Try Plastic-Free Living —for a Week

Plastic is getting bad press lately, so one writer decided to try living plastic-free: Could her family of four go an entire week without the synthetic stuff? Short answer: No, Trine Tsouderos writes in the Chicago Tribune. The paper diapers leaked, and finding food not packaged in plastic was a constant challenge. A greenie blogger warned her against the enterprise, saying "no one can do the whole thing in one week."

Tsouderos finally declared defeat on the sixth day, when she bought a small Dunkin’ Donuts decaf with a plastic lid, her first non-essential plastic purchase. “The coffee tastes bitter,” she writes in her journal, “and I feel guilty.” But the ordeal impresses on her just how common plastic is in our society. “I am hyper aware of plastic now,” she writes. “It’s like I can smell it.” (More plastic stories.)