Eco Living: How Much Plastic is There in Your Life?

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere

I decided to monitor how much plastic I touched in a day and it went something like this:

Alarm clock
Kettle
Milk bottle
Shower gel container
Toothbrush
Toothpaste tube
Hairbrush
Make up containers
Television remote
Toaster
Butter container
Fridge door
Shoes
Front door
Car keys
Car
Work access card
Computer
Pen
Notebook
Telephone
Teabags
Mobile phone
Yoghurt pot
Cutlery handles
Washing up liquid
Crisp packet
Food packaging

etc. etc. etc.

How did we get to this stage – where practically everything in our life is made of plastic?

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The 1930s

I asked my grandmother to recreate her typical day from the 1930s and this is what she said:

Alarm clock	Metal
Kettle	Metal
Milk bottle	Glass with a cardboard lid
Shower gel	Soap
Toothbrush	Bakelite
Toothpaste tube	Tin
Hairbrush	Wood and natural bristles
Toaster	Toasting fork
Butter container	Ceramic
Fridge	Larder
Shoes	Leather
Front door	Wood
Computer	Metal typewriter
Pen	Wood and metal nib
Teabags	Loose tea
Lunchbox	Grease proof paper
Cutlery	Metal
Food packaging	None or paper bags
Crisps	Not invented
Yoghurt	Unheard of in Britain before the 60s!

But even in the 1980s and 90s I remember toothpaste tubes that weren’t made of plastic, loose fruit for sale in supermarkets and paper bags everywhere.

Didn’t any of these wonderful scientists who developed plastic think about what would happen to it in the future?

Yes, it was a fantastic invention but we are suffering for this lack of foresight now. When I was at art college in the 1990s we took part in a national project on reducing packaging in conjunction with an environmental group, so how come 25 years later, it has only just seemed to dawn on everyone that this is a major problem?

Is the government’s lack of action to do with the businesses that give them financial backing?

So what if anything can we do about the climate catastrophe? If we as individuals try to limit our use of single-use plastic, will it really make any difference?