I agree that it's almost impossible to avoid plastic. Plastic and petroleum-based materials are in every inch of our lives. Even 100% natural clothing is sometimes sewn with polyester thread or has plastic fasteners.

Even if not IN the product, probably the production or manufacture used plastic.

Yes, I do what I can to avoid it but it sure is everywhere. It's so aggravating to see two ears of corn or potatoes in a styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic at the grocery store. I have eliminated all of my plastic kitchen storage containers and use glass, stainless steel or enamel instead. I bought some resusable drawstring mesh bags at our farm market to put my produce in at the store and farm market. I am looking for a non-plastic solution for baking supply storage, and my favorite measuring cups are plastic. My niece recently came to live with us temporarily for this college semester and became acquainted with wax paper for wrapping her sandwiches since we don't stock plastic sandwich bags.

I’m somewhat concerned but not trying to eliminate plastic from my life. It seems like an exercise in futility and not something I want to be preoccupied with at my age. I think it would be a depressing endeavor. My neighbors are into it though and they’re my age.

I think what the great minds of the world need to do is, (1) continue to develop processes that completely break down plastics, some of the work with micro-organisms is interesting, (2) continue to develop fully biodegradable forms of plastic, and (3) when #2 can be scaled cost-effectively, pass laws that ban the use of non-biodegradable plastics with exceptions for situations when a viable biodegradable alternative is not available or not advisable.

I love plastic. i am old and remember pre plastic days. i trust the science and all of the work which was done to bring us to here. i hated cleaning broken glass with shards flown everywhere. plastiic allowsme to bemuch more care free. obv, you feel differently.. scientists use plastics. good enough for me. i am aware.

1. also use my microwave in addition to our stove, oven and grills. westy btw, torvet above is an educated scientist. ,2keep in mind that enamel can be and is, another word for paint. westy.

I just bought bamboo socks. Does that count?

" DH reuses one use plastic bags and containers all the time. " I REuse them too. When I refuse plastic bags at the grocery checkout I say I can wash my cloth bag. Single pieces of fruit or vegetables don't get put in a bag. Wait staff that automatically put disposable straws on the restaurant tables--I hand them back while saying I will not need them. Giant plastic bags holding 32 rolls of toilet paper are carfully opened so they can be reused as a bag later.

I also remember glasss bottles being broken in the house. First the dog had to be locked in a bathroom and then Mom had to clean clean clean so every shard was removed from the floor.

Remember the movie The Graduate? That was 1967, "PLASTIC"and it all went to he11 from there. The most disturbing thing for me is all the sea creatures that are caught in floating plastic garbage. I have two huge cloth bags that fit over the grocery cart at my big grocery store, and at Traders I do use their paper bags because we use them in our pull-out plastic garbage bin. I get yelled at by my daughter all the time because I buy water from Costco. I have an LL Bean little pouch for my phone and a side for a small water bottle. But all my plastic goes in recycling, and I hope they are making stuff from it.

Costco noe sells ec o so u l dishes. Compost able , no plastic.. Take a l o o k.

Other than those vacuum sealed plastic clam shell things, that take a chain saw to open, I really don't think about it 🤔

Everything in moderation. Is that the lesson? The world rushed to save our natural resources and plastic was invented. It was cheaper, faster multifascited. It was a marvel of industry and now it's the bane of our existence. Americans anyway are consumers, more more more... A large block of voters balked at the suggestion we be satisfied with one quality doll vs 10 cheap plastic China made dolls.... If these micro plastics are as detrimental as being reported I guess we know who will win this struggle.

My state (NJ) banned plastic shopping bags about 5 years ago. We all bring reusable bags to shop with in all stores, not just grocery stores.. It has really cut down the trash in our waters and fields and along fence lines. I always carry a reusable bag in a small pouch in my purse.

I do think that plastic shopping bags can be useful for many things but we don't need thousands of them.

Lily, I do remember The Graduate. Hence, the title of this thread. :-)

cyn, later I figured that out...lol Loved that movie. I love NJ's ban on plastic bags. I wish PA did. I know Wegmans and possibly other stores do here in PA. I was buying caramel corn on the boardwalk at OC and had to buy a bucket because of the ban on plastic, and I was glad to do it.

Ha Ha didn’t Harry Bailey (George Bailey's younger brother) plan to start a career in plastics too? IAWL??

I do bring my own reusable grocery bags. I still have a lifetime supply of the old plastic ones that I use to line my compost bucket and my litter box scooping bucket. I know I could skip the bag in the compost bucket but I greatly appreciate the ease of clean up with the bag. The cat bag is a must. Just yesterday I pulled a plastic grocery bag off one of my shrubs - blew in from who knows where.

