Reducing Plastic Waste: January 2010 Collection Results

6.4oz Plastic Waste [3.2oz new/3.2oz acquired prior to June 2007]

It’s a new year and a new plastic collection. For those just joining this blog, every month I collect and tally my plastic waste to see how far I’ve come and what still needs to be done. As I mentioned in my post “8 Reasons Why Personal Changes Matter,” it’s only after looking at our own waste and trying very hard to find alternatives that we can see clearly where the limits are and what companies we need to target or civil actions to engage in. So, here’s January’s tally:… Read the rest

2009 Plastic Waste: 3.7 pounds! New 2010 Resolutions

2009 is over, and I’m thrilled to report that my new collected plastic for the year comes in at 3.7 pounds, roughly 4% of the U.S. per capita average. Geeks out there can check my calculations at the bottom of this post.

I created a little video for you guys showing me dumping out my plastic (complete with music and special effects!) describing what I generated and explaining how I got away with so little and why it (hopefully) will be even less next year. For those who can’t hear it, I’ve got a summary below.  And for those reading this post via email or reader, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myr_KHDs_3g

Breakdown of Beth’s Plastic Waste for 2009

Note: My plastic waste (as well as that of the nation) was calculated BEFORE recycling. In other words, anything recyclable is still included in the tally. But note: I don’t include waste for which the company practices Extended Producer Responsibility … Read the rest

Reducing Plastic Waste: Dec 15 – 31 2009 Collection Results

7.4oz of Plastic Waste

2009 is over. Another year of collecting and tallying my own plastic waste. Turns out, my total 2009 plastic collection  adds up to roughly 4% of the national average. Really. But I’ll have much more on that in a special post on Monday. This post represents the last bit of plastic waste generated in 2009. It will be short because today finds me in this condition:

Just trying to clear my sinuses with eucalyptus steam and get rid of the blinding headache I’ve been carrying around for the last four days.  Are you tired of hearing me kvetch yet?

Alright, here’s the plastic tally from 12/16 to 12/31/09:

Plastic purchased before June 15 2007 and used up in the last half month:

One bottle of Nyquil plus cap. One of the cough medications I wrote about this week, and for which I have found several homemade alternatives.  (See link at bottom of this post.) Duct tape. Removed from under the sink during bathroom plumbing surg… Read the rest

Year 3, Month 6 Results: 6.9 oz of Plastic Waste

I’m so happy to be writing this post!  Even with all the plastic in the photo above (ugh!) I am thrilled to be typing these words and seeing them appear on the screen. See, I got hacked this weekend, and Fake Plastic Fish went down.  Let this be a lesson to any WordPress bloggers out there.  I got hacked because I procrastinated on updating to the newest WordPress version.  But at first, I didn’t know I was hacked.  I just knew that all of a sudden my Dashboard (the WordPress interface where you enter posts and change your blog’s appearance) looked like crap and wasn’t working properly.  My plugins were all deactivated.  And, like I said, my site went down.  Bummer.  I was pretty anxious all day Sunday until I found this guy through Twitter (Thank you Twitter!) who was able to diagnose the problem and have me up and running within a few hours.  It would have taken me days to figure out what to do!

So anyway, here’s the monthly p… Read the rest

Year 3, Month 5 Results: 8.9 oz of Plastic Waste

In the past month, I have given up more than plastic. I actually have not had a sip of any alcoholic beverage in 31 days. And I haven’t had coffee in that length of time either. I stopped drinking black tea 2 weeks ago. At this point, the only caffeine in my life comes from chocolate. And Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream, but you’ll see the evidence of that in the tally. Oh, and no gluten either for about two months. Thanksgiving is going to be hella fun.

But you know what? Mostly I don’t miss any of it. They were habits, you know, like… the plastic habit… the convenience habit… the retail therapy habit… the fast food habit…. Honestly? I don’t want alcohol or gluten anymore. I mean, I really don’t. Just as how I can’t conceive of buying food packaged in plastic these days, the thought of drinking alcohol is a real turnoff. Coffee is a little harder. It just smells so good wafting through … Read the rest

Year 3, Month 4 Results: 4.7 oz of Plastic Waste

This weekend in L.A., helping to launch the Plastic Pollution Coalition and joining in 350.org events, was amazing. I have so much to share with you! But first, something that is long overdue:  my monthly plastic tally for the month ending 10/15/09. The total plastic is down.  Way down. Although there are a few missing items which I will share at the end of the tally.

