I’d like to know what some items are made of – what kind of plastic, and whether it can be recycled. Food and medicine packaging are everywhere every day, and much of it goes in the trash because I can’t identify it.

Location:Lisle, Illinois, United States

Name: Pat Clancy

Week: 1

Personal Info:

I am female, age 70, and my 45-yr-old son shares my house. I am retired from freelance court reporting, now use my home office to pursue personal interests. I am an organic gardener and native plant landscaper. I’ve been recycling as much as possible since the ’70s and compost my kitchen waste.

Pat Clancy’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Plastic grocery bags

Total items collected: 32

Total weight: 4 oz.

Items: Recyclable
1- Plastic bag from potatoes – recycled with grocery bags (not sure)
2- Clamshell from small tomatoes – #1 plastic, curbside recycling
3- Plastic container & top from grated cheese #1 plastic, curbside recycling
4- Styrofoam packing block from on-line purchase (digital recorder) Recycled at DART Container in Aurora, IL
5- Three small plastic bags, one foamy, all marked #4 – curbside recycling
6 – Two ziplock plastic bags, one from tortillas, one unknown product – reused until shabby and then recycled with grocery bags (not sure)

Items: Nonrecyclable
1- Plastic bag from potatoes – recycled with grocery bags (not sure)
2,3 -Two ziplock plastic bags, one from tortillas, one unknown product – reused until shabby and then recycled with grocery bags (not sure)
4 – Shiny plastic bag from salmon filet, purchased by my son but I loved it
5 – Two-part cap cut from a carton of soup
6 – Unmarked plastic liner from a gift box of fudge
7 – 14 small envelopes from Dr. Weil vitamin program, unmarked
8 – Plastic seal from a bottle of mouthwash
9,10 – Two plastic seals from cartons of cheese or yogurt
11 – Shiny plastic envelope from dog treats
12 – One piece of plastic film (Glad Wrap)

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
I could buy potatoes in bulk but organic ones are pre-packaged in bags where I shop.
I usually avoid buying tomatoes out of season; my son bought these and I used them.
I could have bought the recorder at a store and avoided the packaging.
Soup in cans instead of Tetra Pak
Vitamins always come in some kind of plastic container; not sure whether the bottles would be less wasteful. (I want to find out if these little packages are recyclable.)
I could grate my own cheese and make my own yogurt.
I could buy dog treats that come in cardboard boxes.
I could buy fish and meat from the butcher to avoid packaging.

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

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Vitamins always come in some kind of plastic container
Mouthwash is always in plastic bottles

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
I would have to shop somewhere else to avoid plastic packaging of meat and produce as well as numerous plastic bags, etc. in the grocery items.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
cling wrap

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
This is hard.

Winter composting ideas aside from vermiculture, which we already do? We live somewhere that if we leave any food outside, critters will get it. It’s too early for bears but they’ll be out soon enough!

Cheesecloth (actually for cheesemaking!) seems to only be sold in plastic packaging. Is there an alternative/environmentally conscious brand out there?

Location:Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

Name: Kristin Overton

Week: 44

Personal Info:

University & working couple plus bunny doing the best we can!

Kristin Overton’s personal blog: http://slightlyirritatingandinconvenient.blogspot.com/

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
-bought beans, nuts & rice in bulk with cloth bags
-mailed something in a cardboard envelope rather than the cheaper plastic one. twice
-glass prevailed over a plastic jar in the hunt for vitamin d, even though the jar does have a plastic lid
-bought the package glaziers points with less plastic (and a reusable container!)
-bought grainy mustard in bulk from work instead of bringing home a jar of it to sit in our fridge
-ate at work way too much this week for my own good… but no plastic to bring home!

Total items collected: 28

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
Sadly plastic recycling isn’t available where we live.

