I am Taina Uitto, a 33 year old gal living in British Columbia, Canada (originally from Helsinki, Finland). As many Finns and Canadians, I love nature and think that it should be respected and protected in every way possible. I hold a Master’s Degree from the University of British Columbia and have worked in the marine conservation field for the past six years since graduation.
The plastic-free project came to me as an epiphany when my friend said something about sardines. But, as soon as I had decided to quit plastic, nothing had ever made more sense.
The waste phenomenon simultaneously fascinates and disgusts me: I abhor single-use plastic and our disposable ways really get my goat. Oh, and I think consumption and convenience should both be swear words. Yet I am obsessed by these topics. You can often find me staring at overpackaged and ridiculous plastic products, standing looking lost in grocery stores, photographing garbage cans, taking mad notes about perplexing behaviours, holding my tongue in check out lineups, and so on. Get me on the topic and I drive some friends, family, and strangers crazy, but this is me and there is no turning back now.
My blog is my space to vent (because in person I try to be nice), connect with like-minded people, gain new (including opposing) insights, and hopefully share a few helpful ideas for reducing our false dependence on plastic.
I recently escaped the city and moved to a small island to pursue a more sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. I am a mother of a six month old plastic-free citizen, and the alpha female in the pack of three unruly hounds.
~~~
I look forward to connecting with you and am always open to ideas for collaboration. Get in touch will ya? plasticmanners [at] yahoo (dot) ca.


53 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 11, 2010 at 11:05 am
Tracey Tomtene
I will be madly following your blog! What an awesome commitment you have made…a very inspiring resolution indeed:) I look forward to reading and learning more. Fabulous!
January 11, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Mike
Great stuff! I would love to work out some way to tell the story of your adventure to more people. Modeling a behaviour for others to draw inspiration from is a fantastic idea! I work on the very same principle. Please feel free to check out my organization’s website for background. I would appreciate it if you could contact me at your convenience. Good luck. You’ve got a great idea!
January 11, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Bronwen Loden
Hi,
My name is Bronwen and I work at a community radio station in Ontario. I’d love to interview you about your year without plastics. Please email me if you’re interested.
Thanks,
Bronwen
January 11, 2010 at 8:15 pm
sarah
*cheer* i LOVE your blog!
im a plastic loather also but my ban on plastics has wavered on so many occasions in the face of no obvious alternative *grr* love reading about my other options and im super impressed by your follow through! good luck.
xxx sarah
January 11, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Aaron
Hi,
I just wanted to say this is an amzing project!, thanks for sharing with everyone, and I hope, everyone opens their eyes to this.
A.
January 12, 2010 at 11:02 am
Manuel
Congratulations on this new blog
I’d like to talk to you and help you promote your efforts via our organization http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/ Please send me an email!
Thank you and keep up the good work
-manuel
January 12, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Sarah
This is awesome – thanks for the inspiration!!!!
January 13, 2010 at 8:35 am
Kate
Im so glad I found you. What a fabulous undertaking – Ill be by often
January 13, 2010 at 9:33 am
Dar
Hi there,
kudos to you! your blog is not only informative, but entertaining!
Thanks, I’ll keep reading..and I’ll also cut down even more on my own use of plastics!
Dar
January 13, 2010 at 10:15 am
hannah stone
Oprah needs to know about you. Im going to tell her.
January 13, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Michael Lyons
I love your initiative and dedication – don’t stop!
The world is plastic-crazy and most people just seem to be oblivious to the sheer magnitude of the unnecessary waste… not to mention the energy, water and resources consumed and the toxic pollution and green house gases emitted just to make and deliver that grocery bag or drinking straw . Then times that by billions a day! Like Depeche Mode wrote way-back-when: ‘La-la-la, something-something, Everything counts in large amounts!’
That being said, when discussing health issues around plastic, without sharing the science (using data and comparisons) around how bad it is, I can’t tell if you’re saving my life or wasting my time: like a kook who promotes wearing sunglasses at night because stars emit harmful radiation! Plastic’s not bad just because you say so, any more than it’s good just because ‘they’ say so. So keep helping me understand ‘why’.
And your report on the amount of plastic waste from air travel is so disturbing! Too bad that even if it all stopped today and everyone on board brown-bagged it, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the environmental damage of air travel. Better to forget the plastic and fly less! Or if you must fly, pack that lunch, but definitely carbon offset the trip through a reputable offsetting org (try Offsetters.ca) to take as much carbon out of the atmosphere that you couldn’t avoid putting in.
