Susan Rushton commentary: No great future in plastics

Please. Don't think of me as perfect. Perfect? Heavens no, not me. I make mistakes every day. I forget things. I neglect to add items to my to-do list. I dawdle when it comes time to take Casey outside before we go to bed ... hoping Don will take him instead. Especially when it's cold. Like now. So when I write about plastic and share how appalled I get when I wander through EVERY grocery store EVERYWHERE, please don't assume I have found a way to live in my house without any plastic. Good grief, I'd never try to convince you I'm not surrounded by plastic, even though I don't live in a grocery store. Or a drug store. Or a hardware store or a restaurant. I've written about this problem several times, urging readers – and myself! – to use less of that horrendous material that can't be recycled. As a result, it's all around us – in the water, the air and our houses. All right. Even as I type on my computer with its plastic letters and numbers, I want to gripe about plastic again. Last month, I read an article by A.J. Jacobs: "My Day of No Plastic." It originally appeared last January in The New York Times, where Jacobs works. But I confess I found it in Reader's Digest. He has written several experimental books about how to live his life – educating himself by reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z, for example. Or trying to live according to what the Constitution originally said. One more: "The Year of Living Biblically" – struggling to follow the Bible's rules of how to live. And so forth. Look him up. Whatever he tries in his experiments is always interesting, and usually impossible to get right. In particular, living without using plastic. In this piece, sharing the difficulty he had avoiding plastic in and out of his house for 24 hours, he includes the titles of two books that discuss the grimness and problems of plastic: "Life Without Plastic," by Jay Sinha and Chantal Plamondon; and "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story," by Susan Freinkel. And, as he makes clear how pretty much impossible it is to go through a day without touching or using plastic, he shares unnerving information. For example, according to a United Nations report, "The world produces about 400 metric tons of plastic waste each year ... and about half the plastic we encounter in daily life is tossed out after a single use." Plus, "According to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, more than 11 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans each year." And here I am tearing my hair out. Jacobs ends up sharing a few vital suggestions. First, yes, it's impossible to move through your day without bumping into plastic of some sort or another. Even so, we can choose to avoid using something plastic once and throwing it away. So – if at all possible, no single-use plastic. And of course, consider replacing a plastic item with something made of metal instead. Or cloth. Take cloth bags to the store. Buy a steel water bottle instead of always buying water in plastic. When you eat out, bring containers with you for the leftovers so you don't have to deal with the restaurants' plastic boxes. What sincerely makes me gnash my teeth is wandering in the grocery stores and passing the never-ending expanse of plastic – juice jars, soap and detergent containers, potato chip bags, medicine jars, packs of toothpaste, bags of vegetables, wrapped cheese, etc. etc., on and on. It's unnerving, as if the human beings (?) running these gigantic companies are deaf and blind and have no interest in cutting back on using all this blasted plastic. No, they aren't deaf and blind, but it's obvious they have no interest in using something else that can be recycled. In 2021, I started making my own dry laundry detergent. Yes, it's somewhat of a hassle, but it's not a daily hassle. And it's not difficult: 1 bar (or 4.5 ounces) shaved bar soap (Dr. Bonner's, Kirk's Castile, Ivory or Fels-Naptha), 14 ounces Borax and 14 ounces washing soda. Blend it into a powder. Store in sealed containers with a small scoop. Use 2-3 tablespoons for a large load. Every time I make it and every time I use it, I confess I feel proud. Because it's a good thing to do. A wise thing to do. The more the better. And of course the result: I toss less plastic into the garbage. You're welcome. Please join me. At the very least, choose to be aware of all the plastic crud surrounding us. A couple of Sundays last July, I asked readers to share ways they cut down on using plastic. I'd still appreciate it very much if you'd let me know if you've figured out a way to avoid using plastic. At least some. Please email me with your suggestions, and I'll share them. Thank you! Susan Rushton's opinion column appears regularly in the Auburn Journal. Her email is goldcountrydenizens@gmail.com.