Items: Nonrecyclable
1. Packaging from large picture frame & kit
2. Packaging from package of small picture frames
3. Window in box of lasagna noodles
4. Starbucks cup & lid
5. Candy bag from Christmas
6. 5 Bread bags & tags
7. Cheesecloth package
8. Stickers on fruit & veggies
9. Cheese packaging
10. Floss container
11. Ripped Ziploc bag
12. 2 Lids & seals to glass bottles of vitamins
13. Bandaid wrappers
14. Seal to container of protein powder
15. Garbage bag for the weeks trash (not shown)
16. Pasta bag
17. 5 Plastic loops holding price cards onto metal baskets
18. Gifted “curry kit” containing several little baggies of spices etc
19. Icing sugar bag
20. Deodorant stick
21. Salad tub
22. Xanthan gum bag
23. Daiya bag
24. Black garbage bag formerly housing old grad dress
25. Tape on an envelope for a tax receipt
26. 2 Old containers from toolbox cleanout
27. Drywall plug container from toolbox cleanout
28. Bag of fresh basil

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
-Packaging from large picture frame & kit/Packaging from package of small picture frames: we searched all over town for a usable frame in thrift shops, value village etc…
-Window in box of lasagna noodles: gluten free pasta making is likely a tricky business, but I’m sure it could be done from scratch. This was more of a using up what we had in the kitchen meal
-Starbucks cup & lid: we have reusable travel mugs!
-Candy bag from Christmas: this was totally my fault, I easily could have blamed it on a gift but it was the first piece of plastic I bought on our Christmas roadtrip. There are lots of ways I could have easily gotten around this one.
-5 Bread bags & tags: FIVE?!?! We need a diet re-evaluation this week!
-Cheesecloth package: we actually MADE cheese with this cheesecloth! It was something we already had in the house, but I can’t seem to find it in stores in non-plastic packaging. Are there alternatives?
-Cheese packaging: I’ve been buying cheese from the deli & bringing my own containers, but they don’t carry any goat’s cheese which is all that Mr.C can eat. We did make our own ricotta from goat’s milk this week though!
-Floss container: the floss is biodegradable, but the container itself doesn’t appear to be. Just recyclable which doesn’t help given our recycling situation.
-Deodorant stick: I bought a packaging-less deoderant from Lush awhile ago but haven’t used up my existing stuff. I’m interested to see how it ‘performs’
-Salad tub: I could buy heads of lettuce. I’m planning greens in my garden again this spring (excited!)
-Bag of fresh basil: I would be windowsill growing this if we got enough light in our basement suite, but we don’t. It’ll be making an appearance in the greenhouse this spring as well.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
-Window in box of lasagna noodles: maybe? Does this mean I have to give up all pasta?
-Starbucks cup & lid: this was the first thing we gave up
-Ripped Ziploc bag: we gave up buying new ziploc bags awhile back as well, but this was an old one.
-Icing sugar bag: can we make this gluten free ourselves?
-Deodorant stick ?
-Black garbage bag formerly housing old grad dress: I have a giant box of black garbage bags that I purchased YEARS ago and have yet to use up. They’re not going anywhere any time soon, but I can safely say that I wont be needing to buy any more of these. Ever.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
1. Packaging from large picture frame & kit
2. Packaging from package of small picture frames
3. Window in box of lasagna noodles
4. Starbucks cup & lid
5. Candy bag from Christmas
6. 5 Bread bags & tags
7. Cheesecloth package
8. Stickers on fruit & veggies
9. Cheese packaging
10. Floss container
11. Ripped Ziploc bag
12. 2 Lids & seals to glass bottles of vitamins
13. Bandaid wrappers
14. Seal to container of protein powder
15. Garbage bag for the weeks trash (not shown)
16. Pasta bag
17. 5 Plastic loops holding price cards onto metal baskets
18. Gifted “curry kit” containing several little baggies of spices etc
19. Icing sugar bag
20. Deodorant stick
21. Salad tub
22. Xanthan gum bag
23. Daiya bag
24. Black garbage bag formerly housing old grad dress
25. Tape on an envelope for a tax receipt
26. 2 Old containers from toolbox cleanout
27. Drywall plug container from toolbox cleanout
28. Bag of fresh basil

