Plastic-Free Challenge: One Week, 'Zero Waste

Living with no single-use plastic for a week seems so simple. But is it actually? Here's what happens when you accept a challenge to go plastic-free and adopt a 'zero waste' policy. If you think you already avoid a lot of plastic daily, you must reconsider your thoughts. You have a reusable coffee cup and a bottle, and you think that's it. But wait, it is not enough.

Day 1

Suppose you enter a corner shop to buy a few things for dinner, but it must be plastic-free. What do you think you will get? Well, not much but a box of eggs, an apple and a banana. Every other thing in the shop will have some plastic, be it its packaging or so on.

But wait, let's simplify this by telling you a well-kept secret. Consider yourself lucky if you take this challenge by mid of the week. Then you can visit a zero-waste shop with your containers to get cleaning products and food by weight. If you are fortunate enough, you may gain access to a grinding machine to extract crunchy or smooth peanut butter from peanuts.

Here's a twist that can make this challenge more enjoyable. Leaving in a quest for fresh food without plastic packaging allows you to shop in your local area and use more independent retailers. This will lead you to shops you haven't explored earlier in your area.

Observe the reason for plastic becoming an indispensable part of our lives During this week, if you try and reach up to as many people as you can and talk to them about taking up the plastic-free challenge and going zero waste, you will realise that the convenience issue will emerge again and again.

Convenience tends to be the main reason why plastic has become an indispensable part of our lives. This may also be why only a few people can agree to change their lifestyles. But again, you will realise that those who have made changes express that they love the challenge and consideration involved - advance planning, shopping around and developing innovative ways to replace plastic.

Pledge to take this challenge to learn how much waste you create living a pretty ordinary modern life. Try to hold on to at least some of the changes that you've made.