{"id":3008,"date":"2016-06-19T09:26:55","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T03:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008"},"modified":"2016-06-19T09:26:55","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T03:56:55","slug":"plastic-india-sustainable-living-recycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3008","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“A<\/span><\/p><\/div>

rr\u00e9 woh 302 wali madam ka samaan hai,\u201d my grocer yells at his delivery boy, who is busy shoving a selection of mangoes, musk melon, spinach, bitter gourd, tomatoes, green chillies, and free dhaniya into not one, but two <\/span>plastic <\/span><\/a>bags. \u201cYeh basket mein jayega,\u201d my grocer stops the boy in his tracks. <\/span>\n\nMost people my age have the waiters at their local bar recognise them by their face and drink order. Me? I have two <\/span>grocers<\/span><\/a>, one Hot Chips shopkeeper, and one naariyal paani wala recognise me as the madam who won\u2019t accept plastic.<\/span>\n\nI love it! It\u2019s a reputation I\u2019ve worked long and hard to build: two years of refusing plastic at every chance possible.<\/span>\n\nThat\u2019s two years of learning to drink tender <\/span>coconut water<\/span><\/a> straight from the gourd, often clumsily. Two years of giving up most cravings that come wrapped in plastic packaging. Two years of calmly taking items out of polythene bags when shopkeepers habitually put them in one, and transferring them to my cloth bag. Two years of my hands and arms sufficing to carry whatever I bought on days when I forget my cloth bag. Two years of boiling anger at whoever came up with the idea of packaging vegetables and fruits on a styrofoam plate wrapped in two layers of clingwrap. Two years of scouring out kitchen products, cosmetics, and toiletries that come in glass jars with metal lids. Two years of wearing clothes at least twice before tossing them into the laundry basket. Two years of licking my lips in thirst to avoid buying a <\/span>plastic water bottle<\/span><\/a> when I forget to carry mine from home. Two years of consistently looking for sustainable, chemical-free, plastic-free substitutes for nearly everything. Everything.<\/span>\n\n

Trying to live sustainably is not easy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nI\u2019m. Not. Even. Exaggerating.<\/span>\n\nI\u2019ve often asked myself why I\u2019m so obsessed with eliminating plastic from my life. Why does sustainability, which actually involves a gamut of hassles \u2013 living minimally, buying organic and fair trade products, giving up that packet of <\/span>chips <\/span><\/a>you love, using public transportation, composting, repairing\/reusing\/recycling things instead of trashing them, and more \u2013 feel like a personal battle? A personal cause, even. <\/span>\n\nThe answer is as simple as it is selfish. I love nature. I love trees. I love resting my palms on the barks of old trees. I love clean sand on a <\/span>beach<\/span><\/a>. I love clear water under sparkling sunlight. I love clear, non-polluted blue skies. And fresh air. Who the hell doesn\u2019t?!<\/span>\n\nBut that\u2019s not the only reason. <\/span>\n\nI know someone is going to roll their eyes while reading this, and drolly say, \u201cHow precious!\u201d But the truth is, our reckless and ignorant attitude towards our <\/span>environment <\/span><\/a>makes me feel all kinds of icky \u2013 I feel irresponsible, privileged, guilty, helpless, lazy, selfish. Making the efforts to live sustainably, on the other hand, makes me feel good \u2013 responsible, thoughtful, proud, inspired, hopeful.<\/span>\n\nI have to admit though, that I\u2019ve faltered more times than I\u2019d like to acknowledge. Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the <\/span>battle<\/span><\/a>. It takes the mickey out of me to be conscious and intentional at every step until it becomes a habit. It might seem improbable, but it does happen. In that initial phase, living sustainably is hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it. <\/span>\n\nThe classic cop-out toward sustainable <\/span>living <\/span><\/a>is, \u201cBut what difference does one person make?\u201d Let me stop you right there. It\u2019s an old and irresponsible argument that stopped holding up a long time ago. So, please wake up.<\/span>\n\nConsumerism will kill our planet and then kill us. Or the other way around, probably under a pile of all our possessions bought at 90 per cent off on <\/span>Amazon <\/span><\/a>and Myntra and Ebay, wrapped in more bubble wrap than necessary.<\/span>\n\nI often wish we had as many noisy ads and announcements about refusing, reusing, and recycling goods as we do for the 50 per cent mid-season, off-season, doesn\u2019t-matter-what-season-sale on M&S, Lifestyle, H&M,and Forever21. We need more narratives about what we didn\u2019t buy, what we gave up, and what we refused, instead of celebrating what we bought. Maybe a zine or two on how to switch over to sustainable everyday habits than smokey eye makeup tutorials? <\/span>\n\nMaybe I\u2019ll write that zine, myself. But right now, I have to go buy groceries.