It ain’t easy being green

Yeah, I know. I know. I have not reported on my plastic diet for February and it is already late-March. There have been some successes and tiny gains but each time I go to a store, an event, the market or even to the mail box I am confronted with my inability to shun plastic of all sorts and types. It is constantly discouraging.

Early in the month Ed and I hosted a sailing club board meeting. We faced feeding 21 people but that was the least of my problems — the plastic sirens sang pretty loudly. I refused to buy plastic dinner ware, so not having flatware for 20 was a bit of an issue. Searching through our cupboards I found a stash of plastic forks, spoons and knives from my rampant plastic consuming past. I sat them out along with red beans and rice and other Mardi Gras theme goodies. A few people who may have read my blog asked, “Do you keep these?” and I answered, “Yes, I’ll wash them and use them again.” After guests had left I dug the plasticware they threw away out of my trash. I hand washed, dried and put them away in the event I “need” them again. So be advised, if you eat at my house using plastic flatware — it has been retrieved from my garbage. I’m not sure if that should go into the success or failure file. I used plastic,
it  was plastic I already had but it did not go to the landfill. I suppose that is good.

Ed shopped for groceries alone several times in February. Overall he did very well, maybe better than I would have done. He has the PIP (plastic intolerance program) down and is cagey-smart in his reduction schemes. Together we did a big shopping last weekend to replenish our pantry. Perhaps the shock of realizing how much plastic we were bringing home from the grocery store has faded, but it seemed as we surveyed our cart, we are doing a bit better each trip. We’re buying bigger cartons or bottles if plastic is the only choice, not buying some goodies that only come with extravagant use of plastic and choosing items with sparse packaging. There are so few glass jars on the shelves, but we look for them, opting for glass if available. If not, for example, as is the case in the peanut butter Ed needs, we buy the biggest jar reasonable. Does one big jar actually use less plastic than two or three petite jars? It seems one hunk of waste is less awful than three smaller bits. Maybe not. I rationalize, the bigger jars will more likely be reused around the house. In some cases bigger is obviously better. Cartons that just come with plastic spouts are now purchased in the largest size that will not spoil.

Because cleaning solutions come in plastic dispensers we are not buying them, except liquid dish soap. We just bought a huge jug which should last us well into our old age. For most chores vinegar works just as well as commercial products and we can use it in salads, too, now that I am making my own dressing.

Mail with plastic waste really irritates me. I not only do not like to receive it, I will not do business with anyone who mails me promo plastic. Credit cards … okay, I will use them. Stored in my garage I have years of packing peanuts that I have received in the mail. I will not throw them out so I have collected five large yard bags of Styrofoam packing material — I could pack my entire kitchen with what I have on hand … and it keeps coming. Very few items actually warrant such coddling. Once, I received a box of software padded like it was a sixth century goblet going to the moon. Last week I got a lovely gift, which needed packing to protect many delicate hand-crafted parts as it was surely dropped kicked across the post office. I am grateful for the gift but I wished my friend had used the hard-to-find Cheeto-like packing peanuts made from starch. They melt away in water and I imagine they could be eaten for snacks if they were properly salted and infused with artificial cheese flavor like the snack food. I imagine they were discovered when a Cheeto machine ran out of flavor and artificial color thus extruding tasteless puffs.
The most egregious mail offense was the ripped-off cover of a magazine inside a plastic bag with a note of apology from the post-office. Aaawh, come on! Was that necessary? The cover with the note stating the rest of the magazine was missing did me no good. I kept the crime scene bag though, surely it can be reused for something…maybe to hold the next shipment of Styro-nuts.

Anyway, in a quite unscientific or even a well thought out manner, I will grant myself a whopping 10-ounce loss for February. A wild guestimate to be sure. I can not imagine a proper way to measure what I don’t have and we all know a garbage bag of those Stryo-puffs hardly weigh more than air. Maybe I should say I’m shedding inches.

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