The Muesli Comparison: Reflections on consumerism and life after Plastic Free July

TL;DR: Psychology, economics, and consumerism all have a key role to play in sustainability. A key reflection from my Plastic Free July experience is that changing how we approach buying in even the smallest of ways can have a significant positive impact for our environment and the species we share it with.

Background

It started with a personal ban on disposable coffee cups. For half a year, I had been successful in only purchasing hot beverages when I had a reusable cup with me or when I felt comfortable making the time to sit-in and enjoy a cup of coffee without any rush. But once I had mastered that habit, I began looking for another challenge.

And then I was told about Plastic Free July. I investigated the movement and made the pledge, swearing off single-use plastics for 31 days. While I do not think it was too difficult to uphold this pledge, the lessons learned as a result of the process have been insightful and - at times - unnerving.

When I started down the path of investigating easy options for consumers to reduce their use of disposable cups, a co-worker loaned me a copy of Dan Ariely's, Predictably Irrational. I have slowly been making my way through it's insights ever since. The premise is relatively simple. While our behaviours may seem irrational at times, we make these choices and perpetuate these behaviours based in a logic that - were we to stop and consider it more in-depth - may not seem so logical at all. Take, for instance, the first example in the book, where more people were willing to pay double the price for an online + print magazine subscription rather than pay half the price for an online-only option. Regardless of whether they intended to read the print copies of the magazine or not, consumers felt there was more value in the combined subscription. And spent double the money in the process. 

If you think this doesn't sound like you, you aren't alone. I was convinced it didn't sound like me either. And then, I decided to collect some data on my morning muesli as I was living my new plastic-free habits.

Data Collection: Counting Our Oat Flakes

My partner has long been a make-your-own-muesli champion and I have recently hopped on the bandwagon. The ingredients that make up his morning muesli include:

• Bran buds
• Oat flakes
• Pumpkin seeds
• Chia seeds
• Hemp Seeds
• Raisins

It looks like this:

All of the ingredients each in their own plastic package. I'm happy to report that everything but the bran buds and chia seeds are now purchased at the local natural bulk foods store (muesli, fortunately for me, isn't the only thing he champions ;)).

Muesli at my home is slightly different. I use granola rather than bran buds, apricots or fresh blueberries rather than raisins, and forgo the chia seeds. My morning muesli ingredients, thanks to Plastic Free July, look like this:

But what if I hadn't signed on to Plastic Free July and was buying all of this as part of my everyday grocery shopping? How does the cost of my morning muesli compare to purchasing it all at a brand name grocery store? I price compared based on a mainstream grocery store in town and the local bulk food store I go to. I sourced the cost of the ingredients from the mainstream grocery store's website and compared these to the listed prices at my local bulk food store. I corrected for weight parity (for example, the granola at the mainstream store came in 325g containers, so I adjusted the 100g price from the bulk food store accordingly). In cases where it wasn't an even hundred gram package at the mainstream store, I rounded up the bulk food store amount (because I was feeling a bit show-offish, not gonna lie). Even then, the results were astonishing - I saved $16.95 buying my morning muesli ingredients at the bulk food store.
                             
My morning muesli ingredients last me about 3 weeks. That means that I need to replenish my ingredients approximately 17 times annually. Which works out to a savings of $288 each year.

Just for muesli.

That's savings I can put towards plastic-free items that are more expensive than their plastic counterparts, such as compostable poop bags for my dog and organic cotton tampons so that I can stop putting my health at risk. At an increase of approximately $8/month for each of those choices, I still have $40 each year to spend on or save for whatever I'd like. Just from better sourcing my morning breakfast!

And I haven't even yet mentioned the positive environmental impact my shopping for muesli at the bulk food store has for the planet, the species I share it with, and the generations that will follow. Because I can take my own containers to the bulk food store, I have zero plastic use from my shopping experience. No plastics going into the oceans or heading to the incinerators. On days I forget my containers, I use paper bags that are then reused for kitty litter or another purpose. While it isn't zero waste then, it is a marked improvement.

Psychologically, I'm also not forced into pre-determined package amounts or ingredient ratios. At the bulk food store, everything is priced in 100g increments (which, incidentally, is so much easier for data collection, budgeting, etc.). If I only need 150g of apricots to add to my muesli, I can buy only 150g and am not forced into excess. Furthermore, I can, for instance, buy triple the amount of pumpkin seeds as may be found in a boxed muesli alternative and put as many as I would like into my own muesli bowl (and I REALLY like pumpkin seeds). I have more freedom as a consumer. Incidentally, I never leave the bulk food store stressed or exhausted as I often do the mainstream grocery store (however, that could just be the control enthusiast in me surfacing). Overall, it is a much more positive purchasing experience.

Final Thoughts

But what does all of this have to do with the collective predictable irrationality we began this post with? I, like my partner and like you, once made choices grounded in the logic of convenience and efficiency. And, as Ariely states, "That's a lesson we can all learn: the more we have, the more we want. And the only cure is to break the cycle of relativity."

Which, self-reflection as part of Plastic Free July has taught me, are our society's alternative ways of saying lazy and falsely important. It took some time and effort to begin sourcing my muesli ingredients elsewhere. It's work to investigate product choices and to be an informed consumer. It's equally challenging to feel comfortable spending an extra 20 minutes sitting at one's favourite coffee shop to enjoy that morning coffee. Or to not feel misunderstood because you take more time for everyday errands - all because we exist in a culture that prizes rushing as a sign of importance and a measure of self-worth.

No longer. Inward examination as part of the Plastic Free July process has exposed my decision-making framework to an alternative paradigm. Our planet, its flora and fauna, and the generations that follow us can't afford for us to continue using a logic of "convenience and efficiency". They require us to refine our logic and redefine our standards of success.

Because, if we do not do so, the result will be very predictably... rational.

We live here. And what we do, what we value, and what we make time for matters while we're here. Environmental sustainability doesn't need to be difficult. All it takes is each of us making a little more time in our lives to go slower and value choices made for their long-term impacts instead of short-term gains.

Let's leave it better than we found it.