A Day without plastic (almost)

 Justin Daavettila

I knew going a full 24 hours without out using plastic would be difficult. At the end of the day I failed the challenge but I believe I put forth a great effort.  I decided I was going to do the challenge as soon as I heard about the opportunity, I had to pick a day in to do the challenge and I choose the day of my physics exam. I saw the day of my physics exam would be the easiest day to try and complete the challenge.

The day of the exam I woke up and went to McDonalds for breakfast before my exam. I went drive thru and ordered nothing that could possibly come in a plastic container. I asked the employee to give me my water cup with no straw.  I went breakfast without using any plastic and thought I was well on my way to a successful challenge.

After I ate my breakfast on my way to school I went straight to the library to study for my exams. I could not use the computers in the library, (which kinda sucked) I was stuck at a table with only my pencil and my practice exams that I printed off the day before. My first failure came only minutes after sitting down to study. I pulled out my calculator. I needed the calculator for the exam as well.

After my exam I went and played hockey at the rink in Oscar. Another critical mistake after I finished playing hockey. I had planned out what I was going to eat before the day had started. Buying myself a Little Caesars with a can of pop would not use and plastic. I showed up to the store and went to go get money to pay for the pizza and I had no cash on me, out came the card. I went home and ate my pizza and tried to go the whole night without watching TV but failed. The Detroit Lions played on Monday Night and I was not going to miss that! I grabbed the remote and turned the game on. I waited until after the clock stuck midnight to brush my teeth and shower, if I did not do that I would have been using quite a bit of plastic from the shampoo bottle, toothpaste, and toothbrush.

At the end of the day I had failed the challenge only three times. I was surprised how tough it actually is to take plastic out of your day. Everywhere you look there is something plastic that you can’t use.  Plastic makes everyday life so much easier for us, today when I woke up and was able to make my toast and drink milk. I realized how much I really need plastic.