Plastic Free Book Study

During the summer of 2020, Mission Earth sponsored an evening zoom discussion about what we learned after watching documentaries about the plastic problem. This discussion session set the stage for a zoom book study of Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry. Click below for the outcomes of these events:

• Setting the stage: What is the Problem? (movie discussion night)

• The book we read: Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too

• Book Study Session 1: Why Should We Kick the Plastic Habit?

• Book Study Session 2: What Practical Things Can We Do?

• Book Study Session 3: Where Do We Go from Here?

• Winter Plastic Palaver (a followup to the book study)

Setting the stage: What is the problem with plastic?

Book Study to Continue the Discussion

A group of us met over the course of 3 sessions in Sept/Oct 2020 to discuss the book, Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry. Scroll down, or click on the embedded links below, for the outcomes of the discussions during each session.

If you are interested in reading the book, here are some links to where you can order it on-line: Kindle Version through Amazon or Hard Copy (used or new)

Session 1: Why Should We Kick the Plastic Habit?

On September 14th, Mission Earth hosted the first book study session devoted to breaking our plastic addiction.  Although Beth Terry, the author of Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too, begins with the individual and global harm represented by plastics, she quickly moves on to solutions, both small and large.  Reactions to the book included having our eyes opened up to how much we mindlessly use plastic everyday, being horrified at all of the chemicals in plastic, and welcoming the information that is crammed into this book, not only about the plastic problem, but about ways that we can work to fix it.

In her introduction, Beth Terry writes that “in order to stem the tide of plastic pollution, we need big actions from companies and governments.  But, in order to get there, we each have to start with ourselves.  Systemic change comes from the collective will of individuals.”  Thus, session 1 of the book study considered the question of whether our individual actions in reducing plastic consumption even matters. Healthy and open discussion ran the gamut:

• Pessimism
  “We are losing the war! The likelihood that we get collective action and political change is remote and our own individual actions are minimally effective”

• Realism
  “I agree that it is going to take big collective action, but you have to start somewhere, maybe doing your own little thing keeps you focused and on course to help move things forward”

• Cautious Optimism
  “The more people that you can get to stop using plastic, the more people you can convince with your actions, the more people that will buy into it and talk about it, and act on it – it will have a snowball effect and, perhaps, make a real difference. …  I’m going to cut my use of plastic down, and I’m going to talk it up to others.”

• Looking to the Past
  “We have already seen some change.  We have seen where single use plastic bags have been banned in California, and that did start with a few people wanting to make that change.”

  “We have changed before, look at what happened with cigarettes.”

  “The book gives the example where people in the town of Concord, Massachusets got the town to ban plastic water bottles.”

• Looking Inward and Forward
  “I agree that what I do individually can’t change the world, but for me I feel like I need to walk the talk, and that’s where changing my behavior has to be the start.  Once I can say I have reduced my use of plastic, that is the only place where I can start from for asking other people to do the same.”

In the end, participants agreed that plastic companies need to face some financial pressures to change their habits, that collectively we have a lot of consumer power, and that if more legislation could be passed in California to address the problem of single-use plastics, then companies would have to deal with it, and perhaps it would go nationwide. There were some questions that came up during the course of the discussion, click here to see the questions and their answers.

Questions that Came Up During Session 1

Here are some questions that came up during this session, and their answers:

1.  What is the MRF doing with plastic now that China is not accepting our plastic?  Is it being buried?  Is it being shipped somewhere else in SE Asia?

According to the Program Manager from Western Placer Western Management Authority, this is what is happening to plastic trash in Placer County:

#1 plastics (PET): Generally consists of soda bottles and other clear containers.  This material is generally easy to market, however many one-time use containers that are made with PET (like clam-shell containers for fruit and vegetables) are currently not marketable.  These materials are currently being marketed to Dubai and Southeast Asia to be recycled into new products or resold to other processors. According to chapter 1 of our book, PET bottles are recycled into secondary products like polar fleece and carpets.

