The month of May was largely characterized by a search for a new roommate to move into our eco-conscious house. As you might have guessed, we were looking for people who were specifically into the environment in a significant way. Tomislav (my housemate) and I carefully crafted a Craigslist ad that seemed more like a short essay, describing how we lived and what we were looking for in a housemate.

I always find roommate searches fascinating as you get a semi-random assortment of people coming through your house as you embark the awkward negotiation of whether you want to live with each other or not. Over the years, I’ve gone through this process a number of times and I have become pretty good at picking out good people if I do say so myself. In this particular scenario, the tell-tale signs of incompatibility appeared with most of the folks who came through.

One girl was particularly funny – it was clear that she had no clue what being environmentally conscious meant, even using the word “environmental” as if she were saying it for the first time. She did, however, proudly show us her corn-based water bottle as a testament to her eco-friendly lifestyle. And she was wearing an awful lot of Lulu Lemon…so I guess that means she must be environmental.

Just as we started to wonder if our standards were too high, we found Marika! Having just returned from a 3 month stint in Mexico and Guatemala, not only did she understand what we meant by ‘no plastic,” she relished it as it would be a welcome transition from a world where packaged goods weren’t in excess.

Soon after Marika moved in I spent a few days showing her the ropes to our funky finicky home. It often takes a fresh set of eyes to gain perspective on your life. In those days of showing Marika the house, the unconventional (if not bizarre) way we live here has become apparent to me. To give a bit of insight into our house, I want to write about plastic. Or the lack thereof rather. Although we do a lot of eco-conscious things around here, eliminating plastic from our home is probably the one that garners the most intrigue amongst our friends. True, in a petro-chem-powered world, plastic is omnipresent. So much so, that people seem to marvel at how on earth we can live without the stuff. As if there had never been another option in history….

Granted, the no-plastic thing isn’t as easy as it might have been 50 years ago since our ability to avoid plastic purchases is limited to what is available in the market. But these days, non-plastic alternatives are definitely available but they just sometimes require a bit of extra work to find.

So here’s the deal about plastic: Plastic = Bad. It’s a petroleum product, it leaches into your food, it off-gasses and probably sheds particulates into the air, it’s often non-recyclable and even when it is, the recycled product is probably not recyclable…and will stay on our earth for thousands of years, adding to landfills, and polluting our soil and water. Plus, most plastics are energy-intensive to produce and must be shipped around the world to get to us. It’s funny with all the rage about local food, you’d think more people might stop to think about where all the consumer goods they buy are coming from… maybe “buy local” will soon extend to this territory too. Here’s the deal with our house: we avoid plastic as much as possible. So yes, we do have some plastic here, but we always try and seek out non-plastic versions in our purchases. The no plastic rule applies most strongly to the common spaces, but it’s something we are all striving for in our personal possessions as well, although I have yet to find a plastic-free laptop.

Let’s take a little tour of our kitchen – the headquarters of curious non-plastic items!

Beans and spices line the room above the cupboards

Storage: Instead of Tupperware, plastic wrap and Ziploc bags, we use metal camping pots and a plethora of glass jars which we’ve developed quite a habit of collecting. Some of my friends have even started collecting jars on my behalf. When we buy vegetables, instead of storing them in plastic bags, we often wash (and cut them up in advance if needed) so that we can then store them in glass jars. Surprisingly, we’ve found that they keep really well for a long time this way!

Shopping: We bring jars, pots, and cloth drawstring bags to our local co-op to avoid transporting it home in plastic. I used to take plastic bags sparingly when I went grocery shopping, justify it by saying I’d reuse them …which of course happened to some degree but eventually my “bag of bags” became overwhelmingly full and I had to cut my bag problem cold turkey. Now, grocery shopping is more of a conscious mission where I come prepared, rather than as an afterthought activity I do on my way home from work. To minimize plastic packaging in the food we buy, we buy in bulk whenever possible and purposely seek out places where we can buy in bulk. Plus, we try and avoid foods wrapped in plastic (especially non-recyclable plastics like Styrofoam and cling-wrap).

some people collect stamps, we collect jars.

Kitchen Appliances: Now in most houses these days, kitchen appliances are often encased in plastic. Blenders, food processors, coffee grinders, toasters, etc. etc. When I first moved in, I was skeptical that non-plastic alternatives were even possible for these things…and was worried how I was going to manage to make hummus and smoothies under the new regime.

But Tomislav came to the rescue! This has been an ongoing project for him and he had already found a plastic-free coffee grinder and juicer (which everyone thinks is a meat grinder). And our toaster is about 90% plastic-free, though it lacks the time-control features of most toasters, easily making it more of a ‘burner’ than a toaster. We haven’t yet found a plastic-free food processor though and since I decidedly cannot live without this, I keep one in my room under my bed…like a guilty secret.

no, it's not a meat grinder.

Living without plastic can be more expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Admittedly, antique juicers, metal coffee grinders and high end knives aren’t a dime a dozen. But glass jars sure are…cloth bags are easy to make, and you’d be surprised what plastic-free gems garage sales and second and stores boast. Besides, there was life before plastic – and it wasn’t relegated to the rich.

To be entirely honest, living with minimal plastic isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It takes extra planning, some key supplies, a shift in habits, and a lot of commitment. But it’s also a lot of fun! I get more excited about finding oversized glass jars now than I ever thought was possible. And juicing greens by hand provides a real sense of accomplishment and appreciation for the end product. If you’re thinking of reducing the amount of plastic in your life and want some support in doing so, drop me a line! I’m more than happy to help a fellow enviro-star.

I wonder if the pioneers used loofahs to scrub their dishes?

And just as a side note and opportunity to brag, an added bonus of living with minimal plastic is that our garbage output is miniscule. And at Day 19 of the Toronto City Workers’ strike, the 2 1/2 weeks of no garbage pickup haven’t phased us a bit. So while our parks are getting contaminated by piles of recyclable and non-recyclable trash produced by wasteful people, our mini-garbage bin isn’t even full yet. Let’s hope the neighbours don’t dump their surplus into ours (as they often do) and it’ll stay that way.