wyhr.orgWendy’s World

Today I will be attending a full-day symposium on food safety.

Yes, it will be extremely difficult to unitask today especially since this is mandatory training (i.e. I think I have better things to do with my time). It will be the first time in years where I will just be listening to the speaker instead of doing a crossword or checking my Blackberry for the hundredth time.

Maybe I’lll be pleasantly surprised.

I would say the first day was mildly successful. I was extremely focused, especially in the afternoon, and actually finished one thing on my To Do list. Yet I did have difficulty…and questions: What about waiting? Is waiting in a doctor’s office a separate task to reading? And what about walking and talking? Is walking a sub-conscious activity, similar to background noise or an auto-pilot feature?

I recently read an article in Real Simple about unitasking. The author of the article, A.J. Jacobs, defines unitasking as performing one activity at a time. So in an effort to be more focused and, possibly, to complete more things on my To Do list – I’m going to experiment. For three days I’m going to do one thing at a time*.

*As I type this I have three applications on my computer running and nine tabs on Firefox open. Needless to say – this will be a challenge.

Day 5 was supposed to be my conclusion but I felt it was getting a bit lengthy hence this post.

So after a week of my non-plastic journey I have to admit that I don’t necessarily have one final conclusion (I suppose the scientist in me desires that) but I can say I’ve learned a few things:

• I learned that the rise in our use of plastic coincided with World War’s I and II¹.
• I was also reminded that plastic is a by-product of petroleum and that without petroleum, we wouldn’t need to find a use for this by-product.
• I learned that plastic fuels our convenience and throwaway culture.
• I agree with Katherine Sharpe and her hierarchy of plastic. There are items that have single uses and are extremely wasteful. Then there are items like credit cards, computers and microwaves that seem like a decent use of plastic.
• I learned there are areas of my life where I can make non-plastic choices.
• I was reminded of the various types of plastic.
• I asked a lot of questions.

I suppose this whole experiment was about the journey – what I learned and how it will affect my future choices.

¹Fellow blogger’s plastic history entry and American’ Chemistry’s History of Plastic

So it’s been over a week since My Non-Plastic Journey ended and I have yet to post the conclusion. I have to admit, I’ve had a hard time concluding. The thing is, day 5 (official end of my non-plastic week, hey she did it?) was pretty aggravating. Let me recap:

• 7pm on Day 4 I’m starting Day 5 with a non-plastic shower. I wash up using a bar of soap that is carefully wrapped in wax paper. I then condition my hair using apple-cider vinegar.¹ Needless to say I and the upstairs stink like vinegar. Dave and the cats are offended by the smell.

  Cranky level: Low.

• 6am I wake up the next morning and still smell like vinegar albeit not as strong. Maybe my fruity hair product will cover it up? I then fry my egg in butter. Not necessarily a bad thing but I wasn’t able to use my plastic-bottled ketchup. For those of you who don’t know, it’s my favorite condiment.
• OK so it’s 6:30am and I’m doing alright. That is until I pack my lunch. Since I work for a food company I’m not allowed to have glass in my lunch bag.² That means I’m forced to use paper bags to pack my sandwich, blueberries and other food items. I’m annoyed to have two constraints on my lunch.
• 7:00am All my hair product comes in plastic containers. So not only can I not cover up the vinegar smell with Fructis, I’m also left feeling a bit insecure about my flat and not-put-together hair.

  Cranky level: Moderate.

• 7:15am I made coffee and thought I had stainless steel travel mugs. Oh I do have stainless steel containers but they have plastic inside – ARGH! I’m left with bringing my coffee to work in our at-home ceramic mugs.
• 8:00am Can you imagine what happened next? Yup the coffee splashed all over my center console while I was driving to work.

  Cranky level: High.

• 8:30am While everyone is asking me about my weekend I can only think of the stinky shower I took the night before. Mondays suck already. Why did I have to make this one worse by doing this non-plastic thing?
• 12pm I need some salt for my lunch so I go for the paper salt packets instead of the plastic salt shaker. Is that really better?
• 12:15pm My co-worker points out that the binder clip³ I am using has plastic on it. Argh! Can’t I get away from this stuff?

  Cranky level: High.

• 3pm Time for the afternoon snack and it’s crushed blueberries. Apparently the paper bag doesn’t offer protection for the blueberries. O well, it’s still edible.

  Cranky level: Low.

• 5pm Absolute elation as I drive home and realize I’m going to shower this smell away with all of my plastic bottles!

  Cranky level: Non-existent.

As I re-read the events of the day I don’t know that I can capture the emotion of how I was feeling. I can only describe it as a day when all the little things don’t go exactly right and annoy you little by little.

It’s really hard to escape plastic.  I suppose that’s where my trouble forming a conclusion occurs. Is plastic so bad?

To Emily’s point, is it really better to throw away all of our current plastic items in exchange for non-plastic, doesn’t that just add to our current problem?

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, when it comes to the environment it doesn’t seem to be black and white.

¹ I know you think I’m crazy but I got the idea from another blogger who was also doing a week without plastic. She was my inspiration for this whole thing.She was also the motivation to count a week as five days.
²For a thorough discussion on the topic, see Day 1.
³I later learn that the clip is made of spring steel.  Score!

The short answer: Yes.

The long answer: On this site I found out that my retainer is made of acrylic. More specifically, an acrylic resin. An acrylic resin is a polymer derived from the monomer acrylic acid. Acrylic is clear plastic that resembles glass with superior physical properties (it doesn’t shatter as easily).

