was pretty simple, I already use a fabric body scrub thinger daily so didn’t have to worry about the use of a loufa that is plastic based.

After letting my hair air-dry as I usually do, I was stunned to find that my hair was still manageable and not dry as wood. This doesn’t mean that I’ll convert into using bar soap for I am sure it would eventually turn my hair brittle but it’s nice to have options when times call for drastic measures.

The rest of my day composed of doing some studying that turned into a nap and helping out at the Hoofers Resale. I came to realization at the resale that plastic makes life fun i.e. snow boards and skis. I’m sure years ago they used wood but I can’t imagine those lasting that long which is not fun. I ended my night watching some of the live concert that was going on at the union that night. This just proves that there is still plenty to do without having to use plastic i.e. ipod.

Things that were hard to live without were my phone and computer to check up on the world. I met quite a few people though that I probably would not have met otherwise if I had my phone/laptop. I was amazed by the amount of plastic that is everywhere and that I could not avoid. Plastic is really a case of the for better or worse. I dislike the idea of it leaching into my food getting into my system and our environment yet I support its use in research and sporting equipment. This was a worth while challenge :)

The Verdict is In: You Cannot do Much Without Plastic

This Saturday the 4^th of December was the best possible day for my plastics challenge. I was getting over a cold and had just spent the past few days prepping for tests in other classes, so I set out to do as little as possible. Waking up at 1pm helped my low-activity day to work perfectly; however, I noticed that I had already lost the plastics challenge upon waking up, as there are nylon tags on my sheets and pillow, as well as elastics on one sheet and I assume there’s plastic in the mattress somewhere. I dressed in boxers with elastic linings but did not war socks for that reason; and jeans and a t-shirt, plastic free albeit the plastic tags. For breakfast, I ate cereal (out of its plastic and cardboard packaging) in a ceramic bowl with a metal spoon, and then I brushed my teeth with a plastic toothbrush (in the name of hygiene). I then proceeded to read for my courses on a fabric futon with a metal frame. I had to read only from my vast collection of course books as opposed to my countless collection of online articles as there’s plastic in my computer. I would like to add that I was cell-phone free, and it felt pretty good. To blow my nose I used a roll of toilet paper, as it didn’t have a plastic lining on it like all tissue-boxes do. I read into the night, and even resisted the strong urge to play Xbox, which is almost entirely composed of plastic. For dinner, I made spaghetti on electric burners with plastic knobs but ate without other plastic items. I went to bed at midnight, exhausted from being so well read for once.

This Saturday opened my eyes to how much of our world and lifestyles are dependent on plastics. I barely did anything all-day and still could not escape them! Then again, the absence of plastics did help me to focus on my coursework that has never been possible for me. I learned my material cold, reading free from the distractions of music, videogames, and the Internet, all of which have been key components of my life thus far. It’s incredible to think of a world without plastics. I imagine it as a much calmer, down-to-earth place where people could focus a little better and feel more in-tune with their surroundings.

Matthew Liguori
Wishart 311

Aly Pavela’s Plastics challenge

Section 309

9:14 am

Needless to say, I have already broken the challenge. Twice. I hit the snooze button on my plastic alarm clock, and I checked the weather on my phone. However, luckily my computer is metal. Uh oh. I just realized the keys on the keyboard are plastic. Today is going to be harder than I thought.

12:51 pm

I walked into the bathroom only to realize that I was absolutely surrounded by plastics. My toothbrush is plastic, my contacts case is plastic, all my make up is plastic. I don’t get to wash my face, or put on my contacts. I decided to give it and put on my glasses (I had to be able to see in class!) and brush my teeth. Even though I was extremely thirsty, I refused to pick up my nalgene water bottle on the way out Grabbing my backpack, putting on my coat for class, and walking to my Environmental Studies section wasn’t hard. However, in order to take notes in section, I had to whip out my plastic notebook and pen. On the way back from section I stopped at the Hillel to get a bagel seeing as I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. I had to forgo the plastic to-go box that my bagel was supposed to come in, and rather I wrapped it in napkins. Although I spotted a huge stack of plastic cups and a fountain to get water from, I restrained myself and headed back to my dorm.

4:00 pm

I just made one of my friends text my mother from my phone to ensure her that I’m still alive because she has been calling and texting me all day and due to the fact that my phone is plastic, I can’t touch it. Luckily I only had one class to day, so since then I have just taken a plastic-free nap (which wasn’t difficult) and caught up on watching Modern Family on my computer without using my plastic headphones (much to my roomate’s dismay.) I tried to hit the plastic keyboard on my metal computer as infrequently as I could. Now I’m going to go read for my Anthropology class. I’m not going to annotate in the book as I usually would because that would require me to use a plastic pen.

