Mission Impossible: A Day Without Plastics 12/4

Sami McKeough

Emma S.

Section 312

For my Day Without Plastics I thought that it would be the easiest to do it on a Saturday, so I could avoid the plastics that I use everyday for class such as:

Public transportation
Notebooks
Pens
My laptop
Alarm Clock
Coffee Maker
Backpack
To-Go coffee mug
Etc.

But it did not make my Day Without Plastics any easier.

First I took off my sheets before I went to bed on Friday night and laid on top of my plastic-free quilt and used an extra blanket. I also used different pillows, because my normal ones have a hypo-allergenic lining on them. I woke up sometime in the late morning I believe, I did not know the exact time because I turned off my phone at midnight and that is how I normally check the time. I do also own a watch but of course it is mostly made up of plastic.

My first challenge of the day was figuring out what to eat or rather how to eat breakfast. I could not use the microwave, oven, or even open the refrigerator. I then turned to my pantry to find something, but much to my dismay, I discovered that basically everything was packaged in plastic: my bagels were in a plastic bag, my cereal was in a plastic bag, and my granola bars were wrapped in plastic. I then decided to venture to State Street to get my breakfast fix, but in order to go to state street I had my first failure because I had to wear my winter coat (which has a plastic zipper) and my snow boots.

I returned to my house after a delicious breakfast of bagels and coffee I began to get ready for the day. This was my second challenge of the day: how to get ready without using 0r wearing plastics, I had to avoid:

My toothbrush

My toothpaste (the tube is plastic)

Make-up (all of the containers are plastic)

Deodorant

Perfume

My hair products

Hair ties

Hair clips

My shampoo bottles

My shower curtain

My razor

My face wash

My hairbrush

And about half of my wardrobe (I guess I really like clothes that have elastic, zippers, and buttons)

So my morning routine consisted of splashing my face with water and tying my hair up with a ribbon. I thought that I would be clever and just use some mouthwash to rid my mouth of morning breath, but during the rinse I realized that the container is plastic. For clothing I settled on a pair of yoga pants (made up of cotton and nylon, does nylon have plastic it in?!) and a T-Shirt (100% cotton).

My next challenge was figuring out what to do the rest of the day. I could not turn on the TV to catch up on the various TV shows that I missed through out the week and I couldn't go on my laptop to check my Facebook or Twitter (my go-to activities when I am bored or procrastinating.) Also, I picked a Saturday so I wouldn't have to use my notebooks or my favorite pens but being so close to finals I just could not waste a whole day and not do anything productive. I finally decided that I could do my Spanish homework without using plastics, I used looseleaf paper in order to avoid my notebook and the classic #2 pencil. But I had to sharpen the pencil with a pencil sharpener which was made up of plastic. Throughout my homework-doing part of the day though I encountered the following plastic items:

Various Notebooks

My planner

Pencil Sharpener

My backpack

My lamp

My desk

My desk chair

My three hole puncher

My stapler

Highlighter

Most of these things that I just listed, I used without even thinking twice about the fact that they are made up of plastic. Most of the time I started using them and then realized the mistake that I made.

My next challenge was making dinner and I did not want to venture back to State Street to avoid the plastics in my kitchen A. Because of my appearance and lack of daily hygienic and B. I did not want to spend more money. So I failed again and opened up my refrigerator to make a salad and some pasta. Here is another list of the plastics I encountered when making dinner:

Lettuce was in a plastic bag

Most of my vegetables were in plastic bags

The handle of a knife

The stove

The handles of pots

The salad dressing container

The top of the sauce jar

Parmesan cheese container

However, I also realized that I subconsciously avoid a lot of plastics in the kitchen such as plates, cups, and silverware. In my kitchen we have both plastic and ceramic plates, plastic and class cups, and silverware with plastic handles or without. On a day to day basis, I always choose the non-plastic dishes verse the plastic made ones.

Though I no Tom Cruise and very unsuccessful with my mission impossible I learned a lot. Fist I learned that plastics are so much apart of my life, about 80% of the time, I don't even realize that I am using plastic. However, it was also uplifting to realize that in some situations, I do avoid plastics especially when it comes to food. Today was a really difficult day, but I think that the hardest part was trying to get ready in the morning and not being able to use about 99% of the things that I normally do. As soon as the clock struck midnight I brushed my teeth, took a shower, and brushed my teeth again. I also learned that while plastics are a big part of life, we do not need to use it as much as we do. The dish ware is a very good example, while plastic cups, silverware, etc is cheaper thus more appealing to college students like myself, ceramic and glassware is a better investment. They will last longer than the plastic stuff and they are better for you, especially when you are putting plates and cups into the microwave. Also glass Tupperware is another good investment for the same reasons. I think that minimizing plastics in the food industry and well as things that touch food at home is the best place to start because it is the easiest but the most important as well because I don't want the chemicals that are in plastics leaching into my food and contaminating my body and I'm sure no one else wants that either.