I'm concerned about pollution and trash accumulations. I'm concerned about the proliferation of plastic waste and by-products and the effects on wildlife and humans.

And, and but:

We don't put plastics into the microwave, we don't use it to store food items that aren't stone cold (preferring glass or ceramic instead), and we dispose of our waste responsibly. I buy products I want to buy and if they come in plastic instead of a different container (I'm thinking here of things like yogurt), I don't shed a tear about it or buy something else. There's only so much I can reasonably do. The plastic containers are labeled as being recyclable, that's good enough for me.

Being mindful doesn't require being obsessive about it. We don't reuse ziplock bag, I don't like reusable bags for grocery shopping. Recyclable clean and new brown kraft paper bags are what I prefer. Others prefer other things, fine. "Plastic" bags in stores for produce and wet meat packages are biodegradable so I don't feel any guilt in using them for my own convenience. Even if they blow out of the garbage truck and land in someone's yard or a body of water, these aren't "forever" materials.

Edit to add:

We have 3-stream waste disposal pickup - recyclables, yard waste, general trash destined for a landfill

Here's something that makes no sense. A law that became effective a year or so ago bans putting household food waste into the "general" trash recepticle. Instead, all household food waste is supposed to go into the yard waste bin. Picked up once a week. And by the way, the food waste has to be loose in the container. No plastic bags are allowed, not even the compostable ones.

Everyone has food waste every week, not everyone has yard waste. The absence of yard waste bins at the curb is quite noticeable, suggesting the rule is being widely ignored. We ignore it. The last thing I want is a bin (any bin) accumulating the residual of food waste and needing to be washed out with soap and water regularly to avoid smells and pests.

They need to make the law easier to comply with if they want it followed.

Items that are biodegradable need the appropriate environment to degrade, don’t they? Including oxygen? That’s why ventilating and turning or stirring a compost heap or bon is necessary. Landfills compress and the contents don’t have the environment needed to break down.

We like a certain dessert from a nearby grocery store, and it comes in little glass dishes with a plastic lid. Win-Win! We now have over a dozen that we use for fruit, desserts, prep bowls, parties, dipping sauce. But we don’t need more! We haven’t bought the dessert in a while partly for that reason. I have been seeing them at the thrift store now. Like those little glass French yogurt cups.

The yard waste contents ARE composted. Wouldn't you expect that a "compostable" bag would breakdown in a composting process with the same characteristics and timeline as leaves, grass and branches?

Our recycling company promised us the moon. Now it's changed the playing field so much regarding what we are allowed to put in the cart, there is barely anything left to recycle. I buy plastic single use bags to take to the grocery store. The paper bags that a lot of grocers have are so thin the can't make it to the car without tearing. My "single use" bags are reused for a myriad of things. I do my part for the environment by not being much of a consumer. I buy furnitiure for function and use it for decades. I don't buy a new car or upgrade my phones until they no longer work well. I think it's hypocritical of people who up grade their phones each time a new model comes out to be pointing their fingers at thin plastic bags and drinking straws.

Phones and other electonic items that are disposed of responsibly (given to organizations that advertise and tout procedures for proper handling) are processed to reclaim and reuse materials to the extent possible and then to properly find a final home for what remains. Whatever that is.

People interested in responsible recycling, check to see if Ridwell is in your community. Read about their philosophy and what/how they recycle. Every pick up they have a rotating featured hard to recycle item that they have arranged recycling for - from christmas lights to plastic political yard siigns They take plastic bags and food packaging, clam shell boxes that greens come in, plastic bottle lids, small electronics, styrofoam, unwearable textiles, etc. https://www.ridwell.com
edited to add a video link about the multi layer plastics they recycle...I was so surprised at how much of this stuff I accumulate: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1HWVQ1S1hR/

This probably varies from place to place. In the two populated places I spend my time, there are many choices of where to take items not permitted in the general trash pickup stream. Styrofoam is but one example of special waste. Both special waste and hazardous wastes are handled separately and where I am, both kinds are easy and convenient to dispose of properly.

Lucky you.

Lucky you to have it all.

The garbage company that services my area will not allow us to put compostable bags in the organics bin. I would have to make several trips to throw stuff in the bin every day to comply. I am compliant in my own way. I line the lidded 2 gallon organics bin with a small plastic bag. When it's time to to put all the bins out for garbage day organic bin is first to go, upside down to empty the bag into the large bin. Then I take the ooky bag and put it in one of the land fill bags.

Compostable bags are a no-no because apparently some companies or countries do not tell the truth.