Location:, North Carolina, United States

Name: Danielle

Week: 41

Personal Info:

See my week 1 post 🙂

Danielle’s personal blog: http://itstartswithme-danielle.blogspot.com

Total items: 19

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
1 mixed baby greens container
1 orange juice bottle

Items: Nonrecyclable
2 gardein packages
1 plastic wrap (I won a skimboard!!)
1 muffin wrapper
1 seal/wrap (from greens container)
6 caps/pulls/rings
3 produce tags
1 plastic window (from pasta)
1 milk carton
1 buttermilk container (not pictured)

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
A LOT. There’s a story to this madness (see conclusion). The following is a list with what I normally do:

Salad: a head of lettuce and chop
OJ: glass bottles
muffin: make my own
milk: local in glass

Note: the oj and muffin came from the hotel we we stayed at for a Jason Mraz concert. They gave us a breakfast bag, I wasn’t feeling well… so I wasn’t thinking. A clear head is very important for avoiding plastic 😉

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

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

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

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

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Ok… the (short) story to the madness. Within less than 12 hours, we made a decision to travel to see my grandfather for his 84th birthday. I decided to not tally plastic that week (longer story). When we got home, my house was empty of all food… I wasn’t feeling well… so my husband went to the “regular” grocery store. No bulk, no local milk… plastic packaged greens practically beg to be bought…

*sigh* … I wish there was a natural foods store closer to where I live.

P.S… why in the heck do boxes of pasta have plastic windows?!? We know what pasta looks like!! For real.