Most people have been horrified to see photos of plastic floating down streams, beaches littered with plastic, and tons of plastic being hauled out of the ocean. And with China no longer willing to accept plastic from the United States because it could no longer handle the tons of it sent there, the effects of plastic pollution is mounting.
What can you do to diminish the effects of plastic pollution?
Set a goal to buy no plastic water bottles.
Although bottled water is convenient, you can avoid it by thinking through alternatives to it. Buy refillable bottles for everyone in your family. They range in cost from $3 to $10 and up. Make a special shelf for the refillable bottles so they’re easy to find when family members are in a rush to leave the house. If you don’t like the taste of tap water, try pitcher, faucet, or countertop filters. Other options include filling five-gallon jugs of water at the grocery store or getting water delivered.
Select items in glass if there’s a choice.
If you buy vinegar, for example, in a glass bottle, then you’ll reduce your use of plastic. Glass also is better for food storage because it doesn’t leach chemicals into food, which is why you should never microwave food in a plastic container. I store all my food in glass canning jars. A side benefit is that I never have to hunt through a drawer of various sizes of plastic lids. For canning jars, there are two sizes. It’s so easy.
Work on plastic bag reduction.
Save the plastic bags you put your vegetables in when you shop and reuse them many times. I put these plastic bags in reusable bags and keep them in my car. Lately, I’ve been putting the bags in the front seat so I’ll remember them when I go into the co-op or grocery store. If I’ve forgotten them, I go out to the car to get them.
Save plastic boxes and try to figure out how to reuse them.
I love blueberries and I also like blackberries, so I’ve accumulate a lot of small plastic boxes. I’m saving them, but I’ve only figured out how to reuse them a couple of times because they have holes in them. I’m buying less berries and I’m eating kiwis and pears instead, which I can buy out of bins. I decided this week that I’ll try frozen blueberries in bulk. I can bring my own container for those. I’ve stopped buying spinach in a big box. I can get it at the co-op in bulk, reusing plastic vegetable bags I’ve saved.
Wash plastic eating utensil and put them in your car for reuse.
I was collecting piles of plastic utensils until I developed this method. When my daughter and grandkids come to visit, I have plenty of utensils for all of us to use so we won’t have to get more.
Take your own containers with you when you go to a restaurant.
If you bring your own containers, you can avoid getting a Styrofoam box or a plastic coated container. Again, canning jars work well.
Buy in bulk and shop at farmers markets.
I buy most of my food at my two local co-op stores. They both have bins of fruit and vegetables. I also buy nuts, rice, flour, baking powder, spices, and many other items in bulk. Bring containers that you can reuse in addition to the supply of plastic bags you’ve saved from earlier purchases.
Look for items that have less or no plastic packaging.
So many products these days are packaged in plastic so that they can be hung on hooks in displays where buyers can see them. At my local hardware store, there’s a box of nails that have, somehow, escaped from their plastic containers. I buy those. When there’s a choice, get the item in a box instead of a plastic bag, for example, pasta and detergent.
Use items that can be reused rather than disposable ones.
When I have a party, I use real glasses, plates, and silverware. That way, I’m not using plastic glasses to serve my guests. To get enough wine glasses for parties, I bought a couple of dozen at yard sales. Fortunately, I have a nice hutch to put them in. When it gets too crowded, I’ll store the extra glasses in my garage.
Use glass or metal containers to put food in for your lunch.
Buy special containers made for lunches or you can use canning jars.
Order toilet paper in a cardboard box rather than getting it wrapped in a huge amount of plastic.
Years ago, I started ordering big boxes of Envision toilet paper because I couldn’t find any locally made from recycled materials. I order it through my co-op, but you can also order it online. In addition, I saw an ad on Facebook recently touting this idea. The pitch was get toilet paper delivered to your door in a box so you could skip the plastic. Someone finally caught up to my great idea.
Say no to plastic straws and drink lids.
You need to be sharp to remember this quickly enough to stop getting a straw. Often a waitress or waiter will bring you a glass of water in a restaurant with the straw stuck in it. Remember when you order to mention that you don’t want a straw. That goes for fast food, too. When you get to the window, you can give the straw back because it’s usually still wrapped. However, it’s too late to give the lid back. When I go to a self-serve restaurant, I drink a half cup of Coke, then fill it up halfway when I leave, without the lid. It was funny when I went to Costco. I had my Coke in a grocery box, very securely positioned among my groceries. However, when I went over some bumps it spilled a little. Some companies are selling glass straws that you can carry around, but I haven’t tried them.
Use a refillable cup, with a lid, when you go buy coffee or tea.
For years, I’ve been throwing disposable coffee and drink cups in the compost thinking that they’re made of paper. However, most of these cups contain polyethylene so they don’t leak. Therefore, they aren’t recyclable.
Avoid microplastics in face washes and toothpaste.
They are supposed to be exfoliants but wastewater treatment plants aren’t able to filter them out. Look for biodegradable options instead.
Stop using disposable razors.
Buy razors that use blades so you only need to throw away the used blade, not a disposable plastic razor.
Use cloth diapers instead of disposable ones.
