Breaking the Habit

When Michaela started having to take lunch to school, I bought fabric sandwich bags, so we weren’t trashing a million Ziplock bags. That was no problem. Just put the sandwich or carrot sticks or whatever else in the fabric bag, not plastic.

A couple of years ago, we ditched all our plastic storage containers and moved to glass. I feel less concerned we’re being exposed to chemicals that we shouldn’t be, and to me, it feels downright luxurious to pull out a glass container of leftovers.

Mike has always been a big fan of cloth napkins (which we NEVER used when I was a kid), so we generally use those for meals, not paper napkins or paper towels. I even recently — like this week — started bringing some cloth napkins to work to cut down on my use there.

So why am I having such a hard time with single use plastic?!?

I have been trying lately to use less of it, to be more environmentally friendly. I went to IKEA and bought a couple of ceramic plates and a set of utensils to keep at work, so I could use those to reheat food or eat my lunch without worrying about taking away from our home dishes. The problem is, I only bought set — one fork, one knife, and one spoon — so I sometimes find myself without whatever utensil I need because it’s at home in the dishwasher waiting to be washed. Strike one.

Now, I don’t drink a lot of drinks that require straws, but I prefer to use a straw if I’m drinking soda or if I’ve grabbed takeout somewhere that includes a drink, generally I need a straw. So I bought some glass straws. I washed them, set a few on the counter so I could take them to work/put them in my purse… And one immediately rolled off the counter and shattered into a million pieces on the floor. Looks like the landfill is getting some more waste after all. Strike two.

Today I brought leftovers of a Chipotle burrito bowl to work for lunch. At the restaurant yesterday, when I tucked my food into the (paper) bag to take home, I remembered to throw my fork in there so I could use it again today. “There’s one piece of plastic that will get multiple uses,” I thought. And to my credit, I did use it for lunch and for my afternoon snack of watermelon chunks. I have to work late tonight and was provided dinner, so I made myself a plate (plastic– darn it, I could have brought my own!) and grabbed a napkin (paper– darn it!) and a fork and knife. You see where this is going, right? A plastic fork and a plastic knife, when I could have reused my one from earlier or used my IKEA utensils. Strike three!

It has really helped me see how ingrained these habits are in me and in my life. I guess I can’t expect to get it right 100% of the time, but I do feel inspired to keep trying.