Name: Daniella

Week: 1

Personal Info:
I live with my husband and 3 year old daughter in Surrey BC.

Total items: 34

Total weight: 4.9 oz

Items: Recyclable
Apple juice bottle #1
Tofu container #2

Items: Nonrecyclable
Daughter’s Pile:
3 plastic pieces from a McDonalds toy
5 fruit stickers
2 plastic pieces from book with stamps
3 pieces of tape from same book
Apple juice lid
Green bag from present given to daughter — In the wrong picture

My Pile:
Top of tofu container
Plastic bag from mini oranges my mom bought
Unknown piece of plastic
2 garlic nets
2 garlic net tags
4 fruit stickers
2 envelope windows
Steel cut oats bag
Carrot bag
White bag — babysitter used to store wet/dirty clothes
Reese mini peanut butter cups

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Apple Juice container #1 (and lid)– I think my husband bought this for K. She always has a water bottle, with water in it. I have a big problem with eating out/convenience foods so it’s not something I would have even thought about or considered and it drives me crazy that my husband doesn’t think twice to waste our money on something like this. Plastic free alternative would be her water bottle (that I know they took with them).

3 plastic pieces from a McDonalds toy – could have looked for other toys with less plastic/packaging.

2 plastic pieces from book with stamps and 3 pieces of tape — could have looked for other toys with less plastic/packaging.

Green bag from present given to daughter — This is one of the hard ones since it was a gift to K, our only option is to be vocal about plastic and I’m not sure I’m ready to do that yet as this was from an extended family member that doesn’t usually give K a lot of gifts.

Plastic bag from mini oranges my mom bought — could have easily bought oranges that were not packaged, I didn’t think to say anything to my mom. She asked me yesterday if she could pick anything up for us from the vegetable store, I stuck with bananas (no plastic to worry about) and strawberries (K loves them and there is no plastic free alternative until the farmers’ market opens).

2 garlic nets and 2 garlic net tags — could have easily been bought garlic that was not pre-packaged. This is one that I feel really silly about. I never use plastic bags at the grocery store, including vegetable bags and bulk bags; I always bring my own re-useable bags. Why then, would I buy garlic in plastic when I can get it without??

Steel cut oats bag — Just last weekend I found a store that carries bulk steel cut oats, I don’t go that way very often but I will make a point every once in a while to stock up on bulk items that I can’t get at my regular store.

Carrot bag — Like the garlic, I feel really silly about this one.

White bag (babysitter used to store wet/dirty clothes) There is an easy alternative… the wet bag (used when K was in (cloth) diapers) that I always keep in K’s backpack in case she has wet/dirty clothes and needs to be changed. The babysitter does “know” about the wetbag from when K was in diapers so it’s not like she didn’t know what the funny looking bag in there was for. Back when K was in diapers we still occasionally had them sent home in a plastic bag while the wetbag sat in the bottom.

2 plastic pieces from book with stamps and 3 pieces of tape from same book — My husband took K to look for a toy because we promised her that she could get one if she did well in her swimming class. We don’t normally buy her toys because she gets enough from our family. It was completely not necessary and we could have taken her to find a used toy.

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
Apple juice bottle #1 (and lid) – %100
Tofu container #2 (and top) — I don’t buy tofu often, I don’t know that I would be willing to completely give it up but I can definitely buy it even less then I do now.
3 plastic pieces from a McDonalds toy – %100
Reese mini peanut butter cups – %100

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
9 total fruit stickers — I would not be willing to give up fruit and vegetables. I can grab the odd ones without stickers but that is not really helping anything. In the summer I grow some vegetables on my small patio and we shop the farmers’ market when we can, but overall I would not stop buying fruit or vegetables because of the stickers.
2 envelope windows — One was from the government for taxes and one was from a yearly RESP statement from the bank. They aren’t essential by any means, but they are not something that I have any options with.

I didn’t have this on my list because I had cut them up before starting this… Cauliflower is very hard to find not individually wrapped in plastic, I’m not willing to give it up completely, but I can reduce and replace cauliflower with other vegetables. Maybe I will only buy ONE cauliflower this week instead of 4.

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
In order to limit my plastic consumption I have to continue working hard to limit buying and also to look hard for alternatives. I know I have some bread in the freezer that is in a plastic bag and stuff like that. I always re-use those bags for garbage but I’ll have to make a choice to decide if I should buy more bread and if so, can I do it plastic free? I will need to talk with my husband and mom…

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Juice for my daughter, if I can get it through to my husband.
Tofu, for this week, and probably for a couple months.
McDonalds toys, although I don’t actually know where she got it from.
Peanut butter cups — that was a rare treat.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
I think I might be able to get through to my daughter a little easier then my husband. She knows that we don’t use toilet paper (hubby does) because it hurts the trees, we don’t flush each time or run the water when brushing our teeth because then Ariel and Flounder won’t have any water to swim in, and that we didn’t use any disposables at her birthday because it would make all the animals sad, etc. etc. I think I’ll have a talk with both of them… I don’t think my husband fully understands it either.

Please help…
I’ll take any suggestions on how to talk to family members.