A baby uses more than 4,000 disposable diapers a year. That’s a mountain of diapers by the time the child is potty trained. In addition, when the waste goes to the wastewater treatment plant, it gets treatment, unlike when it goes to the landfill where the waste could leak into the groundwater. Disposable diapers take 500 years to decompose.
Call or visit the website of the company or local government that picks up your recycling.
Find out if any changes have been made since China is no longer taking recycled plastic from the United States. Make sure you understand the recycling rules, too. I visit family every year in Seattle and Sacramento. What can be recycled differs. For example, where I live, it's "check the neck," meaning plastic bottles are accepted if the neck is smaller than the bottle. However, dairy containers are an exception. Sacramento is now only taking plastic containers with codes 1-3, no longer taking those with codes 4-7. In addition, it's no longer taking plastic bags and other film plastic.
Take action at the local, state, and national levels to get laws passed that ban or reduce the use of plastics.
There are many organizations working on the plastic problem. Among them are the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Clean Ocean Project, Plastic Oceans, The Story of Stuff, and Save Our Shores.
I like to recycle but was surprised when I moved to Florida and found they don’t have convenient recycling programs. So disappointed.
Hi Jennifer,
My daughter lived in Miami Beach for five years and I remember the recycling was lacking, especially for the row of townhouses she lived in for some reason. She finally was able to get the city to come and pick up the recycling.
Look on the website of the local government and read about their recycling program. It may list places where you can take items that you can’t recycle at the curbside. Some local governments have cut back their curbside program in light of the Chinese government reducing to almost nothing the recycled materials it’s willing to take from other counties.
Rita
I love your idea of using canning jars instead of plastic containers to store food. I have stopped using plastic water bottles and filter my water using a Brita. Then I put it into a reusable bottle. California charges for grocery bags so most of us bring a reusable shopping bag to the market. I always do. Some coffee shops will fill up your container if it has measuring indicators on it so they know how many ounces it holds. I used cloth diapers when my kids were little and a diaper service. I hated the idea of putting plastic on their butts and in landfills. Now I use the diapers to dust with and then wash them out. They’re the best dust cloths.
Hi Rebecca,
I’ve used canning jars for decades for storing food in my kitchen. It works so great because you never have that problem of trying to find a lid that works.
Good job using reusable water and coffee containers. You really have to think about it before you go out to remember all these things.
I used cloth diapers for my kids, too, because that’s what most people were going back then.
Yes, it’s awful to put all that plastic in the landfills plus the human waste that might leak into the groundwater.
Rita
Great advice. There was an article in the NY Times over the wknd pointing out how we’re overwhelmed by recycling, and so we’re burning it for energy or sending it to landfills. So as you point out, we’re down to reduce and reuse, since recycling doesn’t seem to work that well anymore.
Hi Tom,
Recycling was working fine when China was taking the plastic recycled. However, China was overwhelmed with plastic — they were using a large part of it to remake things, but the less usable kinds of plastic and contaminated plastic were polluting the environment there.
The United States was sending its plastic to other countries such as Indonesia, but it’s becoming overwhelmed, too.
The problem is there’s so much plastic that isn’t recyclable — usually film plastic and the plastic that consumer goods come in — that’s an even bigger problem.
A solution is that the recycled plastic needs to be made into consumer goods here. It’s time for lawmakers to take action.
Rita
“I buy most of my food at my two local co-op stores. They both have bins of fruit and vegetables. I also buy nuts, rice, flour, baking powder, spices, and many other items in bulk. Bring containers that you can reuse in addition to the supply of plastic bags you’ve saved from earlier purchases.” In Oregon because of a change in a state regulation that concerns beer containers (“growlers”)it’s no longer legal for food co-ops to provide sterilized glass containers for people to use (they sell new glass containers) for any bulk item that requires cooling/refrigeration. Only way around that rule I’ve found is to use the funnels provided by the co-op. Letters to the OR regulatory agency produced in no response and no change. Nothing like state actions that make it MORE difficult to reduce use of single use plastics (you’re not supposed to reuse the free plastic containers for refrigerated bulk items either).
The new regulation doesn’t effect the use of glass containers for non-refrigerated bulk items and I agree that co-ops, besides being good organizations, provide ways of reducing use of non-recyclables. My co-op provides a way of recycling styroform and shredded paper which my local exclusive franchise trash pickup business either never did (styrofoam) or no longer does. I have to pay to recycle styrofoam but it’s worth it. I have yet to persuade all corporate sellers to stop using styrofoam for packaging.
Be nice if it were possible to get fewer shipped items that include plastic air “pillows”, plastic bags, etc. Paper works fine & is recyclable, usually.
Hi azure,
That’s interesting about the new regulation in Oregon on banning reusing glass containers for refrigerated items. I wonder what caused the change?
I ran across a Consumer Reports article saying that you shouldn’t reuse plastic bags for vegetables and fruits like I suggested in my article. It talked about contamination from meat that has dripped in the plastic bag. I’ll need to update my article. What I’m doing now is putting meat separately in a plastic bag, then throwing that bag away. I was putting meat in a separate paper bag, but juices from the meat could leak.
Rita