Is anyone aware of a plastic free alternative for contact solution? If only my PLASTIC contacts could be done away with right! Ahhh! I’m being swallowed up in a plastic world! My glasses would be unbearable with glass lenses. I love my contacts!

Location:Mountain View, Arkansas, United States

Name: Jenny Erickson

Week: 1

Personal Info:

We are a gluten and soy free family of four: me, my husband, 4 yr old son and 3 yr old daughter. We have been on a eco-green quest for the last few years after beginning to educate ourselves on the health consequences of our choices – small and big.

Jenny Erickson’s personal blog: http://www.jennyericksoncpa.com

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Bags at grocery stores
Coffee Cups at Starbucks

Total items collected: 64

Total weight: 10.7 oz.

Items: Recyclable
Bread Bag #4,
Water Bottle #1,
Frozen GF cupcake pkg #1,
Ginger Ale bottle #1,
Egg Carton #1,
Headlamp pkg #1,
Toy wrappers #5,
Corn tortilla bag #4,
Cookie pkg #1

Items: Nonrecyclable
Milk Carton
Almond Milk aseptic carton
Costco gift pkg
GF frozen doughnuts x 2
Produce netting bags x 2
lettuce tie wrap
Travel Shampoo bottle
Disposable Shaver
Marshmellow Bag
Chip Bags x 2
Single Serve Justin’s Peanut Butter pkg
Dog Food bag
Takeout clamshell container
Takeout soup container
GF cookie pkg x 2
Pizza Crust mix pkg
Cheese Wrappers x 2
Pepperoni wrapper
Chocolate bar wrappers x 2
Energy bar wrapper
Frozen Burrito x 2
Cereal bags x 2
Cornmeal and GF baking soda bags
Food Wrappers x 10 Miscellaneous cellophane
Yogurt plastic tops x 2
Single Candy wrapper x 2
GF Brownie wrapper
Coffee Bag
Frozen tamale wrapper
Seasoning Mix pkg

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Single Serve pkgs
Seasoning Pkgs
Frozen GF foods
Take out containers
Shavers

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?
Contact solution

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Make homemade dog food
Use less gluten free convenience foods
Begin using safety razor instead of disposable

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Shaver: I’ve found a safety razor at an antique store for $2.00 and ordered 100 blades from Amazon for $9.00.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Wow, I’m overwhelmed with the amount of plastic we consume as a family. We compost and recycle currently. We produce about 1 kitchen bag of garbage every 7-10 days. After this week, I think our entire garbage bag must be plastic! I’m disgusted. Once we begin to try to cut off purchasing new plastic it will interesting to see how long our existing stash of plastic goods last….longer than I’d like I’m sure.