I found this white plastic platter in the cupboard above the refrigerator, where we have a few oversized plates and bowls tottering precipitously in an unstable stack. I have no idea how we acquired this object - did the previously owners of our house leave it behind? - and we have never used it.
I've been much more aware of plastic since the last time I wrote about it. I said then that avoiding plastic is like running between raindrops, but that was an offhand thought. Now that I've been paying attention, I realize just how true it is.
Avoiding plastic would require a complete reshaping of one's life. You would have to eat only whole foods from local producer, purchased at the farmer's market or picked at the farm. If you wanted milk, you'd have to buy a goat. (Our milk comes delivered from Calder Dairy so we can avoid disposable milk containers, but even Calder Dairy milk has plastic lids.) You would have severe limitations on clothing: you'd be limited to those items that come with paper sticky labels. (Even Levi's have plastic stickers on the legs.) You would have to produce your own beauty products from your own bees. As a beekeeper, you would not be able to use plastic foundation or a plastic helmet. You would have to fashion a toothbrush from carved wood and boar bristles. You would have to walk or take public transportation everywhere, as you would not be able to own a bicycle, a motorcycle or an automobile. You could not take a train, or an airplane. If you ever wanted to buy or consume anything anywhere outside of your own home, you would have to come armed with your own utensils, bags, and porcelein cups. You would have to keep careful tabs on your quill pen. And you better not need an aspirin, or an asthma inhaler, or stitches.
In short, the easiest way to avoid plastic would be to return to the year 1900 or earlier, and die before 1950.
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