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Exceptions I Make on Plastic

Exceptions I Make on Plastic

Posted on June 17, 2019July 6, 2023

I try to give this blog a positive touch. In my weekly diaries, in my other posts, I try to focus on the good things. This way everything is and stays fun. But I like to challenge myself too. And as a privileged person in Netherlands, I feel like I am obligated to do whatever I can to live an eco-positive lifestyle. Now, even though I share a lot of good things, I’d like to share my challenges too. As I said, I like those. Today I’ll share the exceptions I make when it comes to plastic.

Sustainable food choices

Last week I wrote a guide on how to buy sustainable food. As we saw there, buying package free is not the most sustainable thing you can do. If you have to choose between unpackaged meat or packaged vegan food, you choose the vegan food. The best way to decrease your negative impact when it comes to food is by going vegan. That being said, this does not mean that I don’t try to live zero waste any longer. I still try! The very best I can. But, I know that it’s less important than the other criteria I mentioned in the guide on how to buy sustainable food. I try, and I learn every day.

Even though I think my zero waste game is very strong, I have some challenges. Today I want to share the plastic challenges with you. Maybe we can help each other! If you have any tips, let me know. So, here’s my list of exceptions I make on plastic:

1 Meat substitutes

Okay, so, if I haven’t said it enough already: a plant-based/vegan diet is the most sustainable diet. Period. I’ve been vegan for more than 1.5 years now, I think. I’d never say going vegan is hard, never. But, I am tempted by meat-replacements all the time. It’s like the perfect thing. The taste of meat without all the disadvantages of meat. Perfect! Well, except for the plastic packaging then. But, eating these meat replacers every once in a while makes me feel like I don’t miss out on anything. And if that keeps me vegan, it’s totally worth the waste to me.

I don’t think I’ll ever change this exception. If there will be things available in compostable or recyclable packaging, then I’ll switch. But I just won’t give up meat replacers. American Fillet, pasty, sausages, anything is available vegan! I can’t live without these things, they make life good. I do try to make it special when I eat them, I think I eat them once a week now, not daily. This way it stays fun and special to me! Also, I do try to make more tofu, tempeh or seitan. These things are available in glass in my city.

2 Any seaweed product

I am a sucker for seaweed! If you said that to me 4 years ago I would laugh at you. I hated sushi. But now, everything has changed. I love sushi. I try to lower my intake on nori blades by only eating sushi in a restaurant, where they probably buy it in bulk, which is more efficient. But, I still use them for my vegan tuna salad a lot! I just love that fishy taste nori blades have.

And here we have it again, vegan is still better than any animal product that is unpackaged. So, these nori blades in plastic are fine. Also, I just love seaweed salad, I could eat that every day. I guess it’s like an addiction, just like I have with sushi. I haven’t found nori blades nor seaweed salad plastic free or organic. If I would refuse to buy these things I would be an unhappy person. So, I make the exception here.

3 Dairy substitues

Maybe I could’ve put this in the same category as the meat replacers, but I think there’s a difference. My point of view is the same. If these things keep being vegan fun, it’s the best option. But the difference is that I can do some improvement here. I used to buy vegan cheese, but now I buy nutritional yeast flakes. This is more efficient, because the packaging lasts me way longer. It’s still not plastic free, but better. Same goes with soy cream for cooking, I can use coconut milk. But I haven’t found a replacer for soy yoghurt. So, I guess I’m still in the learning phase here. Nevertheless, I am not perfect. But that’s okay, since I’m doing the best I can.

These were the 3 exceptions I make on plastic. After having written this, I am quite proud of myself. I have gotten down to just three things I don’t buy plastic free. And all of these are conscious choices! I now see that they’re all related to my plant-based diet as well. That makes me happy. I hope I still have things to improve, but we’ll see how it goes. For now, these three are my guilty pleasures when it comes to plastic.

Do you make any exceptions on plastic?

Yours sincerely,
Romee

5 thoughts on “Exceptions I Make on Plastic”

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ABOUT ME

 

when a teen goes green

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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Dit is hoe ik met de trein van Krásná Lípa (🇨🇿) naar Bratislava (🇸🇰) reisde. Dit was reisdag 3/6 van onze duurzame interrail reis. Ik ben vandaag 25 jaar geworden 🥳. Ik hoop heel hard dat dat betekent dat ik ongeveer op een kwart van mijn leven ben. En wat een verjaardag is dit! Ik mag het vieren in Kopenhagen met mijn favoriete persoon @casperchristiaanse , terwijl ik met de trein door Europa reis 🚃. Ik ben een gelukkig mens. Op naar de 50! Dit is hoe ik van Dresden (🇩🇪) naar Krásná Lípa (🇨🇿) reisde. Niet een bijster lange, maar wel een prachtige treinreis, omdat je door het nationaal park Boheems Zwitserland gaat. Dit was de tweede reisdag van onze interrail (2/6). We zijn op de helft van de interrail. Terwijl ik dit typ zijn we onderweg naar Warschau (8,5 uur vanaf Bratislava). Nog twee bestemmingen te ontdekken, maar wat hebben we nu al veel genoten. Elke dag goed en lang slapen, nieuw vegan eten proberen, bijzonder lang wandelen, spelletjes spelen, weinig schermtijd, genieten van de mooie uitzichten en zon: deze reis is genieten 💜. Dit is hoe ik met de trein van Amsterdam naar Dresden reisde 🚃. De interrail is officieel begonnen! (1/6) Vandaag verschijnt er geen artikel op mijn blog. En de komende twee weken hierna ook niet. Dat is voor het eerst, in de 7 jaar dat ik schrijf. Een heel leuk onderdeel van duurzaam leven is tweedehands kleding. Hier zijn 4 tweedehands outfits die ik droeg in augustus 2023 🌞. Je zag het al in de reel van vorige week: ik ben op vakantie geweest naar Gent, in België. Het was een ontzettende aanrader, en daarom verscheen er vandaag een artikel op mijn blog over de leukste en duurzaamste hotspots in Gent 🌆. Check it out via de link in mijn bio Gent, wat was je prachtig 🌆. Dit is absolute een duurzame vakantietip (oh, maar wees niet zo naïef als ik en ga lekker met de trein 🚃). Binnenkort is op Youtube de gehele vakantievlog te bekijken.

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