Plant Based Plastics!

I’ve been hearing about it: Plant based plastics, also being touted as “environmentally friendly” plastics.  I am skeptical to believe anything I read without a little investigation.  What makes them environmentally friendly?  Are they actually green?  Will they put an end to my plastic boycott?  What’s the deal?

Coca Cola has a 30% plant based plastic bottle, Heinz is jumping on that bandwagon, and just this week, Pepsi announced that they've created the first ever 100% plant based bottle!  (They’re calling it “No Plastic,” which seems to be a bit of a stretch – no pun intended.)  The competition over environmental friendliness intensifies.

Okay, so I’ve done a little researching, and understand that the process is new and there’s not public information out there yet on this specific process, as far as I know.  (Disclaimer!) So here are my findings…

Bioplastic is biodegradable.  Or is it?  Plastics made from plants or other biological materials, are touted by How Stuff Works  as “biodegradable and better for the environment.”  (http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm)  Yet, according to USA Today, the plant based plastic which Pepsi’s created “is not biodegradable or compostable.”  At least it’s recyclable. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2011-03-15-pepsi-natural-bottle.htm)  So is regular PET plastic (#1 on the bottom of your bottle).  So far, not much difference.  Just another plastic that will be thrown out by most and stick around for centuries.  (Neutral Finding)

One Pittsburg study claims that bioplastics are not only as bad, but maybe even worse for the environment than regular plastics. The refining and production process create a lot of toxic bi-products. (http://www.news.pitt.edu/news/Landis_polymers_LCA)  “Biopolymers were among the more prolific polluters on the path to production, the LCA revealed. The team attributed this to agricultural fertilizers and pesticides, extensive land use for farming, and the intense chemical processing needed to convert plants into plastic.”  However, Pepsi is making their bioplastic from biological waste that would otherwise be thrown away, so that takes care of the farming issues.  But the chemical processing is more intensive than regular plastic creation. (Negetive Finding)

Plastic is made from oil.  Plant based plastic is not.  “Bioplastics have the advantage of being produced from renewable resources (bacteria, plants) rather than nonrenewable resources (oil, natural gas).” (How Stuff Works)  Now THAT’s something to brag about!  Less dependency on oil is a good thing, is it not?  Although others argue that using food based plants cannot be sustainable because, well, it’s food.  (Positive Finding)

There’s rumor that the bioplastics are cleaner, so may be chemically safer.  I’ll wait for more information on that.

So my conclusion is…  Yay for capitalism making these two monster companies (Coca Cola & Pepsi) consider the environment and battle it out!  I think it's great that these moguls are getting in on the public demand for "green" goods, even if it's just smoke and mirrors for the time being...  This is overall an improvement on plastic in my opinion.  However, I’m still opting to go without plastics, and am disappointed that the products aren’t biodegradable, nor compostable.  

I am thinking glass and aluminum are still better. . . But that’s another research project.

(THANK YOU, BRIAN, FOR SENDING ME THE LINK ABOUT PEPSI'S NEW BOTTLE!)

Three Weeks of Plastic Reduction

Reviewing the last three weeks, I wanted to record some of the changes I’ve made.  A lot of these are not convenient at all and sometimes expensive, and others are very simple while actually saving money.  All have reduced my plastic consumption… I hope!  I always seem to get surprise plastic where I don’t expect it!

1.       Re-used the plastic bags I already have (cereal, rice, produce, crackers, etc) for purchasing bulk & produce items

2.       Bought produce un-bagged (Even a dozen carrots – maybe I’ll re-use a bag for that next time for the clerk’s sake!)

3.       Bought meat from the counter wrapped in butcher paper

4.       Brought my own containers to the deli for lunch meat & cheese

5.       Washed & re-used glass jars instead of Tupperware

6.       Made bread from scratch

7.       Found milk in glass containers at Whole Foods!  (Yay!)

8.       Bought bread from a bakery before it was bagged, and got a paper bag instead

9.       Bought bulk items, re-using my own containers/bags:

·         Nuts

·         Snacks

·         Rice

·         Beans

·         Flour

·         Cereal

·         Dried fruit

·         Popcorn

10.   Actually remembered to bring my own canvas grocery bags from home (Some stores even gave me a few cents off for this effort!)

11.   House cleaning with baking soda (cardboard box) & vinegar (glass bottle- although plastic lid)

12.   Cleaned myself with baking soda & vinegar

·         Baking Soda:

§ Shampoo

§ Body wash

§ Deoderant

§ Toothpaste (only every other brushing -  Can’t quite give up on that

§ Dry Shampoo (Try: a little greasy?  Rub in some baking soda at your scalp & see how it works for you!)

