Home > Jean > HOW ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

HOW ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

recycling plastic

A few months ago, I decided to give up plastic for Lent. I failed, because there are some things–like the package that zucchini comes in–that are plastic, which of course I recycled. Or the bag that bread comes in. Same deal. But two interesting things happened. First, my awareness of the amount of plastic in our lives increased, and I found myself almost allergic to plastic bags. Second, I got into a lot of interesting conversations as I politely refused a plastic bag, and either put my items in a reusable cloth bag, or carried them to my car without a bag. I found that people are really excited about saving our planet, and especially the oceans. They’re thinking about it. They’re excited that the stores where they work will soon be banning single-use plastic bags.

Slowly, my habits changed so now, I pack my sandwich in a reusable container and no longer have those cute little zip lock sandwich bags. I got these neat waxed clothes from Trader Joe’s that I use for wrapping up leftovers. My garbage bags are compostable, as are the poop bags for my dog. Instead of being a chore or a deprivation, I’ve found that I’m really enjoying this. Take a small step and see what happens. Our earth depends on it.

(Image from Adobe Free Images)

Categories: Jean Tags:
  1. Thomas Ernst
    June 5th, 2019 at 09:32 | #1

    been following you since your Yardley Pa days

    reducing plastic consumption is not difficult and can be incorporated into your daily routine without much disruption

    I am now removing the plastic bags from my dry cleaning and laundered shirts and leaving at the cleaners

    • Jean
      June 6th, 2019 at 08:08 | #2

      That is great, and thank you for being such a faithful blog reader! That is so nice. Every little effort helps. I’ve been wondering why bread couldn’t be wrapped in waxed paper bags instead of plastic? I’m hoping that more companies will recognize that there’s a growing market for non-plastic wrappings.