This question also answered another question – Is a resin a polymer? Yup.

References:
- Wise Geek
- Wikipedia – Acrylic Resin
- Wikipedia – Thermoplastic

Today I woke up and began to make a list of all the plastic things I touched while being on this non-plastic journey. Why am I using plastic? Well, oftentimes I use the item and then realize it’s plastic. Hindsight is 20-20.

• Alarm clock
• Hand soap – After realizing I was using this plastic item, I’ve switched to bar soap.
• Pen – I have an all metal pen. I’ll make the switch.
• Laptop
• Retainer & case – The case is definitely a form of plastic but is the retainer?
• Toothbrush – I could use my finger.
• Toothpaste
• Eye gel
• Medicine bottle – Sorry folks. I need to take my meds.
• Cap on aluminum water bottle – Even non-plastic items have plastic?! My glass Tupperware-esque dishes have plastic lids?! My metal water bottle has a plastic lid?! I can’t win!
• Vitamin bottle – Does it count if I take the vitamins from the plastic bottle and put them in a paper bag? No? I didn’t think so.
• Deodorant – I have an aluminum can but it has a plastic lid. Once again a non-plastic object with a plastic accessory!
• Eyeliner lid – Wood pencil with plastic cap.  See Deodorant.
• Palm Pre
• Pizza tray – In NJ you usually get yelled at when your pizza is ready. When you hear “slice!” you go back to the counter and retrieve your pizza on a paper plate. Yesterday the pizza guy brought our slices to us…on a plastic tray.
• Straw – I caved and sipped Dave’s soda. I could have taken the lid and straw off but was too lazy.
• Ziploc bags – Contained current food.
• Cutting board – Sorry peeps. I could have went out and purchased another cutting board (which I plan to do in the near future) but for now it’s what I have.
• Knife & pot handles – See cutting board.
• Scrubby brush to do dishes – I could have used a dish rag but sorta zoned out at the sink.
• Salt shaker top – Again with the plastic accessory.
• Bags – At the farmer’s market I picked out some fruit in nice carboard-y containers…which the farmer promptly poured in to a plastic bag. I didn’t have paper bag alternatives with me so I didn’t say anything.

This list made me realize a few things: (1) It’s hard to find a completely non-plastic item. (2) Living a non-plastic life is a matter of preparation. All of the items on the list above could be substituted with non-plastic devices after a bit of investigation on the Internet. (3) If I want to make non-plastic a reality, I need to make an investment to substitute my current items. (4) This is turning out to be harder than I thought.

As a Christian there are times when I feel that my every action is being scrutinized by those on the outside, like I’m a fish in a bowl. Well as I read 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 today and verse 2 caught my eye.

“Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception…”

Sometimes I get disheartened at how un-Christlike I behave – snapping at a co-worker, cursing, etc. But this verse says it all: I’m trying. Those times where I act “un-Christian”, well that’s brutal honesty, the opposite of deception. I’m not perfect nor am I trying to be. My ambition is to try to please God each day with how I live my life, knowing that I will make mistakes along the way. I just hope that those on the other side of the fish bowl can see it that way too.

On Day 3 I found myself sleeping at a friend’s house, hitting the beach and then going to a BBQ before heading home.

Pitfalls
- Ice in the cooler. I offered to put the ice directly in the cooler. Dave & the friend said to use a Ziploc bag. Dave wound up loading the Ziploc full of ice. It felt like cheating but I rationalized it to myself: I did offer to put the ice directly in the cooler and that was totally a viable option.
- I drank from a Dave’s plastic Gatorade bottle when I was thirsty on the beach.
- When buying our sandwiches and goodies for the beach, Dave requested the plastic bag. I sat by and watched (I still had the no-lidded coffee cup in my hands).

Triumphs
- Coffee without lid – cool. Coffee without stirrer – not so cool. The end of the cup tasted like creamer. It was promptly ditched.
- Sandwiches in wax paper, score!
- Snack for the beach – Goldfish, paper bag with aluminum insert, woohoo!
- Paper plates at the BBQ! And who needed utensils for guacamole & chips?
- Beer in a glass bottle, score!

So there are my pitfalls and triumphs.

As a result of this impulsive journey, I’m asking myself (& Dave) a lot of questions. Is Styrofoam a type of plastic? How is a composite different than a polymer? I hope to answer a few of these questions in the days ahead. For now, I’m off to figure out how to make hair shampoo from household ingredients.

On Day 2 I found myself thinking I might need some rules for this thing. I mean, is it OK for me to drink coffee made with a plastic coffeemaker? What about the groceries I already have that are lovingly wrapped with plastic?

With those questions fluttering through my head, I decided to make some rules. Here’s what I got. Feel free to give your opinion on the rules:

• Do not purchase any additional items containing plastic.
• Current food items are grandfathered in to the system. I’m sorry I just can’t let good food go to waste.
• Try to avoid all semi-permanent devices made of plastic. By semi-permanent device I’m thinking of a coffeemaker, hair dryer, Tupperware, etc. I say try because I do plan to be a good employee and go to work which means I need to use my plastic computer.

As for Day 2, I was at a fancy wedding so plastic wasn’t that difficult to avoid. The two times where I chose not to use plastic were:
(1) At McDonald’s between the wedding and the reception when I chose a vanilla cone to eat instead of a plastic-wrapped goodie and
(2) During desert when I had to manhandle the strawberries instead of using the plastic toothpicks. Don’t worry. I went for easy targets and didn’t touch any other strawberries that I wasn’t eating