AIBU - TTC and single-use plastic?

[PretendNothing]

Long-time lurker here and this is my first post. For the last couple of years, my husband and I have been trying to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in our lives. We've stopped buying bottled water, buy fruit from the local greengrocers to cut down on packaging, take a ceramic coffee cup to the café, you know how it goes.

Now that we're thinking about having a family, AIBU to be horrified by the amount of single-use plastic floating around? Why do pregnancy and ovulation tests have to come in plastic casings? Just how much packaging is really necessary for a few vitamin pills?

Wow.

Yabvu.
The plastic is needed to keep the items fresh and in date, and to show tampering. You aren't throwing it in the sea when you're done with it. Check to see how much can be recycled, and how your local council disposes of it. You may even be able to pay to have it safely incinerated.

You are presumably new-ish to this domain if you haven't yet bulk ordered packs of "internet cheapies" tests for ovulation and pregnancy testing. These are in my experience about the minimum quantity of waste that any product you pee on could have. Literally a tiny strip, about a quarter of an inch wide and the length of your finger. You can't get much less than that, considering (a) they are by definition not reuseable and (b) you urinate on them.

For vitamins, I've always bought my prenatal ones in the same kind of tub/pot of 180 capsules as any other vitamin. I don't see much excessive plastic there.

But really, even the most ardent test-a-holic TTCer is likely to have these items as a tiny proportion of her plastic footprint over her lifetime. You'd be better off lobbying for taxes on plastic bottles or a ban on plastic straws. The amount used when TTC, even if you choose the most extravagent, is really not a lot. At all.

I'm surprised that you were sufficiently shocked by this to join and make a post, and not on any other aspect of our lifestyles.

I used to buy a heap of pregnancy test strips from EBay, no plastic casing at all.

So don’t buy them, I’ve never used a ovalation test and I only have tested once per pregnancy. But then I’ve waited until my period was late so was pretty sure I was pregnant

If you were really so worried about the environment, you wouldn’t have kids at all surely? A few plastic containers is a drop in the ocean compared to the waste and damage to the environment a real live baby and growing child creates.

Why are people being rude to the OP? It’s admirable and in everyone’s best interest to create less waste.

Good on you OP.

I recommend borrowing as much baby stuff as possible & using cloth nappies and wipes.

Agree with pp. Children are hardly eco friendly. And most people throw all their previous opinions out of the window when they have children anyway, so you may as well stop bothering now 😀

Ignore the PPs OP. I think they are just too lazy to do their bit for the planet and so they are trying to put you down to feel better.

You don't need OPKs or Pregnancy tests. Just have sex every other day for a month and if your period is more than a week or two late go see your GP and they'll tell you if your pregnant or not

What else did you expect something manmade that has to be kept airtight to be packaged in?

The tests aren't essential. I never used ovulation strips. Vitamins - at least d and folic acid - are, but you can buy a big supply in just one tub.

What would you do re nappies, wipes etc etc?

If you were really so worried about the environment, you wouldn’t have kids at all surely? A few plastic containers is a drop in the ocean compared to the waste and damage to the environment a real live baby and growing child creates.

This. Having kids is the most impactful thing you can do when it comes to the environment.

However, yabu anyway. There's no need at all for excessive testing. Plenty of people manage without OPKs.

As unpalatable as it seems most of the plastic in the ocean is not from the UK or Europe. We are careful with plastic. If not recycled then at worst it is sent to landfill.

Do you have regular periods? You don't actually need to test until you’ve missed one, and you probably don’t need ovulation tests either if that’s the case.

I agree with the advice to buy cheap unencased tests from eBay/amazon.

My sister was an eco warrior when She was having fertility treatment, I think it filled a gap in her life. 7 years on she's justbgraefulfor anyone putting anything in the bin ever

I think posters (including me) are being curt because the OP is specifically addressing people who are trying and (since they are using so much consumables) presumably struggling to get pregnant, and she appears to be very naive about the reality of it. It's a stressful time, even without pregnancy losses, infertility, etc. For each pregnancy, it took me precisely one test to confirm the pregnant, since I didn't test unil my period was late. However for each miscarriage, it took many more as I was advised to test at certain intervals after the miscarriage to ensure the hormones had left my system. It's naive and not kind to be told by someone who has recently jumped on an eco warrior bandwagon that you are doing fertility wrong.

And as I had above, it's also highly inaccurate. The quantity of plastic is in my experience minimal. If the OP has chosen individually wrapped vitamins, that's her problem. Not a universal experience.

Even if everybody was massively enlightened by her post and stopped using TTC items, the difference would be negligible. She could have made a post talking about her experience of bringing her own cup to coffee shops and encouraging us to do likewise; it would reach a far higher audience and have far greater impact. But I thought it at best naive, if not unkind and mean, to tell women that how they were TTC was wrong.

Oh for goodness sake, OP hasn’t said anything to criticise anyone’s use of OPKs, pregnancy tests or vitamins or tell them that they’re “doing it wrong” - she’s just questioning why the manufacturers use so much single use plastic in them.

