There is a bowl of plastic grapes on top of the deli counter at my local shop. Why?
Plastic replicas of food are on my top ten list of pointless uses of plastic. I haven’t gotten around to actually writing a list, sorry.
I am speaking, of course, of unsliced bread.
I can get a loaf from the corner shop without any packaging. It might not be quite that easy everywhere, but small bakeries can be found in most cities in North America. If you grew up on sliced bread, you might have to practice a bit before you master the use of a bread knife. You may also need to get your knife sharpened.
One local bakery does not add preservatives. This takes some getting used to as well. The trick is to avoid over purchasing. French toast is a great way to make use of day old (or two days old) bread. Look for syrup in a metal container, make your own syrup, or just use fresh fruit instead.
Yes, it’s that time of year. Many of the items that the public school system and/or your kids demand that you purchase are typically made of plastic. I have a few suggested alternatives for your shopping list…
Metal rulers are better than plastic in just about every way.
You can find a metal lunchbox to suit just about any child’s taste from Hello Kitty to (wretch) Slipknot.
A Chinese lunchbox seems more practical than the painted kind that we had in our childhood. I remember the beating that my lunchboxes used to take and they were often in a state of disrepair after a month or two. I wish I had documentary proof of the fate of some of my stuff because it would make collectors cry. I’m not a big fan of collectors.
A shoulder bag made of canvas should outlast the cheap nylon items that are more common. A good quality metal pencil case is also a great idea, not only to replace the plastic case, but because there could be less breakage of pens and pencils.
…that would be NOTHING like the ones I used to know. The gifts were often plastic. There was lots of plastic packaging and even many of the decorations were plastic. Bah, Humbug.
If you are about to start your shopping, stop to consider the idea of going the non-gift route. It’s not sacrilegious, as far as I know. If that idea won’t fly, I recommend Lee Valley Tools as a place to buy non-plastic gifts. While you’re there pick up some wooden tree ornaments 
Oh and instead of buying a plastic snowman, try making one out of SNOW.
My efforts to reduce plastic have been met with several stumbling blocks. One of them involves running out of credit on my pay as you go cellular phone. I can pay for a 14 digit number at many locations. This number is on a plastic card that comes wrapped in plastic. This is completely avoidable. I can get a number without any material waste at all from the service providers kiosk or I can use my credit card and get topped up over the internet.
One thing that I have done to reduce my plastic waste is to avoid the temptation to get a new phone. I think the constant upgrading of cell phones is one of the most pointless and wasteful practices going on in our culture today. Mine isn’t as old as the one pictured. I didn’t even get one until 2005.
The key aim of this blog is to promote reduced use of plastic. I know as well as anybody that using plastic stuff is almost unavoidable. With this in mind, I am adding a link to some information about which plastics are more hazardous and which ones are less hazardous.
Thegreenguide.com/products/Kitchen/Plastic_Containers
This post is going to be a poorly constructed laundry list of lifestyle alternatives that may reduce plastic consumption even though that is not their primary purpose.
This blog is about reducing our personal consumption of plastic. So far, it has been a hodgepodge of old ideas and new ideas. Old ideas can make a lot of sense, most of the time. Plastic has only become a ubiquitous part of our lives in the last few generations. Before that, other materials were doing just fine at meeting our needs… or were they?
You need to be very cautious about antique items that contain dangerous materials like lead and mercury. I would suggest a ‘better safe than sorry” approach with regards to old cookware, utensils and serving dishes. Even decorative antiques can pose health risks. Looking into the issue of lead poisoning was very depressing for me. I did not know that a proposed ban on lead paint went before the US House of Representatives in 1910 and that it took 68 years before the Consumer Product Safety Commission eventually banned it. Over 4000 tonnes of lead paint had been slapped on walls and toys and various other things in the interim.
I wonder if the push and pull related to chemicals leaching from plastic drinking containers will drag on that long? Actually, I am certain that it will not. Things move faster in the information age. Several companies removed products containing Bisphenol A as soon as the issue started making headlines. Interestingly, I think the scandal about lead in products made in China may has sensitized the media and consumers in such a way as to catalyze the reaction to Bisphenol A.
Another depressing issue involves the modern low watt light bulb. Al Gore et al. want to ban incandescent light bulbs in homes. The present alternative is a CFL that contains mercury. They also contain more plastic than a typical incandescent bulb.
Proponents of these efficient bulbs say that the fact that they contain more hazardous materials and the fact that they take more energy to produce are more than offset by the energy savings. I am worried about the environmental impact of their production because they are presently made in China. I am also worried about the mercury. There have been advances, with some bulbs having 1/5 the amount of mercury of typical CFLs.
I have personal experience with cheap CFLs that did not have the long life that is touted by their promoters. The answer might be higher standards. Right now, they are trying to compete with standard light bulbs. When legislation kicks in this will be less of an issue.
Teflon is a plastic. Using non-stick cookware also precludes the use of metal utensils. Many people choose to use plastic spatulas. I recommend wooden spatulas.
I have a non-stick pan that was supplied with my rented house. I do not use plastic utensils with it. I prefer wooden spatulas. How many plastic spatulas have you destroyed from excessive heat? When the edge of a wooden spatula gets worn and ragged, you can fix it with a utility knife.
Teflon is the only surface to which a gecko cannot stick. I don’t know of anybody that has gecko and eggs for breakfast, and I think that responsible consumers should avoid consuming Teflon cookware.
Polytetrafluoroethylene was discovered by accident during the first half of the 20th century. My generation is the first for which ‘non-stick’ cookware is not a novelty.
A carcinogen is used in the production of Teflon and Dupont paid residents near its plants $400 million out of court after perfluorooctanoic acid was found in ground water.
Cast iron pans are superior to Teflon coated pans in many ways. The proper care of cast iron pans is slightly more complex than with other cookware, but it is worth the effort.
Bamboo is a versatile material. It’s as easy to grow as grass in many regions. Actually it is grass. We have new shading installed in our yard that was built and installed by the same guys that harvested it.
