Another day, another post. Knew Plastic Free July was going to be a challenge and needed serious preparation to make a difference that would make me feel good but … Ahyesbut as my friend says. The list of reasons why it didn’t happen would make a long and dispiriting rather than amusing blog. Today therefore I am simply going to focus on why it is naive to believe that treating plastic as the enemy is going to result in the world we might wish to see unless we understand there is a need to compromise.

My case study is going to be the successful #switchthestick campaign that focused on replacing the plastic stick in cotton buds with paper as well as stopping flushing them down the toilet.

Feedback like one below shows that it is not as simple as it seems.

“Paper Stalks: Great for the Environment, Useless to Use

People are noting that changing from plastic to paper does not seem to allow them to do what they could. It doesn’t help that Johnson’s seem to have also made a change to the bud too which had nothing to do with plastic. Wish they had explained themselves but they have failed to do so. Keeping the old packaging with the most subtle of changes while perhaps intending to reinforce brand loyalty almost feels like they are reluctant and don’t really want to proudly go plastic free.

As often after weekly ramble there is no conclusion to draw other than life is difficult and life is easy. So where better to finish than with the same song as last July that always makes us smile 🙂

What has any of this got to do with the Pareto principle. Well this post is an exanple of its application. To finish to an “acceptable” standard would take an hour or more. Is this a good use of my time onn a sweltering daY WHEN streuggling ti think straight and get my hands to hit the right keys. I decided not. It’s 80% there and that shoulkd be enough for you to get the gist. Today’s decluttering life tip is to sometimes live with a job 80 % done and move on .. the effort expended on reaching 100% might be more usefully deployed to achieve 80% of some other goal. Have a nice day.