Living plastic-free, an odyssey
I KNOW a girl who makes her deodorant and has worms on her balcony to decompose her food waste. You might think that’s gross, but I think she’s a bloody inspiration.
For more than a year, I’ve been attempting to decrease the amount of plastic in my life: I’ve got into the habit of stashing reusable shopping bags in the boot, brushing my teeth with a bamboo brush and carrying my reusable coffee cup — I even deleted uber eats! Oh, the blasphemy!
I didn’t know single-use coffee cups couldn’t be recycled. When drinking coffee became more of a religion (thanks, uni assignments), I was downing strong lattes then discarding the cup in the recycling bin, feeling I was doing my bit for Mother Earth.
Unbeknown to my righteous self, I was contributing to landfill. Whoops.
More than a year later, not only do I have no regrets, but I’ve adjusted to these changes, and only want to keep chipping away.
There’s so many things we can do, and not all of them as drastic as befriending actual worms. Remember when Woolworths and Coles did away with free plastic bags? Some of you cheered, others scowled, and although it’s probably no surprise which side of the fence I sat on, I can sympathise with the outrage at having a common convenience taken away. I found that making adjustments in my day-to-day life to avoid single-use plastics required me to tap into the deepest recesses of my willpower reserves, coupled with more forethought and organisation — but then it became easier. I didn’t have to remember, I just did it. It’s remarkable what you can get used to.
If you’re like me, who experienced more often than not their discipline and willpower totally spent on just getting up in the morning without hitting snooze, navigating peak-hour traffic while keeping the language at PG and maybe trying to pack a salad at lunch instead of hitting the Macca’s drive-through — again, I urge you to add it to your list of New Year’s resolutions to make one change to decrease your plastic use.
Next time you hit the Coffee Club, why not offer up your Star
Wars- themed Keep Cup? You’ll not only be keeping waste out of landfill a cup at a time, but get to enjoy sipping your cappuccino while Chewbacca tickles your chin. Win.