Plastic windows on mail can just be recycled with the paper right? Any other tips or advice welcome.

Location:Overland Park, Kansas, United States

Name: Jessica Sharp

Week: 1

Personal Info:

I am female, married, mostly stay at home at the moment, sometimes substitute teach, with no children yet. My husband is a computer programmer. Both my husband and I are included in this challenge.

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

Total items collected: 32

Total weight: 391g

Items: Recyclable
Medicine bottle
Strawberry box

Items: Nonrecyclable
2 cat food bags
Charmin wet wipes package
2 dead pens
Plastic bag from hatch huggers for new car bike rack
Plastic bag from cornstarch
Wrapper from a mint
Flosser head
Five envelope windows from junk mail
Plastic coupon card for Kay, which we just discovered was actually meant to be for a neighbor. A comment will be left on their Facebook page regarding the silliness of printing plastic coupons. Everyone should comment!
Plastic bits from our new box fan that held the feet together
2 big stickers, one in English and one Spanish, also from the new box fan
1 apple sticker
Top from bag of cat treats
2 milk caps with rings
Earplugs from an MRI
2 license plate brackets from new car
Frank Ancona vanity plate pre-attached to the front of the new car

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
I may be able to find cornstarch in bulk, not sure.
I could try to find decent peppermint in a tin or jar that would not involve being individually wrapped.
The flosser head was the last one and now I will just be using up regular floss instead of individual flossers
The plastic coupon (Kay could have easily replaced with paper)
I may at least be able to save earplugs to take with me for MRIs so I’m not using new ones each time.

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?
2 milk caps with rings (we get milk in glass to cut back on plastic and to get more local milk, but we inquired about the plastic caps and they said they couldn’t change it).

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?
Individual flossers

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?