by Alexandra Vo, AWG Paris & FAUSA (with help from members of FAWCO's Environment Team)
The “soap situation”
A few months ago, I bought the new Costco brand soap in a rectangular package of 16 bars. Although we are only a family of four, I like the idea that buying in bulk means less packaging. Living in the suburbs where I need to use a car to go shopping, buying in bulk also means fewer trips to the store and thereby, creating lower carbon footprints in the form of gas emissions (CO2). And supposedly, bulk buying is cheaper. It used to be that these soaps were individually packaged in cardstock boxes, then held together with an outer sheath of plastic wrap. However, when I got home and opened the packaging,
I was dismayed to find that each 
bar of soap was individually sealed in plastic. The type of plastic that’s not recyclable. The ones that end in landfills in Southeast Asia where they can last for 20 years – or in the ocean where they can be swallowed by whales. Or they may be incinerated with other trash – but burning plastic is not exactly a comforting thought.
What’s more, plastic is not only harmful to the environment, but it contributes to climate change. When we talk about plastic waste, we are actually only referring to the end of the life cycle of plastic. The plastic problem begins as a petroleum (oil) product which must be drilled, processed and manufactured (with added toxins), all contributing to pollution and often affecting marginalized communities. For a better understanding, I highly encourage you to watch the short, animated YouTube video The Story of Plastic.
Furthermore, no matter how much we recycle, once introduced, plastic will be around for 
generations. Styrofoam (recycling symbol #6) will last forever; few places can recycle it, and its weak structure makes it prone to breaking and dispersing easily into our natural environment. Some plastics, such as cigarette butts, plastic wrap and harmful BPA items (recycling symbols #3 & #7), cannot even be recycled. Disposable diapers and plastic toothbrushes will be around for 500 years. Single-use water bottles (#1) will survive 450 years. Although they can be recycled, “single-use” means exactly that; it must not be reused, as the plastic is prone to bacterial contamination and leaching of toxins. For instance, the good intention to repeatedly refill single-use water or soda bottles or to repurpose them – for example, in the garden as a drip system, is not a good practice. If you would like to learn more about the different types of plastics, Plastics by the Numbers is a very easy explainer.
Step 1: Plastic Free July and #RefuseSingleUsePlastic
The plasti
c problem is massive and it is complicated. Honestly, who can keep all of it straight? We cannot bury, burn or recycle our way out of the enormous plastic problem. The simplest way forward is to start by refusing plastic as much as we can. By not allowing plastic into our lives, we won’t need to think about what is recyclable, what is harmful, what can be reused and what is harmful to our natural environment. Let me be clear that while this article is about refusing plastic, we must still attack the problem from all avenues. We must still recycle where we can; reuse and repurpose (up-cycle) 
wisely where we can. The reality is that plastic is everywhere. Refusing plastic should be the first approach, and it’s really all about awareness.
Every year, there is a movement called Plastic Free July, where people refuse plastic for one month. This past July I decided to participate, thinking easy-peasy; one month is no time at all! I can go without straws and plastic bags! How wrong I was. Taking that personal pledge – there is no one keeping tabs – meant I couldn’t enjoy refreshing Boba teas, which often come in those non-recyclable plastic cups and covers. I could not do takeouts, because my local restaurants do not take personal containers. I had to
rethink what I used to do the laundry as well as to do the dishes in the kitchen. I had to
be mindful that the produce I bought was not pre-packaged in plastic, not to mention the yogurts and cream cheese that came in plastic tubs. It was difficult! By now you will be thinking that I am discouraging you. Not a bit. I want to acknowledge that it’s not easy! Fortunately, there are plastic free options available - you just have to look for them. Secondly, that one month has super-heightened my awareness of our plastic dependency. Ignorance is really not bliss. Finally, there is the acceptance that I did not have to do it perfectly; I just had to start. As the Zero-Waste Chef, Anne-Marie Bonneau, said, “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”
So let’s start together. The first step is to refuse single-use plastic:
- plastic straws/stirrers and utensils
- plastic soda and water bottles
- plastic shopping bags and produce bags
- plastic sandwich/storage bags and containers
Last year my daughter got me, “the mother who doesn’t need anything,” the perfect birthday present: bamboo toothbrushes! I absolutely love them, and it is such a thoughtful gift. They come numbered so that family members sharing a bathroom can know which toothbrushes are theirs. Also, as soon as I finish my shampoo bottle, I plan to give shampoo bars a try. Single-use shampoo bottles are a menace to our landfills.
