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I’m only human.

You can only fail if you try.

Organic bananas are awesome, you can seriously taste the difference!

I tried today, I really did. I went to Huckleberry to get more shampoo and conditioner bars, I got pasta in my own refillable container, I bought organic produce with no stickers, purchased ‘made in NZ’ essential oils to make my own creams and stocked up on ‘tree free tp’!

Then I went to Binn Inn and refilled my jars with other dry goods like nuts, flour, chocolate buttons and coffee.

But there’s a story to tell today: I’ve got this shoulder issue and I’ve been recommended to get resistance bands to do these strength exercises… anyway instead I bought these, no name brand resistance bands off oneday.com… and this is what I got:

Instead of trying to reuse something with enough resistance that was stretchy enough for strengthening my muscles I bought these resistance bands on oneday.com based on a picture that didn’t include all the plastic packaging and my mind just didn’t think it could come wrapped in so much plastic! I mean most of it is totally pointless plastic! It’s not like your latex bands are going to get scratched in transport?!

It made me so angry that each individual band was wrapped in plastic. It was my own fault for not researching into what it comes packaged in. I am not going to try and plead ignorant just because I don’t often order things online and this is not a common mistake I make; I try to live in my own ‘little less-plastic-life-bubble’ sometimes thinking the best of the world, and blocking out/avoiding things that come coated in large quantities of senseless oil based plastic.

Anyway, this was a huge dissapointment to me and I wish I never purchased them but did more looking into an alternative. The voice in my head was screaming ‘how could I have done this!?’ How stupid! I felt like I was doing so well at ‘low waste living’. However, this made me feel a little bit like I failed, but I’ve come forth with a reminder to myself; I’m human, and no one expects you to be perfect.

Once I home after unpacking the shopping I started on some soft tortillas and tried to cheer up. Tonight’s dinner would be ‘no waste’!

I used the leftover meat from the barbecue over the weekend and made my own rendition of steak fajitas.

I did make amazing homemade soft tortillas with ingredients in reusable containers, and all the healthy toppings were chopped up raw ingredients, totally plastic free!

Let me just finish with saying that after this experience I will try better to never be an ignorant buyer online ever again and focus on the positives… what plastic free-accomplishments can you celebrate today?

Sara Kulins

Hi! I'm Sara a New Yorker that's addicted to ocean adventures. I moved to New Zealand in 2015 and have spent much of my time here either in or on the ocean. I'm currently doing my masters at Leigh Marine Lab, University of Auckland while working as an outdoor/marine educator. Advice from experience: give in to the call of the ocean, you won't regret it.