Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Once you replace the cooking utensils in your kitchen with non-plastic alternatives, you still want to be careful that the food you’re buying—whether at the grocery store or at restaurants—doesn’t come in plastic packaging. Even paper coffee cups and paper take-out boxes are often lined with plastic. Try bringing in your own ceramic mug from home, or traveling with metal utensils. Life Without Plastic has a lot of options for non-plastic food containers, including a cute little stainless steel travel spork. You might also try getting one of those cute little crocheted bags from wool yarn, to put your produce in at the market, instead of those flimsy plastic bags.
3. Avoid fragrance products and perfumes.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Products with “fragrance” on the label, from detergent to perfume to candles, often contain phalates or other chemicals linked to health issues. Even products claiming to be “unscented” can still contain “fragrance,” so it’s best to look for products that are “fragrance free.”
4. Try to use only natural person care product.
Courtesy of Netflix
From your toothbrush to your hairbrush to your soap to your deodorant, there is a lot of plastic in the personal care products we are putting on and in our bodies nearly every day. If you can start swapping out even a few of these items, you can start reducing your microplastics intake. Gaia Guy sells some entirely plastic-free toothbrushes made of bamboo and boar’s hair, as well as natural deodorant and other plastic-free personal products.
5. Avoid synthetic textiles and petrochemical dyes
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
This is probably the least easy and most expensive step outlined in the documentary. A large majority of the microplastics found in the ocean come from textiles that get washed over and over again in washing machines, draining their potentially toxic chemicals back into our water. Additionally, the skin is your largest organ, and all day long you’re absorbing the chemicals from your clothes into your skin. A big way to cut down on that is by buying clothing that doesn’t use synthetic material.
That’s a lot easier said than done. However, the documentary does spotlight a company called California Cloth Foundry, which specializes in sustainable clothing from natural materials. The founder is upfront about the fact that these clothes are not cheap to make, and therefore not cheap to buy. A pair of pajamas—bottoms and a top—are listed on their website for $325.
While it won’t help with your own microplastics exposure, a great and cheap way to cut down on clothing waste—which, thanks to the plastics in them, won’t break down for hundred of years—is to shop at your local second-hand store.
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documentaries
Netflix
The Plastic Detox
