Plastics have negative externalities. The cost of plastics don’t reflect these negative externalities – so we all end up paying for them. There’s a story we like to believe about plastic recycling. However, most plastic isn’t recycled.
So we end up with microplastics and nanoplastics – in our food and our water – that end up in our bodies. It isn’t easy yet to just phase out plastics from our life. They’re cheap and ubiquitous.
The single highest leverage thing we can do is ask our elected officials to ban single use plastics. But, in the absence of that, here are 4 things we can do at home:
(1) Steel water bottles instead of plastic bottled water: Plastic bottled water, it turns out, is a great way to eat plastic. We don’t need that. Just keep steel water bottles with you – they’re better in every way.
Soft drink companies are going all in on marketing these as people reduce soft drink consumption. But plastic bottled water is a farce in developed countries where tap water is high quality. And, if we’re very picky about our neighborhood water source, we can use a filter.
(2) Refuse to take new plastic grocery bags: That will ensure we either bring cloth bags or reuse our existing plastic bags. Both can work.
(3) Replace plastic detergent and laundry pods: These are very convenient and innocent looking. So much so that I didn’t even realize they were plastic (duh). Liquid laundry detergent made of natural materials is an easy replacement.
Plastic-free dishwasher detergent can be harder to find – we’ve found Blueland’s pods very good so far.
(4) Use the compost bin: All food material and paper can go into the compost bin. “Hold On” has good 4 and 13 gallon compost bags that can be used together (depending on the size of your bin).
These are all small ways in which we can contribute to reduced microplastics.
They add up.
