This Year, Have a “No Plastics” Holiday (w/Sonali Kolhatkar)
"Be the change" and all that ...
The Zero Hour doesn’t do a lot of “home how-to” stories, but this one was both fun and politically resonant. Zero Hour Senior Correspondent Sonali Kolhatkar walks us through the hows—and why’s—of having a plastic-free holiday. (It’s easier than I would have thought.)
As Sonali writes:
There’s no substitute for systemic policy change to regulate plastic use, but individual actions on a mass scale can have an impact. They can also be a dinner table conversation, potentially spurring cultural shifts and inspiring local activism.
Honestly, I didn’t expect to enjoy talking about holiday entertaining quite as much as I did. As my mother used to say, “Will wonders never cease?”
Below you’ll find a summary of some no- or low-plastic recommendations, followed by a transcript of our conversation.
Recommendations
Hosting & Dining
Skip Disposable Tableware: Avoid plastic forks, knives, and plates. Serving hot food on plastic can also lead to chemical leaching.
Use Rental Services: For large parties, look for rental companies that provide real china and silverware. Many will even pick them up dirty, saving you the cleanup. (That one particularly appealed to me.)
Choose Cloth: Swap paper or plastic-coated napkins for cloth ones. They look nicer and reduce waste.
Shop the Perimeter: Buy produce and meats from farmers’ markets or local CSAs where items aren’t shrink-wrapped or encased in plastic.
Gift Giving
Give “Experiences”: Instead of physical objects, gift museum memberships, massage certificates, or “coupons” for services like babysitting.
Thrift & Re-gift: Shop at thrift stores or participate in “Buy Nothing” groups to find high-quality pre-owned items.
Sustainable Wrapping: * Reuse gift wrap from previous years.
Use the “Tea Towel” method: Wrap gifts in pretty cotton towels or cloth napkins that become part of the gift.
Choose recyclable paper tape or twine instead of plastic adhesive tape.
Personal Care & Household
Visit Refill Stations: Bring your old shampoo, soap, and lotion bottles to local refill stores to buy the contents without new plastic packaging.
Switch Your Tools: Look for bamboo toothbrushes and toothpaste pellets (which come in glass jars) to eliminate plastic tubes.
Avoid Synthetics: When buying winter clothes, try to choose natural fibers over polyester or fleece to reduce microplastic shedding in your home.
Taking Action
The “Dinner Table” Discussion: Use the holiday as a talking point. Share why you are reducing plastic to build a shared cultural shift with family.
Local Advocacy: Transition your personal changes into political ones by supporting local bans on single-use plastics or lobbying for water refill stations in public spaces.
Prioritize Glass and Metal: If you must buy packaged goods, choose glass, metal, or cardboard, as these materials have significantly higher recycling success rates than plastic.
Transcript:
(light edits only)
Richard Eskow: Tell us what you wrote about this week.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Many folks watching might feel the same way I do: when you go to the grocery store, especially around the holidays, it gives you an icky feeling to see everything encased in plastic. I often think, “This wrapping is likely never going to be recycled, no matter what they promise. It’s going to end up in a landfill for hundreds of years, spewing toxic chemicals.”
Most Americans don’t like how much plastic we consume, so I wrote about how we might start thinking about plastic-free lives. Since we’re heading towards the holidays, is it possible to have a plastic-free—or at least plastic-light—holiday?
I like to move away from the “personal responsibility” angle of these stories, where the burden is placed solely on the individual. We know systemic change is what’s truly needed. However, there is something to be said for the cultural shift that takes place around the dinner table. Plastic reduction is a talking point that unites people across the political spectrum. Unless you’re a hardcore backer of the industry, most people feel uncomfortable with this because nobody really asked for it.
I interviewed Judith Enck, a former EPA official and head of Beyond Plastics. She explained that one big reason there is so much plastic on our shelves is the huge glut of fracked gas.
Richard Eskow: I saw that in your article. I had never heard that before.
Sonali Kolhatkar: The byproducts of fracked gas are used to make plastic. This actually traces back to President Barack Obama. He suggested we transition away from fossil fuels by using “natural gas.” That word “natural” makes it sound less damaging, but fracked gas is just as bad as oil or coal—and in some cases, worse.
