How Plastic-Free Living is Done: An Interview with Beth Terry from Fake Plastic Fish

Beth Terry Talks About How She's Learned To Minimize The Plastic In Her Life Since 2007

Beth Terry started her quest to live without plastic, or at least with (a lot) less plastic, in 2007. The challenge has been full of lessons and surprises—and a growing community of people wanting to shun plastic—ever since, and she's blogged about it at Fake Plastic Fish every step of the way. I had a chance to chat with her recently about how what the plastic-free life looks like.

Planet Green: What have been the biggest surprises for you since you took on the plastic-free challenge? 
Beth Terry: The biggest surprise was realizing that all the plastic I put in my recycle bin might not actually get recycled. I was under the impression, like most people are, that you put something in your recycle bin and that's it. But recycle is a market and if there's no one to buy it, it just sits there or it gets landfilled. Most of our recycling and other materials get shipped to China and other Asian countries.

A lot of plastic that does get recycled is basically getting shipped somewhere else and turned back into plastic that gets sent back over here—and a lot of that is, you know, plastic crap. A lot of it is made into decking material, but it's actually just a process of heading toward the landfill. It's not recycled indefinitely.

PG: Have most of the changes come from switching to materials other than plastic, or from just reducing overall consumption?
BT: It's definitely about reducing consumption. In 2008, my computer monitor died and I took to a computer repair guy. He figured out what was wrong and called HP to get the part, but HP wouldn't sell the part—they would only say to send it back and they'd replace it. Supposedly I have an HP representative that I'm supposed to talk with about that, we'll see. Things these days are built to break and not to last. So I went on Craigslist and found a used monitor.

Really the only new things I've bought have been things to reduce waste, things like stainless steel water bottles, and stainless steel takeout containers—things for leftovers or takeout that I take with me everywhere I go. I bought a soda maker—I make soda water, put a little bit of lemon or something in it, and store in a glass carafe so I'm not putting it into plastic.
When we got our cats, we needed litter boxes and cat carrier boxes—we got those from Freecycle and from thrift stores.

The plastics industry has been really pushing on the green bandwagon, saying plastic is better because it weighs less than glass. But there are so many other considerations—the chemicals and toxicity, the harm that's being done to wildlife. It's a false dichotomy because the answer really is cutting consumption. If the plastics industry can define what green is, they can define themselves as green, but green is so much more than that.

PG: Have you found any sort of magic tricks for items that are seemingly impossible to get without plastic--i.e. medications, etc.?
BT: I haven't, but there are some great homemade remedies. When I got a cold this winter, I used up some old meds that I had from before I went plastic-free, and then I found a way to make my own cough syrup—but I didn't have a chance to try it out because I wasn't coughing anymore.
I put it online and people posted comments—a lot of people said honey is really good, and doctors are now recommending honey for kids because they don't want to give cough syrup to kids anymore.

When I ran out of Rolaids, people had all kinds of remedies, so a lot of home remedies will help substitute for meds wrapped in plastic. The thing that surprised me is that pharmacies won't refill your bottles, they say it's against the law. But it seems to me the natural thing to do, if you're just going to refill it with the exact same thing,  

I haven't found any real miracle solutions, except that for deodorant, I switched to baking soda. It's been amazing—if I stopped caring about plastic tomorrow, I'd still use baking soda. Some people cut it with corn starch because they feel it's too intense, but I haven't had a problem. There's no odor, and I have found it even acts as somewhat of an antiperspirant—and it's not because of aluminum.

One of the more extreme things that we started doing—although we enjoy it now—is making our own cat food. We started going through tons and tons of cans and bags, and the inside of the cans is lined with plastic, which has BPA in it.

PG: Have you found products that are major "hidden" users of plastic?
BT: Pretty much everything comes packaged in "invisible" plastic before getting to the store, we only see the unwrapped items on the shelf. Cutting our consumption in general will reduce our plastic consumption. My dad wrote to me after buying a new mattress and said the amount of plastic it came wrapped in would have made me faint.

There are items made from plastic that aren't actually hidden but that many people don't realize are plastic. Synthetic textiles, for example. Polar fleece blankets and jackets. Synthetic carpets. Most athletic wear. Polyester, acrylic, spandex are all types of plastic. I avoid buying fabrics made from synthetic materials.

Cars are another huge source of plastic. In addition to all the greenhouse gas emissions they generate from fuel burning, their interiors are full of plastics that offgas, especially when hot. That new car smell? Chemicals offgasing from plastic.

PG: Did you experience much of a learning curve once you started Fake Plastic Fish?
BT: Absolutely. But I didn't try to eliminate all plastics at once, and I would never recommend anyone else do it that way either. It's the road to burnout.

There have been several journalists and bloggers who attempted to go "plastic-free" for a month or a week and of course, they found it impossible to do. Their conclusions at the end of their experiments were less than encouraging. But it's a process. With each step, you develop new habits, which eventually become automatic. You start remembering to ask for no disposables when you go to a restaurant. You automatically grab your reusable bags or travel mug before leaving the house. You learn that you can live without the convenience foods you might have once relied on.

Even now, I sometimes forget. I just got back from visiting my family in Hawaii and am sad to admit that I brought with me three plastic drinking straws. Three! That's how many times I forgot to tell the server I didn't need one. And it's two more than I collected in all of 2009!

PG: Have you found a favorite or most creative/fun trick for reusing plastic?
BT: In the beginning of this project, I knitted a fake plastic fish out of used grocery bags, and last year, I created a crazy plastic sea monster costume out of plastic from my previous years' stash that actually won the 2009 Bay to Breakers costume contest.

Other than silly stuff like that, I don't really enjoy using plastic as a craft material. Honestly, if I never have to wear that plastic costume again, it'll be too soon.

Article by Rachel Cernansky Courtesy of PlanetGreen.com http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/plastic-free-living-interview.html?campaign=daily_nl