Plastics Challenge

Dana Sorensen

TA Vanessa Wishart Discussion 304

I knew it was going to quite difficult to avoid plastic for an entire day so the night before I planned how I was going to manage this. I took a shower the night before my plastic-free day since all my hygiene products are contained in plastic: shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body wash, and razor.

That morning I didn’t use my alarm or cell phone to wake up because both contain plastic. I didn’t have class until 11:00 so I wasn’t worried about sleeping in that late. I woke up on my own around 10:00 and began to get ready in the dark. I couldn’t turn on the lights or open the blinds since the light switch and curtain rod both are made with plastic. It was kind of difficult getting ready in this manner but I was used to doing this when I got up before my roommate. I hang my tops on plastic hangers and keep some other clothes in a plastic drawer unit so the best way to avoid plastic when getting dressing was to lay some out the night before. This is what I did. After getting dressed, I went to the bathroom which already had the lights on. I washed my face with a bar of soap and rinsed my mouth out with mouthwash that I had put in a glass and covered with foil. I wasn’t going to brush my teeth because both my toothbrush and toothpaste have plastic, so mouthwash was the next best thing.

For class, to avoid using my backpack and pens which contain plastic, I put my lecture note, some extra loose leaf paper, and a wooden pencil in my handmade cloth purse, which I believe does not have any plastic. I wore my wool coat over my Columbia coat since it contains less plastic. This was my first encounter where I couldn’t avoid plastic. It was either wear a coat or freeze walking to class. I grabbed a banana and apple for breakfast in order to avoid my refrigerator, microwave, dishes, and other food-related plastics and went off to class.

After class, I went to eat lunch at Rhetas since I worked there soon. I was starving because all I had to eat were two pieces of fruit. I didn’t grab a plastic tray to put my food on. I got a chicken on a glass plate and carrots in a glass bowl. The workers had plastic gloves on that served my food but they have to for sanitary reasons. I also grabbed a cookie and set it on my plate. In order to pay for this food, I had to use my Wiscard, which is made of plastic. The alternative is cash but I wasn’t going to pay much more just to avoid this plastic encounter. I sat down and ate my food without a drink since the dining hall only offered plastic cups now.

For work, I could not avoid plastic. I had to use my Wiscard again to clock in and out of my shift. That shift, I stock the convenient store that is part of Rhetas. Much of the food is shipped in green plastic bins so I had to touch those in order to stock the food and much of the food is contained in plastic.

After work, even though I dealt with plastic for two hours, I wanted to try to continue avoiding plastic the rest of the day. I came back to my room and tried studying but plastic was again unavoidable. I had readings from my textbooks that possibly had plastic on the cover. I also had some math problems that required me to use a calculator (plastic again).

Dinner again was a challenge. My roommate and I ended up ordering pizza to the room which she used her phone to call so I didn’t encounter plastic. She also turned on the lights when it got dark so another encounter I avoided.

I was really proud that I hadn’t used my cell phone and laptop all day since they both have plastic. However, I was feeling very anti-social without them, which is sad. I had seen and talked to some friends today but other friends that I don’t see that often, texting and Facebook is how we keep in touch. By the end of the night, I gave in and used both of theses.

Overall, I tried my best to avoid plastics but it was a very difficult task. Plastic is everywhere and there are not always alternatives for it. Doing this challenge was an eye-opener to how much plastic has become part of my daily life and how dependent I have become on it. I already value reusing and recycling especially plastic, but this challenge allowed me to also value the invention of plastic. I will continue using plastic but try to reduce the convenient plastics and choose the reusable/recyclable ones.