My Plastic Challenge

From April 22, 2015 to April 22, 2016, I tried to give up plastic.

I decided to do this over fear about how this material harms our environment, especially our oceans. This was a two-part challenge:

Part 1. I tried to completely avoid buying items wrapped in plastic or made of plastic (for example, plastic straws), and I tried to “say no” to any plastic items given to me for free (for example, plastic utensils distributed at an event). Mostly, I was trying to avoid what has been termed “single-use plastic.”

Part 2. I wanted to give myself an incentive not to cheat, so I made a second challenge that any plastic I couldn’t avoid, or chose not to avoid, I would keep—for the full year.

Here, more specifically, were the rules I followed during my year of “dumping” plastic (written in April 2015):

1. I will try to avoid buying anything wrapped in plastic or in a plastic container
2. I will try (when I cannot avoid plastic packaging), to purchase an item that comes in recyclable plastic (i.e. it has the triangle with a number 1-7 symbol on it)
3. I will keep all of the plastic that I, myself, accumulate for the entire year (with the exception of plastic items that would be unsanitary to hang on to).
4. At the end of the year, I will make a donation to an environmental nonprofit based on the weight of the plastic (recyclable and not) that I’ve accrued over the course of the year. I will make a donation in the amount of $10 for every pound of plastic I’ve used. Let’s be thankful that plastic is light.