How difficult is it to reduce or eliminate single-use plastics from my own life? Which single-use plastic items am I buying that can actually be recycled? Time to take a look at the purchases I make and where I can improve. This is going to be tough and I’m already worried I won’t be able to avoid buying some things. Hope you who are reading this will help me along the way!
So, September 1st was the start date of “you got this, Rita, just go green!” But honestly, it was an epic fail. I decided to hit the supermarket with my reluctant son at close to 7pm which meant the market was already shut down for the evening which meant I was already in a pickle: I had to buy some fruit and veg in…yes…plastic
So there we were, scrambling to pick up enough but not too much (this was not the “big” shopping, hence my single, reusable yellow shopping bag and not the big, nondescript trolley), already feeling guilty about the plastic wrapped cucumber, packaged red grapes, curly kale in a bag, spaghetti in shiny plastic, etcetera etcetera. I was relieved the red sweet (bell) peppers were loose and on sale. Score. But honestly, I felt stuck, realising that planning would have helped me eliminate some of the single use plastic from my shopping.
Note to self: make a plan to buy fruit and veg at market next time (which, to be fair, I usually do), and learn to make own pasta (a bit of a stretch but not impossible). Thank God I didn’t take the trolley. It could have been worse.