Purging Plastic
I apologize for being MIA last week. Work was beating me down and I celebrated St. Patty’s Day far too aggressively this weekend. Anyway…
As I discussed in my Biodegradable Plastic: An Oxymoron? post, plastic, despite being tremendously useful, presents a number of serious environmental problems. However, it has become such an integral part of our everyday lives that I really don’t think we even notice how much of it we use and dispose of on a daily basis. I’ve never thought about it much, but I’m willing to bet that I use more plastic than I think.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be addressing this very issue. For two weeks, I will simply go about my regular routine. However, I will keep all the plastic I use, so, at the end of the two weeks, I can actually see how much I typically go through and, ultimately, end up trashing (in a recycling bin, of course). Obviously, I will post the results, in the form of both pictures and statistics/lists for your viewing pleasure, here on Green Light Reflections.
Once I’ve done this, I will devote the following two weeks to much of the same, going through my regular routine and keeping the plastic I use. This time, though, I will do so while making a conscious effort to, within reason, minimize my plastic use, finding ways to go about my standard routine without a dependence on plastic. Once again, I’ll post the results here.
In doing this, I’ll get a real life idea of how much plastic an average (and I would say somewhat minimalist) person uses, and how simple it is to reduce that amount. Hopefully, when this experiment is over, I’ll have developed some new, environmentally friendly – and easy – habits that will stick with me for a long time.
Updates to come…
