an exercise in household plastic consumption

We started our plastic free journey after reading ‘Life Without Plastic’ by Jay Sinha and Chantal Plamondon. It was a great place to start and reading it really psyched me up to start kicking the plastic addiction. I was excited about the task ahead and a new challenge. One of the recommendations they make is to collect all the plastic items you use in a week and rather than binning them - pop them in a bag and hide it in a cupboard. At the end of the week take it all out and gape at the sheer amount of plastic rubbish you consume in just seven days.

I set to work one rainy January washing all our plastic packaging and popping it into a bag under the stairs. At the end of the week when I excitedly upended it onto our floor we seemed to have a little bit of everything. From milk cartons to plastic shopping bags, McDonalds containers, crisp packets, fruit and veg containers, packs of rice, coffee and toiletries! You name it - everything seemed to come in plastic. I had never paid that much attention to it all and to be honest it made me feel quite disheartened. How could we ever cut it out? The majority of this packaging was ‘Not currently recycled’ or as they often like to write on the packet - ‘Not widely recycled, check locally.’

I was now fully clued in regarding quite how much disposable plastic our household was consuming on a weekly basis. I turned back to my trusty book and read on to their next challenge; think about the plastic in other areas of the household - room by room. They suggested creating an inventory of what each room contained, and draw up a table to list possible plastic free alternatives. What could we change in the kitchen? Or how could we reduce the plastic products we used in the bathroom? I set to work itemising everything in our bedroom and en-suite but again found myself disheartened by the sheer enormity of the task ahead. Despite that feeling of utter hopelessness, I must admit they were helpful exercises. It prompted me to begin noticing the plastic around me and the life cycle and impact of these purchases after I toss them in the bin so I could begin re-wiring my brain to kick the disposable habit.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received was drummed into me by my partner after years of stressing for Medical exams. He always tells me that when something seems an overwhelming task - to break it down into smaller more manageable chunks. So I decided for this colossal challenge this would be exactly what I'd do. Instead of tackling it all at once I decided we would make a couple of sustainable swaps each month, from any area of the household. With a little more research and further reading, my goal quickly changed from trying to save the world single handedly to not even attempting to cut out all our plastic in its entirety. I decided that small, sustainable, manageable and affordable swaps were what we needed, and I hope to be able to help others by sharing in this space the successful swaps I sourced for us. Tried and tested.

Sinha and Plamondon have written honestly that they themselves do not live a zero waste lifestyle - nor is that their aim. Plastic has infiltrated all aspects of our lives and the world around us and as they sensibly point out, it would be impossible to avoid it completely. Instead they aim to be more conscious of the impact that our consumerism has on the planet and minimise that negative impact where we can. I think they make a valid point that you can quickly become overwhelmed and give up if you suddenly decide to go plastic-cold-turkey. Let’s follow the tortoises mindset… slow and steady wins the race.

I’d highly recommend carrying out your own week of plastic hoarding to see how much you end up with. Feel free to share your own images and comments below - I’d love to see.