When I was little, waste wasn’t a problem. No one had even heard of the term ‘plastic free’. I spent most of my days at the countryside where we had a compost pile for all food scraps. We made late night fire where we burned paper and cardboard. And once every fortnight Nan sent me on a walk to the rubbish pit to throw away any other municipal waste.
Once the bag started its graceful flight into the air with the help of the swing of my arm and made its rough somersault-landing in the hole, I could wipe my hands (literally), the job was done, out of sight out of mind, right?
The world of waste
Fast forward 15 years or so, living in the big city I found myself nipping out to the bins behind my house almost every other day. It never even crossed my mind that I am producing this much waste until the `ughhh´ sound started following my trip to the outside.
Having to leave the house in the morning 2 minutes before my usual time? I can’t do that! Every minute is counted for! Or lounging at home on a day off and trying to stuff every item into the already over-flowing bin bag. Realising that – oh the horror – shoes are now required to be put on, walk downstairs, go outside and make the dreaded trip to the back of the house just to toss a bag and then walk all the way back inside. Okay, maybe I’m just coming off super lazy but it always seemed like the most annoying thing to throw out rubbish. It was an undertaking. `How the hell did the bag get full again??´
The how-to
Generation Y has been blessed and cursed at the same time. We grew up in, what was compared to now, a pretty amazing environment. No overuse of electronics, no social media to ruin our childhood, no pressure to dress to impress and no sign (to the commoner) of a dying Earth.
Now that the Echo Boomers have grown up, we have to deal with all the wrong choices we ourselves and Gen X made in regards to the planet. It is also our obligation, as Millennials, to secure the actual preservation of Earth so there can be a next millennium.
Which brings me to the three RE-s:
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Reduce the amount of physical stuff you use and buy. Reuse the things you already have. And always always recycle if a product has served its purpose and can no longer be reused.
The easiest way to start going plastic free is to stop and see what options are available for you. All countries have different recycling options, hell, Sweden practically doesn’t even have landfills anymore! Less than 1% of waste ends up in their rubbish dumps compared to the 55% (!!) in the US.
Recycling options
Most apartment buildings already have at least a paper/cardboard bin in addition to the municipal one. A lot also have a bio/organic container which initially works like a compost pit. Packaging waste bins may be more difficult to find but in Australia and the US for example a lot of grocery stores have a big one where you can bring all your packaging and plastics and they send it to be recycled and reused. In other areas it’s likely that there’s one packaging container in an easily accessible area for every 10k people. Apartment buildings and private residences can also order one for their property which is what I am trying to get my co op to do.
Easy plastic free swaps
So you think you want to start? What are the easiest measures you can take today –
- Put a fabric tote in your bag NOW! I’m sure you have one lying around somewhere. Or even reuse a plastic one that you have.
- Say NO to plastic bags in stores! There is no need to put avocados or bananas in clear plastic veggie bags. Saying no to these things you already save over 400 death capsules from ending up in our oceans and landfills. Yay!
- Carry a reusable water bottle with you, if you measure out a quarter of your plastic bottle, that’s how much oil (nafta) is needed to make that bottle…that’s 17 MILLION BARRELS of oil to supply a year’s worth of drinking bottles!!
- Carry a reusable coffee cup. If you get 365 take away coffees/teas a year then besides the fact that it costs you an average of $1,100 (that’s a whole holiday, people), you will also be responsible for those 365 plastic-lined cups in the landfill. In a year, no less. If you’re fussy about the amount of space it would take up in your bag, there are foldable silicone cups!
The savings
All this considerably reduces the 84 kilograms/185 pounds of plastic waste you produce yearly, not to mention you would save an average of $88 for the production of plastic bags as a taxpayer, $255 by not buying plastic bottles and up to several hundred dollars by bringing your own coffee cup.
The animals
If that’s not enough for you and you’re thinking `I’m just one person, what difference can it make?´What if a million people in every country thought that? Then think about the 100,000 marine creatures and 1 million sea birds that die every year because of the plastic you use, and these are only the ones that are found.
What steps will you take to join the plastic free movement?