I’d hate to think your blog followers will pack a lunch and then think they’re doing their part. As a sea-and-tree-hugger, I’m sure you probably agree that we have to reduce where it can make the biggest impacts. David Suzuki Foundation says that those are: transport, diet, home energy.
But your focus is education around plastic reduction and thoughtful people should take note and learn… while being mindful of the worst stuff too. Good for you for being an active part of a holistic solution!
January 13, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Kristy
Was forwarded your blog by a friend, how fantastic! Quite the challenge, I wish you all the best! I’ll keep checking in, and try my best to do the same
January 13, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Michael Lyons
Just found your ‘About Plastics’ area and I take it back about the lack of data you have provided. Lots there
January 20, 2010 at 9:21 am
Papa Josh
This is a very noble effort. The passionate few must be the pioneers of a new outlook on packaging. I hope that one day humanity considers waste factors when choosing materials for production and packaging. Wouldn’t an intelligent society thoroughly examine the flow from consumption to waste and back again? I admit that I’m very sympathetic to your previous ups and downs regarding your own plastic consumption discipline. It’s very difficult for a conscious non-farmer to feed one’s self without compromising his/her ideals. Many thanks to you for your undertaking which will give conscious consumers a solid shoulder to lean on. Incidentally, if I choose to recycle plastics of #5 or higher, that material will drive at least 3 hours on the highway before being shipped across the ocean to China, according to the local recycle company. Then, by what method is the plastic made reusable? Would it be better to gather my plastics myself and toss them straight into the Pacific, burn them in my fire pit, or make an enormous plastic sculpture in ode to DuPont that you can see from space?
February 4, 2010 at 8:50 am
Jen CleanBin
I wish you success with your project! Something that Fake Plastic Fish does (which may be a bit time consuming) is make a chart of her plastic – items and weight. It really shows how she has decreased her plastic use.
Anyway, I’m excited to see another Vancouverite doing a challenging project. I’ll be following you!
February 4, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Plastic Manners
Likewise! Good luck with yours Jen! Maybe we can link up at some point and do an event of sorts. Gather all the waste-reducing folks into one pub fundraiser or something…I have a good venue too. Hmm…I’ll email you.
February 17, 2010 at 7:02 pm
eva
Hi Taina – good stuff! it’s amazing how pervasive plastics are! ugh. even in the most bizarre places and of course no end of kid’s stuff! I’ll be following along. greetings from victoria. E
March 23, 2010 at 11:03 am
Dale
Hey thanks for sharing your vision and details of your project this morning. Amazing what you can learn in the produce department. Great job!
March 23, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Plastic Manners
Hi Dale,
I spent a long time there after you left pacing back and forth from the pesticides to the plastic, and then left with dried bulk fruit in a paper bakery bag. But, I met you, so that was all worth it. Thanks for stopping by!
March 25, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Sonja
Hi Taina,
I dig your plastic-free vision and path. And have a slew of questions and ideas and things I’d like to discuss and share. You’ve inspired me to reinvigorate my blog.
I am blessed to live in Nelson, where we have a stellar grocery store (the Kootenay Co-op) where you buy all sorts of consumables in bulk. Besides all the basic dry goods you can also get oils, vinegars, maple syrup, dish/body and laundry soaps, essential oils, nut/seed butters, tofu, pickles, Antoinette’s dip, chutney, bbq sauce, Earth Balance, vegenaise, salsa…and so much more. The list is huge, and it keeps plastic bags, tubs and bottles at bay.
I used to be more dogged in my refusal, but I find that I’ve become softer, more flexible…more plastic. My husband is pretty addicted to Panda puffs & Honey Combs, and I’d say that cereal bags are our top-plastic product. I think I’ll have a mini-intervention with him tonight and see if he’s willing to go plastic free when this jumbo box is done.
Thank you for the fresh breath of inspiration.
peace,
Sonja
March 25, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Plastic Manners
Hi Sonja!
I was just in Nelson about a week ago. I wish I had gotten to the Coop- could have stocked up on a few items..
Indeed refusing is a bit of an endavour to keep up. I have days when I wonder how I will do after this year is over; it would be so easy to drift back into convenience foods especially…But- no way! Hehe. All I need to do is pull up a picture of marine life + plastic and anger/sadness overcomes laziness.
Let me know how your intervention goes. And maybe this summer we could do a plastic splash in Nelson. Fun!
What is your blog by the way?
peace back,
Taina
April 16, 2010 at 11:29 am
Mark
This is so cool. I am going to tell everyone I know. When do we do music for the documentary?
