Originally Posted by velochic  I think your goal is really great! I have a lot of respect for what you are doing. However, I was just saying that to live in the modern age, it's impossible to live plastic-free.
Even if you are off the grid, 18th or 19th century, there are many things that will contain plastic today because they're not even hand-crafted anymore. For example, with the modern phone system, the first analog telephones that didn't contain any plastic (metal and wood) wouldn't work. You could get a reproduction, but it has to contain plastic for the insulation of electronics. So, even something as simple as a phone can't be used without having plastic in your life.
As for switch plates, I wasn't even thinking of those. We have all stainless steel faceplates for outlets and switches. The actual switch has to be plastic, though. You can't have metal wires, connecting to a metal switch... you'd get shocked.
Even the cool 50's fridge had plastic because there had to be some insulation against the current coming in.
I make our own soap, and I can't do it without plastic (because of the lye and the fact that the supplies I need cannot be made or bought without plastic). So even something quite basic, such as making soap, means there will be plastic.
Don't get me wrong... I think getting plastic out of one's life is a beneficial and a good thing to pursue. We do it, as well. It's just that it's truly impossible to live without plastic 100%. You wanted to know what other things will "stump" you and these are things that have stumped me. Fans, appliances, HVAC, electronics, phones, writing utensils, the ink inside them, notebook covers, clocks, clothing (stitches) all contain plastic. Even things such as your watch and clothes have plastic in them. Unless you grow all of your own food, some of your food will be packaged in plastic. Even if you do grow all of your food and put it by, the canning lids contain plastic... and if you use food-grade wax instead to seal your jars (extremely dangerous), it will come packaged in plastic.
As we have reduced our plastic needs in our house, I have (from experience) realized that to live in the modern age is to have some plastic in one's life. Even the cars we drive have a ton of plastic... even the horse-drawn carriages do because so much of the tackle that horses use has plastic in it. You can't escape it. Unfortunately. I've tried.
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