After spending most of February participating in Rodale.com’s Plastic-Free February, I’ve come to the realization that reducing plastic use is very difficult. I thought it would just be a little inconvenient. Instead, I found that it’s nearly impossible.

Rodale set up three ground rules for going plastic-free:

No buying or acquiring new plastic.

No cooking with plastic or storing food in plastic.

Minimize all other plastic use.

I failed at all three of those. However, I learned a lot about how to reduce my plastic use along with a lot of ideas for the future.

1)  Don’t buy food wrapped in plastic. Easier said than done, as I found out through the past few weeks. I can generally avoid the shrink-wrapped foods. Who needs potatoes wrapped in individual plastic packages? It gets a little more tricky when picking a food packed in cardboard. Does it have a plastic bag inside? Is it in little freshness packs? Is each cracker in its own plastic wrap? I’m learning through trial and error.

2)  Choose foods sold in glass jars, rather than plastic squeeze bottles. This one reduces the amount of plastic I buy and I can reuse the jars for food storage. It only reduces the plastic; it doesn’t do away with it. Many glass jars have plastic lids and under the plastic lid is a plastic seal. Around the plastic lid is a little clear plastic … thingie? … that is sometimes perforated, but I usually have to cut it off.

3)  Cook from scratch. One thing I noticed when I looked at baking my own bread is that many ingredients don’t come wrapped in plastic. Flour comes in a paper bag. Baking soda and cornstarch come in cardboard boxes. Baking powder and yeast come in a glass jar with a metal lid. Spices also come in glass jars and some of those have metal lids.

4)  Store food in glass, stainless steel, or wooden containers. When I started plastic-free February, all my food storage containers were plastic. After some suggestions, I started saving glass jars with metal lids. It will take some time to replace my plastic in the kitchen, but I’ll get there eventually.  Several places sell lovely vintage glass containers with glass lids and stainless steel leftover containers.

5)  Avoid cookware with non-stick coatings. Non-stick coatings can produce a toxic gas when overheated and they eventually flake and get in the food.

6)  Use reusable dishes and flatware. You probably do this at home anyway, but consider taking reusable items for lunch and snacks at work. Several people I know keep a set of flatware in their desk drawer for office parties. Don’t forget to skip the straws.  Avoid bottled water, too.

7)  Reuse the plastic you buy. I have been unable to find milk in a glass jar. Rumor has it, it’s out there. Until I locate it, I can reuse plastic milk jugs in the garden or in crafts. Plastic yogurt containers can hold stray buttons, screws, nails, crafting materials, you name it. Those plastic shopping bags can be avoided with a little planning, but I don’t always bring enough of my own bags. I reuse them as liners for little trash bins, for collecting and carrying vegetable trimmings to the compost pile, or as pooper scoopers. For some seriously creative upcycling, I love the idea of cutting them up and making a basket from them.

8)  Ditch the wax paper. It’s not actually wax on there; it’s plastic. Who knew? Somebody did, but not me. There are some companies that use natural wax on their wax paper. They state it on the box, so it’s easy to tell. Use parchment paper if you can’t find the natural wax paper.

9)  Quit chewing gum. At least in the U.S., gum base contains plastic. Maybe people in other countries can count on their food containing food, but not here in America.

The biggest thing I learned in plastic-free February was to pay attention to the plastic in my life. Now that I know where the plastic is, I can watch for ways to reduce my plastic use.  Thanks to Margie, Misha, Becky Striepe, Roberta, greenbean, Christine, Nonna, Mels Bells, Janet, and Rick Chillot for pointing things out and helping with plastic-free ideas.

Source: Eat Drink Better

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