Upcycled Napkins
I will never forget my first day of chemotherapy. As my sister and I walked down the hallway, I crumbled at the sight of the infusion center. Up until that point I felt like I would be able to handle whatever was thrown my way, a defiant independence that I could do anything. When I walked into the infusion center I was hyper aware of everything around me, the smell, the bright lights, the terrible color and patterns on the vinyl chairs, the overly saturated nature photography… each object more and more overstimulating.
When the tech took my blood pressure, it was the highest it has ever been. They were not very kind and told me to “just relax”, which of course did not help. It took me a while to find my breath and start to relax as my sister calmly started breathing next to me. Shortly after, I would meet Maddie, my amazing nurse, who would kindly walk me through each step of the process, yet at each step she would remove an object from a plastic covering or toss something into the trash.
It horrified me at how much single-use plastic was being thrown away in the first twenty minutes of my six-hour long appointment. The whole appointment I was constantly in shock at how much trash I was producing. It caused me to spiral a little bit with darker questions — where does this waste go? how much waste is produced each day? is my life worth this waste production? All of which my sister ever so coolly told me to get over.
I know that some plastic waste is inevitable, especially when it comes to sterile environments. However, I have found a renewed sense of limiting my waste since that day and am finding new ways to recycle or upcycle objects that no longer are serving me.
A dear friend leant me her sewing machine over the summer when I had a project that called for some finishing touches. I had very minimal training up until that point, so she gave me a tutorial and some scrap fabric to practice on. She told me to make napkins, she said it’d be the easiest. After completing a set of four napkins to give back to her as a thank you, I realized how wonderful it felt to make something beautiful from scraps that could have easily been destined for the landfill.
I had my eleventh infusion last week, and as I sat there knitting and watching my other wonderful nurse, Jordan, move through the movements of prepping the supplies to access my port, I couldn’t help but think there has to be a better way for us to package medical supplies or for the hospitals to at least have a better way to sort plastic for recycling. We already know that microplastics are everywhere, so how can we minimize our use so that we can protect future generations from ingesting microplastics and keep them from sitting in terribly patterned vinyl chairs.
I really try to limit my waste. I compost, I recycle, I donate unused items, and most recently I signed up for Ridwell to help with my plastic waste. Are there other ways that you recycle or upcycle?