MORE PLASTIC

July 14, 2020.

We've been getting two or three meals each week from University Catering. Normally this kitchen would be preparing food for students, but since there are no students on campus at the moment, they're offering free delivery to anyone who lives on the campus or nearby.

There are five fixed menus each week, one for each day, Monday through Friday. We can buy a two-serving size or a four-serving size. Each meal includes a main dish (with a vegetarian option), a side dish, a vegetable, and a salad. Desert and drinks are extra. We have found the meals to be reliable, well prepared, and varied. The only down-side is the one-use plastic containers that hold each course. Don't get me wrong; the containers are sturdy, attractive, and do a good job of protecting the food. But what do we do with the 21 round boxes with well-fitting lids, and 13 rectangluar boxes with well-fitting lids that we have accumulated so far? And there are more to come.

My kitchen quandry is nothing compared to the amount of plastic and other materials that are discarded every day in a medical setting. I seem to remember whan a doctor or nurse had a little metal dispenser for cotton balls and a metal pump device for rubbing alcohol. Now they tear open a little plastic packet and pull out a single, pre-moistened, one-use, disposable wipe. The ones I saw most recently also inclueded a little plastic handle so the doc didn't need to touch the wipe.

But those wipes are only a tiny drop in the bucket compared to all the plastic tubeing, the plastic bags, the plastic sheeting and shielding. During my recent hospital experience I was dismayed to be sent home with an ice machine and a vacuum pump, both with working electrical parts encased in plastic, and both discarded after I had used them.

I realize that the use of all this plastic makes medical procedures more convenient and safer since they're all packaged to be sterile and there's not an issue of effective sterilization for repeated use. But I wonder, are we ignoring the long-term effects of plastic in the environment? It's right that we're now concentrating on controling the Covid-19 pandemic. But are we forgetting about environmental issues? Are we saving lives now only to doom future generations to a slow death from toxic water, soil, and air?