February 20, 2012

Plastic Challenge: Nan, Week 7

Week-7

Vegan ice cream? My homemade versions are pretty bad.

Location:Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Name: Nan

Week: 7

Personal Info:

Nan’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
bought candy in bulk for birthdays this week

Total items collected: 30

Total weight: 3.75 oz

Items: Recyclable
1 protein powder lid
1 expired membership card
1 newspaper bag
1 ripped zipper bag
1 grape bag
1 broccoli tag (actually labeled with a #5)
1 toothpaste lid
1 plastic plate (gift- had a cake on it; it’s recyclable , but I will probably reuse it to give a cake back sometime)

Items: Nonrecyclable
3 tamper seals
2 seals from protein powder
1 piece tape from package
2 tea wrappers
6 zinc lozenge wrappers (cold)
1 melted pack of gum (melted in my backpack last summer- yumm)
6 window envelopes
1 plastic liner from coconut milk ice cream

What items can I easily replace with plastic free or less plastic alternatives?
tea wrappers
zinc lozenge wrappers

What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic free alternative doesn’t exist?
grape bag (don’t usually buy but wanted for a party). It is hard to find grapes here without plastic.

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

What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Trying to wean myself off of protein powder, which doesn’t really seem like real food, but still feeling a bit unwilling to adjust my lifestyle to do this. Hmm, will have to think about that one.

Also would need to give up my mostly-likely-incorrect idea that I need toxic mainstream toothpaste to clean my teeth. I make some and also buy Weleda, but still feel like I ‘need’ super whitening fluoride paste once a day.

Would need to figure out how to make decent vegan ice cream from scratch or buy without plastic. My coop has coconut ice cream soft serve, but last time I bought a cone, they doned vinyl gloves so that seemed counterproductive. I’ve cut way back; mostly making smoothies and popsicles in the summer so I could continue in that direction too.

What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
buy or make lozenges without plastic
Cancel my newspaper subscription. After trying to give the carrier some adjustment time, it’s still coming in a large plastic bag so I will just buy it at the store.

What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?

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