20 July 2010 — Check out this post on a website called “World Plastic Industry”.
It describes how plastic has become indispensable in our daily lives… starting with your mobile phone and alarm clock, it goes through everything we use on a daily basis including packaging and building materials. It makes me feel so sad to realize that we have been won over with subtle but durable changes to our lifestyles that now seem irreversible. Irreversible because in some cases, we have completely lost the incentives to create non-plastic alternatives because the whole infrastructure has changed to accommodate plastic-based solutions. One good example comes from the packaging industry. Plastic is now being recognized as the only “hygienic” way of packaging take-out food. When I approached a local restaurant in my town to offer some reusable stainless steel containers for take out food, they decided to pass because they could not be certain people will clean their containers properly, and they do not want to take responsibility for bacteria that could eventually contaminate the food. The plastic industry is behind much of the fear circulating about hygiene in reusable products. Another example comes from the medical industry. Look at your doctor’s office, and how many items are made of plastic and intended for single use. My doctor used to take my oral temperature with a plain old disinfected thermometer, but now she uses a single-use plastic straw-looking extension that attaches to a high tech machine. The company makes money not only when it sells the machine but also when it sells the disposable plastic extensions, which the machine user is obliged to continue purchasing in order to use the machine. That’s how plastic has invaded our lives… slowly changing the way we live.
Chantal Plamondon, co-owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com