·         Vinegar

§ Hair Rinse

§ Body wash

13.   Bought plastic free, chlorine free feminine  products

14.   Made my juice from concentrate

15.   Eating way more fruits and veggies  for snacks and smoothies

16.   Home-made muffins instead of granola/cereal bars in lunches

17.   Opted out of straws & lids at restaurants

18.   Already owned Tupperware instead of sandwich baggies

19.   Made my own chips: Potato & Kale  (Surprisingly tasty, actually!)

20.   Bought wax paper to replace saran wrap in some cases

 

And some nice side-effects of the efforts:

1.       Eating healthier, fresher food

2.       New relationship with food: Spending the time & energy on it makes it far less appealing to down a few hours’ worth of work in a TV sitting.

3.       Avoiding unknown chemicals in toiletries and processed foods

4.       Spending the same amount of money on less food, but not wasting so much of it (How many of your fresh fruits and vegetables end up in the trash after going bad in the fridge?  I had a lot more before!)

5.       Avoiding toxic cleaning fumes 

6.       Teaching my son by example

7.       Spreading awareness with every question about plastic and through this blog (I decided to blog about this from the beginning because I feel it’s important to share the information I learn.)

8.       Only one bag of trash this week (Normally about 2, already low due to recycling & composting)

9.       Only one recycling container (Usually 2 and overflowing!)  Most of it is from remnants of plastic still lingering around the house

 

I’m not keeping track to brag, or to show off  'my footprint is smaller than yours’.  I’m doing this to give examples of changes that have an effect.  I don’t expect anyone else to give up all plastics, and don’t assume I’ll be able to.  This is an experiment in living without new plastic to see just how difficult it is.  I have time to shop different places, money to spend at natural food stores which are admittedly more expensive, and the interest in changing things up to an extreme that I don’t expect anyone else does.  In doing so, I hope to bring awareness to some people, and maybe influence a person or two to make some small changes.  And, let’s face it, I’m absolutely fascinated by this process and just want to share some of the ideas that I had no clue about until I started researching it!

Milk Cartons Exposed!

I replaced my regular plastic milk-jug purchase with smaller milk cartons, thinking the paper cartons would be better for the environment.  In my research last night I ran across a site that said milk cartons are plastic lined and not recyclable.  As any good internet researcher knows, I never trust one source and decided to look further into it today.

Milk cartons are lined in plastic.  How disappointing.  So much for the half gallon superiority.  (Or 2 quarter gallons because the half gallon had the plastic pour spout.)

One recycling site (http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/common.html)  says, “Milk cartons are plastic laminated inside, even if they don't have a plastic spout.”  And later, “Paper with any sort of contamination or plastic layers can't be recycled.”

I use Waste Management, and looked into their recycling methods and found that they do now recycle milk cartons, although it’s shipped elsewhere and a more involved process.  (http://www.wm.com/about/press-room/pr2009/20090402_WM_and_Tropicana_Launch_National_Recycling_Initiative.pdf) Well, damn. 

There are re-usable jugs at a few of the markets I frequent, although still plastic.  I’ll see if I can find glass milk jugs, too.

I wonder what else I’m taking for granted? 

Plastic: Who Cares? My reasons for trying to reduce my plastic consumption

I will do some research on the actual data, but here’s the impression I get, as accurately as possible.

Chemicals:  Chemicals are known to leach out of plastic bottles into drinks.  BPA is a household word now, although the plastic companies still claim it’s perfectly fine (with a bunch of asterisks following with fine print), there are countries that have banned it, and Wal-Mart & Toys/Babies R Us have both opted not to carry and BPA containing plastics in their stores.  (Companies LISTENING to consumer concerns = YAY CAPITALISM!) 

Okay, the chemical issue is up for debate, I understand.   But why risk poisoning myself if I have other options? 

Pollution:   Yeah, I don’t want to live in a world of trash.  We all seem to think that “throw it away” is a clean, responsible thing to do and keeps our cities from piling up in tons of smelly pollution.  It’s just out of sight, out of mind

What about recycling?  Recycling still involves a lot of processing and energy when I could simply opt not to use the item in the first place.  And a lot of plastics can’t be recycled, or the facilities are limited, or people just don’t.  And it seems it won’t help our water bottles: According to “Tapped” only 10% of PETE (#1 Recyclable on the bottom of the container) can be used from recycled materials – and that must be PRE-consumer.  Again, once it’s been used, even they don’t want it back!

