My Plastic Waste for the Past Week, in Pictures
With plastic pollution rightly getting a lot of publicity, I decided it was time to look at my own plastic waste. I was inspired by a photo essay in the Guardian newspaper. It showed the plastic waste generated by sample families from all over the world.
And I thought I’d like to do that too. Why? Because I can always improve. And I can’t improve what I’m not aware of – and I wasn’t entirely sure exactly how much plastic waste I generate over a week.
It’s been a very interesting experiment. I’m glad I did this – it’s made me aware of more things I can do to reduce my carbon footprint by reducing my plastic waste.
Read on for my analysis and photos. This is one week of plastic waste for my husband and myself (and several dogs). I live on a tiny tropical island in the middle of nowhere, so there aren’t huge choices, and a lot of goods are imported as there’s not a lot of manufacturing or industry here.
My Plastic Waste – Mostly Polystyrene from Meat & Veggies
As you can see from the photo below, the bulk of my plastic waste is made up of polystyrene packaging from meat and vegetables – items 6, 10, 11 and 14.
(You may notice that the meat packaging (14) has bits on it – that’s because there were originally 2 trays. My dogs chewed the other one).
I’d be able to buy meat with less packaging if I went to the butcher instead of the supermarket – but I don’t like the meat from our butcher, so until I can convince the supermarket to take my reusable containers, I’m stuck with their single-use plastic trays. Sigh.
I get some of my vegetables from a lovely local organic farmer and there’s no packaging, I just bring my reusable bag. But she doesn’t grow everything, so I buy a local brand I trust (in terms of pesticide residues) from the supermarket – sadly, with packaging.
My Plastic Waste – The Rest
The packet of biscuits / cookies (item 1) lasts for about 2 weeks (I suppose I could have cut it in half to represent 1 week’s plastic waste). I dunk my ginger nuts in my first morning coffee – very important! 🙂 I’m not sure how I could avoid that. Larger amounts may have a little less packaging, but they’d go stale over months in an airtight container.
Local fresh coconut water (2). I used to grow coconuts in my previous garden but not where I am now. I’ll investigate buying from the guys on the beaches – they lop the top off a fresh coconut for you.
Local ginger ale (soda) (3) for my night-time whiskey (very important!). I bought a SodaStream so I could have sparkling water from my tap and it works really well – but I can’t get ginger ale flavour here.
Local Eggs (4) hmmm. If I buy 48 eggs I can get them in cardboard packaging, but it takes me about 2 weeks to use up 6 eggs so 48 wouldn’t stay fresh. Will have to hunt again for 6 eggs in cardboard.
Local Yoghurt (5) – the next size up is 1 litre (1 quart) and it’s too much for me to finish while it’s still fresh. So with the small tubs there’s no food waste, but single-use plastic tubs.
Plastic wrapping (7) I can’t remember what this came from!
Fresh baby spinach (8). It lasts me a week (daily smoothies) but it comes in a LOT of packaging. I don’t like the frozen squares of spinach as much, but I’ll investigate. Both fresh and frozen are imported – it’s not grown locally, and I tried to grow my own but failed.
Plastic bag (9) for vegetables in the supermarket. They won’t let me use my reusable bags. At least it’s compostable.
Local Bacon (12) for Sunday breakfast. I can’t get nice bacon from the butcher so it’s from the supermarket, in plastic packaging.
Medication (13). See below.
How I Can Improve My Plastic Waste
This experiment was really useful. For example, I hadn’t given any thought to medication. Here are the steps I’ll be taking to improve:
- I need to take medication, I can’t stop that. However, those blister packs that the tablets come in, are horrible – they’re a mixture of plastic and foil, and therefore impossible to recycle. So they’re single-use plastic. So I’ll look into the possibility of buying them in tubs instead. The tubs will still be plastic, but they should be recyclable. One disadvantage of living in a non-1st world country is that I don’t have the choices that more developed countries have, but I’ll try to re-source my medication.
- I use quite a lot of baking powder (bicarbonate of soda) as I use it for cleaning purposes. So far, I’ve only managed to find it in small tubs – I’ll try to source it in larger amounts to reduce plastic waste.
- I’ve got to get better at remembering to ask for “no straw please” if I treat myself to a cocktail at a restaurant. If I forget, I take it home and recycle it but it’s better to stop it happening at all.
- I’ll try to find 6 eggs in cardboard instead of plastic packaging, and see if can buy coconut water without packaging.
