Some Clarification

I thought I'd take some time to clarify what exactly our goals are; more specifically my goals, since Sheri might have a slightly different take on the project. We say we are eliminating our consumption of plastic packaging but that is not perfectly accurate. Really we are trying to avoid disposable plastic at the consumer level. For instance, we avoid straws at restaurants, Ziploc bags, and plastic wrap. We do not avoid products that have been shipped to stores in plastic packaging. This would not leave us many options and probably doesn't account for the bulk of the waste. 

We are hoping that by forcing ourselves off of plastic for a year we will, with help of friends and readers, find solutions that allow us to live conveniently with as little plastic waste as possible. We're also hoping that our Solution Exchange serves as a how-to manual for people who would like to reduce their ecological footprint but are too busy to dedicate a lot of time or effort to it.

So why are we picking on plastic when most of it can be recycled anyways? Recycling anything, with the exception of compost, is never good for the environment; it's only less bad that disposal. Recycling takes energy. Recycling plastic requires transport, breaking down, more transport, remolding, and more transport. Harmful chemicals are used and released into the air and then eventually inhaled or eaten (particularly by apex predators such as humans) every time a new plastic item is made. Also, plastic can only be recycled so many times before it is nothing but toxic waste. Plastic is wonderful useful stuff that opens up a world of possibilities for humanity but I believe it should be used in moderation and our regulatory agencies need a better understanding of the potential threats it poses.

Also, there are definitely some harmful chemical effects associated with plastic. I couldn't list all the toxic chemicals and their various harmful effects without making this a very dry read. You can go to this page at Answers.com if you'd like to learn more. The thing is that all the harms that plastics do are too small to care about by themselves but they accumulate over time. They accumulate not only in our bodies but in our eco-system. Plastics usually take around 450-1000 years to biodegrade. A piece of plastic can kill an animal or plant and then still be around to keep killing for up to another 1000 years. Multiply our individual consumptions by the growing population of the world during the period for which plastic will take to biodegrade and it starts to seem apocalyptic.

Fortunately, humans are smart and, I believe, we're totally capable of cleaning up our mess if we get our act together. Until we figure that out though, we can get our act together by minimizing our mess. We can do that by creating market pressure to reduce plastic packaging. If enough people ask for less plastic on their products, savvy business persons will oblige!

-Miles