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Kate Hawkesby: Cautious approach needed to combat plastic waste

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Fri, 1 Nov 2019, 9:23AM
Photo / File

Kate Hawkesby: Cautious approach needed to combat plastic waste

Author
Kate Hawkesby,
Publish Date
Fri, 1 Nov 2019, 9:23AM

You may have spotted the vast swathes of plastic out on your streets last night with the Halloween costumes and buckets..
Not to mention all the lolly wrappers.

So how does this marry up with our desperate bid to save the planet?

I feel like we are all under constant pressure and I'm not sure the weight of all this pressure is the right approach.

I prefer the baby step approach, we all do what we can when we can.

Change takes time.

I’ll never forget the day my now teenage son, came home from primary school and said the new rule was wrapper-less lunches.

No gladwrap, no foil, no plastic bags, his school lunch had to come without packaging.

Ironically it meant us parents all went out and bought those plastic containers with segregated sections so that we could portion up carrot sticks and sandwiches into little groups, without wrap.

It took a bit of time before the stainless steel lunchbox trend took over.

These days my youngest daughter doesn’t even need to be told, she takes her lunch in a muslin reusable bag and naturally avoids plastic which proves encouragingly, that in time, the message does get through.

But time is the key isn't it?

I think it’s impossible to assume we can all just wake up one morning eco-warriors.

That overnight you can make your home plastics free, environmentally sound, barren of chemicals and sulphates, and wear only vegan leather. We can’t do that all in one go. I mean some ardent devouts may be doing that, but for most of us it’s a challenge.

Some of us may never go that far.

We start small. Maybe getting smarter with our recycling. maybe swapping out the pantry plastic containers for glass, maybe using a natural deodorant instead of one packed with CFC’s.

I read the other day that Hollywood actress Julianne Moore has stopped shopping.

Entirely, Like cold turkey. She will only purchase something if she absolutely needs it and has completely run out.

No clothes, no shoes, no jewellery, not even soap, unless she has run out. She says we’re a' world in crisis' and that’s her way of helping.

But not every approach is extreme.

The point is to just start somewhere. I don't think we can bury our heads in the sand, but we won't all transform into zealots overnight.

Often it's our kids who lead the way, we're working on decreasing our chemical load at home, as our planet conscious kids make better choices about what's in their environment.

Starting small is better than not starting at all.

Hopefully if more of us take baby steps, we might get there.

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