For Simme Bobrosky, a La Conner artist and musician, making a tiny impact on the world is worth the extra effort of rinsing used plastic bags and forsaking many creature comforts.
Only 5% to 6% of the plastic waste generated in the U.S. is actually recycled, Greenpeace reported in 2022. While this information may raise the question of what’s the point of trying, people like Bobrosky see it as an opportunity to practice conscious consumption, creative expression and lots of self-discipline.
For 51 years, Bobrosky has been striving to achieve what is known as a zero-waste lifestyle, which the Zero Waste International Alliance defines as “the conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse and recovery of products, packaging and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”
“Striving,” because in a world where most goods are made of or packaged with some sort of synthetic material, avoiding any waste at all is a nearly impossible feat.
Bobrosky, who has had to temporarily relocate to Burlington where she can’t curb her waste as much, estimated that in normal circumstances she produces the equivalent of one shopping bag of trash per month. Anything else is reused, recycled or turned into art.
“I am very disciplined,” she said.
This discipline has looked like buying as little as possible and almost exclusively in bulk, avoiding pre-packaged produce, reusing the same glass jars and plastic containers, and bringing her own containers to restaurants to pack her leftovers.
Clothes she owns have been worn for years and mended when they show holes or any other damage. If they’re socks, Bobrosky turns them into catnip toys for her cats Simba and Mirka, or drops them off at the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op to be recycled.
While touring the garden at her home in La Conner, Bobrosky walked over a pathway she made with broken concrete slabs and embellished with ceramic fragments. She then showed a bird bath she made over 30 years ago by assembling lamps and using more fragments of mugs and dishes to create a mosaic. The piece was even featured in an issue of Seattle Magazine 26 years ago.
“Whatever caught my fancy I would stick in there,” she said.
Bobrosky’s drive to avoid waste and reuse as much as possible isn’t limited to man-made, synthetic materials.
As a self-described “plant nerd,” she believes many weeds are underrated and underused because they’re seen as pests. For example, she enjoys using dandelions to make soups, salads, teas and tinctures.
For about a decade, she would make frequent visits to the Evergreen Washelli cemetery in Seattle, where she would pull potted plants and flowers from the garbage bin and take them home. After nursing them back to health, she would sell them at her annual plant sale.
Bobrosky’s zero-waste journey began in 1975, back when she lived in Seattle. A new curbside recycling program had been introduced in Fremont near her home, piquing her interest. Upon inquiring, she recalled, she received two potato net bags to dispose of glass and cans. Plastic recycling was not available at the time, but plastic pollution was also not as big of a problem as it is today, she said.
Unless it was burned or somehow sent to outer space, every single plastic item that has ever been tossed in the trash — whether that was 40 years ago or last month — is still on this planet. Perhaps in a landfill, floating in a garbage patch in the ocean, or creeping its way into someone’s bloodstream.
“The plastic doesn’t break down. Where is it all gonna go?” she said.
Though many may not be aware of the percentage of plastic that is actually given new life, Bobrosky believes most people are unwilling to make an effort to buy less and reuse more.
“They’re only concerned with their immediate lifestyle and surroundings,” she said.
Seeing how the planet has been choking on trash, she never struggled to stick to her philosophy, though she said it can often feel like “a losing battle.” That is the case, for example, when considering that plastic may be involved in the production and distribution of goods that are marketed to environmentally-conscious people.
Yet, she feels a responsibility to do her little part, both for herself and her community.
While she doesn’t achieve perfection, she believes that if everyone aspired to get as close to a zero-waste life as possible, the world would be a better place.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
