PlasticLess.com

I look for news about plastic reduction regularly. Today Fox is talking about how ConAgra, the makers of many different brands of TV dinners is making a change to recycled trays. This should result in 8 million fewer pounds of trash.

Convincing consumers to stop buying these convenience meals would have a much bigger impact. Making meals from scratch is almost always cheaper and more nutritious than a TV dinner. There is this thing called a sandwich that can be created, stored and consumed without the use of plastic.

I just stumbled on a site called celsias that has a section called Actions that’s all about people making small but important changes in their lives. There is a social aspect to this, each change appears in a list that shows how many people are pledging to do it and how many people want to do it. Members and tasks have some kind of system of degrees that I don’t understand.

As of today, 39 celsias members are not using plastic bags. That’s a good start

This is just one of MANY YouTube videos about the Great Pacific Gyre. Some of the best ones have quite a few views. When you look at the number of views that dedicated YouTube celebrities get though, the issue doesn’t seem so popular. Maybe we should be asking people like Brooke Brodack, Caitlin Hill, Charlie McDonnell, Chris Crocker, Christine Gambito, Cory Williams, Jackson Davis, James Kotecki, Jay Maynard, Jeong-Hyun Lim, Jessica Rose, Kevin Nalty, Lasse Gjertsen, Liam Kyle Sullivan, Lisa Donovan, Lucas Cruikshank, MadV, Magibon, Marié Digby, Marina Orlova, Matt Sloan, Melody Oliveria, Mia Rose, Michael Buckley, Neil Cicierega, Noah Kalina, Pat Condell, Paul Robinett, Peter Oakley, Philip Defranco, Stevie Ryan, Taryn Southern, Tay Zonday, Terra Naomi, Tony Huynh, VenetianPrincess, and William Sledd to talk about the big plastic patch. I should mention that I have no idea who some of these people are, I got them from a list. Hopefully some of them have alerts in place for when people blog about them.

In 2003, National Geographic put a well written article about the danger that plastic shopping bags pose to our planet. If you do a search for plastic bags, this article ranks just below a company that sells the bags. I ask everyone who blogs about this topic to provide a link to the National Geographic article.

I think the plastic bag issue is going to become more and more high profile as time goes on. I think there may also be a blip of interest during the summer as people are getting out into what they expect to be pristine outdoor recreation areas and they find bags blowing/floating around.

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 think the coolest thing about this series of videos is how the documenter has his world view reshaped by the experience. I hope this video gets a lot of exposure so that many other people who have been complacent about plastic waste up to now will change as well. I am going to embed it on some of my other blogs that do not have an environmental theme as well.

Credit for this picture goes to www.wasteplastictechnology.blogspot.com, a blog promoting the use of waste plastic as a source of energy. I don’t think that is the best direction to take. It seems like it is just sending the pollutants somewhere else, namely into the air that we breath.

The blog gave me some things to think about, though.

I was reminded of the fact that cruise ships routinely dump their waste at sea. I think responsible consumers should insist on responsible cruise ships.

Most breakfast cereals come in a box that contains a plastic bag. I have mostly stopped buying breakfast cereals, but oatmeal is necessary for one family member. Quaker brand sells a box with no plastic bag, at least they do where I live.

I had been buying Jordans because of the conservation aspect and because they taste better. Jordans has a plastic bag.

If you have the option of buying breakfast cereals in bulk, it is worth considering.

It is going to ostensibly be spring soon. I know that many people in northern climates have months to go before things really start to bloom, but I thought I’d talk about picnics anyway.

My childhood memories of family picnics involved a lot of plastic garbage. KFC was often a go to place on the way to the beach. Plastic bags, plastic forks and knives (in their own little bag, of course), plastic tubs of potato salad, buns in their own little bags…

The biggest container was, of course, the bucket. If Kentucky Fried Chicken is something that you must have now and then, why not just get the bucket? You can plan ahead with a jar of your own coleslaw and a jug of iced tea. I used to have a four piece set of enameled metal serving dishes. They get beat up eventually, but they served us well for camping and picnics and also serving groups of children.

From the Wasteland of Reality TV comes a show that puts an environmental twist on a stale premise. Hey, that’s kinda like recycling, and the best part is they don’t use the word PIMP. Wasted is basically an environmentally themed Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Here is a synopsis from IMDB…

A half-hour factual entertainment series that proves you don’t have to be extreme to be green. From worm farms to rainwater butts and solar power to heat pumps, we take your average household of eco horrors and turn it into a clean green haven, saving our families serious cash in the process. Every week we take a different family, audit their waste and energy usage with our unique eco calculator and confront them with the terrifying truth about their long-term impact on the planet. Our eco-expert will put them on a green regime to clean up their act. After tracking the family we re-calculate their household footprint and hand over their cash savings. WASTED! is an information-rich series that transforms your average eco criminal into your ultimate green convert.

I was really bummed out when I read a comment that people my age who don’t have a TV primarily bring about this deficit so they can tell all their friends that they don’t have a TV. There is nothing more depressing than finding out that you personify a cliche. In actuality I live in a furnished flat that includes a TV. I just don’t pay for cable and I don’t switch it on. I am proud to say that I have never, in my entire life, bought a television set. I wonder if the reality show encourages their featured households to abandon television viewing as a way to reduce consumption.

I would have happily included a clip of the TV show if I could find one on YouTube. Here is a heavy handed and shocking anti-television hip hop video instead..