The changes I made were easy, and they included:

• If I had to purchase food or drink in a plastic container, I always opted for the larger version, if available
  -   For example, I brought two-liter bottles of Diet Coke to work, rather than purchasing a new 20 fl. oz. bottle every day
• I bought a reusable coffee mug to use for my daily coffee (this got me a 10 cent discount, which was a pleasant surprise)
• When grocery shopping, I tried, within reason, to buy foods with minimal plastic packaging
• I ordered less take-out food and made an effort to prepare my own more often, using grocery store ingredients

And that’s about it. Here are the results, in picture form:

The plastic I used during the first ten days of the experiment, during which I went about my standard routine.

The plastic I used during the second ten days of the experiment, during which I made a few small, easy changes to curb my plastic use.

In examining these results, I had a few thoughts. One, considering how much plastic food container waste I built up over the course of the first ten days, I’m shocked that I’m not morbidly obese. I ate all that stuff? Two, I drink way too much Diet Coke. Three, most importantly, by making some very easy behavioral changes, I was able to significantly reduce my plastic use and, even though ten days isn’t a very long time, my “plastic savvy” mindset is already relatively second-nature to me. As an added benefit, I’ve found that the changes I’ve made have forced me to adopt slightly healthier eating habits, because I eat more fruits and vegetables and less pre-packaged, processed snacks.

Obviously, no matter the routine, one should recycle as much as possible. Unfortunately, though, not all plastic can be recycled, so the best solution is to simply avoid using plastic altogether. Try your own “plastic purge” experiment and see what happens.

As I mentioned in my Purging Plastic post, I am temporarily saving all the plastic I use to, one, get an idea of how much plastic I actually go through on a regular basis and, two, identify where and how I can reduce that amount. I then intend to do the same thing while consciously making some simple changes to curb my plastic use. Let me start this update off by saying that I consider myself better than average when it comes to keeping my plastic use at a reasonable level. I don’t buy bottled water, I keep and reuse old plastic grocery bags, I use reusable canvas bags to carry my groceries, etc. However, despite these good habits, the plastic I have accumulated in the past week and a half is slowly taking over my kitchen and, therefore, I need to shorten the “status quo” stage of this experiment from the originally stated two weeks to a more manageable ten days. There, I said it. Doesn’t make me feel to good about my plastic use, but now I can finally get this crap out of my house…

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…