So, how did I do?⠀
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I decided to hang into all the single-use plastic that came into my life in July so that I could see it all cumulatively at the end. So here it is: one mid-size pile.
It breaks down into:⠀
Food wrappers⠀
Shipping envelopes
Additional packaging on purchases made⠀
Ridiculous bubble plastics used to fill out shipping boxes
I’m pleased with how well I was able to do with foodstuffs: I had to make a lot of effort to go to different shops to get plastic free produce and foods, and frequently I had to do without something I wanted (you can see I finally broke down and bought cheese). I learned to make my own oat milk, to plan my weeks to get fresh pints of milk from Locavore, to really pay attention to what was going in my cart. A vegetarian diet helped. Also, turning into a baker of bread helped. ⠀
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I did less well with purchasing goods online - but there’s a pandemic, shops are closed, and I’ve been making much-needed upgrades to my camping kit. I do need to break my Amazon habit (it’s so damn convenient but also the worst) and will help substantially. ⠀
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A lot of what I did this month can be carried into the rest of the year. I’ll relax my food shopping restrictions a little (I really really miss cheese) but will keep the mindfulness at work.
It will be useful to revisit this in a few months, so see how much of it has become habit. Plastic-free October, maybe?