Prologue (to plastic-free)

Hello, all and thanks for dropping by! Today, I begin the 31 day plastic-free challenge. For those who would like to learn more, it is never too late to take part. You can find out more information, tips & tricks, and the link to sign up at https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/. Since swearing off disposable coffee cups as 2019's new year's resolution, this seemed the logical next step for me to take. Like breaking a bad habit, it will take time and resolve. However, there's nothing quite like millions of people across 170 countries pledging together to keep one on the straight and narrow. What's more, I am excited to come out the other side an evermore conscious and deliberate consumer.

What's in it for you?

What will you find here? I will be sharing some of our experiences throughout the month as my partner and I go through this journey, including hacks you can use at your own grocery store and where you can find some great plastic-free options that are close to home (if you live in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON, CAN) and won't be a hindrance to your usual routine. You'll also likely find a few paragraphs now and then exploring why a hindrance to our usual routines could be of great value to our planet and the generations who follow us. Nonetheless, read on for the prologue to our adventure!

Preparations

Yesterday, my partner and I went shopping in preparation for swearing off single-use plastics for the month of July. I reasoned it wouldn't be too challenging, since we are already using reusable shopping bags, coffee cups, water bottles, etc. How much single-use plastic would I possibly have to avoid in the shops?

Well...

Plastics are sneaky. They creep in when you're shopping on the quick, shopping when you have other things on your mind, or making purchasing decisions before you've taken the time to think it through. Need shampoo? How about some toothpaste? Coffee grinds, yogurt cups, treats for your pet. There's plastic packaging for EVERYTHING!!

Nevertheless, we came home with three plastic items for a week's worth of meal planning for two people. Not too shabby (or so I tell my own worst critic ;)). The items we couldn't say no to (and didn't have to just yet, given it was still June):

Cat food. It didn't feel right to subject my two 13 year-old felines to a dietary change because of my own decisions. I will take time over the month of July to investigate bulk pet food options instead.

Pasta. This was a difficult decision for us. All of the noodle options in the store contained some element of plastic within their packaging. We decided to go for the full plastic bag, reasoning that we could re-use the packaging for disposing of kitty litter or have a single item in the blue bin for our recycling collector. This is now an item that goes on our bulk store food run that we are adding into our shopping routine.

Milk. In contrast to the pasta purchase, this was a very easy decision. While the  cap is plastic, the bottle itself is glass. And the store where we regularly buy milk operates a deposit-return program. So my recycling is going back into the program and not to the highest bidder (or to the landfill anyway; for more info on that, please read this). The pros outweighed the cons of the cap.

We also had a couple of hacks for some must-have items on our list:

Cheese. I don't think I can go more than a day without cheese (no matter how hard I try). But buying cheese in Ontario means buying plastic packaging or plastic wrap at nearly every store you visit. We lucked out, and found some small full wheels of reasonably priced cheese, encased in their traditional wax. We're giving the chili version a try this time around.

Bread. Grr... Bread stays fresher in a paper bag, so why so many places package loaves in plastic is beyond me. Our usual grocery store is no different. They use the crackling plastic wrap, so that you  can hear the scorn of the oceans as you go for a loaf. Our hack? We grabbed an extra paper bag when grabbing mushrooms and used this to bring home some multigrain ciabattas. But there are many excellent bakers in our region, so we will stop by one of their shops as soon as they are open again later this week.

And that's that. So begins a month of saying no to buying plastics and to kick-starting some conscious consumerism. Stay tuned for what I'm sure will be some interesting adventures and some helpful tips for minimizing the amount of plastic waste/single-use plastic items in your corner of the world.