Delusions of Grandeur: Why reusing single use plastic is a bad idea

Plastic is unstable.  Some plastics are more unstable than others but today I’m talking about the worst of the worst, and that is single-use plastic.  Plastic is a slurry of fossil fuel and chemicals mixed together to create something.  Single-use plastic is the most unstable because it is designed to be used for an extremely brief moment in time and then discarded to the landfill or the recycling center where it will most likely be rejected as recyclable and then it goes to the landfill anyway.  I like Dairy Queen. Almost weekly I get a blizzard and when I’m done I compost the cup it comes in and then I wash the iconic red spoon and use them in my son’s school lunches. Seems like a good idea to reuse something right? Wrong. What happens to unstable single-use plastic is it breaks down and releases its chemicals.  Sure it looks fine but on a molecular level it is being washed and used and washed and used and each time it breaks down a little more and a little more.  I’ve washed straws from McDonald’s, solo cups, plastic utensils, and water bottles to reuse because I thought I was helping. In reality I’ve taken something that is literally poisonous and given it to the people I love the most to use.  I work in the medical industry, for a surgical group, and I’ve heard on a multitude of occasions that some cancers are caused from “environmental factors.” Well what does that mean exactly? Lots of things but one of the things it means is that by using plastic that is unstable we are creating a myriad of health issue for ourselves.  So how do we solve this issue? By refusing plastic (especially single-use plastic) whenever possible. Choose reusable and plan ahead so you can skip the noxious slurry of fossil fuel and chemical soup.

Small Penises Are Everyone’s Problem

I am reading Life Without Plastic by Chantal Plamondon and Jay Sinha and it is a horror show of the toxic effects of plastic.  I’ll give a review after I finish it but one part stood out. A study in 2005 by Dr. Shanna Swan showed that baby boys whose mothers were exposed to certain plastics show signs of demasculinization.  That means they had a smaller penis size and indistinct scrotums.  How is this not classified as a state of emergency?  We should be halting the production of these plastics and warning the population.  But instead, we carry on in a haze of ignorance because we are not informed. We need to be informed!  This is an issue I feel passionate about since I’m rather fond of the aforementioned phallus. Penis size is important.

Mad Props to Google

We recently bought some swag from Google and were super surprised to see no plastic packaging. No plastic packaging!  I think their products are amazing and I love that we can easily recycle the packaging.  Way to go Google!

The Car Seat Conundrum

As parents, we need to keep our children safe.  One of the ways in which we do that is by using car seats.  Car seats are almost entirely plastic and very difficult to get rid of.  Most municipal recycling centers don’t accept them and places that will accept them are few and far between. We had two large car seats that our son grew out of and I couldn’t bear to put them in the trash. What’s the point in using it for a few years and then carelessly adding it to the landfill for all of eternity?  I spent a fair amount of time consulting Google for the solution. Target will take them once per year and give you a discount on your next car seat. We had just missed that and I didn’t want to store them in the garage for the next year in hopes of Target doing the same program. There are companies that will recycle them for free if you pay to ship them there. How much does it cost to ship two large heavy car seats? A lot! I decided to search for nearby recycling centers but none of them listed car seats as something they accept. I again considered putting them into the magic trash portal to send them “away” but my lack of ignorance wouldn’t allow it. I took the time to email Certified Recycling in Burnsville and to my delight, they got back to me and said they would take them for about $10 each. Not too bad. My daughter Esmeralda (not her real name) came with me to drop them off and she asked me why I bothered to make the drive and pay for someone to take my refuse.  I explained that it was the right thing to do and she agreed.  It was an epic Hallmark parent moment. A few days later my husband and I were on a walk and we passed a house that had four or five car seats set out with their trash.  A daycare perhaps? I don’t know. It made me angry that I worked so hard to get rid of ours and someone else doesn’t care or know enough to do the right thing. I wondered why I bothered.  But the truth is that I bothered because I know enough to care. If we love our precious children enough to buckle them into this potentially life-saving device, we should love them enough to dispose of it properly.

https://www.certifiedrecycling.org/

A Plastic Ocean

A Plastic Ocean is a documentary that everyone should watch.  It's on Netflix and YouTube.  It is eye opening and informative.  AWAY is a place that plastic never goes.  It is everywhere.  It's in our air, water, landfills, homes, cars, and bodies.  Did you know that over 90% of humans have plastic in their urine?  Did you know that birds are starving to death with bellies stuffed with plastic?  Did you know that sea turtles eat our plastic bags in the water because they look so strikingly similar to jellyfish?  I had no idea and I bet most people don't either.  I used to think that the recycling can and trash can were magical portals to "away."  There is no "away."  It is always somewhere and I need to do better.  We need to do better.  The part about the birds really got to me.  It reduced me to a sob and I'm not one to cry about most anything.  Now when I feel it's easier to stick with the same products and habits, the image of the rotting bird with a colorful bunch of plastic where it's stomach once was comes to mind.  

The super amazing UN-paper towel

A couple of months ago I spent a great deal of time looking into a sustainable alternative to the paper towel.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money and I wanted to be sure whatever I would use wouldn't end up in a landfill.  I used to think that paper towels degraded in the landfill but since it is anaerobic, nothing degrades in a landfill. I learned that anything 100% cotton can be composted.  We were already composting our paper towels but it really isn't a sustainable practice and paper towels come wrapped in plastic and cutting out plastic is imperative.  On Amazon, I found 100% cotton shop towels (12 x 14 inches) in a 100 pack for only $22.99.  I ordered them and I'll be honest, they shrunk and they don't look great BUT they do the job and it's no trouble to toss them in with my whites when I do laundry.  I had two big apothecary jars that were not in use, so I rolled up the amazing UN-paper towels and they look pretty good. The kids love them and they have readily embraced this change.  I do keep a roll of paper towels for the rare occasions in which we make bacon but then I compost it, even though some people say you can't. 

Zero Waste Work? Not Even Close.

Here are a few changes I've made at work swapping out "disposables" for reusable items.  I brought in a plate my daughter made back in 2009 that I never used and now I use every day.  I found a mismatched spoon, fork, and knife at home and brought them in.  Instead of using coffee cream from the tiny plastic tub, I bring almond milk for the week in my insulated Super Mario bottle.  I have a ceramic coffee mug that my son painted that I use each day.  I use my pink zak! 32oz tumbler for water and the other reusable cup is for lemonade.  We have 32oz Yeti tumblers at home that we use but the zak! brand works just as good and costs significantly less.  Yesterday I kept track of how many paper towels I used for the day and it was a staggering 22!  It was a good little experiment that persuaded me to just bring a kitchen towel for the week.  I still have a great deal of room for improvement but it's all about baby steps and developing lasting habits that you will stick with. 

Ginger Pie Has Your Back

Today our new napkins came! We have a few paper napkins to use up and compost but then we will just be using these super cute cloth napkins. I washed them and they came out looking great. I ordered from Ginger Pie Designs off of Amazon. I love that they are smaller than most cloth napkins (they are 12 x 12 inches) and you can customize your order and pick the prints that you like best. They cost a little more than others, but they are a perfect size and will last for years to come.