Step 2: Refuse the convenience; embrace “It’s a pain; be a pain”
Just before the pandemic, my village passed an ordinance to ban plastic grocery bags – yes, the US always lags behind the rest of the developed nations. Of course, people grumbled at first. Remembering to have your own bag is a pain! But changing habits is painful. For me, it was easy to grab that tub of Philadelphia cream cheese without thinking because we’ve been doing that forever. For Plastic Free July, I started buying the brick form. At first the kids did not re-wrap it properly and the end part dried out. It was a bit messier, too. But just like remembering to bring along the reusable shopping bags, in no time, the family figured out how to properly reseal the cream cheese.
Despite all that we are hearing about climate change and the harm to the environment, looking at my newly bought soap made me feel like we were going backwards. In fact, Costco has such an outsized influence on the consumer market that it can demand that manufacturers create specific packaging just for its stores. The idea that Costco wanted one soap package to contain 16 plastic wraps, among hundreds of such packages stacked 2 pallets high and deep, lit a fire in me. One product. One store. Tens of thousands of single-use plastics. So I decided to “be a pain” and wrote Costco a reasoned letter. I explained I was a long-time customer but was dismayed by the new soap packaging and why it’s detrimental to our environment. I reminded them of their sustainability principle on their website: “For Costco to thrive, the world needs to thrive.” Wasn’t this new packaging going backwards on that pledge? For the sake of the planet, we should all strive to #RefuseSingleUsePlastic, I wrote. My final appeal was that not only was I refusing to buy this soap as it is currently packaged, but that my children, the next generation of consumers, were equally adamant. In discussing the “soap situation” with my eco-conscious daughter, she matter-of-factly said: “The environment is my generation’s problem to solve.” The phrase, and the resigned way she said it, gave me pause. And I hope that it would give Costco pause, too. It was not just that Costco would lose another generation of customers, but there was the ethical question of responsibility: How can we continue to be so careless as to leave it to our children to solve? In parallel, how can the rich nations continue to dump their toxic trash in developing countries?
While we’re on the question of ethics, here’s another one; why is it that we, the consumers, are responsible for recycling? In the US, buying a soda or water means the consumer is charged an additional “deposit” amount. When our local government recycles, it is using our tax dollars to do it. The burden is mostly with the consumer. Happily, if somewhat slowly, the tide seems to be shifting to the stores. Starting in January 2022, France will ban nearly all produce plastic packaging, saving an estimated one billion pieces of unnecessary plastic. This is just the beginning of France’s multi-year effort to reduce plastic waste. Hoorah! If we can continue to refuse plastic and hold big companies accountable, maybe the tide will become a huge wave.
Step 3: Refuse by slowing down: be like our mothers and fathers
I don’t know if writing to Costco will make one iota of difference, but I wanted to be a little thorn on their conscience. It seems to me that having it too
easy is exactly why we are in this plastic problem to begin with. Plastic is convenient. Plastic is cheap. Let’s pre-package food. So long as we recycle, it’s all good, right? As long as we don’t see the trash enveloping poorer Southeast Asian countries and floating like an island in the ocean. It’s a race to the plastic bottom.
