Hello, I’m Caty and I live and work in Wellington, New Zealand. In 2017 I committed to a year without buying/acquiring or disposing of any plastic. The part below was my original post about what I was setting out to do. In 2018 I was less diligent about beng plastic free but by the end of the year, disgust at the amount of rubbish I was generating was creeping in and for 2019 I have recommitted to a less wasteful lifestyle.
A colleague once spoke about sacrifing things to live a more environmentally conscious lifestyle. I like to think that I won’t have to sacrifice much more than convenience, which in iteself will be a pretty big sacrifice. I live in the city centre (no garden) and work full time so convenience and space are quite important to me. But that’s what this Blog is about – exploring what impact living plastic free will have on me.
I’m not very politically minded or much of a campaigner so my blog will concentrate on my lifestyle and what affects me rather than the world. If you want to know why giving up plastic is a good idea or what effect plastic has on landfills, the seas and the environment, a quick google search will give you far more educated arguments than I could ever put forward and you can come to your own decisions.
My rules for the year
- Existing plastic owned can be used.
- Existing packaged food in my cupboards can also be used and this packaging is not counted in plastic consumed for the year
- Plastic for disposal will be collected and tallied over the year
- Product not packaging. I will try to find unpackaged versions of anything I need. This may involve buying second hand or borrowing rather than buying new.
- Exceptions to the rules
- medicine (though I will try to get them to reuse old prescription bottles I have)
- essentials if no plastic alternative e.g. if I break my glasses
- possibly photography equipment. I have a couple of projects I want to do this year.
One Year Zero Plastic 