A bold experiment doomed to failure
They say when you fail to plan you’ve planned to fail. I hadn’t planned on living without plastic and when I had to give it a go, sure enough, I failed miserably.
Fair to say, my impromptu attempt at going plastic-free was brutal. I was three hours late to work and when I got there, I couldn’t do anything. Attempting to live without plastic, at short notice at least, isn’t quite as bad as living without oxygen, but it comes close.
You know you’re in for a tough day at the office when you can’t even get out of bed without putting a foot wrong. I couldn’t stand on the carpet because it was synthetic.
Yep, most of the carpet in our plastic-ridden homes is apparently made from some form of plastic. I couldn’t use the iron to iron my shirt, which didn’t matter anyway because that shirt had plastic buttons.
I couldn’t shave my face. I couldn’t use any of those grooming products, which have kept me looking so young for years, because they were all encased in plastic.
Breakfast wasn’t easy – my usual options were out – bread and cereal are also covered in plastic. Driving to work or taking public transport isn’t an option.
Yep, vehicles are full of plastic and that’s not ideal when you’re living in a sprawling city like Auckland. Walking is good for you, though, but crossing the harbour in a small wooden, ornamental, boat isn’t.
Yes, going plastic free can be dangerous.
But hey, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if I did kill myself ‘‘boating’’ to work that day.
With all this plastic pollution and global warming, they reckon the world will probably end soon, anyway.