Plastic-Free February, Day 2

The day started off with me hitting the plastic snooze button on my plastic alarm clock. I have a long way to go to become plastic-free.

Plastic in the Morning Routine

As I moved through my morning routine, I was surprised again by just how much plastic there is in my bathroom. Shampoo bottle, soap bottle, razor, shower curtain liner, deodorant container, toothbrush, all made of plastic. I suspect the shower curtain is also plastic, but I’m not certain. It feels almost like fabric, but not quite.

My hairbrush is not plastic. I use Tom’s of Maine toothpaste and, while the cap is plastic, I’m not sure what the tube is made of. Some of my Burt’s Bees products come in glass jars with metal lids. Small victories make me feel good.

Plastic Electronics

Of course, then I moved on to my plastic laptop. I guess nearly all electronics have a lot of plastic in them, especially the cases. The computers, television, DVD player, stereo, and Wii are largely plastic. All the remotes are plastic. Our home phones and my Nokia Twist are plastic.

The exception to the plastic electronics is my husband’s company-issued iPhone 4. That surprised me. Apparently there are other green electronics out there.

Food Preparation

I did manage to limit my contact with plastic while preparing and eating food today. I drank out of a glass rather than a plastic cup. I used the metal mixing bowl instead of the plastic one. I still unwrapped the chicken from its plastic wrap and styrofoam tray, then dredged it in flour that I store in a plastic container. My plastic avoidance is not perfect yet.

Plastic Food Storage

As I mentioned in Plastic-Free February, Day 1, plastic food storage is the hardest for me to get away from. In the comments to that post, Becky Striepe and Misha both mentioned their glass storage containers have plastic lids. I don’t even have glass storage containers, so y’all are way ahead of me.

A quick perusal of Amazon’s housewares shows there are a lot of options for glass storage, but all have plastic lids – even ones called “GoGreen”. My Plastic-Free Life, another site participating in Rodale’s Plastic-Free February, found these gorgeous vintage-style glass containers with glass lids. They’re a bit pricey – a 2 cup container costs $9.99. Life Without Plastic has a section of stainless steel food storage containers. They cost even more, but I suppose the glass and stainless steel will probably outlast my plastic containers. Over time, they might even be cheaper.

I changed a few things today. Plastic-Free February definitely has me thinking about using plastic less and eventually replacing my plastic with other, greener options. How is your Plastic-Free February going?

Image by g_kat26, used with Creative Commons license.

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Tags: food storage, plastic, plastic-free, plastic-free February, Rodale

About the Author

Heather Carr Heather Carr loves food, politics, and innovative ways to make the world a better place. She counts Jacques Pepin and Speed Racer among her inspirations. You can find her on Facebook or Google+.

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http://community.importantmedia.org/beckyanne/ Becky Striepe

To be fair, I have 4 glass storage containers and about a dozen plastic ones, so you’re not that far behind. : ) I guess I could store food in the Le Creuset or my glass baking dish that has a lid? We also have some metal lunch boxes that could work for food storage.
- Heather Carr
  
  I have a couple of casserole dishes and two loaf pans made of glass, but they don’t have lids. Repurposing lunch boxes is a good idea.
  - http://community.importantmedia.org/beckyanne/ Becky Striepe
    
    Who knew food storage could be so complicated?
http://Web greenbean

you could also store in ball canning jars. or reuse almond butter or spaghetti sauce glass jars with metal lids. i have glass containers but never thought about the plastic lids. duh! i mostly switched to the glass for safe microwaving and their longterm life since they don’t hold odors or stains. good luck!
- Heather Carr
  
  I like that idea. I just finished off a jar of salsa. I’ll have to see how well the metal lid seals. Of course, leftovers only have to last a few days at most.
http://Web Roberta

Walmart used to sell glass containers with glass tops. Maybe they are online if no longer in the stores. They were quite reasonably priced. World market has glass containers w/tops (with plastic sealers) I use them for dried beans, etc. They come in various sizes.
- Heather Carr
  
  Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to go to Wal-Mart and see what they have on the shelves. It looks like the ones they have online are mostly plastic lids. The Lock and Lock containers might have glass lids, but it doesn’t say.
  
  The World Market site has quite a few glass countertop storage containers for reasonable prices.