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Sticking to our list! I have a running tally on my phone of what we can’t buy and this weeks slip up was a spur of the moment walk down to get a haircut coupled with a lengthy wait & walk home with an appointment booked for next week. I told him I’d drive him…

I feel like the list this week is lots of misc items coupled with “everyday” food items. I’m constantly cleaning & reinventing our home, ditching things we no longer need as we inch closer to a minimalist lifestyle.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Since we slipped up & brought home a Starbucks cup, which was the very first item we gave up on our plastic free journey this week we’re giving up two items.

-Icing sugar bag: can we make this gluten free ourselves? Looks like we can!

http://greekfood.about.com/od/doityourself/ht/make_ahni.htm

-Deodorant stick: there are lots of alternatives out there… We currently don’t shower daily in an effort to conserve water, so this is an important item. We’ll start investigating our options!

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?

http://slightlyirritatingandinconvenient.blogspot.com/2012/02/weeks-worth-of-plastic-week-44.html

Is it possible to avoid plastic when shipping?

Location:Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Name: Nan

Week: 5

Personal Info:

Nan’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Remembered to refuse a straw this week.
candy
finally signed up for the junk mail reduction list

Total items collected: 31

Total weight: 7.5 oz

Items: Recyclable
2 (yes 2) vegan creamer cartons
1 newspaper bag (still coming in plastic despite my request)
1 small bag that was in a file cabinet from a previous appliance purchase
1 vitamin bottle

Items: Nonrecyclable
1 lemon skewer (from outing at work)
3 pieces of bubble wrap and a little tape(ordered vitamins on internet and despite my friend’s past experience with the company, it came heavily packaged)
1 granola bar wrapper (mandatory double at work so was rather desperate for food)
1 bandaid
1 tea wrapper
7 window envelopes
2 tamper seals
1 cat toy package (my kitty acts like his life depends on this particular toys)
1 membership card
1 cereal bag (only one left now)
1 rice bag
1 zinc lozenge wrapper
1 old acne cream tube
1 closure for bulk chocolate order
2 tags from new gloves

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
lemon skewer (unnecessary and was not expecting it)
tea wrapper
creamers – think I found a solution to this (homemade soy milk, BFA-free canned coconut milk for special baking, cashew cream)
cereal bag
newspaper bag (will probably need to just buy the newspaper from a store or box)
rice bag (just brought new in bulk this week)
vitamin bottle (bought in glass)
zinc lozenge

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
acne cream (don’t really need anymore since I gave up shampoo and cheese my skin cleared up?!)

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Cat thinks that his toys are essential. He really really likes these toys that all come in plastic. He mildly likes one other natural non-plastic toy, but this ones really get him moving. He is obsessed with plastic, and it’s getting worse as there is less of it around the house (the reason he is in every photo- he comes running when the plastic comes out).

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
continue to buy more in bulk
ask more questions before ordering items on-line
buy newspaper at the store (only get one paper a week so this seems pretty easy)

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
will call newspaper this week

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Plastic really adds up quick, which is rather frustrating. I’m eating better now though as a side effect.

Location:Mountain View, California, United States

Name: Mary Katherine

Week: 15

Personal Info:

My name is Mary Katherine and I’m 17. I’m trying to generate less plastic waste to help the environment.

