Plastic is a problem.

Our world has become one that lives, breathes, and eats (yes, eats) plastics. We use plastic for packaging, storage, clothes, hygiene, cooking, technology, the list goes on. It’s hard to think of an industry that doesn’t use plastic in some way, shape, or form.

Here are some plastic facts to put things in perspective:

• A plastic water bottle lasts 450 years, but you only use it once.
• Plastic can only go through one successful recycling. Other recyclable materials like glass, paper, and metal, can go through multiple recyclings before it becomes non-recyclable.
• By the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
• More than 100,000 sea animals and 1 million sea birds die from plastic ingestion every year.
• Seafood eaters ingest 11,000 pieces of plastic every year.

It’s important to educate yourself on the damaging effects that plastic has on the earth, but now that we know all of this, what can we do about it?

The best way is to stop using plastic all together. I know, it sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? We are at a point now where we need drastic solutions to solve giant global problems.

#AWeekWithoutPlastic

What is a week without plastic?

It’s a movement started by Duncan White, the founder of the Facebook group by the same name, that challenges people to go without plastic for a week. The main rule is that you cannot buy any new plastic or accept any new plastic. You must reuse whenever you can and make conscious choices at the grocery store to avoid plastic.

Here’s how the StrawFree.org team did…

Going Out

• One of our interns had to refuse an 85 cent coffee from a bakery because they don’t allow customers to bring a reusable cup for drinks. All of their cold drinks are served in plastic.
• Vanida, our Social Media intern: One day I was too sick to get out of bed and asked my roommate to get food. I picked a restaurant that previously let me go plastic-free. My roommate returned with a box full of plastic, saying that they refused his request for no plastic.
• The StrawFree.org team went out to eat at a restaurant, and when we asked for water with no straws, they gave us each water in plastic cups.
• Isaac, our Business Outreach Specialist: It was difficult to avoid plastic when I was getting a quick bite to eat between class and work; not a lot of restaurant choices when avoiding plastic.

Storing/Packaging

• This was fairly easy. Everyone has reusable storage containers in their kitchen so it wasn’t difficult to avoid things like plastic wrap and ziploc bags.
• Vanida: A friend of mine cooked me food and I had to ask him to put it in tubberware containers. He said if I didn’t tell him specifically, he would’ve given me everything in ziploc bags.

Grocery Shopping

This was the most difficult part about the challenge. A lot of the healthy options at grocery stores like fruits and vegetables were bagged, boxed, or wrapped in plastic, so you were limited in what items you could buy.

• Alyssa, our Education & Outreach intern: I just wanted some fruit, but almost everything was in plastic 🙁
• Vanida: Since I don’t have a car, my choices in grocery stores are very limited. The two grocery stores in walking distance didn’t have toilet paper wrapped in paper, so I had no choice but to buy plastic-wrapped toilet paper.