PlasticLess.com

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.

I visited Ireland this past weekend and when I stopped for a Fair Trade Organic Coffee at a shop in Dalkey, I had a small disappointment and also some inspiration. I was sitting down in the store to have my coffee and I would have preferred to drink from a reusable cup rather than a disposable one with a plastic lid. I saw a poster at the till touting their refill program for things like toilet cleaner and shampoo. While we enjoyed our coffee, we discussed the possibility of starting a program like this ourselves. There are a lot of benefits to this type of program besides waste reduction. If you source the most environmentally responsible products possible for each purpose, you may be reducing the amount of toxic chemicals that are going down you local drains.

Something that I found been produced and consumed quite profusely in Ireland were spoken words. Opinions, narratives, arguments, philosophies and more were almost overwhelming me while I was in Dublin. When I was researching this post, I landed on this wordy page about the UberGrocer. Words are not biodegradable.

I jokingly suggested this product as an alternative to a squirt gun last week. I should make a serious pitch for using metal buckets instead of plastic for general chores and gardening.

Having tried both plastic and metal for pet dishes in the past, I can assure you that metal is better in every way. They make a lot of noise if your dog has a chain, but you get used to that. I loved the fact that you could pour boiling water on them as a regular sanitizing routine.

Pump dispensers for hand washing liquid are generally plastic. We still have a couple of these dispensers from before we decided to make an effort to reduce our use of plastics.

Buying commercial size refill bags is one way to reduce plastic consumption and still use the convenient dispensers. This week we are trying out an experiment. My wife saves up a few thin soap bars and dissolved them in water to make a liquid for the empty dispenser.

I have been asked about what soap I use for shaving my face. I am still using up a metal can of shaving foam. I think I will try using bar soap when I finish the can.

Today we’re in the laundry room. It’s amazing how fast those empty fabric softener bottles pile up. How can we eliminate that plastic consumption? Here are some ideas, with the highest-impact life changes first:

• If you are lucky enough to have naturally soft water, try going without fabric softener — it’s not absolutely necessary.
• Make your own fabric softener from baking soda, water, and vinegar (careful, it will be bubbly when you’re mixing it up!). Store it in a glass bottle or in an old plastic fabric softener bottle.
• Switch to natural fabric softener sold in a glass bottle.
• If you must dry your laundry in a dryer rather than hanging it to dry, you can switch to dryer sheets to eliminate plastic.

Happy washing!