We all know that plastic is a dangerous thing to live with. It can destroy our environment because it is not bio-degradable, and it harms marine animals both directly and indirectly. Not to mention how it may turn into microplastic that may poison any living being.
However, that theory seems useless since plastic products have become parts of our lives. Almost it can be found almost everywhere in our home, office, even cars. Eliminating all those plastic products from our lives seem impossible to be done instantly.
Although you are planning to live plastic-free, you still have to pass through the transition phase. You don’t have to worry much to use plastic products while you are still in the transition phase. You can bring less harm to this planet by choosing plastic products which is least harmful.
In this article we will give you some clues about how to bring least harm while you are in the transition phase to plastic-free life.
Reduce Single Use Plastic
Many plastic products are made to be used only once, and then thrown away into the garbage. Indeed, single use plastics are meant to be used only once. Thus those products are made so tiny and thin. Yet, the risks they might bring to the environment are not that tiny and thin.
The examples are plastic straws, plastic wraps, and plastic bags. For decades, those plastic products has been parts of our lifestyle. Not only because they are simply functional, but also because the cost of those products is so cheap.
Like we said before, those products are so tiny and thin, making those products seem harmless with only one use. But you should not that those products are used everywhere in this world, and almost everyone in this world has been using the products many times everyday.
United they stand, the accumulation of global use of such plastic products has become the biggest threat to this planet. That’s why we should never look down on the impact of single use plastic products in our lives.
There are many options available nowadays to reduce the use such plastic products. In example, you can use candy or celery straws to replace plastic straws. Or you can just bring your own shopping bag to reduce plastic bag consumption. Pretty easy to avoid.
Recycled Plastics
The biggest problem with plastic consumption is because plastics are not bio-degradable. It means that plastic products are hard to be degraded by microorganisms like bacteria in the soil. As the result, plastic waste will stay on earth for generations.
Because of that, some people have tried to convert plastic waste into something new instead of throwing it away into the garbage and litter the earth more. During your transition phase into plastic-free life, you should know that recycled plastic products exist.
Recycled plastic products are the product made of plastic waste which has been remolded and formed into another fully functional products. Buying recycled plastic products means giving another meaning and purpose to plastic waste, instead of letting them litter the earth.
Data showed that choosing recycled plastic products might have saved the earth from more than 2 million tons of plastic waste in United States alone. Bigger numbers will show up if we apply larger scale to this measurement.
Not only that, using recycled plastic products means you are supporting further plastics recycling. Instead of producing more plastics which will eventually become non-degradable waste, why don’t just reuse the already-produced ones?
Managing Your Plastic Waste
One of the most important thing in your transition phase to plastic-free life is managing your plastic waste. You need to fully understand your former plastic-consuming lifestyle before you can fully commit into plastic-free lifestyle.
Knowing how much plastic waste you produce each day, month, or year might be the perfect way. Making notes on any plastic product you use might seem too much commitment, but it will give you more details about the impact of your choice.
But if you don’t feel like making notes on your plastic waste, you can just make sure that someone is paying attention to how much plastic waste you produce. The simplest way is by choosing the right waste processing plant.
By making sure that your plastic waste is handled correctly, you can reduce any harm caused to the planet. Responsible waste management will also recycle the plastic waste they manage, and this is the earliest stage of converting any plastic waste into new products like mentioned above.
If you cannot find any responsible waste management plant near you, you can just simply throw away your plastic waste into special trash bin. You might have realized that there is a special ‘plastic’ bin along with the ‘organic’ and ‘non-organic’ bins.
Safe Yourself
All those things mentioned above were the methods to save this planet by reducing personal impact from your plastic consumption. But you cannot save this planet if you are being impacted by your daily plastic consumption.
Thus, during your transition phase, you should also try to safe yourself from any harms caused by plastics. First, you should learn about the meaning of those numbers you find below the plastic containers you use to contain foods.
The numbers vary from 1 to 7, and each number has its own meaning. The safest ones for containing foods and beverages are the number 1 and 2, that contains safe amount of plastic chemical compounds and no dangerous compounds.
While 3 to 7 are numbers used to explain that the plastic container was made with some risky compounds. In example, number 3 containers means that it contains PVC, which is bad for your health. While number 7 means that the plastic containers were made of bisphenol-A (BPA), which is said to may cause chromosomal errors in your body.
Becoming plastic free is not easy, especially during this modern era where almost anything contains plastic. The transition phase is not supposed to be easy too. However, even the smallest contribution matters to this earth.
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