Before I show you this week’s tally, I thought I would give you an idea of what I’ve been hoarding since June 17, 2007. This is all the non-recyclable stuff I’ve collected through last week. Click to see a larger image:

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The awful truth is that all the stuff on the blue plastic sheet, including the blue plastic sheet, was acquired AFTER I started this project. All the stuff on the carpet around me are things I already had that I used up. This has been a real learning experience. When I started out, I had no idea how to eliminate plastic and I ended up with a lot more than I intended to.

I feel like 2008 is a new beginning. I have a better idea of what I’m doing and why avoiding plastic is a much better alternative than recycling it. Which is why this year, as I said previously, I’ll be saving all the recyclables too. There are still plastic items I can’t do without, like prescription bottles (which can’t be refilled in California. Even my vet won’t take them.), eye drops, and cat food. But I’m willing to lower my cheese consumption considerably. This will also help with my New Year’s Intention #2 ^[2].

That said, here’s the plastic tally for this week. Yes, there are cheese wrappers, and there will be more for the next couple of weeks. My sister sent me some awesome Vermont cheddar for Christmas. But after that’s gone, I’m slowing way down.

This is the very first week that the tally consists of only new plastic waste:

• 2 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop containers (#4 plastic). Did you notice that one of the caps is missing from the photo? I’m really worried that Arya ate it. I rescued the second one from her jaws, but couldn’t find the first one anywhere. She seems fine. Hopefully, it’ll just make its way through her. Or I’ll find it in a corner when I least expect it. I’m a terrible mama cat!
• Plastic lining from a 3-lb. bag of Pet Promise dry cat food. These bags are made of three layers: a shiny outer layer with the picture on it. Is it coated with plastic? I don’t know. It doesn’t come off. Then, a brown paper layer. And finally a shiny plastic inside layer. The top layer is easy to remove. I had to soak the brown paper in order to remove the inside plastic. The brown paper will go in the compost and the outside layer into the paper recycling. I hope that’s the best way to handle these bags.
• 4 plastic windows from some boxes of Greenlite CFL lightbulbs that were free from PG&E. I have found CFLs packaged without plastic, as I mentioned in another post. But these were free, so I grabbed ‘em. (Of course, the lightbulbs themselves contain plastic, so when they finally burn out, they’ll be added to the tally. I’m thinking that won’t happen for a long, long time.)
• 1 Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese wrapper.
• 1 Grafton Village Cheese Company maple-smoked cheddar cheese wrapper. Oh, how I will miss my cheese this year.
• 1 cap from a glass bottle of Straus organic nonfat milk. I’m going to be drinking a lot less milk, too. Veganism seems to be creeping around my house waiting to get me. Well, at least eggs can still be purchased plastic-free!