Location:Santa Cruz, California, United States

Name: Merle Lustig

Week: 1

Personal Info:

Female, married, work from home, one older child home part time

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

Plastic coffee cup lid

Total items collected: 46

Total weight: 0.5 lbs

Items: Recyclable
iced coffee container & lid #1, 2 coffee cup lids #6 , pasta packaging #1, bread bag, 3 yogurt containers #5, veggie bags, Seran wrap, lettuce container #1, medication container#2, 1/2 gallon milk container #2- no idea how any of these get recycled.

Items: Nonrecyclable
straw, eye drop containers, tags on organic artichokes, dog poop bags, sausage packaging, vit amin bottle packaging, battery packaging, strip off dog cookie package, tofu container, pen, dental floss, sponge packaging, candy wrapper, brisket bag, packaging around lettuce container, candle packaging, medication container and milk bottle caps, radish shoot packaging.

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
Lettuce container, Seran wrap, vegetable bags and gallon milk bottle

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
None

What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
General packaging of items like batteries, dental floss, candy wrappers, meat packaging

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Limit consumption of meat products

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

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Plastic is everywhere and it’s very hard to find products that don’t have plastic packaging.