by Beth Terry
Plastic is not healthy for humans or bears. (Just look at the stoicism in his eyes as Bear helps me present this week’s tally.) The weight is up a bit this week as I say, “Goodbye,” to the very last bit of plastic toilet paper packaging. Here’s the list:
Non-recyclable items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:
- 8 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop containers (#4 plastic).
- 1 outer wrapper from a box of Refresh Endura eye drops.
- 1 outer bag from a package of Trader Joe’s “Just A Handful Of Dry-Roasted Almonds” individual servings. I found this bag in the back of the refrigerator. It’s hard to believe there was a time when I would buy a bagful of individual bags of nuts.
- 7 individual plastic bags of Trader Joe’s “Just A Handful Of Dry-Roasted Almonds.” See above.
- 1 plastic wrap from from around the neck of a bottle of Act fluoride rinse.
- 1 plastic cap from a bottle of Act fluoride rinse. As I now know, plastic caps are not recyclable even if the bottle itself is.
- Wrappers from two 6-roll packages of Quilted Northern Ultra toilet paper. As I wrote this past week, we have solved our toilet paper problem by switching to Seventh Generation 48-roll cases from Amazon.com.
- 1 wrapper from a 24-roll package of Quilted Northern Super Absorbent toilet paper. See above. I didn’t want to wait until all of this toilet paper was used up before tallying the wrapper, so I freed the remaining rolls from the plastic packaging and won’t have to include any more of these in my weekly tallies. Yay!
Recyclable items purchased before the plastic project began:
- 1 18-oz bottle of Act fluoride rinse. Like the lotion bottle last week, this one is #3 plastic, which means PVC’s carcinogenic phthalates could be leaching into the rinse. One other factor in whether or not I continue to buy this product after the last 2 bottles are used up. I think I can recycle this one at work in Daly City, but I’m not sure about the tube inside which I was unable to remove.
- 1 Safeway Organics applesauce cup (#7 plastic). Another potentially toxic container. #7 is polycarbonate plastic, the type reported to leach Bisphenol A. I have 2 more of these left to use up and can recycle the cups at work in Daly City.
Now for the new plastic waste:
- Plastic corks from 2 bottles of Boissonneau Chateau Moulin de Ferrand Bordeaux Blanc. As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m still looking for an alternative to this wine that I love: something very dry and crisp that will compliment super-sharp cheddar cheese.
- 1 wrapper from a block of Cabot extra sharp cheddar.
- 1 piece of plastic packing tape from the case of Boissonneau Chateau Moulin de Ferrand Bordeaux Blanc.
- 1 piece of plastic packing tape from the 48-roll case of Seventh Generation toilet paper. This is the only plastic in the entire package. I can live with it!
New plastic purchased this week:
- Just a couple of cooking utensils from Goodwill. Like I said last week, reclaimed plastic is good plastic.
