It all started with a jar of pickles......

I am living in a recycler's Hell, I tell you.

It all started with a jar of pickles. My son decided that he'd like a pickle for his evening snack, and I just purchased a big jar of Polish pickles... Polski Ogorkis. Our favourite. I said for him to go ahead and try to open the jar on his own, and he couldn't so I gave it a go, and man oh man...impossible. So, I banged the jar on the counter. You know, when you tap the bottom edges (is that what you're supposed to do?) and then I tried. Nope. Then I ran the jar under hot water. Nope. So, I went and grapped a pair of rubber gloves that I keep under the counter for just-in-case occasions. Well, would you believe it, those darn "rubber" gloves are made out of plastic?

Ask my close friends what I think of plastic, and they'll probably laugh and tell you how much I despise plastic. How is it that we can live in the incredibly advanced world that we live in today, where cars can practically run on spit, but we can't make a product that is environmentally friendly and biodegradeable? It's absolutely ridiculous. When I go to the store, I try really hard to buy products that have the least amount of plastic wrapping. I'm the one that keeps every plastic package. You know, the ones that hold strawberries, or butter lettuce. Why the heck does butter lettuce need to be in a big plastic dome?! I take those packages to school and have the students use them to carry their art supplies home in. Then I ask that they return them so we can use them again. I also try to harvest a lot of fruit and vegetables on my own in the summers, which is difficult considering we have about a 4 month growing season. Ironically, to freeze my carrots and other veggies for the winter, I blanche them and put them into freezer Ziploc bags. It's a curse I tell you. I am perpetually washing baggies and hanging them to dry around my kitchen. How is it that I end up having to buy a new box of them here or there. How do they just disappear?

Then I go to the dump and see where they end up. One of these days you're going to see me hanging out with the bears, pounding my fists into the plastic garbage screaming, "Why?! Why?! Why?!" haha Well, I won't be that dramatic, but you get the idea. It seems so ironic to be hanging out at the dump, looking at the eagles sitting in the trees that have plastic bags hanging from the branches. What a juxtaposition of imagery!

One of my colleagues at school is an incredible seamstress and artist, and we have collaborated on "fibre art" projects before. I love the concepts of sewing, but can't sew worth beans. I think it's because my thumbs are the shape of toes....Well, we talk a lot about reducing and reusing and it's place in the art world, and didn't she make me the most amazing change wallet out of recycled plastic grocery bags. She carefully irons the bags together, paints a decoration on the bags, seals the paint with another ironed plastic bag, and then uses this plastic as material for creation. Brilliant.

Perhaps if we start putting our foot down, and simply refuse to buy so many throw-away plastic products, we will actually see some change. Already, it's exciting to see that stores across Canada are not using plastic bags anymore. You have to bring your own bag in or you're walking out of the store with a handful of purchases. Then perhaps they'll start making kitchen gloves out of rubber again, and then perhaps, I'll be able to easily open my son's jar of pickles.