Plastics Challenge by Sarah Soon 310 Peter

Date: 10/23/10

In this day and age, plastics are ubiquitous in our lives, permeating almost every aspect of them. As I was planning my day the night before, I realized that I had taken many things that contained plastic for granted. I was surprised to learn that almost all of my daily necessities utilize a form of plastic. Previously, when I had been reading about BPA and the products that contained it, it was easier for me to imagine not using items such as water bottles with BPA and eating from canned foods that were lined with BPA. However, to avoid plastics completely for an entire day was a wholly different matter.

I was shaken awake by my roommate at 8 o’clock in the morning because I could not use my alarm clock, which was made of plastic. Next, I had to wash my face with a piece of bar soap as opposed to my normal facial cleanser that was in a plastic bottle. I was most bothered by my inability to use any moisturizer or make-up since all of them were in plastic containers or had plastic in them. Thankfully, I normally use a wooden comb so I was able to brush my hair. However, I could not use any hair ties or hairbands. Choosing clothes to wear was a problem because most of my clothes are hung from plastic hangers. After ten minutes, I managed to find a 100% cotton shirt and a pair of sweatpants in my wooden chest of drawers.

Breakfast was extremely inconvenient because I could not eat cereal, drink milk, or take a water bottle because all of those actions involved plastics. In the end, I grabbed a banana and made a hardboiled egg, which I wrapped in aluminum foil. As I was about to leave my apartment, I heard my phone ring but I could not touch it despite the fact that someone was calling me. I felt really uncomfortable because I am used to being able to text whenever I want and contact people if I need to. I could not use my normal backpack since the zips were made of plastic. Instead, I used a cloth bookbag and made sure I had a wooden pencil to take notes with.

My first class was in Ingraham Hall and the seats were plastic. To make things worse, my professor was using a projector to display a slideshow. I was determined to continue with the plastics challenge despite these setbacks. As the class went on, I was getting very fidgety without my phone and my lips were craving chapstick, something that I could not use because it had plastic.

In between classes, I was feeling very hungry and was so tempted to get food from a vending machine, but all of them were wrapped in plastic so I had to give that a miss. My second class of the day was better because my professor did not use a slideshow. However, my pencil lead broke while taking notes and I only had one wooden pencil; to make matters more difficult, I was sitting in the middle of a row so I could not get up to use the pencil sharpener. I had no choice but to borrow my friend’s pen in order to continue taking notes.

As I waited for my final class of the day to start, I was feeling extremely anxious having been unable to check both my email and my phone. I made sure I sharpened my pencil before my class started.

The class passed uneventfully and I was finally done with classes, I made my way home. When I got home, I could not watch television because the remote was made of plastic. I received a text message but still could not check my phone. Fighting the urge was becoming a monumental task. My dinner options were extremely limited because most of the food in the refrigerator was kept in plastic containers. In the end, my roommate and I went to Panera Bread. Even though I am not sure if the food preparation used plastics, I made a conscious effort not to order anything that was served in plastic.

Doing homework was a problem since I could hardly get anything done without a computer. I decided to take a shower and that was the decisive moment when all my frustrations from earlier in the day boiled over, causing me to give up the plastics challenge. I found it ludicrous that I would have to shower without my plastic shower curtain and wet the entire bathroom in the process. I dare say that I have never appreciated using my shampoo, conditioner and body soap more. After my shower, being able to use my moisturizer after what seemed like an eternity felt really nice. Even though I felt guilty for not seeing the plastics challenge through to fruition, brushing my teeth before I went to bed was something that I appreciated so much more after today.

After all the ‘trials and tribulations’ that I have been through today as part of the plastics challenge, I am now more aware of how dependent I am on plastics. Even though it might not seem the case, plastics are omnipresent in our everyday lives, playing a crucial role in the things we do and the tools we use. Precisely because of their ubiquity, people have begun to take plastics for granted. Only through such a challenge are we reminded of the importance of plastics, and can we learn to appreciate their value more. My experience today has proven that the saying “you never know what you have until it’s gone”, although cliché, never rings truer.