Plastic Diaries

[kitchenbeard]

I'm a barbie girl, in the barbie world

Life in plastic, it's fantastic!

The other day my compact flash card reader died. I ran down to the local camera store and got a new one. Easy, right?

As with so many things these days, it came in a rigid plastic package that was impossible to open with out scissors, physical exertion and a few "goddamn ow owowowowows" and a band-aid. As I sat bleeding slightly, I wondered how much of that plastic was really neccesary.

Later as I edited the pictures that I had taken that required me to buy the reader in the plastic casing, I saw a documentary about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and looked at the packaging sitting there ready to be dropped in my recycling container. I wondered, how much of that palstic was really necessary and how much of it was there for the company to do flashy branding and marketing? Could the same thing have been accomplished with not only less plastic, but maybe even more easily biodegradable cardboard?

Platic is every where in our lives. It's in the keyboard I'm typing on. It's in my refillable water bottle. It's in the containers that the spices I put on my lunch are sold in. It's in the headphones I'm listeing to NPR with. It's everywhere and some would say we can't escape it.

Or can we?

Starting today, and for the next seven days, I am going to try to not buy anything with plastic in it. This doesn't mean I won't be using plastic. I have containers, shopping bags and other items in additon to the items I mentioned above already in my possesion that are made of plastic and I will be using them. What no new purchases for seven days.

Already today, it's been a a small challenge.

I stopped off to get coffee on my way into the office at Starbucks. I opted not to because the lid on the coffee cup is made of plastic. At lunch I swung by my favorite Thai place in the financial district on purpose because they use conrstarch containers. Todaty though they were using plastic. I opted to go down the street to the salad bar that I uses sugar case containers. The check out woman offered me a plastic bag which I turned down. On my way back to the office, I wanted to get somepeanuts but while the jar is made of glass, the lid is rimmed in plastic.

While none of this is earth shattering, I anticipate things getting complicated over the week end while at a street fair drinking beer. I also am aware that I have no control over how the people I buy food or other items from will use plastic. This is merely about me being cognizant and deliberate in my purchasing.

Stay tuned.....