Author: npk

In The Graduate (1967), Dustin Hoffman’s character is told the secret to the future is… “One word: plastics.” Over the last five and a half decades, this somewhat comical remark has seemed more and more prophetic. Certainly, the advancement and proliferation of this amazing material has transformed the way we live. Heck, the computer that I’m typing on, the phone next to it, and the contact lenses that I am looking through are all made of this ubiquitous substance which surrounds us.

Despite my deep reliance on plastics, I have increasingly wished to decrease my use of this substance, particularly surrounding the food that my family and I eat. Without citing a lot of research, it just feels like I would prefer to have less plastic in my kitchen. I thought then that this was a somewhat weird idea, but with a little investigation it was clear that others feel the same.

So, I will use this community as a way to share the journey and resources for those of us who are looking to scale back similarly. I envision sharing: stories about my kitchen and cooking, products I find to help to replace some plastic items, academic research about plastics, and links to others exploring the same space. 

Disclosure: I will definitely link some products that I have found using affiliate links to help pay for the cost of hosting this content. If you purchase things through these links, I will get a small payment.

The first purchase:

I first thought about the No Plastic Kitchen during a trip to Spain. My wife and I had glorious, delicious meals by the ocean and I never saw plastic. The negronis were mmmmm, the weather was beautiful and it was just an overall feeling we wanted to replicate at home. 

But home was far away and a far cry from a Spanish resort. The eating environment looked nothing like this picture. In fact, when I looked around our kitchen with a fresh set of eyes, I saw plastic EVERYWHERE: cups, utensils, cutting boards, cooking tools, etc. Open any drawer or any cabinet and there it was!

You have to start somewhere, and I thought the best place to start is probably the most used plastic that could be ingested. So I started thinking about the giant plastic tumblers I use for drinking water. In the work-from-home environment of 2020, it is more convenient than ever to get up and grab fresh water, but I just don’t do it. Bigger vessels just make more sense so I don’t have to get up so much….

In our cabinet are these plastic tumblers (and more plastic cups!) – I have no idea where they came from , perhaps in a picnic set someone gave us many years ago. We have a bunch of them in bright colors and they hold a lot of water. I’m talking about the big ones that are stacked back there. I measured their capacity at 32 ounces!