This month, it’s all new plastic waste:

Plastic Packing tape. From delivery of stainless steel ice cube trays. I have written to Ramin at NoPlastic.ca and shared with him links to recycled paper tape he could switch to. He has agreed to check it out. Other than the tape, there was no other plastic packaging in the box. 1 plastic tear strip from a Jiffy padded envelope. This was from delivery of the Tapped DVD screener, which I need to remember to return to the Mill Valley Film Festival! I’ll reuse the same envelope. Jiffy padded mailers are made from Kraft paper with inner paper fi… Read the rest

Year 3, Month 3 Results: 8.6 oz of plastic waste

It’s been another month already. Life is just flying by. And I haven’t had a drink in two days. Now, before getting into this month’s tally, I just want to clarify something I wrote on Monday. Many readers took exception to this statement:

Alcohol helps to quell the fear of unpunctuated silence, the endless possibilities of what could be if I sat with my feelings instead of trying to push them aside. Wine especially is so damned tasty and enjoyable and helps me forget what a loser I am.

Contrary to MonkeyJen’s assertion that I am clever because by writing that I am a loser, I got all of you to write and tell me I’m not, I wasn’t fishing for compliments or even reassurance. The fact is that I have an addiction problem. There, I said it. And part of addiction is feeling like crap. Feeling like you are nothing without your crutch and then feeling like you are even worse because of your crutch. And then fearing that if people … Read the rest

Year 3, Month 2 Results: 3.4 oz of plastic waste

Oh hai. Once again it’s time for another monthly plastic tally. This month was tough, what with all the traveling. And there are several items not even shown in the photo for various reasons which I will list below. My sister suggested I take a break from plastic collecting/tallying during my visit with family in Hawaii, but that feels like it could be a slippery slope. And since this tally has nothing to do with blame and everything to do with education, it’s valuable to see what kinds of situations lead to more plastic waste. That said, here’s the tally.

Plastic used up this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

1 bottle of Hunt’s ketchup & cap. This shows you how rarely we eat ketchup in our home. This bottle has been around for over two years! We finally used it up this month.I have replaced it with a glass bottle of Westbrae Naturals fruit sweetened ketchup. The funny thing is, I bought the Westbrae ketch… Read the rest

Year 3, Month 1 Results: 8.8 oz of plastic waste

Well, it’s been a month since the Two-Year Anniversary of Fake Plastic Fish, and as mentioned, I’m going to be posting my tallies once a month from now on rather than weekly. So, while this may look like a lot of plastic, please remember that it was collected in over four weeks. Still, it’s more than I’d like it to be, so let’s look at the tally and descriptions to see what was inevitable and what could have been avoided.

Plastic used up this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

1 mini microphone. Chewed through by Miss Arya. I have to be so careful about leaving cords lying around within kitty reach. Don’t know if I can figure out how to fix this.

1 Kaiser Permanente Membership card. For some reason, Kaiser felt the need to send everyone a new improved card, even though the old ones still worked.

Plastic coating from Disney pencil. I found another Disney pencil in my home (must have been given to me by a f… Read the rest

FPF Anniversary! Year 2, Week 51 & 52 Results: 6.9 oz of plastic waste

It’s Fake Plastic Fish’s 2-Year anniversary of collecting trash. Plastic trash. I’m planning to change things up a little after today, but here is the tally for the last two weeks.

Plastic used up this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

1 bottle Woolite plus cap. We’ve had this bottle for over two years and finally used it up. It will not be replaced. I’ve got info on plastic-free laundry products coming up in a blog post this week.

1 bottle of Shout stain remover plus sprayer. Just like above, we’ve had this stuff for over two years and finally used it up. Will write about plastic-free stain removal this week as well. And I plan to reuse this bottle for the homemade air freshener I’m going to make when our current bottle of natural citrus air freshener runs out. (That bottle unfortunately can’t be refilled.)

1 nasty chewed up synthetic sponge. We are using up a few more synthetic sp… Read the rest