It is undeniable that plastic has made access to things more affordable, from food to clothes to vehicles. However, what I want to suggest is that we slow it down and be conscious of what we are consuming. Let’s be more like our parents where frugality is a virtue. Let’s cook more at home and do less take-out. Let’s take the time to drink our coffee at a cafe terrace instead of to go. In the UK, approximately seven million to-go coffee cups are used daily; only 17,500 are recycled (0.25%)! Do we need to buy bottled water? Perhaps there is a local water refilling station. Tap water has vastly improved in many areas. And yes, it’s a pain, but let’s do it for the planet.
Hummus seems to only come in plastic containers. Use this easy recipe to make it at home and store or freeze the hummus in glass containers. At the supermarket, if there is a choice between tomatoes packaged in plastic and cardboard, opt for the cardboard. If there is a choice between fruit pre-packed in plastic and loose fruit, the answer is clear; just remember to bring along your reusable produce bags. You can make cute ones from remnant fabrics.
Shopping at your local farmer’s market has so many benefits! 
Environment Team member Ayuska Motha, bicycles
to her market with a backpack of shopping bags and eco-friendly re-usables. For instance, she brings her paper egg cartons, and the vendors will replenish them. Because the foods have traveled a shorter distance (lower carbon footprint), it is fresh and packed with flavors from being recently harvested. These markets use less plastic and will help you in your sustainable practices. It’s a win-win-win!
Step 4: Refuse by substitution: silicone, wax paper, glass containers, paper, others
Reusable silicone products are better than disposable plastic bags. They can withstand heat and cold because they are made of silicon, which is found in sand. They are also more durable. However, they are not biodegradable or easily recyclable, which means that eventually they will end up in landfill. Unlike plastic, however, they will not break down into microplastics that will eventually end up in fish, for example, and in our food supply. They also do not contain the toxins that are found in plastic.
Wax cloth is an excellent substitute for plastic wrap. It is easy to wrap a sandwich, a piece of cheese
or cover a bowl with these waxed cloths. The wax is naturally resistant to bacteria. Clean the cloths with a soapy sponge in cold water and air dry. They will last a whole year! If you buy the all-natural kind, just bury them in your garden and they will biodegrade.
Glass is another wonderful substitute. If you can choose between buying a product in a plastic or glass jar, the decision is easy to make. I store my unwashed berries in tomato sauce jars and they last for almost two weeks. And why not revisit the past practice of making jams and preserves with fruit when it is in season? Reuseable glass jars with single-use sealing metal covers are a perfect and environmentally responsible option. One of my favorite drinks to buy is kombucha, and it often comes in glass bottles which I reuse to fill with lemonade or a kale smoothie. By the way, glass jars also freeze well if you leave enough space for expansion.
Before plastic became ubiquitous, many cultures had wonderful ways to cover food. Here is Environment Team member Valerie Garforth’s Bombay-style beaded bowl cover that 
she purchased from an estate sale. How about going back to using old
fashioned paper bags for sandwiches and snacks?
Step 5: Share your #refuseplastic ideas
The more people know and understand, the better chance we have of reducing our plastic consumption. It’s good for our health, natural environment, and our planet. Spread the word!
Resources:
- Plastics by the Numbers by Greg Seaman, May 2, 2012.
- Shareable Infographics to Refuse, Re-Use and Reduce Plastics, @LessPlasticUK
- Plastic Free July
- “New law in France will save 1 billion pieces of single-use plastic annually”
- “The Lifecycle of Plastics”
- Video: “The Story of Plastic”
- Hummus recipe
- Illustrations: Plastics that cannot be used chart made by Alexandra Vo de Jager; two Infographics (9 reasons to refuse & 9 tips) – free to use from www.lessplastic.org.uk. All additional photos taken by Environment Team members in their own homes/countries: Shiela Doucet, Ayuska Motha, Renuka Matthews, Jocelyn Fitzgereld, Anne van Oorschot, Valerie Garforth, Rena Levin, Alexandra Vo de Jager.
