NO SHAME IN THIS GAME
Going plastic free is hard. We can’t all be perfect. Little choices matter. You’re doing great. When I go the grocery store I try to challenge myself to purchase only the produce that comes without plastic packaging. I never know what’s going to be available but it’s a fun challenge to plan the weeks meals around what I get. Here’s what I found sans plastic this week: pineapple 🍍 peaches 🍑 mango 🥭 avocados 🥑 cucumber 🥒 and cabbage 🥬. I find that it’s much easier to find fruit package free than veggies at certain stores...I wonder why that is.
Not pictured here are watermelon and cantaloupe, both are great plastic free fruit staples that most stores don’t bother putting in plastic. (Thank you rinds, you’re doing great) Despite this produce being PACKAGE free, it still wasn’t 100% PLASTIC free. The pineapple had a tag connected with a little plastic tie, all the rest pictured had plastic stickers. Sometimes when we’re working towards our goal be less wasteful and eliminate harmful plastics from our life we can’t always hit the mark dead on. AND THAT IS OK! I get it! Sometimes you have to grab groceries from a store that is full of plastic. Sometimes you forget your re-usable bag and have to use a plastic one. Sometimes you forget to say no before the plastic straw is in your drink, sometimes you buy produce with stickers on it. We’ve all been there and you know what? You’re still doing great. Make the best choice you can in the moment and move on.
We have to be kind to each other. It’s easy to shame and wag fingers at folks when you start to realize plastic is a big problem and I see it happen often in the zero waste community. At Marilla's we want to celebrate the choices you make for positive change and forget about the hiccups on the way. Nobody is perfect, everyone is at a different point in their journey. So whether you can fit a years worth of garbage into tiny mason jar or you just started bringing your own bags to the store, we welcome you, we celebrate you, and we THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF THE SOLUTION!
Comments
Christiana said:
Hi Marilla! I love your posts. This one really spoke to me because I try to challenge myself in the same way at the grocery store by seeing what I can buy without plastic. Here’s a funny story that happened on my first trip to our favorite local grocery store after really taking the plastic free challenge to heart. I walked into the store with my husband and looked around in horror when I actually realized that almost everything is packed or tagged with some form of plastic. My husband looked at my wide eyes and said” What’s wrong??” “ I have to leave”, I said and walked right back out to the car while he continued shopping!😂 It’s just an example of what can happen when you become acutely conscious!
I’ve calmed down since then, but looking back that was a pretty funny and profound awakening to how numb we’ve become to just accepting plastic as part of our lives. All the best to you and your endeavors. I really appreciate what you are doing!