The “plastic-ception” of organization has become trendy, but is markedly unsustainable.
If the Internet has shown us anything, it’s that our homes are filled with plastic, from pantries laden with labeled containers to makeup drawers neatly organized with acrylic dividers. People love to show off the hyper-organized corners of their homes online in montages, primarily on TikTok under the hashtags #CleanTok and #restockasmr, complete with cutesy background music. Their work pays off in the form of views, with these hyper-organized internet natives garnering an insane number of supporters for their tips and hacks. But how clean can #CleanTok be if these plastic products end up polluting our planet?
So, where did the Internet’s plastic problem start? People started showing us their plastic organizers en masse in 2020 at the onset of COVID. Before COVID, the Zero Waste movement reigned supreme as composting, recycling, DIY work, and reusable bags became popular. But then the virus hit, and plastic had the perfect “in” to our society; if public health was at risk, we had to eliminate all potential vectors, many of which could come from shared or reusable products. So plastic seemed like the safer bet. Some grocery stores banned reusable bags, people relied on disposable masks (over 1.6 billion of which entered the ocean in 2020), and many became obsessed with cleaning to prevent the spread of COVID. In reality, though, according to the CDC, the likelihood of COVID spreading across surfaces is low, and instead, we just became heavily reliant on plastic once again.
Simultaneously, digital content experienced a considerable shift—everyone had to stay home, so their content did too. We got peeks into the houses of celebrities, influencers, and normal people alike. People started renovating and organizing their homes since they had more spare time and wanted to be comfortable where they were spending their time.
Today, online cleaning content is just as popular. The “plastic-ception” of organization has become trendy but is markedly unsustainable. At the same time that people are buying plastic to organize their homes, studies are finding that approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced in the last century became plastic waste. Just recently, a group of international scientists has called for a cap on the global production of new plastics.
While online cleaning communities stand strong, another hashtag is on the rise: #breakfreefromplastic. Standing at over 5.4 million views on TikTok, the hashtag is made up of educational content regarding plastic’s ubiquity and what can be done to keep it out of our environment. Unlike the disparate #CleanTok, the people and organizations demanding that we break free from plastic have a specific message: the world needs an international agreement limiting plastic production and its toxic additives. Over 2,000 organizations and 11,000 individual supporters worldwide have joined the BreakFreeFromPlastic.org movement, calling for reductions in single-use plastics and pushing for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. One day, if global leaders reach an agreement that prevents plastic production, home organization and how people portray that online could look very different.
Organizing that doesn’t require plastic—think utilizing glass and fabric containers and decluttering—can also be promoted on #CleanTok with music and an aesthetic that can garner views and please followers alike. Plenty of ways to organize a space don’t require spending hundreds of dollars at the Container Store. After all, our plastic obsession is detrimental not only to the environment but to our wallets.