Richard Eskow: It’s disastrous for the environment. I remember writing in 2016 about how the earthquake rate in Oklahoma went up 300% because of fracking. I had no idea it was connected to the plastic products being forced on us every time we go shopping.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Because it’s so widely available, it’s actually cheaper for a manufacturer to encase something in plastic than cardboard.
Richard Eskow: I’m glad you mentioned the personal responsibility aspect. It reminds me of the “Crying Indian” ad from years ago, which was part of a campaign by the container industry to convince us that pollution is an individual problem rather than a corporate one. While I’m a big opponent of that “individual blame” narrative, I do feel better when I’m not contributing to it in my own home—especially considering the microplastics we inhale that make us sick.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Exactly. Plastic is in our bloodstream; we are inhaling it and eating it. If you heat food in plastic, microplastics enter your system. Even synthetic fabrics like polyester or fleece shed fibers that enter our bloodstream and have been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier and the placenta.
I suggest using the idea of a plastic-free holiday as a way to talk to friends and family about the local action you can take. Activists have been working for years to ban single-use water bottles and bags. For example, California will have a blanket ban on plastic bags by 2026, and Georgia has banned certain plastics in food packaging.
Think about water refill stations in airports. They didn’t appear because airports wanted to save people money; they appeared because individuals lobbied for years. Individual culture-shifting and local political action are connected.
Richard Eskow: Let’s get into your holiday recommendations. I think people will be very interested.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Judith suggests that if you have a big party, try to avoid plastic cutlery and plates. Think about the health impacts of serving hot food on plastic. She recommends switching to real plates, cloth napkins, and silverware. If you don’t have enough, there are rental companies that will deliver them and even take them away dirty so you don’t have to wash them.
Richard Eskow: That’s a huge selling point! I was worried about the dishes, but knowing you can return them dirty is amazing.
Sonali Kolhatkar: It looks nicer and it’s safer. Beyond the party, you can pledge to shop at local farmers’ markets or CSAs where food isn’t packaged in plastic.
Richard Eskow: I love that. When you buy produce like strawberries at the supermarket, the plastic is often shrink-wrapped so tight it must be rubbing off on the food.
Sonali Kolhatkar: It’s sad how we’ve reached this point. These plastics create giant islands in the ocean and kill marine life. Discussing how to become less dependent on plastic at the dinner table can lead to showing up at city council meetings to demand policy action.
For gift-giving, try giving “experiences” instead of items encased in plastic—museum trips, babysitting coupons, or massages. I also love thrift shopping.
Richard Eskow: There’s a great thrift store right down the street from me.
Sonali Kolhatkar: You can reuse last year’s gift wrap or buy recyclable paper. My favorite trick is to wrap gifts in pretty cotton tea towels or cloth napkins and tie them with a bow.
I’m also in a “Buy Nothing” group. It’s a gifting community where people give away items with zero expectations. It keeps things out of landfills and helps you avoid boycotting certain corporations because you aren’t buying new products from them anyway.
Richard Eskow: A self-imposed vacation from plastics over the holidays would be a significant start.
Sonali Kolhatkar: Another suggestion is “refill stores.” You can bring empty lotion or shampoo bottles and refill them from large vats, paying only for the contents. They also sell plastic-free alternatives like bamboo toothbrushes or toothpaste pellets in glass jars.
Remember, about 90% of plastic does not actually get recycled. It’s a hoax. However, glass, metal, and paper are reliably recycled. If you have a choice, always choose the plastic-free packaging.
Richard Eskow: This has given me a million ideas. Taking back this part of our lives empowers us to take other kinds of action, too.
Sonali Kolhatkar: It’s fun and it shifts the culture. It’s also a great way to engage with kids—instead of the latest plastic toy, you can do an art project together. Last night, my neighbors and I made holiday crackers out of collected toilet paper rolls and recycled wrap. We stuffed them with jokes, a little cash, and candy. It became a communal activity that was a gift in itself.
Richard Eskow: It’s a way to make the holidays about real things rather than the stress of shopping lists. Sonali, I never would have guessed how much fun this topic would be. Thank you for joining us.
Sonali Kolhatkar: It’s my pleasure, Richard.