Location:Mountain View, California, United States

Name: Mary Katherine

Week: 11

Personal Info:

My name is Mary Katherine and I’m 17. I’m trying to eliminate disposable plastic from my life to help the environment and my health. I’m mostly focusing on food related waste (since that seems to be where most of mine comes from).

Mary Katherine’s personal blog: https://theplasticfreechef.com

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Plastic shopping bags
Plastic produce bags
Cheese
Ice cream
Bread
Crackers
Cereal

Total items collected: 10

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
none

Items: Nonrecyclable
frozen raspberry bag
5 milk rings
kleenex package (my mum didn’t buy bathroom tissue for a couple days…)
broccoli tag
carrot tag
worcestershire sauce seal

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Frozen berries (not until the summer though)
I can buy fruits and vegetables at the farmer’s market to avoid plastic tags and stickers. They were closed for two weeks, but now that they’re open again this shouldn’t be a problem.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Worcestershire sauce

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Milk rings

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Drinking less milk and making more stuff myself. (Worcestershire sauce.)

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Frozen fruit, once and for all. I thought that bag I bought didn’t have plastic but it did. I give up. I’m going to freeze them myself instead. I read a tip on freezing your own berries: Put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer for a couple hours. When they’re frozen transfer them to a glass container. I’ll do this when berries come into season.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Avoiding all food with plastic packaging has made me lose weight. I no longer have fat rolls the size of mutated sea cucumbers. (Yay!)