Reducing Plastic In Our Homes

First off, I want to thank Kris for bringing our family together to talk about Climate Change. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, helpless and lost. It is easy to complain and fret and to forget that actually there are things we can all do, right now that will make a difference. I appreciate how Kris is constantly thinking about this and really doing things. He doesn't sitting idly watching while the Earth is pleading with the humans to get up and do something. 

Reducing Our Plastic Consumption:

I have recently been thinking more about what can I do in my life to reduce the amount of plastic we use as a family. I am lucky to be married to Ken, Kris's son, who thinks a ton about the environment and pushes to reduce our plastic consumption. His conscientiousness about the environment really shapes our home.

I am also part of a really unbelievably strong, intelligent group of moms on a Slack channel whose collective wisdom I find inspiring and motivating. When Kris asked us each to contribute a blog post, I reached out to my Slack group and gathered their thought to include in this article as well as leveraging all the smart things my husband has been doing for years.

First things first, let's look at what the research says about the energy and environmental impact that  bottled water and plastic bags have on our environment. Please see the research at the bottom of the post for references.

• Humans produce about 300 million tons of plastic each year.
• In the US, more than 33 billion liters of bottled water are used each year
• In the US, about 100 billion plastic shopping bags are used each year

  Oil Consumption (for US)

• Plastic bottles require 32-54 million barrels of oil per year
• Plastic bags: 439 million gallons of oil
• 6% of global oil consumption goes toward creating plastic 

Effects on Our Climate

• Powerful greenhouse gases  are emitted as plastics break down and the amount of off gassing increases as the climate gets hotter. I found the site Parley very informative (see research below).
• Toxic substances also leach into our water and soil which adversely affect the flora and fauna.

side note: I was surprised to learn that it actually takes more energy to make a paper bag than a disposable plastic bag (in part because of their weight). But using a resusable bag helps with that too!

The purpose of this blog post is to list things we can all do to reduce our plastic usage. Some things,  we are already personally doing as a family. Other items are things that I am pledge to do to further reduce our footprint.

Shopping Changes:

1. If your budget allows it, buy your meat at the butcher rather than the grocery to reduce packaging
   
2. Farmer's market veggies versus grocery veggies wrapped in plastic 
3. Reduce the amount of prepackaged foods you consume.
4. Cloth bags for veggies at grocery- I like these ones for many reason. They have the tare value so it makes checkout easy. Also once you are home, you can moisten them and the veggies stay fresh longer. And they can be thrown in the wash when needed.  
5. Bring your own shopping bags to carry groceries- foldable ones are useful and easy to carry around with you. I bought the ones we have at random local stores. When we do a big grocery shop we bring additional, more sturdy reusable bags too. 
6. I don't drink coffee but I got this tip from my friend Sarah on our mom group. She brings her favorite travel mug (I have heard your coffee will stay warm for hours in this mug) to coffee shops and has them fill it up rather than getting a disposable cup. Smart!  
7. These great collapsible silicon water bottles- I try really hard not to purchase single use bottles. I personally like this one because it gets so small and doesn't have a spout, just a lid. It's so easy to throw one in all your bags. 

Around the House Changes:

1. Reusable straws - We have this assorted package. I personally love the metal ones. I like how they get so cold. It makes me drink way more water.
2. Lunch bags for kiddos- I like these ones mostly because I like the pattern. But they are also good quality, have a nice zipper and can be put in the top rack of the dishwasher.
3. Silicon bags for cheese/etc- 

1. I like this one. It's woman-owned and certified B Corp. They also will grind up broken ones and make into playground squishiness. They have this pledge which I really like.
2. FYI, I do NOT like this brand. It's super duper hard to open and close. Has a hard plastic wand thing that breaks and then the bag is useless. 
4. Beeswax paper things instead of plastic wrap. We used this for a while and then I don't know what happened to it. I think it is time to bring it back. I will report back after our second trial.
5. Glass Jars for food storage rather than glad-ware-type dealos: 
1. Canning jars- The thing I like about using canning jars is that they are inexpensive, and a really nice size. You can also buy replacement lids when the old ones rust. And you can recycle the old lids and not feel bad about it going into a landfill.
2. These jars. Ken, feels very strongly that the Bormioli Rocco Fido brand is far and away the best. Their seal is good enough that you can throw soup in it and it pretty much won't spill. I find cleaning them a bit of a bear but it's still probably a net positive. I also find that this type of container is better for times when you don't have to take the food with you because the jars are pretty heavy and large for a backpack.
6. Diapers- cloth diapers versus disposable- I think this is debatable but we felt like it worked for our family.
1. Local to NYC?  highly recommend using Diaperkind. We used them for both kids and they have the absolute best service and quality and really everything. I can't recommend them highly enough!
2. Not local to NYC? Diaperkind is about to launch their own, super well thought out cloth diaper system, Esembly. It should be on the market soon.
7. Join local Listserves (or swap with friends) and get those huge plastic items second hand (i.e. bouncers, activity centers, etc. 

