Plastover: an exodus from Plastic
Plastic has become one of the plagues of today. We can take action.
Every Passover, Jews around the world give up leavened bread – hametz. It’s a sacrifice we make willingly, to recall our ancestors’ journey from slavery to freedom. But what if we could make another kind of sacrifice – one that would have an immediate impact on the world? What if we chose to mindfully free ourselves from the plague of plastic waste?
Just as we had “Reverse Tashlich” during the High Holidays, we can have Plastover during and around Passover, which starts March 27th and ends April 4th. During Plastover we ask that you commit to a new action (or even more) to help rid ourselves of plastic.
Sign up to take a NEW action during Passover. Some ideas for actions you can take include:
Personal Actions:
Commit to learning more about reducing plastic at its source—by reading some of the great resources below.
No plastic wrap—instead use Bees Wrap or other projects.
DIY products: Make your own cleaning products, shampoo.
Give up plastic straws
Give up plastic water bottles—instead using stainless steel or glass bottles.
Replace plastic bags with cloth or nylon.
Use microplastic catching bag to stop the microplastics from entering our rivers, ponds and streams when you wash your synthetic garments. Go a step beyond and buy your clothes from resale shops.
Spread the word:
Include a plastic bottle cap or other plastic symbol on your Seder plate and mention plastic in telling of current plagues in our lives.
Encourage your friends, family, temple or other groups that you are involved in to celebrate Plastover with you, and have them signup and share what they are doing to reduce plastic.
Make your commitment public—to help spread the word! This could be working with your kids to create art from plastic found from a park, river or neighborhood clean up to sharing on social media! Let’s be creative to get the word out.
Buy friends or family gifts that help them rid plastic from their life too!
Make some system changes:
Call your local representatives to find out where they stand on plastic pollution, and encourage them to support bills that address this issue.
Ask your favorite restaurant to move their to-go containers to plastic-free options, or even to do an audit of their operations to find out how to rid their kitchens of plastic.
Find out if your city or town has bans on plastic bags or other types of plastic—if not form a committee. Live in the Mystic River Watershed—join our policy team—this volunteer team has helped advocate for plastic bans in some of our local communities.
Encourage organizations you belong to and your employer to go “plastic free.” That means no more plastic at events! This includes plates, silverware, to-go containers etc.
Planning an event or conference—or are involved in one coming up—ask them to go plastic free, and do not provide any plastic swag (including reusable water bottles).
Learn more:
Watch the Plastover Kick-off with presentation by Andy Hrycyna, MyRWA Watershed Scientist, and Karen L. Grossman, leader of Plastover and member of Temple Shir Tikvah
Infographic on Microplastics and how they go from clothes to food (Emma Gildesgame)
NPR: How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled
Nature: Future scenarios of global plastic waste generation and disposal