#2 plastics (HDPE):  Includes non-pigmented materials such as 1-gallon milk jugs and pigmented materials such as dish and laundry shop containers.   These materials are currently being marketed to Southeast Asia to be recycled into new products or resold to other processors. According to chapter 1 of our book, HDPE bottles and jugs are recycled into bottles for non-food items, plastic lumber, pipe, floor tiles, buckets, crates, flower pots, garden edging, film and sheet, and recycling bins.

Mixed Rigid: Generally a composite of different grades of plastics that rarely have a recycling symbol and number.  Covers most rigid, opaque plastics such as buckets, kids’ toys, old trash cans, flower pots, etc.  These materials are currently being marketed to Southeast Asia to be recycled into new products or resold to other processors.

All other grades of plastic including #3–7 plastics, film plastics (e.g. garbage bags, plastic grocery bags) and one-time use plastics (e.g. clam shell type containers) currently do not have viable markets.  As such we are not recovering these materials from the waste stream and they are being buried at our landfill.

He also indicated that if we should contact him if we would be interested in a presentation about their facility, the current challenges facing recycling markets, and the WPWMA’s future plans to tackle these challenges.

2.  What can be created from recycled plastic bottles?

According to the EPA, only about 30% of water bottles are actually recycled.  Here is the EPA’s graph of what happened to plastic waste in the US since 1960.  You can see that the vast majority of all plastic gets put into a landfill and that the volume of plastic waste in the US has increased dramatically since 1960.

Internet searches suggest that plastic water bottles can be turned into synthetic fabrics for clothing, carpeting, bags, insulation for jackets and sleeping bags, packaging, straps for shipping boxes, and more plastic bottles.  Patagonia has burnished its green image through its recycling program.

Finally this led me to the question of whether reusing plastic bottles is safe.  The short answer is no.  Here are Healthline’s key takeaways on this issue: “Manufacturers design plastic bottles for one-time use only. They can be reused conservatively, provided they’ve not experienced any wear and tear.  Swapping out plastic bottles for more permanent solutions, such as bottles made from stainless steel, is better for your health and for the environment.”

3.  What is going on with Canada’s single use plastic ban?

Neither the European Union nor Canada are ignoring the problems presented by plastics to our health and our environment.  Both will be banning single use plastics by 2021 including plastic bags, straws, cotton swab sticks, drink stirrers, plates, cutlery, and balloon sticks.  In addition, plastic food containers, plastic lids for hot drinks, plastic bottles, fishing line and nets, and tobacco filters are in their cross-hairs. In the EU, 90% of plastic bottles should be recycled by 2029 and also made of 25% recycled content.  In addition, more responsibility will be put on companies to bear the cost of plastic pollution.  Here are some links to articles about the bans:
• BBC News about Canada’s ban
• Time Magazine about Canada’s ban
• The Guardian about the European Union’s ban

4.  What about that place in Auburn that you can refill your containers for cleaning supplies?

This downtown Auburn shop is called “The Refillery” and is part of the Rutherford Reserve in the lower level of the Auburn Hotel office building on the corner, near the Thai restaurant. The address is 853 Lincoln Way, Suite 110; phone number (916) 833-8040. Tom drove by the other day (September 2020) and it was open.

Larger refill stores are located in Nevada City (Gaia Soap Supply;104 Argall Way Nevada City) and Roseville (Village General Store & Refillery; 500 Vernon St)

5. What about those eco strips of laundry soap?

They are produced by Tru Earth, here is a link to their website: https://www.tru.earth/

Session 2: What Practical Things Can We Do?

The second session of Mission Earth’s Plastic-Free Book Study was on September 28, 2020. During this session we shared the many things that we have been doing to kick the plastic habit, and also discussed some things that we are going to try. We agreed that the best approach is to take one step at a time so that you don’t get overwhelmed by the many plastic-free actions that you can take. Click here for our ideas for being plastic-free here in the Auburn area.

