Getting to grips with your household’s plastic habit is the first step in turning off the tap of unnecessary plastics that flow into our lives.
Based on the agreed data on average plastic consumption detailed in chapter five, The Footprint of Plastic, here, you will have built up a picture of your likely consumption, and should have a fairly good idea of your plastic footprint. Already, you may also have quite a good indication of where you can make immediate changes to cut out some unnecessary plastic in your life.
But before you make any more radical changes, I want you to become your own plastic detective, and commit to this incredibly useful exercise.
GETTING FEEDBACK FROM YOUR BIN
In order to get a full and accurate picture of your household’s plastic consumption, you need to gather some data of your own. To do this, I suggest that you start keeping a daily plastic diary. It’s not an actual diary that you tell your innermost thoughts to – you don’t necessarily need to record how you felt when you picked up a six-pack of bottled water, or whether you thought someone looked at you with ‘judgy eyes’ when you forked out five pence on a carrier bag (though you can if it helps!) – instead, you are going to be keeping it factual and functional.
Simply put, you put aside fifteen minutes each day to register and record as much of the plastic that flows into your life as possible. Keeping your personal household diary for four weeks (or at the very least two weeks) will give you an invaluable, most probably shocking, perspective on your personal plastic footprint. If this seems like a big imposition, it’s not far off the amount of time you already expend if you take your recycling seriously. When the Proud family in Manchester started their plastic experiment to halve their packaging over two weeks, I noted how much time dad Wayne was spending on their bins: every evening he would meticulously sort through the kitchen bins, picking out the empties that had been put in the wrong waste container.
So while this monitoring and recording process might take a bit of time and a certain amount of effort, trust me: seeing and recording the daily flow of plastic in your household is such an eye-opener, and helps you to really pinpoint problem areas – and score instant, easy wins as well as longer-term, more substantial change. Ultimately it will free you from the tyranny of the recycling bin, saving you precious time and effort in the long run!
Few of us, I suspect, will be prepared to match the commitment shown by Daniel Webb during his mammoth year-long Everyday Plastic project at home in Margate. The information you gather will be a more manageable, succinct version, but the snapshot it provides will still tell you a great deal.
There is something comforting about the familiar noises of the bin lorry and the clinking of the recycling truck, as they go trundling along outside in the street. That comfort, I think, is derived from the fact that somebody is restoring order from chaos. It is all being taken care of on our behalf. Out of sight, out of mind. This recording phase means that we interrupt that process, and confront the reality of how much we consume and chuck away. It can be a tough reckoning, and actually a bit disturbing, to confront that reality. But it is important. The working lives of today’s plastics are so short. Your daily diary means that you have a record of what came in and what went out, vital evidence to reflect on long after the bin lorry has been and gone.
The plastic data, based on real-life consumption over the first two to four weeks of recording, will help you make accurate interventions that really work. So remember, after you’ve recorded the flow of plastic, keep hold of your findings. The secrets of your bin are about to become a precious resource.
INTRODUCING . . . THE PLASTIC DIARY GRID
The diary is in the form of a grid, where you can enter as many pieces of plastic that come into your life as possible (aim for 100 per cent, but you are bound to miss some). My version has eight columns (see example below). Yours might be simpler: to note essentials, the type of object and the number of items. However, the more information you record, the better. In the most time-efficient, basic format, you might choose just to record numbers of items (assessing the volume of plastics is the most important thing) and then spot-check a few pieces of plastic that have made it into your recycling bin every evening, and record more precise details for five key items.
Draw up or print multiple blank copies of your grid and keep them handy – attach a grid to the fridge, or keep one near the bin to be filled in. (I’ve included a blank diary grid for you to photocopy in the Further Information section here at the end of the book, to get you started.)
ON-THE-GO SINGLE-USE PACKAGING
You will also monitor every piece of plastic that enters your life outside of the home – all snacks, drinks bottles, for example, that are bought when you are out and about. Even if you consume it at the bus stop, in the playground, in the lift to your office – every household member needs to find a way of collecting any plastic waste to bring home for recording before it goes into the bin or the recycling. Carry a bag (a reusable plastic one) for this purpose, and bring home empties each night. This means coffee cups, water bottles, wrappers – anything you would normally sling in the bin – bring it home, stare it in the face and jot it down. But let’s treat this as an amnesty, so we’re not going to judge each other . . . yet.
If you cannot bear to carry your detritus and bring it home, at least make a note of it during the day. Every sneaky takeaway coffee cup, sandwich wrapper and dreaded plastic straw needs to be accounted for, so keep a portable grid on your phone in ‘Notes’, on your laptop, or in a pocket notebook so that you can add to your tally on the go – on your commute, at work, at school – wherever and whenever plastics try to enter your life. Remember to add any on-the-go data to your master plastic diary at home.
If you live alone, your accounting process should be relatively straightforward. If you’re in a busy household, you might be faced with some resistance and even, in some cases, rebellion. Not everybody welcomes change, so prepare yourself. But it’s worth persevering. From my experience of working with a number of families in reducing their total plastic consumption, doing the groundwork is worth the effort, not least because returning to the data from the beginning of the project and seeing just how much progress you’ve made can be a real boost.
SET A GOAL
As you reach the midway point of this period of observation and entering your household’s packaging statistics on the grid, you might want to set some goals and a time span for achieving them. At this point, it’s also useful to check in and see where your ambition lies.
Are you aiming for the full monty, a plastic-free lifestyle where plastic is all but obliterated? If you’re an Instagram user you may have come across members of a zero-waste elite who shun not only plastic, but all unnecessary consumption of materials in order to live a low-impact lifestyle (and sometimes to avoid clutter in their living space). This is now a global movement, and those who are very gifted share their tips for cutting out unnecessary waste with the world on a daily basis. The aesthetic is what I would call ‘aspirational’, and images often include rows and rows of upscale glass Kimble bottles and jars full of ‘essentials’ such as tortilla flour and quinoa displayed neatly on white shelving. It is, I promise you, totally mesmerising.
But let’s face it, it is not a gritty portrayal of the truth of the fight against avoidable plastic. They do not, for example, look as if they have ever experienced the up-tipping of a refillable coffee cup in their handbag, onto pale skinny jeans, on the number 19 bus. It’s easy to be intimidated by (and just a little envious of) their cool, expensive, minimal aesthetic and supremely ordered lives. Yes, it’s aspirational, but I have my doubts about how sustainable this type of lifestyle is. It’s certainly not a realistic goal for most of us, haring around from one appointment to the next, gathering kids and pets in our wake.
I champion a much more down-to-earth goal, but one not without ambition.
Make a list of the items of plastic that you consider absolutely necessary. Are there any products you are simply not willing to forgo? Perhaps these are blister packs that hold important medication, for which there is no alternative. Or you have a baby in nappies and have already decided you’re not going to give up disposables, at least not during the night shift.
After your allocated ‘recording’ period, tot up your totals for the household. For a couple I would expect you to be running at between 300 and 1,000 items over a four-week period. For a family of four, up to 1,500 items. At a minimum I’d love you cut this in half over the first month.
Whatever your total, whichever the anomalies, let’s get started on making a very large dent!