Location:Oakland, California, United States

Name: Beth Terry

Week: 7

Personal Info:

I am the founder of MyPlasticfreeLife.com and have been collecting my plastic and attempting to live as plastic-free as possible since June of 2007.

See my previous years’ tallies at:
/category/beths-weeklymonthly-plastic-tallies/

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

1) Plastic grocery/shopping bags — bring my own reusable bags wherever I go

2) Bread bag — bought Acme bread in a paper bag. Note: I usually buy unwrapped bread from the bakery in my own cloth bag, but this week, I happened to be at Whole Foods and needed bread and picked up a paper-wrapped loaf. I will reuse the paper bag multiple times before recycling it.

3) Spinach bag — bought loose baby spinach from Whole Foods in my own produce bag

4) Produce stickers — chose produce without stickers

5) Plastic wine cork, capsule, screw cap, or box — bought Sutton Cellars wine which comes completely plastic-free.

6) Bottled water — carried water in my travel mug and filled up at home and at water fountains.

And I gave up drinking coffee this week! No more jitters. Best decision in years. Now I just have to stick to it and not be tempted by coffee aromas wafting from every cafe I pass by. No matter what, though, I always have my travel mug just in case.

Total items collected: 6

Total weight: .9 oz.

Items: Recyclable
1) #2 HDPE plastic prescription bottle — would be accepted in my recycle bin. Unfortunately, prescription bottles cannot simply be refilled in California, which would be the best solution.
2) prescription bottle cap
3) Straus organic milk bottle cap

Caps-n-Cups will accept all plastic caps, no matter what kind of plastic, to downcycle into secondary products.  CapsCanDo will accept most plastic caps.

Items: Nonrecyclable
4) absorbent thingie inside prescription bottle
5 – 6) plastic envelope windows

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
None

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
None at this point… although I may drink less milk in the future. Still craving it right now.

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Prescription bottle. This is an ongoing prescription that I will probably be taking for a long time.