The Ubiquitousness of Plastics

A year ago, I pledged to myself for this year I would use less plastic. For the most part, I have failed. It’s really really hard to live without plastic. Every time I buy something, it comes wrapped in more plastic and I die just a little bit inside. Given I’m actually alive and getting older I guess technically I am dying a little bit inside every day, but still. Some days I feel it more. It’s one thing to buy something made of plastic that you plan to use for years, but it’s another entirely to bring something home, tear the plastic packing off it and throw it away. That’s a lot of short-term plastics. And most of us bring our goods home in a plastic bag, which we then toss out or save for a rainy day that never comes.

A single person at the grocery store, I buy a half pie. It comes in a plastic clam-shell container. I pick up some meat, and it comes in a foam tray with plastic wrap over the top. I pick up some apples, and I put them in a thin plastic bag to carry home. I bought cereal in a box and it comes in a plastic non-recyclable bag on the inside of the box. I bought crackers, and there is plastic on the outside of the box as well as on the inside of the box. I picked up stuff from the bulk food store, and each item came in a plastic bag. I buy yogurt and there are no choices in cardboard containers. I have to buy plastic. I have so many plastic tubs come through my house it makes me irritated.

I realized that my current knitting project, made with very cheap yarn that feels like I’m working with fiber glass, is acrylic…