7:00 pm

I’m hungry, and slightly annoyed. I feel that all I can really do without plastic is read and do my homework with a wooden pencil. And sleep. I go to the cafeteria in my dorm to eat dinner, and I’m unable to touch a plastic tray, or a plastic cup. Great, the dehydration continues. Why is it so hard to get water without plastics? I eat some pasta and salad on a glass plate with metal utensils. I am forced to avoid a delicious looking chocolate chip cookie because it is covered in plastic. This is not fun.

11:00 pm

For the remainder of the night I watched part of a movie in a friend’s room (I made them turn on and off the T.V. and handle the DVD…) And studied for a big test I have on Friday, by reading through the text book and marking it with a wooden pencil, which needless to say was not very affective. I also caved in a used my phone…it was too hard without it!! Today, I’ve learned that plastics are literally unavoidable. As much as it gives me anxiety to look around my desk or my bathroom and realize how much they surround me, I must use them. What I can do is try to be conscious in using things like plastic utensils or plastic wrap, and try to cut down my usage of that.

Plastics Challenge: Ali Goldstone, Section 310

So it was decided. I would be attempting to live plastic-free on Thursday, December 2^nd. Mondays and Wednesdays would not work, since I have to drive in my plastic-filled car to my internship in Middleton. I have only one class on Friday, so that would be a bit too easy. And by this time, Tuesday had come and gone.

8:15 AM. My cell phone alarm rings. I turn it off, not feeling guilty yet (the outside of the phone is made of glass and stainless steel, although there is sure to be plastic on the wiring and processing chips). I began to think that maybe my whole day would be this easy. Because I wouldn’t be able to shower, (since everything I would need to use, beside the handle to turn on the water, involves plastic at some level: my plastic Venus razor, my plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles, my Dove soap that was packaged in a cardboard box, with a plastic lining), I rolled over and tried to fall asleep for a little longer. This is when I realized how hard it would be to avoid plastic all day – I had already failed repeatedly before even getting out of bed! Although my sheets are 100-percent cotton, my comforter is filled with synthetic fluff (fail), my bed frame, though made of wood, has a white, plastic overlay (fail), and my pillows and memory foam mattress are bound to be filled with plastic materials (fail… and fail).

8:30 AM. A bit discouraged I finally roll out of bed, only to step onto my carpet, which is of course made with a number of synthetic materials (fail). I walk into my bathroom to get ready for class. This time I felt alright about using plastic – I grabbed my toothbrush to spare my friends. I thought I was in good shape when I went to wash my face, since my cleanser comes in a glass bottle and my washcloths are 100-percent cotton, but realized I was wrong when I had to press the plastic pump on top of the bottle (fail).

8:45 AM. When it came time to grab something quick for breakfast, I was at a loss. Without thinking, I had eaten my last apple the day before after getting home from class; there were no bananas either. Everything else I had involved failing the challenge once more. Cinnamon oatmeal would involve a plastic-lined individual package, and touching the plastic handle of the microwave. Pouring a bowl of cereal would require me to open the plastic bag in which it’s contained, and after that, to open the refrigerator, with its plastic handle. Eggs, in a cardboard carton, cooked in a pan without Teflon would be great, until I needed to wash the pan with our sponges made of synthetics and dish soap in a plastic bottle. I’d even have to fail to make a measly slice of toast, since the bread is packaged in plastic. I decided on the oatmeal (fail).

9:00 AM. As I rushed out the door, I quickly bundled up (fail-my warm, waterproof Northface jacket is definitely not made from natural materials) turned off the light in my room (fail), grabbed my metal water bottle (fail-plastic cap!), and locked the door (FAIL! My lanyard from the bookstore is made from synthetic material).

From here, it was all downhill. I went to class and sat down in the plastic chair (fail). I opened my backpack (fail) as class began, only to find that my notebooks have a plastic on them (fail) and the only writing utensils I had were pens and mechanical pencils (fail). The rest of my classes went the same. I did have a small glimmer of what I thought was going to be a successful (short) period of time when I arrived in 70 Science Hall for my advising meeting. The only chair that I sat in all day that was not plastic, was a wood one in Tristin’s office. Things were looking good! But then she handed me a plastic pen to sign the form to declare my Environmental Studies certificate (fail, again). After my meeting I headed to Subway for lunch, in order to avoid the plastic trays and utensils at the Union. It turns out that Subway wasn’t my brightest idea of the day, either. I had no cash, so I had to use my debit card (fail) to buy my food that was handed to me in a plastic bag (fail). After this letdown, I decided to take a timeout for a bit (not that I had been doing so well anyhow…). I gave in and ate my sub, while reading an assignment on my computer. After my classes had ended for the day, around 4 PM, I spent the majority of the evening sitting on the synthetics-filled couch in my living room, chatting and watching TV with my roommates.

Although my day was characterized mostly by failing, I’m happy I at least attempted to go for one day without plastics. Without preparing for my day without plastics the night before, may plastics-free day was definitely challenging, but it forced me to become more cognizant of just how ubiquitous plastic has become.