Name: Deirdre

Week: 1

Personal Info:

I am a member of a four person household (2 big, 2 little.)

I am the writer of the blog: www.theslowlifeblog.com, and part of my story is to live more intentionally and slowly. One thing I do is scrupulously recycle, compost and limit our consumption. Though I know there is still a long way to go.

Our community accepts more plastic than I expected, though sadly not the blister packs or filmy plastic/bags.

I was surprised by how little I have here in the photo…but have to confess there are about 2 dozen of those food bags (the kind from inside cereal boxes or that contained food from the super-market) that didn’t make it into the picture. We are also missing one gallon container (that had milk in it.)

Total items: 40

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
1. Milk Gallon Jug #2
2. Yogurt cup #5
3. (2) water bottles #1

Items: Nonrecyclable
1. Glue stick
2. (2) vegetable dye containers
3. (2)Plastic shopping bags (these I can bring to my local grocery store, but I’m not sure if they recycle them or do something else with them)
4. Miscellaneous plastic bags (approx. 29)
5. Bulk soap holder bag
6. Salad blister pack

What items can I replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
~Milk jug (I went out today and noticed that Whole foods has milk in glass bottles- just like in the “old” days- there is a deposit but if you return the jar it is refunded note:I bought one bottle!)

~Yogurt cup (I could make my own or buy a larger container and dole it out into a bowl as needed)

~water bottles (Should have remembered a drink in our reusable aluminum jugs that day -it was hot!!)

~Glue stick ??

~Veg. dye (not all together necessary to have could use beet juice, etc.)

~Plastic shopping bags (no excuse to forget my fabric totes!)

~Plastic bags (buy in bulk as much of these items as possible)

~Bulk soap holder (use the bulk bins at the coop Bronners, etc.)

~Salad blister pack (buy loose leaf)

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

All of it!

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

The glue stick is an interesting one. I could make paste I suppose.

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

I need to remember to plan ahead a bit better. I must remember to bring my reusables when I venture out to shop, take a walk or whatever.

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

I will remember my water jug from home and my reusable shopping bags!

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?

This is just a small snapshot, one week of our consumption. We have reduced considerably from the past, but there is still a ways to go, especially as I plan for back to school.

Just uploading this picture…from my plastic camera onto my plastic computer…there they are sitting right under my nose. I suppose the best thing to do is to find a way to recycle them when their no longer usable.