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

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Plastic shopping bags (i use cloth ones)
Plastic produce bags (sewed my own)
Bottled water (i have a stainless steel water bottle)
Ice cream (i made my own)
Bread (i made my own)
Crackers (i made my own)
Cereal (i made granola)
Styrofoam container (I brought one of my Lunchbots to a restaurant and put my leftovers in it)

Total items collected: 11

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
Cold medicine bottle (#1)

Items: Nonrecyclable
Plastic sheet with price sticker (I bought some ground turkey for my cats at Whole Foods. I had them put it in one of my Lunchbots, but then instead of putting the sticker on the lid they put it on a separate plastic sheet and handed it to me! Wtf? Peeling a sticker off a lid is NOT that hard guys. They’re also rude to you when you bring your own container. They act like you’re insane and like its this huge inconvenience or something. I wish I didn’t have to buy meat from them. But my cats need it :/)
Lint roller sheet (I’m going to use them all up and not buy any more.)
Window from pasta box
2 pieces of plastic wrap from cheese (I bought two huge pieces of pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano. They’ll last for a few months.)
3 milk rings (I don’t actually drink 1 1/2 gallons of milk a week. Its mostly my sister. My mum also makes yogurt so that uses a lot. Also, I bought one of the half gallons yesterday so I haven’t had hardly any yet.)
1 heavy cream ring
Plastic seal from milk bottle. (I got this milk from Saint Benoît Creamery. I thought it had less plastic than Straus milk since it has a metal lid, but it turns out that it has a giant plastic label. Darn.)

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
I guess I don’t have to take that cold medicine. But it works soo well. I was only sick for like two days because of it. I can use my neti pot a lot and drink a lot of tea. That would help.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Lint roller sheets

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Nothing. I’m just super attached to most of it :/

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Eating less cheese

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
I already gave up lint roller sheets. Other than that nothing.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
I need to make sure I tell the people at the meat counter to put the price sticker on the lid of the container. Other than that, I think it was an okay week.

Anyone out there make their own pizza and have a good dough recipe to share? It’s my next big project.

Location:Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Name: Natalie

Week: 3

Personal Info:

I am secretly this Natalie from Texas, who is now moved to Vancouver for grad school. I noticed that it is much easier to recycle here, and to find food without plastic waste, and is generally greener than Houston, so I wanted to re-take the Challenge for a week and see how my plastic waste is different than before.I live in a one-bedroom apartment on the east side of town and bus or bike to UBC on the west side. This semester I am living mostly alone, so all plastic is mine.

Natalie’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Hard to say. There are some things I never take: bottled water, coffee with plastic lid (I bring my own mug), styrofoam takeout containers (I bring glass containers if I go out to eat, and most takeout containers here are cardboard). But is it really refusing if I never take these items anyway?

Total items collected: 26

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
can of Dr. Pepper
can of coconut milk
canned peas and carrots
apple cider vinegar plastic bottle (#2)
cough syrup bottle (#1)
four plastic envelope windows (they can be recycled with the paper, but I don’t know what happens to them)

Items: Nonrecyclable
lid from ACV
lid from cough syrup
ice cream carton
bag of brown sugar
two plastic seals from around glass bottles
old credit card
four(!) frozen pizza packages
tape on the cardboard box around some chocolate
faux-foil from inside the chocolate box. I assumed it would be aluminum. Oh well.

Not shown:
price stickers from deli meat (counted collectively as one)
bandaids (counted collectively as one)
one individually-wrapped gummy bears
one plastic garbage bag

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
I usually buy ACV in a glass bottle. I think when I bought that last bottle I was in a hurry or something.

For canned items, cans of tomato paste/sauce and cans of coconut milk are staples for me, but I don’t usually have canned vegetables, and I am even trying to cut back on canned beans and other items and simply cook from scratch. I inherited some from a friend who moved though, so I am slowly working my way through them. I’ve pretty much quit cokes, but once every other week or so I’ll go buy a Dr. Pepper. Old habits die hard.

Sometimes a person needs some chocolate, but eventually I’ll find a plastic-free brand.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Gummy bears. They were offered and I took some without thinking about the challenge. Individual candies are never a usual thing for me; only a treat.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Cough syrup. It was a prescription, and these always come in plastic bottles.

Credit cards. Epitome of plastic.

Plastic seals around bottles. Out of my control.