<\/span>\n\n\u201cMadam, ande? Yeh kaise le ke jaoge?\u201d, he asks, concerned.<\/span>\n\n\u201cUmmm\u2026 bhaiya, inko newspaper mein wrap kardo, please?\u201d Where there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264,"featured_media":3009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[202,19,5915,4569,5710,5906,5916,5711,5917],"class_list":["post-3008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth","tag-earth","tag-india","tag-paper","tag-plastic","tag-plastic-ban","tag-recycle","tag-reuse","tag-sustainability","tag-sustainable-living"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-19T03:56:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tapshi Dhanda\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tapshi Dhanda\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tapshi Dhanda\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d982f994e242fe8138b5a4a7463a3e06\"},\"headline\":\"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-19T03:56:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008\"},\"wordCount\":793,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1531987532.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Earth\",\"India\",\"paper\",\"Plastic\",\"Plastic Ban\",\"recycle\",\"reuse\",\"Sustainability\",\"Sustainable Living\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Earth\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1531987532.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-19T03:56:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d982f994e242fe8138b5a4a7463a3e06\"},\"description\":\"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1531987532.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1531987532.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=3008#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d982f994e242fe8138b5a4a7463a3e06\",\"name\":\"Tapshi Dhanda\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f68e5e0c3fef5233e59a61654ad4444f2b78452fbc332dbe472f95d4da8e531a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f68e5e0c3fef5233e59a61654ad4444f2b78452fbc332dbe472f95d4da8e531a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f68e5e0c3fef5233e59a61654ad4444f2b78452fbc332dbe472f95d4da8e531a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tapshi Dhanda\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=264\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way","description":"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way","og_description":"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-06-19T03:56:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tapshi Dhanda","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way","twitter_description":"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tapshi Dhanda","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008"},"author":{"name":"Tapshi Dhanda","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/d982f994e242fe8138b5a4a7463a3e06"},"headline":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way","datePublished":"2016-06-19T03:56:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008"},"wordCount":793,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg","keywords":["Earth","India","paper","Plastic","Plastic Ban","recycle","reuse","Sustainability","Sustainable Living"],"articleSection":["Earth"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008","name":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-19T03:56:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/d982f994e242fe8138b5a4a7463a3e06"},"description":"Trying to live sustainably is not easy. Some days, I\u2019m too tired to fight the battle. It\u2019s hard, time-consuming, frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive. But I know it\u2019s worth it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3008#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What\u2019s It Like to Go Without Plastic For Two Years? I Found Out the Hard Way"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/d982f994e242fe8138b5a4a7463a3e06","name":"Tapshi Dhanda","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f68e5e0c3fef5233e59a61654ad4444f2b78452fbc332dbe472f95d4da8e531a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f68e5e0c3fef5233e59a61654ad4444f2b78452fbc332dbe472f95d4da8e531a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f68e5e0c3fef5233e59a61654ad4444f2b78452fbc332dbe472f95d4da8e531a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tapshi Dhanda"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=264"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1531987532.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}