Suggestions on dealing with dog waste.

Location:Santa Cruz, California, United States

Name: Colleen

Week: 1

Personal Info:

Retired, single woman, shops at both farmers markets and local grocery stores. One dog that gets walked and picked up after daily. Cooks at home most days.

Colleen’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
none as it was week 1

Total items collected: 39

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
Odwalla OJ container – 1

Items: Nonrecyclable
dog poo bag 8
berry basket 2
bacon wrapper 1
produce bag 2
plastic meat wrap 3
garbage bag 2
kleenex box window 2
spice jar lid 1
pen 1
cheese wrapper 2
piece of saran wrap 3
plastic around lid of salad dressing bottle 1
remote storage disk drive bag 1
wrappper on tea bag box 1
cardboard milk carton 1
contact lens fluid bottle 1
yogurt tub 2
torn newspaper bag 1
frozen pizza wrapper 1
chapstick tube 1
toothbrush 1

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Probably at least half very easily – the rest with a little more effort.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
produce bags would be very easy to dispense with and then I could just use my newspaper bags for dog waste – unless I come up with a better solution for that

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
tooth brush
chapstick
pens
yogurt
contact lens fluid

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Just being aware is imperative

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
produce bags at the market

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
This week was quite enlightening!