Bandaids? My finger is infected, so I was trying to keep it clean and slathered in Neosporin. Are there still cloth bandaids? (Are cloth-looking bandaids really cloth?)

I buy sliced deli meat and cheeses from an amazing grocery store up the street. They wrap it in paper, but of course the bar code is a sticker they print out and slap on. I don’t mind this because it’s way less plastic than it otherwise would be.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
It’s funny, but the piece of plastic waste that has always bothered me the most is plastic trash bags. Maybe it’s because it’s something that gets thrown out weekly. It seems like such a waste! In Houston I went far enough that I bought composting worms for food waste and used a paper bag as a liner in my trash can that I would simply dump into the big dumpster outside and reuse for months until it got icky. I loved my worms but couldn’t move them across country, so right now we are back to plastic bags.

Frozen pizzas are my convenience food of choice, but they always come packaged in plastic, which does bother me. I don’t usually go through four in a week, but I got lost in working and in writing and scarfed them down so that I didn’t have to get up and go shopping. The eventual plan is to learn to make pizza dough like how I make my own bread. That way I can make two or three pizzas at a time, bake one, and freeze the others for later.

I have been avoiding buying brown sugar for the longest time. Is it always in plastic? It seems like it to me. I finally caved because I wanted some oatmeal done right (which is to say, with butter and brown sugar).

I know there is plastic in the ice cream, but I don’t think I’m willing to give that up.

I’m also pretty sure I’ve seen Beth mention places one can send bottle caps and credit cards to to be recycled, but I didn’t (and don’t) do that. There’s another area I could find a solution to.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
In fact I’m on the last plastic trash bag in the house. I am pretty sure there are green composting bins out in the alley, so once that is full I think I’ll try keeping a coffee can of food waste on my counter and emptying it into the bin every few days or every week. That will allow me to use a paper bag as a trash liner again.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
The two weeks I took the challenge in Houston, I feel like plastic waste just kept creeping into my tally. It was as if every week had 20 items that weren’t “normal” but also couldn’t have been avoided. And when abnormal plastic happens every week, it’s… well, normal!

But here I somehow have much more control over my plastic. This feels like a pretty normal week for me, and it’s half or less of the amount of plastic I would generate in Houston. Shopping plastic-free is easier here too.

Anywhere you see room for improvement, please let me know. I am open to suggestions.

Location:Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States

Name: Louise

Week: 1

Personal Info:

Just someone trying to make small changes in my own life with the hopes of inspiring others to make changes in theirs. Biology Professor, married to another Biology professor, with 4 furry “children” (3 cats, 1 dog). We are both passionate about human and environmental health. We often carpool together (our schools are neighboring), or bike to work. We would like to walk the walk as much as we can.

Louise’s personal blog: http://www.peanc.org/blog

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Styrofoam to-go container to take leftovers home. At least 7 plastic grocery bags. Also reused a styrofoam gelato purse, so I didn’t need a new one.

Total items collected: 54

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
12 Grocery Bags
6 plastic bread/fruit bags
5 juice or soda bottles
1 vitamin bottle
1 spice bottle
1 shampoo bottle
1 egg carton
1 cough medicine bottle
2 tomato cartons

Items: Nonrecyclable
1 medicine cup
1 cap to medicine bottle
1 coffee cup lid
cling wrap from mushrooms
lid wrap off glass yogurt container
10 dog poop bags
cheese slice bag
plastic mesh from clementine box
1 body shop single use body scrub package
1 bread closure
1 styrofoam box (not pictured)
1 togo sauce container w/lid (not pictured)
1 plastic fork (not pictured)
1 spinach bag

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
egg carton – we usually buy the paper kind
coffee cup lid – usually bring my own
styrofoam box – will remember my reusable one more when dining out.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Single use packaging. Kleenex, bodyshop, etc.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Gluten free bread, I can’t find it in non-plastic packaging. If a local bread shop were to offer GF bread, I would buy it there!!

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?

