Woman Challenges Herself to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic for a Month — It Went As Expected
The world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, as per the UN Environment Programme. While some wary souls relentlessly work to battle plastic pollution, most people seem to ignore the fact that we are eating, drinking, and even breathing plastic. But one woman made a daring effort towards eliminating plastic - and she chose to start from her own home. Emma Beddington, a freelance writer from York, England, challenged herself to avoid single-use plastic in her everyday routine for a month, and she shared her experience with the Guardian. But the experiment didn't turn out as she expected.
Being an eco-conscious person herself, Beddington used to frequent "weigh and pay" stores to refill her cleaning products and toiletries, shop for fresh produce from the market, and ensure to reuse plastic containers. But that wasn't enough! The writer was shocked to find out plastic lurking in every corner of her house, going unnoticed. Salads covered in cling film, tiny sachets in her refrigerator, and cosmetics in plastic tubes seemed to mock her. So, during the first week of her challenge, she made sure to fill her shopping cart at the supermarket with tins of food items and loose vegetables. Ditching her favorite crisps that come in plastic bags, she went for hummus and carrot sticks for snacks and made boring dinners like baked potatoes, pasta, and lentils.
The second week was too frustrating for Beddington as she was desperately craving her favorite snack - crisps. But instead, she got to refill peanut crackers and "dreadful" paprika twists. "Is there actually any point to this exercise, I wonder, crispless and cross," she wrote. However, encouraged by Adam Herriott, from waste-prevention charity Wrap, she continued her challenge, with the motto of following the waste-reduction hierarchy - "reduce, reuse and recycle." When she tried to reduce her single-use plastic consumption, some of the most burdensome objects were personal care and medical products. Recyclable and bamboo-based tooth brushes were both expensive and a nightmare to use.
After failing miserably by buying ice cubes wrapped in a plastic bag during the second week, Beddington continued with little hope in the third. One good thing about week three was her investment in “home compostable” bioplastic bags that checked out well in terms of composting. But her mealtimes still felt despicable as she had to resort to berries from last summer and long-forgotten curries. "It’s probably forcing you to eat a lot less processed foods," Herriott told Beddinton when she lamented about her mealtime woes. "I miss bean sprouts and baby spinach. It’s true, but I miss big Hula Hoops more," she pointed out. Even though she could order pizzas and Korean takeouts that came in cardboard boxes, they were delivered in plastic bags, and Beddington was not ready to give up yet.
Week four brought the challenge of traveling with no consumption of single-use plastic. Though she brought reusable items that added more weight to her luggage during her London trip, her favorite sweets wrapped in plastic got her hung up. At home, being a vegan was getting more difficult as she couldn't avoid plastic-wrapped tofu for long. When she was closer to the finish line during week five, she finally got to devour her favorite snack, crisps from Two Farmers, that came in home-compostable bags. But once again, Beddington failed in her challenge when her pet tortoise refused to eat foraged food, and she had to buy chicory wrapped in plastic. Despite being eco-conscious, the writer couldn't help but acknowledge the difficulty in maintaining such a lifestyle.