Session 3: Where Do We Go from Here?

During the final session of the Trash Talkers book study (October 12, 2020), we mulled over what we learned, how to proceed without being overwhelmed, and how we might bring this issue to the congregation.

Here is a brief summary of the our general ideas for a congregation wide project, if you have ideas, let us know!:

1. We need to think small, so as not to overwhelm people - pick one thing to begin

2. We should start local: our own households, possibly the congregation, maybe our local grocery

3. We should include an education piece especially around the truth about recycling plastics and the toxic chemicals involved in plastic production

4. We should include an action piece, possibly monitoring your own plastic use to both raise personal awareness and to inform our choice of an action (picking one plastic thing to eliminate from your plastic habit).

Some of the thoughts expressed by participants during Session 3 are given below:

• Becoming Aware

“I have become much more aware of how much plastic I am using in the house.”

“Being aware is the first step – once aware, you can start to slowly modify your behavior.”

“This whole process has been interesting to me.   Once you allow yourself to become aware, you see just how pervasive the plastics are.”

• What We Now Realize

“Consumer choices can drive manufacturing choices – so maybe we should be writing letters to manufacturers to say ‘thank you for using glass, that is why I buy your brand’ – or maybe we should be thanking the grocery store for carrying that brand.”

“It is hopeful that the younger generation seems to recognize the problem and are changing their behaviors, which will drive the market.”

“One of the most striking things for me was … that I learned that most of what I thought was being recycled, actually wasn’t.  That was a huge piece of education for me.  I made me feel so guilty that all of those things that I took to be recycled are now clogging up streams in Thailand.  Instead of recycling all of that time, I could have just been not using plastic.”

“[The reality of what was happening with ‘recycling’] was something that really became clear to me too.  Now that I know that the chasing arrow symbols on plastic mean nothing, I am more likely to look for alternatives to single use plastics.”

“One thing that disturbed me is the potentially carcinogenic chemicals in plastic - what do those chemicals do and why are they dangerous should be part of any education piece that we present to others.”

• What We Believe

”Our individual actions toward becoming plastic-free really do matter.“

“Collectively we can make a difference - by ‘laying one brick at a time’ we can influence change”

• Our Commitments

“I am committed to doing something, but have realized that I have to start by doing something small if I am going to sustain it.  After each step, I can add another.”

“I have been spending the extra time in the grocery to scan the aisles for products that are packaged in glass rather than plastic.”

”We will continue to put one foot in front of the other, picking one thing at a time to eliminate for our plastic diets.”

“Most of us are starting small, trying things that are doable, and knowing that it will build from there.”

Winter Plastic Palaver

January 28, 2021

Thanks for joining the Mission Earthlings to socialize and learn what others in the congregation are doing to cut down on plastic use! Some of the ideas that came out of this palaver included:

• new places to order detergents and soaps that are sustainably packaged (Etee, Dropps)

• products to replace single-use items (dental floss in a refillable glass or metal vial, bamboo tooth brushes, washable ‘cotton’ swabs from LastObject, fountain pens, silicone storage bags)

• make your own bread (no more plastic bread bags) and squeeze your own juice (no more plastic juice bottles)

• local restaurants that are reported to use sustainable take-out containers (Max’s Deli, and Katrina’s)

• more information about the Rutherford Reserve Refillery (all the soaps are locally made)

• 4Ocean is a business that works to clean up plastic in the ocean using funds raised by customers purchasing 4Ocean products.

• relevant books (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) and movies (No Impact Man)

• the news that Briar Patch Food Co-Op is coming to the Kmart shopping mall in Auburn. The Briar Patch is known for supporting local/regional businesses that are committed to regenerative agriculture, sustainability, humane practices, and organic farming.

• news about legislation likely to pass in New York which would give manufacturer’s the responsibility for plastic recycling (rather than the consumers).