April 11, 2021

5 Tips for Returning to Work Plastic-Free

As more vaccines are being distributed, cities are slowly opening back up. For many people, including myself, this means returning back to work in the office. This means no longer being able to work in your yoga pants, no longer having a kitchen full of snacks, and no longer going bra-less. *sigh* As you transition back to work, think of it as a fresh start by starting plastic-free! Here are a few ways.

Update Wardrobe with Natural Fibers

If COVID was not friendly to your waistline and you find yourself in need of some new wardrobe pieces for work, make sure you choose natural fibers. Natural fibers include cotton, silk, linen, hemp, leather, and wool. Basically, it was grown as a plant or from animals.

Natural fibers biodegrade whereas synthetic ones do not. Synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, and etc are essentially plastic. When we wash our clothes we shed up to 700,000 microfibers per load of laundry. Those microfibers are too small to be captured in wastewater treatment plants, so they flow into the ocean. The natural fibers will degrade but the polyester fibers just add to the plastic fibers in the ocean.

So, where you can choose natural fibers when shopping for clothes. And if you can, start with secondhand. Shopping secondhand prevents the resources and pollution from making another shirt or pair of pants. ThredUp and TheRealReal are two online consignment shops that I’ve used in the past. ThredUp has more mainstream brands and TheRealReal has more luxury brands.

Wear a Reusable Natural Fiber Mask

For the reasons above, if you don’t have a reusable natural fiber mask, pick one up. If microfibers can shed in the washer they can probably shed while you’re wearing it. So, avoid breathing in plastic microfibers and choose a reusable cotton mask.

Also, masks and gloves are washing up on beaches all over the world. What’s worse, the elastic on the masks strangle marine life. So, if you have to wear a disposable mask, make sure you cut the elastic before disposing of the mask.

Make Coffee at Home or Office

I know it’s super convenient to swing by your local coffee shop on the way to work but it can waste a lot of money and plastic too. Let’s say you get a $4 cup of coffee on the way to work every week day. If you get 2 weeks of vacation that’s 250 work days a year, which adds up to $1,000 a year just on coffee. Is your morning coffee really that good?

Then add in the waste. That’s 250 paper cups lined with plastic and a plastic lid. Multiply that by the masses of people that do the same thing and that’s an insane amount of waste.

Now, let’s talk about the thing no one ever talks about. When you put hot liquids in contact with soft plastics, like the plastic used to line the paper cup, this causes the plastic and associated chemicals to leach into your coffee. I don’t know about you but I like my coffee black–no cream, no sugar, no plastics. While it might not be enough plastic or chemicals to poison you, we have no idea what the long-term cumulative effects of continually drinking and eating plastics and the chemicals embedded in them.

So, make your coffee at home or in the office. I have a French press in my office and ground coffee. And if you’re making coffee at home, no matter what the method make sure you use a stainless steel filter instead of a plastic or disposable one. I talk more about stainless steel filter options and more in this post:

Olivia for the Ocean - Plastic-Free Living

Pack Plastic-Free Snacks

In nearly every desk in an office, you’ll find a snack drawer. It’s to get you through that 2pm slump and help you plow through the rest of the workday. But I’ll bet nearly everything in that draw is wrapped in plastic and worse, loaded with sugar and not the best for your health.

Think of your return to the office as a new year and a new you. Get back to eating healthier by bringing fresh and healthy snacks (i.e. not wrapped in plastic). Some ideas include loose fruits and vegetables, cheese or deli meats. At my local deli you can get deli meats and cheeses wrapped in paper. Make sure they’re not wrapping it in butcher paper as butcher paper is oftentimes lined with plastic as well. Think of snack as a little charcuterie board. Whatever plastic-free goodies you’d put on that, you can pack as a snack.

For more ideas check out this post. It’s written for kids, but let’s get real, we’d all eat kids snacks.

Pack Your Food in Glass or Stainless Steel

Finally, when bringing your snack or lunch to work, or even taking food home from a restaurant, use glass or stainless steel containers. For the same reason I listed in the coffee section above, you don’t want plastics and chemicals leaching into your food. So, get some plastic-free food storage containers to pack your lunch and keep an extra one in your car. When you go out to eat, if you have leftovers throw them in your extra container.