In the 1967 film “The Graduate,” Mr. McGuire gives Benjamin Braddock one word of advice: “Plastics.” There’s a great future there, he adds.
Nearly 60 years later, “plastics” symbolizes something very different: prioritizing short-term convenience and profit over the long-term well-being of both humans and our entire planet.
Westport can’t change the world.
But we can sure take some steps right here in our town.
Sustainable Westport can help us try.
The non-profit has spent 2 decades educating residents about the importance of the environment.
Now they offer action steps. Among the first: “UnPlastic Westport.”
The initiative aims to reduce single-use plastics, and expand water-filling stations around town. The goal is to “turn shared intention into measurable, community-wide change.”
What’s wrong with convenient, ubiquitous plastic? Sustainable Westport says it:
- Enters human bodies and may carry serious health risks for ourselves and our children.
- Is produced in massive quantities, using fossil fuels.
- Persists virtually forever, breaking down into microplastics.
- Is often labeled “recyclable,” despite being rarely recycled in practice.
- Contaminates ecosystems and food chains globally.
Plastic water bottles are everywhere — especially athletic fields. Sustainable Westport is pushing for more water filling stations around town.
Each month — right here on “06880” — they’ll highlight an area of daily life where single-use plastic is most common, along with practical ideas to use.
From kitchens and laundry rooms to sports teams and more, small shifts add up to big changes.
Today, Sustainable Westport’s “UnPlastic” tips focus on pantries. For example:
- Move dry goods into glass jars or metal tins.
- Buy in bulk or larger sizes, to reduce packaging
- Avoid individually wrapped snacks where possible
- Make your own DIY snacks, like trail mix
- Trade out plastic tupperware for glass.
Sustainable Westport invites residents to “Pledge to UnPlastic.” Signing here — and sharing an idea or tip — reinforces commitment.
Each month too, the organization will highlight a “Sustainable Superstar.”
The first is the Staples cheer team’s Pyramid Club.
By rethinking how water was served at their weekly pasta dinners for the football team, they eliminated the need for single-use water bottles.
All it took was purchasing 12 restaurant-style pitchers, and asking a custodian to open the school cafeteria kitchen so they could fill them with tap water (and use ice from the machine).
Using compostable paper cups, this fall they kept nearly 1,000 bottles out of the waste stream. Click here to learn more.
Staples cheer team’s Pyramid Club.
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But that’s not all from Sustainable Westport. They also recommend these upcoming events:
“Winter Seed Sowing with Alice Ely” (Monday, January 26, 7 p.m., Wakeman Town Farm): Learn to make your own “mini-greenhouse” in a bottle to start seedlings. Leave it outside till spring, when you’ll reap a dozen or more native plants that pollinators love, to start in your garden. Click here to register.
“First Monday” (February 2, 7 p.m., Emmy Squared): Catch up on local, national and global sustainability topics. All are welcome; just drop in.
“WestportREADS: The Real Impact of Climate Change on Connecticut Shores“: (February 12, 7 p.m., Westport Library): In this year’s WestportREADS selection, “All the Water In the World,” much of Manhattan is under water due to melting glaciers. Executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation James O’Donnell will discuss the effects of climate change on our shoreline and Long Island Sound. Click here for more information.
(“06880” regularly covers Westport’s environmental scene — along with so much else. If you appreciate our work on important subjects, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Sorry folks, but he list of “tips” is blue sky at best: moving stuff to glass or tin just throws the plastic out (recycle is B.S. cause only 10% or so actually gets recycled); buying in bulk is great for large families but not for average or empty nesters; avoiding individually wrapped stuff ain’t gonna’ happen for them that now consumes it; making your own snacks is simply crap and trading Tupperware for glass just tosses the plastic somewhere else.
It’s the retailers, wholesalers, suppliers and restaurants who need to dump the plastic… and good luck with that.
What is a water filling station and where do they locate them?
It’s a place to fill up water bottles, to avoid using plastic one-use bottles. They’re indoors (schools, YMCA, etc.), and (Sustainable Westport hopes) outdoors, at places like athletic fields.
I think it is called a faucet.
Many helpful suggestions here- good to start somewhere for our own health and that of our planet whether you are one person,a family of 2 or more, a school or a business. Awareness and small actions add up over time.
That being said we are living in a town where the size of our homes have come to matter too much. The amount of resources wasted on so many of these new 7,8 and 9000 sq foot homes people are favoring is a mind boggling waste of resources and an assault to the land that sustains us. The clear cutting to start, the sheer amount of building materials and the vast amounts of electricity, water, gas and or oil to maintain them is egregious and beyond comprehension. Throw in all the harmful chemicals spread on Westport lawns and water ways week after week which poison our ecosystem and ultimately ourselves is no sign of intelligence or sensibility. Both these parts of the “Westport Lifestyle” being touted, and adopted, need to be addressed as well if the words Westport and sustainability are to be used in the same sentence going forward.
Good, maybe vital, point, Chris; and odd that not even mentioned by the “Sustainable” folks.
… and the SUVs
Right on Dan Katz!
Westport has fine tap water. There is really no need for anyone to buy bottles of water. I made this point about 25 years ago. The local Nestle water person responded with assertions as to the desirability of bottled water.
Individual bottles of water is such a funny concept for the Gen X and before crew. Kids today must be so well hydrated. I was always afraid to ask for the bathroom hall pass from some of my teachers.
Want an easy Sustainable Westport suggestion? Every day, only 2/3rds of the roughly 4600 eligible K-12 students ride the school bus. Now we know there aren’t 1500+ kids riding bikes and walking, which means there are multiple hundreds of extra cars on the roads for a trip that’s already happening without you, funded by tax dollars your parents already spent.
Just a thought, maybe then we could ditch the paper straws.
Each artificial turf field contains 20 tons of plastic “blades”, all of which get shredded as they are used (and which contain toxic chemicals as well.) After 8-10 years the plastic “carpet” must be replaced.
That individuals as trying to do the right thing is terrific, but if the town is serious about “unplastic-ing” – and we
must be – leaders have to get serious about creating and maintaining hardy grass fields and stop the push for plastic ones.
Maybe not the single use category but just a suggestion – when can Westport start turning in all the plastic rec jerseys for re-use? Basketball, soccer etc. (Would save some $ too)