First Attempts

Breakfast

It’s 9am and I have 30 minutes to leave the house. To the familiar whirr of the espresso machine, I down two pieces of chilli chocolate and some clumsy cheese slices on dry toast. Despite my good intentions, I get on The Social Medias and write something profound like ‘lol’ while pulling on my socks. I ride to work on time. No plastic consumed. So far so good.

Let’s talk about lunch

Today, your humble grapefruit is eating at the Student Union. I order two curries and roti bread before realising there are no forks. Well, there are plastic forks. But plastic forks are no good when you’re training for Plastic-Free July. I use the roti to scoop up globs of spicy tofu and eggplant before wiping up the curry. Plate clean. Face clean (in my paranoia, I check this on selfie-cam.) Right fingers a little sticky for now. I make a mental note to carry cutlery in July.

Not quite dinner

After a series of bad decisions, where my brain packed up and left my body in protest, brain and I have come to a kind of truce. I will consume caffeine and in return, brain will help me get through Plastic-Free July. But first I will buy new batteries for my bike light so I can ride home in the dark without falling into a ditch. I will also buy a photocopy card because work.

I had two different kinds of cake for dinner because I am an adult.

Total plastic: one photocopy card, one battery pack

Things I used instead of plastic: (1) a genuine, actual plate, made out of porcelain (2) my fingers (oops) (3) wax paper