The Plastic Epidemic

    Plastic is a very controversial material.  It is a material that has changed the way we live for better and for worse.  Everywhere we go there is plastic; packaging, furniture, utensils, toys, car bumpers, the list goes on and on.  Although this compound seems unavoidable it must be used carefully and sparingly by consumers, meaning you and I.  You may wonder why we need to be conscious of our plastic use, so I'll help you understand that it is not a natural material and will never decompose like newspapers or food scraps, and even though it can be recycled there is no guarantee it won't end up sitting in a landfill for the next 500 years.  Plastic isn't an organic substance so there is no CO2 production which means no decomposition, whereas a banana peel, for example, produces CO2 allowing it to easily decompose in a compost pile. This means that common things like plastic water bottles that aren't recycled become excess unneeded waste that will sit for a very long time.  Although many people recycle their plastic, which is great, there is still a process attached to plastic production and it's not always a clean one. The problem with plastic is that we use it and don't think about what really goes into the mass creation of an inorganic material (i.e. pollution from production, pollution from distributing, etc.). 
    So why does this matter? It matters because we use plastic when we don't need to, and cutting out the unnecessary could do a lot of good.  I am mostly focused on bottled water when it comes to plastic's dark side because there is no reason for only drinking bottled water on a daily basis. When you think about it in numbers, it is recommended that the average person drinks 8 glasses of water a day, and if you are a bottled water drinker that means 8 plastic bottles a day, 56 bottles a week, 240 bottles a month, and 2,920 bottles a year.  If these bottles aren't recycled, I think it's safe to say that is a lot of waste.  Even if those bottles are recycled it still adds to the mass production of unnecessary plastic packaging.  If we buy bottled water we're telling those companies to produce more which means pollute more.
    What can people do to cut down on plastic waste though?  It seems so convenient to just grab a pre-bottled water and walk out the door.  Well, convenience plays a large roll in why bottled water is such a phenomenon, but drinking out of a reusable bottle is just as convenient, all you have to do is take 2 minutes to fill it up and you are on your way.  Buying and using a reusable bottle like a Nalgene or a Sigg is one of the easiest things you can do to promote sustainability and cut down on plastic consumption. You can even DIY and reuse a jar or other glass container as a water bottle if you don't want to purchase one.  It's simple, it's cheap, and you can rest knowing that your plastic bottles won't still be cozied up in a landfill somewhere when your great great great great great grand kids are graduating high school. Using a reusable bottle is without a doubt a sustainable daily practice, and once you've gotten into the habit of it, those plastic bottled waters look pretty silly.  Is it weird to say that my Sigg bottle has become one of my best friends?

          Stay sustainable,

          Becca in Athens