April 16, 2010 at 11:33 am
Plastic Manners
Yippee! We are shooting this Sunday. You are welcome to come there too, but otherwise, we could shoot for next week? Fun. I’ll send you the pilot video now via email. The real thing will be much more choreographed
April 23, 2010 at 12:39 am
Adrienne
I have a ton of questions… specifically about grocery shopping. I try to be conscious of plastic use every day, but sometimes it seems inevitable, and there are certain foods I love but need to find an alternative. Dairy products are the main one… I love my cheese and yogurt! What does a typical trip to the grocer look like for you? I would love to go “all the way” but need to have a few questions answered first… if you can help let me know!
Thanks,
Adrienne
April 28, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Plastic Manners
Post on this coming soon!
April 28, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Michael Lyons
Adrienne,
One way to use less plastic is to consume less of those dairy products that come in plastic. This blog is all about the plastic menace, but your cheese and yogurt are no saints either.
Dairy is notorious for GHG’s emissions levels, uses way more fresh water than a soy farm, bad use of food/land resources (we feed the cows and get 1/12 return on those calories) and its even less inhumane than meat since the dairy industry IS the veal industry (keep cows reproducing to keep the milk flowing and then send them to slaughter anyway).
Just my ranting thoughts. Down with plastic!
April 29, 2010 at 8:59 am
Plastic Manners
Michael, I totally get it. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I was just talking to a few friends, and we agreed that if everything was right in this world, we could just relax and enjoy. One friend said that if it werent for climate change, he would be a pretty happy person. I had to laugh. Another friend said that she has really had to limit her battles lately because she was getting lost in the Debbie Downer Bermuda triangle. I feel like I know too much, and am constantly doing footprint analyses in my head and trying to choose the least environmentally costly option. Hehe my boyfriend is rather sick of it… he called from the bathroom the other day: “Captain Planet! What is this recycled one-ply sh*t?!” Anyways, back to dairy. I source my milk from my herd share, who do things pretty well. And cheese, since it is ONE of the food items that I can source with relative ease without plastics, just makes the world taste a little better. Now, if only I could own my own goats and make that cheese myself!! Back to the land I say! A girl can dream…
April 28, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Darlene
Darnt it Michael, you’re going to turn me vegan yet! You’re already partially responsible for my choice to become a vegetarian.
First Dar, then THE WORLD!
Dar
May 13, 2010 at 9:53 am
Giant plastic six-pack rings strangle public sculptures | Art Threat
[...] echoing Tiana Uitto (author of Plastic Manners and coconspirator of this stunt), “We want to make a call to eliminate [...]
May 28, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Summer Free School
Fantastic stuff! I admire your dedication to eliminating plastics from your life… and hopefully, eventually, everyone else’s.
I once did an art piece called “Fake Plastic Seas” that (in part) involved collecting all the plastic refuse from a 50m strip of beach near my house while just throwing sticks for my dog. What was found in an hour’s jaunt was beyond alarming. Tampon applicators, Jiffy markers, a toothbrush, a pill container… and that was just some of the plastic waste found among the ever-present bottle caps, flipflops, lighters, cig butts and other non-plastic debris. Makes the skin crawl. I encourage anyone to take a bag with you to the beach (although I’m sure you can find one washed ashore without too much problem) and just pick up the junk as you walk and in doing so prevent it from getting washed back out to sea. As unpleasant as it initially may be, it’s not too bad and becomes a sort of disturbing treasure hunt after a while.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say at the Free School!
May 28, 2010 at 1:13 pm
John
Just found your blog and I have to say well done and great work! I have recently become a bit of an eco convert and this is just the kind of excellent work I hope to do myself from now on.
Having just read your blog from the beginning I was almost about to congratulate myself having already switched to a Soya rather than Dairy milk diet but then I though about it and the damn soya milk comes with a plastic lid too! Will have to think again next time I go to the store.
I will be reading from now on, keep up the great work!
J
June 16, 2010 at 7:59 am
Peter Cech
Hi Taina,
I found out about your blog from Jen at the Clean Bin Project.
All I can say is Wow! We need more Tainas.
I work at Metro Vancouver. We are trying to get trash diversion from 55% to 70% and beyond by 2015.
Please take a look at our campaign to get people thinking about that first R – reduce.
http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/solidwaste/zerowaste/Pages/WatchYourWaste.aspx
I’d appreciate your thoughts. If you do like our web pages please e-mail me to discuss how we can work together to reduce plastic trash in the Metro Vancouver region.
Peter
June 16, 2010 at 10:56 am
Plastic Manners
Hi Peter! Thanks for visiting. l am definitely interested in talking more!