What I Think I’m Doing Well
If we eat out, I normally bring a re-usable box with me for any leftovers which I eat the next day for lunch – restaurants always serve large portions! So I avoid those horrible polystyrene take-away boxes which are single-use disposables.
Similarly, I sometimes get take-away food, but I always phone the order in advance, and I tell them I’m bringing my own containers – it saves the restaurant some money and I avoid single-use plastics.
I don’t buy from fast-food chains – their production methods are lousy for the environment, and it’s sometimes difficult NOT to get all the “extras” such as serviettes, plastic cutlery, salt etc.
Some Issues With My Plastic Waste
It’s definitely not a perfect experiment. Sometimes, it can be better (in terms of carbon footprint) to buy local products with plastic packaging, than buy imported goods without plastic. And it’s also important to consider what’s NOT bought in plastic e.g. water bottles, plastic shopping bags.
Also, the experiment doesn’t cover all the plastic I use. For example, I buy dishwasher detergent and it didn’t run out during the week of my experiment. I’m still using its plastic container so it doesn’t feature in my photos. I use refills rather than buying the whole thing again for the products if I can – and whether it’s a refill or an original, it’s still a plastic container, and I don’t normally find ways to re-use them, so I simply recycle them.
Here’s a photo of some longer-use items in plastic packaging that I finished this week:
Starting from the top – a bag that contained pasta – it lasts a long time. I don’t have a bulk option in the shops here.
My husband bought a new pair of shoes for the office – after 5 years of daily use, his previous ones were a bit worn! But inside the cardboard shoe box, the shoes were wrapped in a type of plastic – how ridiculous!
Toilet paper is all wrapped in plastic here, no matter what brand you buy.
The bag from my organic raw cacao which lasts me about a year.
My moisturiser comes in a glass bottle with a plastic lid – lasts about 6 months.
And finally the black item is the lid of the pepper grinder. I buy peppercorns in a glass bottle with a plastic grinder on top. I refill until the grinder no longer grinds, then recycle.
Conclusion
This was a very interesting experiment. It highlighted items I simply wasn’t aware of (e.g. medication) and can improve. And it showed that it’s difficult to avoid plastic waste. Plastic is so cheap, it’s everywhere.
Is that a lot of plastic waste for 2 adults, normal living including 3 meals a day? (I work full-time from home, but my husband gets lunch at his office so it’s 2 meals a day for him). I honestly don’t know if it’s a lot or not.
What do you think? Is it a lot of plastic waste? Are there ways I can change this? Let me know in the comments below.
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How much plastic waste do you generate? Do you think it’s possible to live totally plastic-free? Let me know in the comments below.
Warm regards,
P.S. Don’t forget to download your free green living handbook “Live Well, Live Green” here.
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I don’t know if people who live green are happier as they carry so much anxiety about the world itself and how to help it. It seems to depend on the level you take it to. I don’t think you have a lot of plastic waste there and like you, I work hard to avoid one use plastic as much as possible. If I get a plastic bag from the toilet paper, I fill it with next weeks trash. I usually only have to put mine out every couple of weeks as I’m most often alone but still clearing out old stuff left behind. I take old paint to hazardous waste and we have recycling bins where so much can go. I try to be mindful and careful without going into anxiety which is where I spent most of my life. It’s not beneficial the the earth or me to be anxious. There are still those out there who are oblivious. They are not reading or listening to anything that will teach them about this. I had a long conversation last weekend with our food server about not bringing me a straw, I carry my own and wash them between uses. Then when it came time to take half my meal home, I had my own container so no Styrofoam went into the landfill. Trust me, she did get an earful. One convert at a time. We will prevail. Mindfully. 😉 You are doing the best you can and so are many of us.
I hear you Marlene. It’s certainly true that eco-conscious people worry more about the state of the planet, while others just carry on blithely. I think you’re right about the level you take it to.
There are a whole of things that we can’t do – but also a lot that we CAN do, and I enjoy that and I think most of us do. And I think our greater appreciation for life, makes us happier. We don’t worry about buying the latest “stuff” and keeping up with neighbours and colleagues, and wonder how we’re going to pay off all the debt incurred in all those purchases (not to mention insuring them and finding space for them). We get enjoyment from different things that have the capacity to make us truly happy, rather than the transitory happiness from “stuff”. And I’m delighted you’re converting one person at a time – perfect! You make me smile!