OP as others have said you can buy cheap versions of both tests online that are simple strips and not in plastic casings. Good luck.

You don't need to use all the tests. I tracked my ovulation by looking at my basal body temperature throughout my cycle. Yes, my thermometer was plastic but you can get a glass one if you like.

I couldn't afford to keep buying expensive tests so I only tested when I was a couple of days late which happened over about three cycles during the whole thing. I didn't test multiple times once I got a positive because it was clear what the result was.

I did not take expensive, over-marketed preconception vitamins, just folic acid which I bought in a bulk tub. I took that until 12 weeks of pregnancy and stopped.

It doesn't have to involve massive reams of plastic things. It's just marketing.

MrsElla
You don't need OPKs or Pregnancy tests. Just have sex every other day for a month and if your period is more than a week or two late go see your GP and they'll tell you if your pregnant or not

Pretty sure this is a massive waste of a GP appointment. Please do not do this... Going to the GP (costs the NHS £45) vs buying a pregnancy test at less than a fiver (or pence if you buy online). No wonder the NHS is overwhelmed

They do use a lot of plastic, but so do children. Especially if you use disposable nappies/wipes/nappy bags/etc. Not to mention the piles of toys you will probably be inundated with as a newborn, when they get party bags (from the age of 1!), the packets that the clothes come in when you suddenly need 10 new vests as baby has had a growth spurt...

@SilverBirchTree, thanks for your support!

Some really interesting replies on here, as I expected. My question of AIBU? was a genuine one - I am interested to hear what other people think on the topic and it absolutely wasn't my intention to criticise those who use these products.

When my very environmentally-aware DH first started to complain to me about the amount of plastic I used, my first reaction was to become defensive and make comments like some of the pps. Nobody likes to be told their way of living is incorrect or harmful. I certainly wouldn't describe myself as an eco-warrior, but am definitely undergoing a change in the way I think about my consumption. It's much more effective to reduce than recycle.

The plastic is needed Is it really, though, in all cases? Have you thought about it critically? Why is the plastic needed, and just how much of it is really necessary?

So don't buy them I don't. But as a couple of pps observed, my own plastic use probably doesn't leave an enormous footprint, so a change I make on my own, quietly, isn't going to make a difference. But if just one person thinks more about their plastic use as a result of my post, and tells one more person, then we have the start of something.

My beef, really, is mostly with the manufacturers who needlessly cover everything in plastic. I have a scientific background, so I am well aware of the need for sterility and the benefits of metallicised films and blister packs. Some plastic use is essential, there's no denying that.

I am, as a previous poster somewhat patronisingly observed, fairly new to all of this and what actually prompted my post was the delivery of my 'internet cheapie' ovulation and pregnancy tests. I'd ordered them after becoming concerned about the amount of plastic on a shop-bought pregnancy test and was quite taken aback at how small the tests actually are are! Surely we don't need that much plastic to cover a tiny little stick. Judging by the number of posters who crack them open to get a better look, I'd say the plastic cases are in fact more of a hindrance than a help!

Finally, to address the comments about not having children if you are concerned about the environment. You are absolutely right, and it has taken a lot of soul-searching, particularly on my DH's part, to even start thinking about conception. I'm still not sure it's the right thing to do for our world but if we do have children, they'll be environmentally-aware ones, at least.

Op I promise I'm not trying to nitpick but wouldn't a more useful first post have been to include somewhere "I've just discovered that the online strip tests and they are far more Eco-friendly than the large cased ones from the pharmacy." As it is, anybody reading your thread would need to get to my post before they even realise there are other options. So it looks like you want to criticise rather than advise or enlighten.

Hope TTC goes well for you. Your plastic stance is genuinely admirable - I'm someone who hasn't used plastic bags for 15 years so I do admire you and I do walk the walk - but the context here is so sensitive.

Best wishes

@sycamore54321

I have just seen your post, and I am genuinely sorry if my post upset you. As I said, I am a long-time lurker on here. I am a long-time lurker because my DH and I stopped using contraception some years ago and haven't yet conceived which, as you noted, is stressful and upsetting, and I would never wish to add to anyone's upset.

I said 'I am fairly new to all of this', 'all of this' being testing and monitoring my cycle. I, like many others, thought I would have a baby well before now having just used one pregnancy test. But that hasn't been the case. We already take our own coffee cups, don't drink bottled water, and this is just a new area that I've become aware of in which excessive plastic use seems to be rife. It's not wrong to use consumables, and necessary in some cases, but there is always room for improvement. Really, I suppose I'm looking for ideas and thoughts on how best to proceed.

I'm sorry to hear about your miscarriages and wish you the happiest of outcomes to this very trying journey.

@BertieBotts and @Darkstar4855, thank you. This is exactly the kind of discussion I'm looking for. @GummyGoddess. Yes. I know. Much soul-searching going on in the @Pretend household.