One of those younger converts is Tessa Carleton, 24, who makes and sells handmade goods like macramé in rural Quebec. After a conversation with an environmentalist friend four years ago, Ms. Carleton donated or gave away the shampoo bottles, nail polish remover and Ziploc bags. And she is still purging.
“It was a long process,” Ms. Carleton said. “I still don’t think it’s over.”
The farmhouse she shares with her husband, Jacob, feels like a 75-year-old time capsule. In addition to raising pigs and chickens for food, they make their own deodorant, lip balm and body moisturizer. And almost everything, like the hemp shower curtain she bought from Life Without Plastic, is made of natural materials in subdued colors with no branding. It’s domestic life before the Plastic Age.
Still, some wonder whether buying metal ice-cube trays is just another example of conscious consumerism. Buying a four-pack of metal straws at Urban Outfitters can be a kind of trendy virtue signaling. It offers a way to feel good without examining one’s larger environmental impact (like the energy required to ship glass or metal, both heavier than plastic).
But those committed to living plastic free say that the small steps add up and make an impact.
“Given that single-use disposable plastics are at the heart of the plastic pollution problem, if you do these simple things, you could potentially reduce your plastic consumption by 80 percent or maybe even more,” said Mr. Sinha, who wrote a guide to avoiding plastics with Ms. Plamondon.
Nevertheless, it is usually more expensive to buy stainless-steel or wood items instead of plastic ones, or fresh foods instead of packaged ones. And it can be difficult to avoid plastic in poorer communities. Not everyone has access to year-round farmers’ markets, or the means to shop at them. (According to U.S.D.A. data, as of early February, 2019, more than 3200 farmer’s markets in the U.S. are authorized to accept food stamps.)
Kristal Ambrose, 29, an environmental scientist who founded the Bahamas Plastic Movement, an advocacy group, faces that challenge daily. Much of what is sold on the island nation is imported and shipped in plastic.
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