Ben Weis's Plastic Challenge

Plastic Challenge
Upon preparing to go plastic free for the next 24 hours, I carefully thought out my upcoming day as I fell asleep the night before. I had a prefect plan. I was to wake up, they day after thanksgiving, brush my teeth with my finger rather than a toothbrush, make sure I don’t wear clothes with plastic zipper covers, and eat fresh fruit that thankfully was laying around in the fridge. Activity wise, I would simply read and greet some old friends as they stopped by to say hello. How could I fail?

Waking up that morning I reluctantly got out of bed and stepped into the bathroom. It was only until I left the bathroom that I remembered I was taking the plastic challenge and I had just lifted my plastic toilet seat and pumped my plastic soap dispenser. Disappointed I had failed not even five minutes into the challenge I thought, that’s ok, I will just start the challenge now. So it began…again.

I sat on my couch as I usually do after waking up a realized I couldn’t watch the plastic covered TV. My next go to mindless activities are usually listening to music, surfing the web, or doing homework. Listening to music was out as my Ipod is covered in plastic. My computer, of course, had a keyboard full of plastic keys, and I was not quite ready to do homework. I decided to eat some breakfast and get ready for, what I just realized, was going to be an uneventful day.

According to plan, breakfast consisted of a banana. Plastic free and safe. Upon inspecting what I can and can’t use in the shower, I stuck with a bar of soap due to all shampoos and conditioners being encased in bottles made of you know what. I wasn’t sure what my shower faucet was made of so I disregarded it of plastic. Which reflecting upon it now, it probably contained the sneaky substance. I got dressed into cotton shirts and jeans that were in my wood dresser and brushed my teeth with my finger. What I didn’t take into consideration when planning my day, was that the toothpaste tube was of course plastic. After unknowingly failing twice I went on with my day.

I picked up my paperback book that I had carefully laid out on the cloth couch the night before and began to read. After an hour or so I began to get restless. So I went downstairs to examine my piano for plastic. I concluded the wood frame and ivory keys were okay to use so I proceeded. It wasn’t long until my stomach was growling again and I wishfully opened the stainless steel fridge for some more substantial food. My growling persisted as I browsed over the fruit and veggies sitting in ceramic bowls. So I was forced to snack healthily on what was in front of me for the rest of the day.

The rest of the day was spent on my plastic safe living room couch with friends, and using the bathroom with a ceramic toilet; a fairly uneventful yet relaxing day. I had made it to about five o’ clock of not doing very much when I looked at my wrist lazily when something caught my attention. My royal blue silly band sitting intertwined with my string bracelet on my left wrist. I had been wearing it all day and it of course was made fully of plastic. My heart dropped when I realized all my efforts thus far were for nothing. There was no way to live productively in today’s society without plastics, I concluded, especially without silly bands.