What's in my kitchen trash?

Whispers: *it's plastic*

Two truths:

1. I try to avoid single-use plastic.

2. I throw away so much single-use plastic.

If you look into my kitchen trash, you’ll see:

1 plastic cup: ice cream stand, held slurpee
1 plastic straw (I know!!!): ice cream stand, for slurpee
1 plastic bag: fresh cherries prepackaged
1 clear plastic tub: dried seaweed packaging
1 clear plastic bag: clothing packaging, reused once
1 white plastic tub: tofu packaging
1 plastic sleeve: spring roll wrapper packaging

If you’re still reading: thank you! We both know how bad plastic is for the planet and that the above items will remain on this planet for longer than we will.

Most of the above list is typical for my family. While I make yogurt to avoid single-use plastic, I don’t make tofu and we eat a lot of it. While I carry reusable produce bags to the grocery store, when peppers or oranges or cherries are already packaged in plastic, I buy them. Right now, some plastic packaging is inevitable.

What I want to talk about are the plastic cup and straw. These weren’t inevitable. I didn’t take our reusable straws and cups to the ice cream stand because I forgot. When my kid ordered a slurpee, I said nothing. I have not always been so wise. Last summer, my daughter burst into tears when she ordered ice cream in a plastic cup and I said, “That cup will last on the planet longer than we will.” It was a horrible mom moment and a hypocritical one. Every day I make a compromise (or ten) about plastic. Kids should be allowed to do the same. It’s the adults who are trashing their planet.

And the truth is, it’s impossible to live in the modern world without being a plastic polluter. We need to change the systems.

Public Action: Change the systems.

Plastic is not inevitable. Here’s an informative article about the proposed U.N. Global Plastic Treaty, which will regulate the production, consumption, and disposal of plastic. Sound good? Send a letter of support to your U.N. Member State here.

If you live in New York State, you can join me in supporting The Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act, which will reduce single-use plastic packaging by 50% over twelve years. A majority of assembly members and senators are co-sponsors, but the bill has to be put on the floor for a vote and then signed into law by New York’s governor. All the decision makers are democrats, but they are getting lobbied hard by industries that benefit from the irresponsible use of plastic. Our lawmakers need to hear from us.

If you live in New York State, you can help pass this bill. Beyond Plastics has made people power easy and fun.

In Albany, I joined Beyond Plastics and lobbied my legislators for the Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act. The lobby day was plastic free with homemade snacks and bins for composting food waste. I met with three legislators: One was already a co-sponsor, one became a co-sponsor after our meeting, and one remained skeptical.

Why It Matters:

Plastic is bad for the planet: If plastic were a country, it would be the 5th largest climate change contributor.

Plastic is bad for your health: The latest news is that microplastics are showing up in testicles. "The results may also be relevant to a well-documented global decline in sperm count and other problems related to male fertility,” reports NPR.

Plastic is bad for oceans: 11 million tons of plastic find their way into the ocean each year, where animals eat it and where it makes its way into our food supply.

We’re never going to ‘personal-responsibility’ our way out of the plastic problem. We need legislation to change the systems.

Personal Action: While it’s not possible to remove all the single-use plastic that streams through your house, you can make informed swaps as you legislate for systems change. If nothing else, I want to minimize the amount of microplastics my family is ingesting each day.

Some places to start:

• Reusable totes for shopping

• Stainless steel water bottles (Researchers have found 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic in the average liter of bottled water.)

• Bar soap (not liquid)

• Powdered detergent (for dishwashers and washing machines)

• Paper sandwich bags like this one

Why It Matters: Systems change is slow. As we wait, we can live messy, imperfect lives that are part of the solution. Each change you make is cause for celebration and you’re changing the narrative around what will sell. We vote with our dollars.

Then, if you get a slurpee in a plastic cup, so be it. Enjoy the slurpee.