In my research I’ve seen photos of people boating through plastic bottles, bird carcasses full of bottle caps, and word of “gyres” in the ocean the size of the U.S. where the trash of the world seems to collect in a floating plastic whirlpool.  Straws and bottle caps litter shores.  My precious sea turtles (I REALLY love sea turtles and was moved to be able to snorkel near them last year – they’re beautiful creatures!) with all kinds of plastic induced maladies from being wrapped in plastic or ingesting it.  I’m landlocked, so it’s hard to imagine my plastic getting into the ocean, but I’m not terribly impressed by the landfills that rival the Rocky Mountains in size, either.

This stuff is not going away:  Plastic is designed to last forever.  At least a very long time.  Why does my water bottle that I’ll get a few hours’ use from need to last forever?  Oh – so in case it gets dropped.  So it can be super-pressure filled in a factory.  So nobody has to worry about dropping a case and losing their inventory.  And then I can re-use it, too!  Oh, then we’re back to the chemical debate where the re-use of plastics made for single use is considered dangerous.   For my convenience, I leave a piece of plastic that will be here to greet my great, great, great, great grand children!  How nice for them.

Okay, what now? As a tree-hugging capitalist, I want to save the environment and I want to go directly to the companies to vote with my dollar where I see things going as I like, and give feedback where things are going wrong.  We get a vote every single day, with every single dollar we spend.  And it’s so easy now to find the businesses online and send them feedback.  I think this is as important as voting politically to make changes to our capitalist nation.  I also believe in Gandhi’s quote,

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” 

Give Us This Day Our Daily Plastic. . . Taking Stock

Becoming Aware. . .

I kept a list with me for the whole day yesterday, adding to it whenever my hands came across something noticeably plastic.  I'm sure I've missed plenty, but this is what I noticed.  Two full pages worth...  In order of how short the "life span" of the item.

!!!! ONE TIME USE  (Take it out, throw it away – none of these examples are even recyclable)

Plastic Bag on Newspaper

Plastic Window on Bill

Plastic Sleeve for Greeting Card

Swiffer Pad

Produce Bag - Asparagus

1 Diaper

Cereal - plastic bag in box 7 Items

!!! LIFETIME MEASURED IN DAYS  (Grocery store weekly list – mostly recyclable)

Milk Jug

Plastic Produce Bag - Pre-cut Veggies

Veggie Dip

Juice Bottle 4 Items

!! LIFETIME MEASURED IN WEEKS (More long-lasting  groceries – some recyclable)

Toothpaste Tube

Moisturizer Bottle

Chapstick Container

Dog Food Bag

Dish Soap

Sponge

Baby Wipes Container 7 Items

! LIFETIME MEASURED IN MONTHS  (Even longer-lasting groceries – some recyclable)

Shampoo

Conditioner

Shower Curtain

Cell Phone

Pen

Hair Straightener

Make Up Containers

Toothbrush

Lotion Bottle

Spiral on Notebook

Food Storage Containers (leftovers)

Laundry Detergent Container

Dish Brush 13 Items !    31 PLASTIC CONVENIENCE ITEMS USED IN ONE DAY  !

**  LIFETIME MEASURED IN YEARS (Long-term items in household use) Sippy Cup

Multiple Baby Toys

Multiple Kid Toys

Toilet Seat

Computer

Glasses

TV

DVD

DVD Player

Trash Can

Coffee Maker

Shirt

Underwear

Microwave

Garage Door Opener

Jacket

Salt & Pepper Shakers

Battery Charger

Broom

Swiffer Mop

Laundry Basket

Camera

Flash

Memory Card

Dog Dish

Measuring Spoons

Butter Dish

Recipe Book Cover

Knife Handle

Measuring Cup

Ice Cube Tray

Key Coating

Alarm Clock

3 Remote Controls

Scissor Handles 32 Items

*“ASSETS” LIFETIME IN YEARS (Either part of the house or large possessions)

Car (From Dashboard to Bumper and everything in between and on all sides!)

Refrigerator

Dishwasher

Sink Handle

Window Blinds

Washing Machine

Stove Knobs

Drain Pipes

Cords of any electronics

Linoleum Floor

Polyurethane on Wood Floor

Carpet 12 Items !*   75 TOTAL PLASTIC ITEM USE IN ONE DAY   *!

! -the convenience items that I’m looking to replace with non-plastic

* permanent home items that I won’t replace until absolutely necessary.  Plastic is made to last forever, so why replace it just to go “Plastic Free” and add it to the landfill prematurely?

NOTE: I intend to use whatever plastic I currently have repetitively until it falls apart or is a health issue. It’s already here.  I’m hoping not to add NEW plastic to the batch.