Film inspires a plastics-free grocery trip

After the showing of the documentary Plastic Ocean at the Paulist Center a few weeks ago, which was both moving and alarming, my wife, Tara, and I did our grocery shopping.  We decided to see if we could make our purchases without buying any plastic. We had heard of some alternatives at the sharing after the documentary that we tested out. We found shampoo in a bar form instead of a plastic container. We picked up dishwasher soap in powder form that comes in a cardboard box. We decided to make our own hummus instead of buying it in a plastic tub and – to keep ourselves plastic free for this experiment – we did not buy yogurt. It has been a few weeks since that adventure, but it has continued to impact our efforts to cut down on plastics, keeping in mind the impact on the ocean and its habitat.

Bob Wegener is a Boston architect focused on serving marginalized communities.