Location:Mountain View, CA, California, United States

Name: Sandy

Week: 4

Personal Info:

Two of us.

Sandy’s personal blog: http://spiraljetty.livejournal.com

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Really nice that the hospital didn’t give us a plastic bag to bring stuff home. They offered paper. Took things out of plastic bags when the clerks just put them in.

Total items collected: 38

Total weight: 1.4lb

Items: Recyclable
4 Soda bottles – I’m making some window hangers with them.
Plastic bin from the hospital
Deep square nut container
Yogert cup
2 plastic food containers for planting

Items: Nonrecyclable
2 zip lock bags that I’ve reused a bunch and they’re yucky
Just noticed that I threw out 2 bread bags that I normally would have and could have saved for farmers market.

There was tons of plastic waste at the hospital that we didn’t deal with. Couldn’t and wouldn’t bring it home. JUst overwhelming.

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Will look for bread in paper.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
We decided to stop letting them give us little plastic dressing containers. We have dressing at home. We also got them to stop packing the plastic fork.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Good lord what a shock it is to have someone in the hospital after you’ve been saving all of your plastic. There was more plastic generated by each meds, IV, and vital signs check than we usually generate in a whole day. PLUS you’re captive in the hospital and iate from the cafeteria. Tried to reduce and at least they had recycleable food containers. We did talk to the nurse about the little pill cup that she gave us to take a pill that was wrapped in a package and a plastic dispenser bag. Was the cup really necessary? I wonder about all that hospital plastic waste. Germs yes, but lots of waste.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
I just felt like we weren’t trying hard enough this week. We also discovered that we weren’t taking bags to other types of shopping expeditions so we were mindful of that. I put all of the plastic bags in with our shopping bags so we can reuse them in the stores.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
I’m going to try to give up the packaged snacks. Even if they are tasty and healthy.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Some places generate lots of plastic. We are starting to notice that take out food is packaged in paper bags and chinese food wax boxes. Also some restraunts are using less. Its encouraging.
We’ve received things in the mail that had plastic that surprized us. A plastic bag for mailing a book and two items of mail from a drug company. We’ll be aware with our own company about how much waste we produce for marketing. Looking for recycled material types of swag has been fun and interesting.

Still looking for ideas about pre packaged food. Silly me.

Location:Mountain View, CA, California, United States

Name: Sandy

Week: 3

Personal Info:

Sandy’s personal blog: http://spiraljetty.livejournal.com

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Continueing to refuse plastic bags for the most part. The bags we got were from Goodwill and Frys, but we carried out most everything else.

Total items collected: 44

Total weight: 1.8 lb

Items: Recyclable
Soda bottles, advil and some food trays

Items: Nonrecyclable
We had printer cartridge plastic this week.

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
I finally figured out that I could buy the coffee in reusable paper bags. Will take the bag back when I need a refill.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Will get bar shampoo.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Will check to see if the laundry soap that we use comes in a paper box.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
We have been getting lots of food items that come packaged. Will look for fresh or bulk items. Not sure what to do about cheeze either. It bums me out to get stuff from the farmers market in plastic.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
I’m so done with meat. Was in the meat department at our local store and just was overwhelmed with sadness when I thought about the lives of all of the animals that were there for us to eat.

We’ll work on bread though. Maybe I’ll bake some.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Of course the light went on when after 3 weeks of reducing, the old plastic that was purchased earlier was there teaching me this lesson. My past choices had come back to haunt me this week, much like our choices now will haunt us later. The darn shampoo bottles did it.

Name: Kristin Overton

Week: 43

Personal Info:

University & working couple plus bunny doing the best we can!

