I'm not buying food wrapped in plastic because I want to; I'm buying food wrapped in plastic because I have to.
The quest to go waste-free is a noble one, but not easy. Many people are hesitant to make the transition to the zero-waste lifestyle because our fast-paced lifestyle makes it nearly impossible. We live in a culture of perpetual motion: many businesses are open for long hours, sometimes 24/7; email and smart phones mean that we are constantly on-call; we are encouraged to run from appointment to appointment, and check as many things off of our list as we possibly can in a day in order to be "productive." All of this motion means that we need food that we can take with us whenever and wherever.
Our culture of perpetual motion fuels our need to take things with us everywhere we go because society pushes for us to bebusy, on the go and praises us for doing it all. Therefore, it becomes nearly impossible for us to fight this lifestyle that's being pushed upon us.
We need to eat, and we can't halt our lives, especially not at work, to do things the way we want to. Most of us can't cook and prepare ourselves something fresh, local and green then compost the remains when we are finished. Why? Because we have only fifteen minutes for a break and there's no oven in the break room. Most of us need something we can throw in a bag and will keep fresh until the moment is right.
Even when we choose to make our own food in our effort to be waste-free, it is nearly impossible to buy food that doesn't come pre-wrapped and packaged (even produce and unprocessed foods) for safety and practical reasons. Why does the food need packaging? Because it's not going straight from the farm to your table. It needs to stay clean on the grocery shelf until you buy it, then put it in your car to take with you. Why am I not buying it from the farm and just taking it home? Because the grocery store is on my way home from work, and I have an hour between work and my fitness class, and if I don't go now I won't because I'll be too tired later. This is a story many busy working people, both young and old, can relate to I'm sure.
Even if you are going to choose to prepare your own stuff, it is the general assumption of the store that you want prepacked and ready products. Buying non-prepacked foods is basically impossible in most grocery stores. Ingredients like nuts, butter, oats, produce, coconut oil and everything else already come packaged, making trash, waste and plastic unavoidable. No matter what you are making, all of your ingredients will come in a container, probably plastic.
How do we fix this? How can we step outside of this lifestyle of perpetual motion in order to stand by our convictions against plastic and waste? It's going to take time, creativity and and a collective push for change both in our lifestyle choices and in packaging materials. It is up to us, the consumers, to be aware of our choices so that we may better articulate what we want to the businesses and producers who provide it. They may tell us that we want to eat on the go; it's up to us to bring in a work/life balance that will support our values and will accommodate our consumption preferences. Awareness is the first step to real change.
Perhaps it's not the plastic itself that's evil; perhaps it's the underlying culture that makes plastic and packaging a necessary component of everyday life.
