Trying to Kick the Plastic Addiction

by Qani Belul (Mali, 91-92)

One of the most important lessons I learned while living in Mali, West
Africa is: there are countless ways to lead your life; and newer,
faster, more modern, and more high-tech does not necessarily mean a
better quality of life. In fact, more often just the opposite holds true.

The plain life means the good life.

Since moving to Japan, though, this lesson has not always been easy to
put into practice. Here, as in the U.S., development has become a kind
of religion, and the god of technology is now firmly in place alongside
the traditional revered deities.

For every benefit come drawbacks, and environmental degradation is one
of the worst outcomes of the industrialized worlds high-tech,
convenience store lifestyle. Here in Japan many goods are single-,
double-, or even triple-wrapped in plastic. Numerous products have a
short lifespan and are then discarded. Chemical waste and plastics go
up in smoke daily.

Despite the difficult obstacles, my cohort (also a former Mali Peace
Corps Volunteer) and I strive to live a simple life. I put the phrase
in quotes because its a misnomer. As writer and plain-living advocate
Wendell Berry said of the phrase, I wouldn't use the word simple. I
think I'm living more complexly.

Recently the truth of this comment struck me when my friend and I
decided wed had enough of throwing away nonrecyclable plastic packaging
every day and decided to give it up. We soon realized, though, that
practically everything we ate came packaged with some sort of plastic
ramen in plastic bags, tofu in plastic containers, fruit in saran wrap,
mushrooms on Styrofoam trays  and foregoing all this  involved major
changes in our diet and a more complex way of life.

For example, tofu (a daily staple for us) and bread always come packaged
in plastic at grocery stores so we now must also go to a tofu
store and bakery where we buy those foods without the packaging. Since
we don't use the stores free plastic bags we must always take our own
bags and containers when we shop; and when we do buy foods wrapped in
plastic, we unwrap them at the store and leave the containers to be
reused. This is a major change from when we first moved to Japan
several years ago and were often embarrassed even to say hold the bags
please, since its unusual to refuse them.

But the response to our disdain for burnable plastic has been good and
this makes us bolder. Not long ago a clerk at the store I regularly
frequent smiled and thanked me for leaving the packaging. Several weeks
after this another clerk at the same store came up to me while I was
bagging my groceries and, while talking with me, unwrapped my purchases
and set aside the containers. The other day at the farmers market the
salesclerk at the checkout table was both surprised and amused when we
emptied all our fruits and vegetables into a cloth bag and gave her
back the farmers plastic bags.

Although life has become more complicated since trying to kick the
plastic habit, it has also improved. I feel a lot better about shopping
when I'm in line with a basket of food in recyclable packaging instead
of the plastic containers destined for the local incinerator. And our
diet hasn't suffered. We may have to give up some healthy foods we love,
such as miso and seaweed (always packed in plastic), yet at the same
time were forced to give up junk foods and replace them with fruits and
vegetables.

There are things I really love about Japan but the First World
throwaway mentality definitely isn't one of them. Consequently, I try to
put some of the  plain-living lessons Mali taught me into practice
here. For me, that's what development is all about.

Below are some other Third World, Earth-friendly actions we've been able
to take here in Japan.
l Buy used goods or salvage them from the trash.
l Never drive. Use bicycles, trains, and buses.
l Adopt a vegan diet.
l Forego air conditioning for fans.
l Use a nonflushing toilet.
l Compost  raw garbage.
l Take advantage of the local recycling system.