http://www.sunshineguerrilla.com

Future Things I Pledge to Do:

1. Shop Local- Amazon is so easy (see all the links in post above for stuff I have purchased there) but there is a huge benefit to shopping locally. I recently started reaching out to a local bookstore to see if they can order books for me rather than ordering from Amazon due to all of the plastic and packaging waste. So far, so good. I also started shopping at local kids stores for shoes and clothing rather than online.
2. If you live in NYC and have to send your laundry out like we do, you will know about the clear plastic bags they put the clothes in. I am going to sew a resuseable one and see if the laundry place will use it instead of the disposable ones.
3. Reusable silverware- I am going to try this one.
4. Biodegradable bags for garbage- this one was recommended by a mom friend.
5. Buy more things in bulk
6. Buy less- we just instituted 5 toys a holiday per kid from us. And we are going to ask for experiences from family members or books rather than toys. 
7. We are going to start buying more wooden toys and books for any of our kid's friends birthday parties. 

What's an easy first step? Make a pledge to put the following four things in your bag/purse. Sign the pledge by adding a comment below! 

1. Foldable grocery bag
2. Reusable silverware
3. Collapsible/reusable water bottle
4. Reusable silicon/steel straws (if you like straws)

RESEARCH
How much plastic do we use a year in the US?

• "Picture the Empire State Building in New York. Now imagine 1000 of them side by side. Combined, this forest of skyscrapers would weigh about 300 million tons. This is the amount of plastic humanity produces every year. Around half of this is single-use plastic: used just once before being discarded, with much of that ending up in our oceans." (http://www.parley.tv/updates/2018/7/23/a-new-link-between-plastic-and-climate-change)
•  "In 2007, US consumers purchased more than 33 billion liters of bottled water..."  (https://phys.org/news/2009-03-energy-bottle.html#jCp Gleick, P.H. and Cooley, H.S. “Energy implications of bottled water.” Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009) 014009 (6pp)) 
• "According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the 100 billion plastic shopping bags in use each year in the U.S.  " Sierra Club (https://www.sierraclub.org/maine/blog/2017/04/true-costs-single-use-plastic-bags, April 5, 2017) 

 Energy to produce and bad effects of plastic

•  "the total energy required to produce (the 33 billion liters of bottled water)... is 32-54 million barrels of oil (though not all of it came from oil)... Energy to produce this accounts for about 1/3 of 1% of the total US energy consumption..."  (https://phys.org/news/2009-03-energy-bottle.html#jCp Gleick, P.H. and Cooley, H.S. “Energy implications of bottled water.” Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009) 014009 (6pp)) 
• "According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the 100 billion plastic shopping bags in use each year in the U.S. are made from the estimated equivalent of 439 million gallons of oil. " Sierra Club (https://www.sierraclub.org/maine/blog/2017/04/true-costs-single-use-plastic-bags, April 5, 2017)  
• "many plastics actually give off powerful greenhouse gases as they break down, contributing to climate change. Of particular concern is the plastic type which releases gases at the highest rate: low-density polyethylene (or LDPE). This is also the most prevalent discarded plastic in the ocean today.... as the climate changes, the planet gets hotter, the plastic gives off more methane, increasing the rate of climate change and the circle continues... Among the gases studied by the team were methane and ethylene. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases: whilst it makes up a small volume of the greenhouse gases it is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It also accounts for approximately 20% of the greenhouse gas effect..... 6% of global oil consumption goes towards creating plastics..." (http://www.parley.tv/updates/2018/7/23/a-new-link-between-plastic-and-climate-change & http://sarahjeanneroyer.com/)
• "As polyethylene breaks down, toxic substances leach into the soil and waterways and enter the food chain.... According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the 100 billion plastic shopping bags in use each year in the U.S. are made from the estimated equivalent of 439 million gallons of oil. " Sierra Club (https://www.sierraclub.org/maine/blog/2017/04/true-costs-single-use-plastic-bags, April 5, 2017) 
• "One of the most comprehensive research papers on the environmental impact of bags, published in 2007 by an Australian state government agency, found that paper bags have a higher carbon footprint than plastic. That’s primarily because more energy is required to produce and transport paper bags." (https://www.wired.com/2016/06/banning-plastic-bags-great-world-right-not-fast/)

As a little bonus, below is a list of online and brick and mortar stores that I appreciate.

1. Stasher
2. Bee's Wrap
3. My local book stores- Three Lives and Company Book Store- West Village, NY & Book of Wonder (for kids' books in particular)- Union Square, NY
4. Local wood toy store- Playing Mantis- Tribeca, NY
5. Mighty Nest