Location:Morrinsville, New Zealand

Name: Mark Purdy

Week: 2

Personal Info:

Mark Purdy’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
Supermarket checkout bags ( I have used reusable bags for years), clingfilm -wrapped items at bakery, sauce mixes packed in plastic. I chose olive oil in glass rather than plastic.

Total items collected: 26

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
milk bottle #2, coke bottle #1,
dishwash liquid bottle #1,
broken plastic container #5.

All these recyclable at kerbside.

Items: Nonrecyclable
2 chip bags from work do,
1x meat tray,
muffin splits bag,
2x bread bags + tags,
sliced ham bag,
instant noodles bag,
Gingernuts wrapper,
cookie time wrapper,
sausages bag (took 3 weeks to use contents),
milo packet,
bit of clingfilm from a piece of cake my parents gave me,
1 bag from bookstore,
2 envelope windows,
bag & tape from furoshiki wraps,
3 wrappers from trade magazines.

All trash.

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?

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?
Milk is only available in plastic here. Plastic-free bread works out quite a bit more expensive.

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?
There are no or very few alternatives to many items.
Some of the items on my list are things I had before starting the challenge, and won’t get replaced. I also have a few items this week that took several weeks to use.