June 16, 2010 at 10:57 am
Peter Cech
Awesome! I can be reached at peter.cech@metrovancouver.org
June 30, 2010 at 9:06 am
James
Thank you for starting this site! This has been upsetting me for the last year that you can’t buy anything not wrapped in plastic or made of plastic. I just recall my childhood where you didn’t have a lot of plastics. The grocery store had a lot more naturally packaged goods that traveled far less miles to get there. Also products do not last as long. Something to consider for your site, is buying goods that will last 20-30+ years that are handcrafted in US. Example try to find a wooden broom with natural bristles now. Or a hair brush that doesn’t have a plastic handle! One thing to be very aware of Picture Frames especially at target are replacing wood and glass with plastic, why?
July 1, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Jay
Great stuff! Keep it up! Just sent this out to all my open minded friends.
cheers,
jay
July 21, 2010 at 11:56 pm
James
what do you think of this web page and information?
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/what-to-do-with-bathroom-plastics.html
August 1, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Dave Macdonald
Exceptional job at the UBC Free School, Taina. I’ve attended dozens of presentations on conservations, being “green” and sustainable, but yours is the first one that made me physically ill. That’s something the world needs – particularly here in North America. Without that feeling, we’re doing what we feel we “should” do rather than what we “must” do and you’ve really got the latter figured out. Thanks for the presentation.
August 3, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Plastic Manners
Dave, I’m not sure whether to take that as a compliment…Hahaha! I’m sorry for making you ill, but thanks for coming and listening. Hopefully you were able to gleen a few pointers as well.
August 11, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Ilse Sarady
Hi Tania!
I am contacting you on behalf of the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC), Canada’s second oldest enviromental non-profit organization. I’ve heard about your plastic free year from Jen Rustemeyer from the Clean Bin Project.
The reason why I am contacting you is because I would like to invite you to come and speak (or do a skill-shop) at an event that SPEC is hosting on Saturday Sep 18. The event is called “SPEC social” and is a logo/website launch/community education event. The purpose of the event is to give SPEC a new look and feel with a new webiste and logo and to educate our community about urban environmental issues by providing interesting skill-shops. Beside the skill-shops (which will be on our four campaign areas: transportation, waste, food and energy) we will offer local food, live music from local bands, t-shirt printing, tours and an art exhibit.
I recon it would be very educational for our event attendees to learn about your experience of living plastic free. Our goal is to inspire people to adopt zero waste as part of their lifestyle and to have them spread their knowledge to their family and friends.
If you are interested or like to talk more about this event, please contact me on 604-736-7732 or send me an email!
Best,
Ilse
Ps. More on who we are and what we do: http://www.spec.bc.ca (pls note that we are re-building our website).
August 14, 2010 at 7:03 am
courbebleue
Interesting Blog, I’ll keep it in my favorites, I’m trying also to reduce the utilisation of plastics in my life and it is hard.
August 25, 2010 at 12:20 am
Helen Rupp
Thanks for the great blog. My husband and I are trying to reduce our plastic consumption. We are doing well remembering our reusable shopping bags and ok on taking our water filter with us so we don’t need bottled water (we live in Asia at the moment so can’t drink from the tap) but keep finding ourselves with plastic we have overlooked. Thanks for the inspiration – I will start leaving ‘refused’ notices around! Keep up the good work. Helen.
October 12, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Majeeda
Great stuff Taina – so glad to have found your blog! I’ll be following & look forward to seeing any videos you might make.
November 16, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Ade
I am SO glad we ran into each other (and Keesha) yesterday! Just had 30 minutes of giggles reading your blog and will continue tomorrow when I can see straight again. This is really good!
Adrienne
November 17, 2010 at 8:56 am
Plastic Manners
Adrienne! Welcome to the plastic-free zone
Beware…you may not be able to use those plastic bags for very long.
February 22, 2011 at 8:47 am
dbli023
Great stuff you’re doing here! We’ve started the challenge to at our site, Rodale.com. Pop on over and see how we’re struggling and succeeding in cutting plastic from lives! We’d love your input!
http://www.rodale.com/plastic-free
- Dana from Rodale.com
April 2, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Marcia Dick
Great blog. I am new to this (blogging) but my family recently (like 2 days ago) started a waste and consumer free challenge. I was inspired by Jen and Grant and just had to take on the challenge myself.
Someone commented on my blog and said that I should visit your blog, and so here I am
You have some great suggestions that will be a must for us, as many plastics aren’t recyclable in our city. I just wish we had more bulk buying options and alternative shops and markets. I have a feeling I will be attempting a lot of homemade creations.
