My plastic diet is about giving up delights.

Packaged inside a box with the plastic film window, held in the cradle of plastic, then individually wrapped is a treasure that Ed spies as we shop. “They’re on sale!” he exclaims in as close to a squeal as a baritone can get.

I do not need to see. I know they look delicious. I know they are nestled unscathed, perfectly uncrumbled in their triple-cloak of the forbidden. Hand crafted in the tradition of the old world — packaged in the way of the modern.

“NO!” I snap as Ed reached for the box of lemon biscotti. “Too much plastic.”

I want them. I imagine their sweet tartness melting inside my warm mouth. Rock hard as I suck off the icing. Dripping from a quick plunge into my tea. I savor. I swallow.

“Ohhhhh. Please Ed. Put them back.” I moan, turning away lest I give in to the temptation of the individually wrapped.

What was I thinking? I’m discouraged, depressed and ready to give up my hair-brained idea of a plastic diet.

One month is quickly closing in on me and I am ashamed to admit I have already considered (more than once) to chuck it all. It was foolhardy to declare I would lose 10 pounds of poly. It is everywhere and so hard to resist.

It really would be easy to delete from this blog my public proclamation that I would keep 160 ounces of petroleum-based junk from invading my life. I have the password. Deleting requires clicking on one button. Easy! I checked. The problem is, giving up is not my nature. Read more

Well, I am back from my grocery shopping. How did I do? Not so well.

I gave in to a few temptations but managed to curtail only a few unwanted plastic purchases by just not buying what I wanted. I walked past the salad dressings when I discovered that even my favorite, Newman’s, has gone to plastic bottles. I had Ed swap out his plastic milk jug for the paperboard one. Same for our coffee cream. I could not resist the bag of romaine hearts on sale for half the price of the loose lettuce. I also bought the convenient pre-washed bag of greens.

Going down my receipt it looks dismal. I always knew there are obvious unwanted plastic purchases that came with the food I intended to buy, but I did not know just how ingrained it was in my shopping habits.

I am not going to count, at least for now, the tiny plastic stickers found on each and every piece of fresh fruit or vegetable in the produce department to aid the checker. I may start peeling them off and putting them … well that is just passing the problem on to someone else isn’t it? Never mind that idea.

I’ll count obvious plastic packaging, no matter how small, except for those pesky stickers. This will include caps, pull tabs, lids, bags; all the plastic that is exposed as the product sits on the shelf. I will also report all the hidden plastic we don’t see. For example, the plastic bag inside the box. Read more

Every ounce of plastic ever made is still on our planet. — Sailors for the Sea

In a 1998 survey, 89 percent of the litter observed floating on ocean surface
in the North Pacific was plastic. – United Nations Environment Program

Most Americans who bothered to make a resolution this year, probably vowed to lose weight. Me too. Yes, even though I am a puny 108 pounds, I hereby publicly vow to lose 10 pounds. Sounds excessive? No, actually it is most likely a too tiny percentage. I hope to reduce my plastic garbage this year by ten pounds. I have yet to figure out just how much ten pounds of plastic amounts to, but I bet, when measured against the mass of goods I buy, use, then simply toss (even into the recycling bin), that ten pounds is in fact a very modest reduction for a year. I may indeed be setting my goal too low. Read more