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...