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Location:Corvallis, Oregon, United States

Name: Sheri Puckette

Week: 3

Personal Info:

Sheri Puckette’s personal blog:

List of plastic items REFUSED this week. (Yay!)
No plastic refused except just not using/buying certain things. Wasn’t even offered a straw when I went out to eat- yippee!

I was given plastic on my salmon by Mkt of Choice. I brought my container after receiving a “sure, no problem” answer about whether they could put things in it the week before, and then was told no, that they weren’t allowed to. Fear that they might be sued if someone got sick. They said their wrapping is compostable, so perhaps it will biodegrade, we hope!

Total items collected: 19

Total weight:

Items: Recyclable
4 flexible plastic meat wrappers, 1 flexible plastic cheese wrap, 1 #2HDPE jug from cider

Items: Nonrecyclable
1 hard plastic thingie that was holding the turkey’s legs together
1 zip tie from a bike light pkg
1 crinkly plastic seal
1 canning lid
3 small bottle caps
1 bottle cap seal
1 pkg from Amazon- the crinkle wrap is stuck to the paper so I couldn’t get them apart for recycling.
1 plastic tag off a veggie bunch
3 small pcs of masking tape

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?

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?
My week 2 somehow didn’t get on here so I am just doing this week, which is very much like the week before, and this will be the last week I do a tally for now. I’d like to move on to trash/recyclables in general, not just plastic, to see how I can improve there. I did most of my work on plastics before I even was able to get online to do the challenge, but this was a useful exercise and has shown me some spots where I can’t seem to find a good solution currently but will continue to look for one and work for change to make it so.

A list of things that I used to do and now do not, which is thanks to being made more aware:

I no longer buy ziplocks (used to use a lot), or use produce or bulk item bags, or saran wrap. Food storage converted over to nonplastics (stuff I had around the house or from thrift sales). No longer buy chips or candy with wrappers. No more plastic freezer cartons. No plastic soda bottles or condiment bottles.

A list of things I’m learning to minimize:

Purchases in general, by making more of second hand, improvising my own out of odds and ends, evaluating need. Reducing the number of plastic bits by purchasing the needed items that have the least waste on them that I can find.

Thinking twice before ordering books- making it just once in a while when I can’t find them in the library, at the used store and if they are ones that don’t work well in ebook format.