Kristin Overton’s personal blog: http://slightlyirritatingandinconvenient.blogspot.com/

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
-chose toblerone (cardboard/foil) instead of other chocolate
-bought lentils & spices in bulk with cloth bags
-bought chicken “in bulk” from work instead of in a package from anywhere else. Twice.
-asked for no straw when out for dinner on Tuesday & took our leftovers home in non-plastic container
-decided to go home after yoga on Thursday instead of grabbing lunch while I was out
-didn’t buy the vitamin D bottle on sale day and instead will spend more time trying to find a glass bottle

Total items collected: 13

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
Sadly plastic recycling isn’t available where we live.

Items: Nonrecyclable
1. Packaging from a bottle of scotch
2. Lululemon Fedex bag
3. Lululemon product bag
4. Tag from new Lululemon item
5. Chocolate wrapper
6. Seal to bottle of vitamins
7. Bandaid wrappers
8. Mayo jar lid
9. 2 Booze (glass) bottle lids
10. Salad tub
11. Wrapping around 4 pack of pasta sauce
12. 2 Toothbrushes
13. Protein powder jug

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
-Packaging from a bottle of scotch: some companies don’t package in plastic, but apparently this one did
-Chocolate wrapper: I suppose this is what you get when you buy something new- ugh.
-Mayo jar lid: aside from making our own, I’m not sure there’s anything on the market here that fits our requirements… I’ll be looking into it.
-2 Booze (glass) bottle lids: we can buy booze in glass with metal lids!
-Salad tub: I could be buying heads of lettuce
-Wrapping around 4 pack of pasta sauce: We don’t normally buy pasta sauce in packages like this… damn you costco
-2 Toothbrushes: We gave these up a few months ago, and have now switched over to the “Environmental Toothbrush”. These are the last of the plastic ones.

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

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
-Seal to bottle of vitamins
-Bandaid wrappers

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
I kinda dropped the ball this week & didn’t take a picture OR confirm the items on my list with the pile before I tossed them. It’s the first week I’ve done this in 40some weeks, so I guess I’m doing pretty good so far, but need to pay more attention to what I’m doing!

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Jars wrapped in plastic- it’s redundant & uselessly wasteful.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?

http://slightlyirritatingandinconvenient.blogspot.com/2012/01/weeks-worth-of-plastic-week-43.html

I’m running out of shampoo… I tried the baking soda vinegar thing, but it left a nasty earwax-like residue on my scalp. It made my head itch too. I adjusted the amounts and everything but it still didn’t work. I tried a bar from Lush that worked well but it had sodium laurel sulfate in it. And it was $11… I tried a cheaper natural one from the farmer’s market, but it left my hair all dirty and nasty. What shampoo bars are good?

Location:Mountain View, California, United States

Name: Mary Katherine

Week: 14

Personal Info:

My name is Mary Katherine and I’m 17. I’m trying to generate less plastic waste to help the environment. Also, about why I skipped last week. I put out my trash to take a picture, but I got distracted and left it there. Then I went out for a while. When I came back my mum had thrown out my trash and taken the garbage pail to the dumpster. I didn’t have a picture and I didn’t remember what was in the pile. I didn’t feel like dumpster diving, so I just skipped week #13.

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

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

Total items collected: 16

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
Date container

Items: Nonrecyclable
Old:
Melted lid from pyrex dish (I turned on the oven when the pyrex dish was in there… my mum was making yogurt and she put it in the oven to yogurtify (not a word) since its warmer in there. I destroyed the yogurt as well as the lid. And it smelled like poison in my kitchen for a while. It was disgusting! Now there’s a sign on the oven so I won’t do it again.)
Date container
Broken ethernet cable

New:
5 milk rings
1 half and half ring
2 sandwich picks with plastic on the ends… what is the point?
2 windows from cardboard pasta boxes
1 jar seal
Sage tag
Goji berry packaging

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Plastic date containers. I found a store that has them in bulk.

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

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Milk rings. I guess its not completely essential for me to drink milk, but I really don’t want to give it up.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Not eating in the cafeteria at school. I always feel sick afterwards anyway. Also, I need to be more conscious.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Date containers

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
I don’t have tons of new stuff, so thats good.