An Ocean of PLASTIC
Plastic, plastic, plastic! Our modern society seems to be literally drowning in it. There is a ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ of floating plastic waste in the Pacific twice the size of Texas (that’s about three times the size of New Zealand!).
Up until about a year ago I had no comprehension about how much plastic I used. I have been using reusable shopping bags for years but didn’t even think about all the food packaging I consumed daily. It all changed after I had dinner with a friend of a friend who is a marine biologist. We had a fascinating conversation about plastic and waste, and my mindless consuming of plastic came to a grinding halt. (On a side note I made this amazing recipe from Nadia Lim of Vegan Nut Meat Tacos for the dinner. Even doubling the recipe there were no leftovers!)
He pointed out to me that all the plastic food packaging I was putting in the rubbish, assuming it would breakdown, would actually go and sit in landfill for hundreds of years. And if it didn’t make it to landfill it would eventually end up in the ocean. The way modern landfills are made now mean that no air or sun gets to the rubbish, so it just sits there without a chance to degrade. Plastic also doesn’t biodegrade but photo-degrades. This means that when it degrades it just breaks down into smaller and smaller toxic particles of itself and spreads throughout the environment. It was almost comical as the penny dropped in my brain and I went through product after product that I used and realised that they were wrapped in non-biodegradable plastic. Talk about head in the sand, avoiding reality! Chip packets = plastic. Muesli bar wrappers = plastic. Cracker packets = plastic. Cat food bag = plastic. Rice packet = plastic. Cereal packet = plastic. Bread bag = plastic. Plastic, plastic, plastic!
I immediately tried to reduce the amount of plastic we purchased, but living rurally and not close to a bulk buy store it was really hard. Thankfully I discovered a newly launched soft plastic recycling programme at my local supermarket and started collecting our plastic packaging waste. This highlighted even more how much plastic we were consuming! The picture below is of a week of plastic packaging usage. I’ve now got a good system in place where I wash and drip-dry any packaging we use. I put it away in a bag and take it to the supermarket to drop off whenever I do my groceries. It took a little while to get used to the new routine but now I don’t even think about it. I still need to work at reducing our plastic consumption, but it’s an ongoing struggle because everything seems to come in plastic. I’ll keep you posted with my progress and any tricks I discover for reducing our plastic use.
We are so lucky to live near a beautiful beach in New Zealand, but evidence that any stray rubbish and plastic will eventually end up in the ocean is all to apparent. Although the beach is only a 40-minute drive from the city centre it is quite undeveloped. It can be busy on a nice weekend but usually it is quiet and clean without much litter. After a big storm, or king tide, a lot of rubbish can wash up. When I’m walking the dogs I’ll sometimes start picking it up. But not always because once you start looking it can be quite depressing how much rubbish there actually is. It is almost all plastic and most of it looks like it has been in the ocean for quite some time. Who knows where it started out but it ended up on my beach in remote New Zealand. It is a mindful practice that keeps me motivated to reduce the amount of plastic we use, and if we do use it to dispose of it properly. The photo above is of the plastic I picked up from one walk (the beach is black sand and it sticks to everything!). The micro fragments are the ones that do the most damage as marine life consume them thinking they are food. Plastic is literally choking the ocean to death.
Another big one-use item of plastic is straws. We use them once, they get thrown in the rubbish and they sit there for 200 years (unless they make their way into the ocean and are consumed by a marine animal). Try and think about that the next time you are offered a straw. Do you need one for the 10 minutes it takes you to drink your drink when it will be on the planet still in 200 years? They are so common, now I’m paying attention it can be hard to avoid them. We often ask for no straws and our drinks still get delivered with straws in them as it is such an ingrained habit. When this happens, I use the straw and then take it home and reuse it. It has a life span of 200 years so I think it can withstand being reused a few times! We also purchased a pack of six stainless steel straws and take these with us to use in store brought smoothies and juices. They don’t cost very much and can easily be wrapped in a paper towel and stowed in the bottom of your bag.
I also streamlined my reusable shopping bags so my system was easier and efficient. I used to have twenty bags or so of different sizes stashed in the back of the car and it was such a mess. I culled them down to four big heavy-duty jute bags, two freezer bags and one normal reusable bag. This seems to be enough to fit a big grocery shop in. I also brought some reusable mesh produce bags which are quite handy. I have five nylon stretchy ones and three cotton woven ones. Again, this seems to be about the right amount for a big shop so I don’t need to take any EXTRA plastic from the supermarket (don’t get me started on the fruit and veggies that are now wrapped in plastic!). I also keep three reusable shopping bags that fold down quite small in the bottom of my handbag. This means I never need to take a plastic bag from a shop. They are light, don’t take up much space, and end up saving me from using even more plastic (everyone in my family might be getting one of these for Christmas, shhhhh!). It’s about getting a good system in place so it is as easy, or easier, to not take that plastic bag.
Eating plant-based for me is about my health but also about the health of the planet. Eating plants has much less impact on the environment. If I can reduce that impact even further by reducing my plastic consumption then I’m up for the challenge. After having Jensen I’m much more aware of my consumption too. What kind of planet are we leaving behind in this era of convenience and one-use plastic? It took a conversation with a marine biologist to ‘wake’ me up, I hope this post helps to ‘wake’ even more people up. It can be a little more work at first but once you have good systems in place there is no need to use so much plastic. The less we use, the more people see us using less. Hopefully that equals even less used!
This is also another great article about the overuse of plastic and the ocean if you are looking for more information.
