by Beth Terry

Still working my way through the plastic in my cupboards, but there’s an end in sight. Just a few more weeks before we see the end of it. Here’s this week’s tally:

Non-recyclable items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

• 8 Refresh Endura single-use eyedrop containers (#4 plastic).
• 1 inside wrapper from a box of Fantastic World Foods organic couscous.I have no more packaged couscous. From now on, I’ll be buying it in bulk from Rainbow Grocery or Berkeley Bowl.
• 2 plastic lid rings from 2 pints of Haagen Dasz ice cream: triple chocolate and vanilla. Okay. It’s all gone. Plastic-free ice cream from here on out.
• 1 plastic bag of Eden Biodynamics rye spirals. The only packaged pasta I have left are a couple of bags of spaghetti. Getting there!
• 1 shrink wrap from a lotion bottle.
• 2 plastic wraps from around the necks of glass olive oil bottles.
• 1 plastic wrap from around the lid of a glass yeast jar. Still working on that pita recipe.
• 1 misc plastic wrap from around the lid of a jar I can no longer recall.
• 1 Middle east Baking Co whole wheat pita bag. This is the last one. Home made pitas from now on.

Recyclable items purchased before the plastic project began:

• 1 250ml lotion bottle & pump. We have quite a few plastic bottles of lotion. Probably enough to last until the end of our lives. The thing is, this one is #3 plastic, which means PVC, which means we’ve been spreading lotion on our bodies that has been in contact with carcinogenic phthalates. (We’ll make a couple of silky smooth corpses.) I can recycle this one at work in Daly City.

Now for the new plastic waste:

• 1 plastic wrap from a block of Berkeley Bowl feta cheese. Bought this for a pasta salad to take to a party this weekend. It was the only new plastic in the recipe.
• 1 wrapper from a block of cabot extra sharp cheddar. As I mentioned last week, eating cheese means buying a little plastic each time.
• 1 ComposTumbler instructional CD-Rom. This was mailed to me unsolicited. A few weeks ago, while researching compost tumblers, I had to fill in my address in order to receive pricing information on a Back Porch ComposTumbler. Didn’t know they were going to mail me a whole packet of info, including this completely useless CD-Rom. I may mail it back to them with a note.

New plastic purchased this week:

• 1 gallon bottle of Dr. Bronner’s baby mild liquid castile soap. These bottles are made from 100% post consumer recycled plastic! We are going to use this stuff for everything: washing dishes, washing clothes, mixing into household spray cleaner, etc. And then refill the bottle when it runs low. However, I don’t think I’m going to wash my hair or body with it. As I recall from back in my hippie chick days using the peppermint soap, it’s kind of drying. But maybe that’s just the peppermint. Could the unscented soap be milder?
• 1 container of lye for soap-making. Wondering if it’s possible to buy plastic-free lye.

The only other plastic I acquired this week was reclaimed: 2 pairs of safety goggles for soap-making from a woman on Freecycle and 2 plastic pitchers, also for soap-making, from Goodwill. Reclaimed plastic is good plastic. (Is that a catchy song title?)