Plastic creeps me out. The more I think about plastic, the more it bothers me, and the more helpless I feel in the face of it. Our modern world pretty much depends on plastic, and on the petroleum it is made from. There's a documentary on Netflix called Plastic Planet, which just confirms what I already knew: plastic is convenient and handy, in some forms, durable and dutiful; but it's also disposable and deadly. Microscopic bits of it are in the ocean. Fish eat it, we eat it, and who can say what it's doing to us at a cellular level.
Take a moment to take stock of the things around you that contain some form of plastic. I'll start: laptop, iPhone, iPhone case, speakers, water bottle (BPA-free of course), the dress and shoes I'm wearing, planner, calculator, lampshade, office chair, fake succulents, textbooks, walls, picture frames, carpet, purse, raincoat, nail file, stapler, pens, scissors, medicine bottle, lotion bottle...
You get the point. Plastic is literally everywhere. I'm not denying that it is an ingenious invention, without which our modern lives would not be possible (thank you, Science). What I bemoan is the sheer waste of plastic that happens at the most basic levels of life, everyday, by everyone. Our keen desire for plastic goods is unquenchable, and so is our ineluctable disdain of it.
Plastic bags--we know they're bad. Bringing reusable bags to the store makes you feel like you're making a difference, but for every one of us who brings reusable bags when they shop, there are countless others getting a plastic bag for that single quart of milk at Walmart. Recycling--we do it mindlessly, but does it help if not everyone has to participate? It's not the law in some states--my mother chooses not to recycle in Louisiana (and it kills and exhilarates me to just throw stuff away when I visit her). And what's the big picture here--does recycling help at all really anyway? And what's up with all of the plastic stuff that isn't recyclable? Like all the stupidly useless blister packaging that you get when you buy batteries, a toy, or an electronics item? Thinking about this stuff makes me crazy!
Toys are the worst. They are all made of plastic, all of them have a 'do not throw away' (trashcan with a line through it) symbol on the back--but they're not recyclable, so what can you do? The only thing you can really do to stem the tide is to have garage sales and donate items once you're done with them. My abhorrence of plastic goes hand-in-hand with my belief that you shouldn't pay full-price for all kid toys, especially when you KNOW that perfectly good used ones are out there at consignment stores or through Craigslist. Why would I willingly pay top-dollar and generate more plastic in the world, when there is plenty of used plastic already in the world that I can partake of cheaply? I just don't get it people.
But as a parent to a toddler, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how not just much plastic shit people buy for their kids, but how much shit they buy for their kids, period. Playhouses and other yard toys, toy kitchens, pools, water tables, sandboxes, plastic dinner sets, plastic food, plastic vehicles, plastic blocks, etc etc. I get wanting to provide your kid with toys, and hey, it's not your fault that everything's made of plastic! What I don't understand is why everyone has to have their own versions of everything in the universe. We take our girl to a public park to enjoy swings, slides, and whatnot. We have two nice parks about 5-10 minutes from our house by car. I see no need to get my own swing, or slide, or jungle gym. We have a small yard, so acquiring lots of yard toys is not in our immediate future. But even if I had an enormous yard, filling it with plastic lawn toys would most certainly not be in my plan.
Utilizing shared public resources used to be more of an ideal than it seems to be today--maybe it is the whole city versus suburbs thing--but it seems to me that sharing of resources is a good idea, but suburbia generally has a different mindset. Instead of creating public parks that many people can utilize, we must all shoulder the burden of individually acquiring exactly everything. Nevermind that your neighbor has a swimming pool and has given you an open invitation to come swim anytime--you too must spend 70K to acquire your own pool! No one wants to share or be forced to interact with others on any level for any reason. Need I point out that this is not sustainable behavior for the human race?
My daughter likes to swing, so my sister-in-law thinks that we need a swing, like yesterday. She's currently trying to foist off her old rusty backyard swing on us so that we can use it as some sort of frame for the Jerry-rigged baby swing that she thinks we need to build so our child isn't deprived of swinging for one minute. My SIL is of the mindset that if your kid loves it, you absolutely MUST have one of your own. First of all, I don't think we need to buy or reverse-engineer a swing just because our daughter enjoys swinging. I never had a swingset as a child and I never felt deprived! However we have seen my SIL's theory in practice as her own kids have grown up. They once had a giant blow-up bouncy castle that filled an entire room, and now, they have a giant blow-up outdoor water slide with its own electric air blower (cost: $400). She keeps saying that it will be ours next year because her kids will have reached the weight limits on it. How do you tell someone that you don't WANT their giant yard toy/monstrosity?? It would easily take up half my yard. I do kind of need to live in my own house, thank you very much. I already know that our refusal of this 'gift' will end with, 'but you can store it deflated in your already-filled garage until such time as you move and have a yard big enough.' Or, my translation: Just take our shit and shut up!
Kid toys really exemplify what I believe is the fundamental oxymoronic point I want to make about plastic products: they are something that people are willing to pay top-dollar for when new, but since plastic goods quickly become devalued, there is potentially a ton of plastic kid crap lurking around in landfills. But instead of stemming the tide of plastic waste through our own power as consumers, our consumer culture is so screwed up that it thinks, why would you get that used plastic playhouse when you could buy your kid a brand-new one for $150? Plus, don't your kids deserve a new one, as if used things are automatically worthless because they can't convey value the way brand-new items can. Everything in our consumer culture is all about the honorifics of being able to pay for something, no matter how senseless it is, and the ostensible guilt that comes from not being able to afford lots of new things. I call bullshit. I want my kid to have toys, I want to save money, AND be cognizant of the plastic I bring into the world. We got a playhouse for $15, and a kitchen set for $10. Both are in fantastic condition. When it comes time to dispose of these items years from now, we will donate them. So there.
As a culture, we simultaneously desire and abhor cheap goods. People like to save money; I would argue that we also need to be aware of expending less plastic into the world. But it's much easier/efficient/satisfying to shop for new things in a store than it is to hit garage sales or consignment sales, even though you can get the same items for a fraction of the cost if you put in a little effort. It is precisely because all plastic becomes devalued at some point (either at point of sale because the item is 'cheap' or later on because an item is worn out) that we should be more mindful about what we purchase; the more new stuff we buy, the more we corroborate the creation of wasteful plastic. Parents should know that there is a large pile of perfectly nice, used kid toys out there; I just hope they're partaking of them when they can.
