Liberating Ourselves from Plastic

In our previous posts, we’ve discussed the damage that plastics do to the environment, the adverse effect of plastics on human health, and the spiritual crisis engendered by a reliance on single-use plastics in particular. Since plastics are ubiquitous in our world and so show up in some surprising places (like our toothpaste), it is not possible to entirely eliminate plastic from our lives. But we nevertheless can take small but significant steps to reduce our dependence on plastic products, which in turn lessens environmental degradation, potentially improves our health, and allows us to reassess our spirituality. Some of these steps were listed in previous posts, but we’ll repeat them here along with some additional ones. Remember that you can start small, and that every step you take is significant!

Here are 20 things that you can do to reduce your usage of plastic:

1. Instead of disposable plastic water bottles, use durable, reusable water bottles. Durable plastic bottles are acceptable, though metal ones are better still. (Incidentally, some of the bottled water sold in stores is simply tap water stored in plastic bottles. You can save by putting your own tap water into a metal bottle!)
2. Instead of disposable plastic plates or dinnerware, use porcelain plates or dinnerware.
3. Instead of plastic cutlery (forks, spoons, and knives), use biodegradable cutlery. These products have been vastly improved to be as durable as, or even more durable than, plastic cutlery. Be sure to compost them when you’ve finished using them!
4. Stop using plastic straws. Instead, use glass straws or stop using straws
5. Take your own reusable bags when grocery shopping.
6. When choosing between products, consider selecting the one with the less plastic content or the less plastic packaging.
7. Use glass food storage containers instead of plastic ones. Besides being less durable, pathogens breed more readily on plastic than glass.
8. Use glass, metal, or porcelain containers to store staples instead of plastic ones.
9. Instead of single-use plastic food storage bags, use durable plastic food storage bags. They’re still made of plastic, but they’re washable, much stronger than single-use plastic bags, and very durable.
10. Stop using plastic produce bags (unless they’re biodegradable). Just place produce directly in your shopping cart. If you do use the biodegradable bags, be sure to put them in the compost when you’re done with them.
11. Instead of bread packaged in plastic bags (and nicely loaded with preservatives), buy fresh bread packaged in paper bags. Be sure to recycle the paper bags.
12. Use plastic-free toothpastes. (Most toothpastes include plastic as an ingredient.) You can also go the extra mile by using a plastic-free toothpaste that’s not packaged in a plastic tube.
13. When buying new clothes, select clothing made of natural fibers (like cotton and wool) rather than synthetic materials made from plastic. Washing clothing made from synthetic fibers releases microparticles into the water.
14. If a choice exists (such as for laundry detergents), choose products packaged in cardboard boxes rather than plastic bottles.
15. Buy milk in returnable glass bottles rather than plastic cartons.
16. If you’re a wine drinker, buy bottles of wine with cork stoppers instead of plastic stoppers. Besides reducing plastic consumption, this helps to preserve cork forests, which are becoming endangered by the transition from cork to plastic, and the wildlife that depends on them. Be sure to add the cork stoppers to your compost.
17. If you chew gum, buy plastic-free chewing gum. (The plastic in chewing gum is manufactured from vinyl acetate, which research has shown to cause tumors in lab rats.) Plastic-free gums are made by Simply Gum, Chicza Gum, and Glee Gum.
18. When ordering take-out pizza, ask that it not include the package saver (the miniature plastic table) in the middle of the pizza box.
19. If you use lighters, invest in a refillable metal lighter instead of plastic lighters. If you’re a smoker, the extra effort needed to refill your lighter might be just the added incentive you need to quit smoking.
20. If you still use ice cube trays to make ice, consider replacing them with metal ice cube trays.