From The Waste Up: Life Without Plastic

      A little over a week ago my friend Erin invited me to the premier of a documentary called From The Waste Up: Life Without Plastic- a locally made documentary about a handful of families attempting to live plastic free for a year. I was on board- these sounded like my people- anyone asking questions and pushing boundaries- anyone who cares enough to try and instill change in an apathetic world- anyone standing up for the environment- these are my people. And so my friend and I got slightly gussied up- as is our usual modis oporandi- we went and grabbed a glass of wine- bought our sustainable- locally made chocolates and we found our seats in the theatre.

  As mentioned From The waste Up: Life Without Plastic follows a handful of folks for a year as they attempt to live plastic free- couples and families alike raise to the challenge of kicking this invasive substance to the curb- searching out alternative solutions to our typical lifestyles. Film maker Taina Uitto has brought to light our addiction to plastic in a very real and down to earth way- as a participant in the project herself she manages to bring a level of humour to a very serious situation.

   Post movie I am staring into my fridge looking for something to snack on- I begin to notice just how reliant our family actually is on plastic- I notice the plastic wrap on the giant block of cheese I am hacking away at- I notice the plastic container our leftovers are stacked up in- our fridge is full of plastic.  Clearly even this eco friendly- low impact family has a plastic addiction. Clearly the families in the documentary were not in fact my people- clearly they are miles ahead.

   When my first baby was born BPA was a prevalent news story- how it was in our environment and affecting our endocrine systems- wrecking havoc on our hormones. I remember diligently sourcing out BPA free sippy cups and silicone eating vessels- but it was still plastic. Our household waste is minimal- or what I thought to be minimal as it is much less than what I have witnessed in other trash situations- we compost- we recycle- we refuse plastic bags when we forget our clothe ones. Still once a week out goes a small bag of plastic- mostly filled with single use food wrappers. Things could be better.

   I think the hallmark of a good documentary is to get people thinking and talking- to wake them up out of their apathy and get them moving in a new direction. Every viewer will take something different to heart- have a different standout moment- for me my take away is to simply use less. To refuse single use plastics more often than I all ready do- to consider how my single use convenience item is going to stick around for thousands of years after only a few moments of use- to take baby steps towards our own plastic free life.

   Check out Taina's blog Plastic Manners for more plastic free inspiration as well as tips for a plastic free lifestyle. Pop on over to the From The Waste Up: Life Without Plastic Indigogo page- make a donation if you feel so inclined!