April 14, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Lane'
Hi there! I’m a new follower and also from the Northwest (Portland). I’m looking forward to reading your posts and being inspired. I’m already as plastic free as I can be, but I know there’s always room for improvement. I’ve even modeled several dresses made from upcycled plastic bags!
December 29, 2011 at 4:10 pm
samantha keith
Did the idea of freedom influence you and if so how ?
December 29, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Plastic Manners
Hi!
Interesting question. When I first had the idea, I was at some level thinking of freeing myself from my own bad conscience. I was tired of feeling bad about plastic. I also thought it was freeing to have the power to quit- what freedom to be different and not conform! Over the past 2 years, the freedom concept rings truer than ever. Plastic free was just the beginning of many new freedoms I never knew I didn’t have (or wasn’t taking advantage of).
I’m curiuos, what made you ask?
January 29, 2012 at 11:14 am
Who are you? « Green Pea Pod
[...] blog that inspires me and that I relate to is Plastic Manners. Taina seems to struggle less with the contradictions than I do, and I admire that kind of [...]
March 13, 2012 at 9:16 am
Linda
Americans alone use and throw out 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour or over sixty million every single day. Six to ten million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year, choking the life out of sea creatures. Millions of seabirds are dying from ingesting this plastic. In the Pacific Ocean, the great Pacific garbage gyre is now a permanent whirlpool of plastic garbage bigger than Texas leaking toxins into the food chain. The unnecessary use of disposable plastic also adds to greenhouse gasses. There are many efforts going on to reduce plastic garbage.
One man has a simple idea that he thinks might make a big difference—a simple pledge that he hopes millions of people will take to refuse to use three things: Plastic water bottles, plastic straws and plastic shopping bags.
The idea came to John Izzo, a business advisor and author, while writing his sixth book, Stepping Up: How Taking Responsibility Changes Everything. He interviewed scores of people who had stepped up to create change including three women who tackled female poverty in Uganda to a group of ecologists and journalists who confronted the Russian whaling fleet leading to a ban on commercial whaling. “Here I was interviewing all these people who had stepped up to create change which got me thinking about what I could do about this plastic issue.”
But the tipping point came when Izzo watched the trailer for the forthcoming documentary, Midway Journey, a Chris Jordan film about thousands of albatross dying from ingesting plastic on Midway Island several thousand miles from any continent. “I was horrified as I watched the devastation. As I watched these newborn birds dying from eating plastic garbage I kept thinking there must be a simple way that the average person can do something and get engaged on this issue.”
Though Izzo admired people like Beth Terry, founder of http://www.myplasticfreelife.com whom he had written about in Stepping Up, he felt that going totally plastic free would be too much for most people as a starting point. “That is when I thought of the idea of this three part pledge, these three items that we use on a daily basis in the developed world that could easily be eliminated. First, I took the pledge myself and found that with a few metal water bottles, some cloth bags kept in my car and deciding not to use straws, I could easily make this change.”
Izzo funded the development of http://www.noplasticpledge.com which tracks the number of people who have taken the pledge, educates people about the issue of plastic garbage, and links people to other organizations that are tackling the issue. The site was launched on March 5th and he has already been joined by organizations like the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Beth Terry and the makers of the Midway film in promoting the pledge.
“In my book I try to counter the idea that one person can’t make a difference. One reason we think that one person doesn’t matter is because we forget the power of aggregate influence, which is what happens when one times many take a small action thereby making a huge difference,” Izzo says.
Izzo’s goal is ambitious—to get one million to take the pledge in 2012 and one hundred million by the end of 2013. “The hope is that entire schools, families and workplaces will choose to take the simple pledge. Even if people aren’t 100% pure, even if they reduce their use of these three products by 90% we can eliminate 170 billion pieces of plastic garbage every single year!”
We would love your support to help raise awareness and encourage others to take the pledge by blogging about this issue. http://www.myplasticfreelife.com and the Plastic Pollution Coalition have joined us, but we can’t do it alone. Check out the http://www.noplasticpledge.com for information. And watch the Midway trailer (http://bit.ly/AdpkbG) and visit their site http://www.midwayjourney.com to find out more about the documentary.
Please feel free to use elements of this in your blog or communication. To interview Dr. John Izzo about the pledge, contact Linda Parsons at 778.737.4991 or linda@drjohnizzo.com
April 2, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Allison G
What you’re doing is really wonderful, Ive been trying to go in this direction for some time now. Youre a fantastic inspiration, we need leaders with your ideals!