PlasticLess.com

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.

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.

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.

When I was younger, local strawberries came in wooden boxes. Any that were still reasonably clean would be returned on the next visit. The fruit trucks in my present locality have the local strawberries in plastic pint-sized containers. Strawberries are an impulse purchase for me. The lady that was in line in front of me yesterday knew what she had come for and she came with her own container. The hawker dumped three pints into her container and kept the plastic pints. I assume that he was going to reuse them.

I always look to my fellow shoppers for examples of good and bad ideas.

Here is a link to some digital art that makes a statement about waste.

I don’t have much to say about it. It speaks for itself.

If can buy eggs either straight from the farmer or in bulk from a wholesaler, a basket or two can come in handy. Our local retailers package eggs in plastic cartons, so we were very interested in finding an alternative. Or first strategy was to reuse the plastic cartons when we bought eggs in bulk from a vegetable truck. The skimpy plastic containers were not designed for reuse.

This basket that is locally made holds a dozen eggs. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer people who know how to make these as time goes by.

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 am going to have a recurring series of posts highlighting the most pointless plastic products that people buy. Plastic license plate frames are quite pointless. I can understand why they are produced as promotional items to give away to car owners. We tend to look at the license plate of other people’s cars when we are behind them in traffic and if we see a car dealer name dozens of times on our commute we will involuntarily develop some brand recognition. What I really don’t understand is the people who waste there money on novelty license plate frames. Your license plate doesn’t need a frame.

Bright paper packages tied up with string have given way to an excess of packaging that frustrates the average person and can drive anyone trying to reduce their consumption of plastic batty.

I have to take full responsibility for the plastic that is sitting around in my house housing treats and gadgets. I haven’t communicated my goal of reduced plastic consumption to friends and family. I’m not going to nit pick about the gifts now that they are in my possession.

I wish all my readers a MERRY CHRISTMAS