And the winner of the set of GlassDharma reusable drinking straws is...Green grrl. Congratulations.

Challenge: Show Us Your (Plastic) Trash!

As you know, I’ve been collecting and tallying my own plastic trash for over two years. The experience has been educational for me, and I hope, for readers of Fake Plastic Fish. I’ll keep doing it. But now it’s your turn.

THE RULES:

1.) Collect all of your own plastic waste, both recyclable and non, for a minimum of one week. If you want to go for more than one week, great! Just keep each week’s collection separate.

2.) What qualifies as yours? Anything that benefits you. So, if your housemate or significant other brings home a tub of yogurt that you both share, the tub goes in your tally. But if you hate yogurt, never touch the stuff, and wouldn’t have bought it for yourself in a million years, it’s not your responsibility. What about stuff for your kids? I’ll leave that up to you. Whatever you decide, just be consistent about collecting it. Personally, I’d be very interested to see how much plastic waste is generated by babies, since I don’t have children myself.

3.) Live normally in the first week. It doesn’t help to artificially reduce your plastic consumption for the sake of a one-week tally if you will go back to living with more plastic afterward. Think of this exercise as a scientific experiment. Nothing more.

4.) Take a photo of your stash and list out the items at the end of each week that you participate. You might also want to include details about what things are recyclable in your community or not. If you have a sensitive food scale, you might consider weighing your plastic as well. A bathroom scale won’t really be accurate because plastic is so light weight.

5.) Guilt is not encouraged. Nor are comparisons with other people whom you perceive to be doing “worse” or “better” than you in terms of plastic waste. This exercise is for purely educational purposes. Guilt doesn’t help.

6.) Answer the questions listed on the form below.

7.) Guilt is unnecessary.

8.) There is no time limit for doing this exercise. This is an ongoing challenge.

9.) Guilt will only get in the way of understanding. It’s not needed for this challenge.

10.) Seriously.

POSTING YOUR RESULTS:

After you have completed the exercise, there are several ways to post your results. First, complete the following questionnaire. Then, choose Option A or Option B.

Show Us Your Plastic Trash Results Questionnaire

1.) Week #:
2.) Name:
3.) List of Recyclable Items (write out in list form and include the recycling # at the bottom and how it gets recycled in your community, as far as you know.)
4.) List of Non-recyclable Items
5.) Total number of items
6.) Total weight of plastic stash (if you are able to do this)
7.) Tally analysis (answers to the following questions)

  • What items could 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?
  • How many of these items are from “convenience” foods that could be made from scratch with less packaging but might take more time to prepare?
  • 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?

8.) Personal description (As much of the following information as you feel comfortable sharing — Geographical location, gender, housemate/relationship status, work status (at home or away from home), children living with you, etc. These factors might influence the amount of plastic waste you generate and would be interesting to know, but are completely up to you of course.)

POSTING METHOD A: If you are familiar with blog software and are willing to post the results here yourself, hurray! I’d love to give you access to this blog so you can not only enter data for your first week but also continue to track your plastic here in future weeks if you choose to do so. Just email me at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com. Send me a photo of your plastic waste (so I know you are a for real person) and let me know you’d like a log in. I’ll send you an invite to post to this blog.

When posting, please include your photo first and then answers to the questions afterwards.

***If you have your own blog, feel free to post your tally, etc. there as well. And include the URL to your blog in your post here. Feel free to promote yourself!

POSTING METHOD B:

If you are not a blogger or simply don’t have the time to do the posting yourself, go ahead and email your photo and answers to questions to beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com and I’ll post your tally for you.

Questions? Please email me at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com and I will do my best to clarify these rules. But remember, this exercise is for you.

Recent Challenge Posts

November 11, 2009

See Jane Do: Elisa Parker & Jesse Locks, Week 1

See Jane Do is a multimedia program capturing the stories of everyday women doing extraordinary things for the planet.   The project is based in Nevada City, CA.  After interviewing me for their radio program about plastic, See Jane Do’s Elisa Parker and Jesse Locks, along with Elisa’s family took the trash challenge for one week.  Elisa [...]

Read the entire entry.

November 11, 2009

Karey Harris, Week 1

Week #: 1
Name:  Karey Harris
I’m a female living in a single family home in Maryland. I have one roommate, and work about 3 miles from my home. I have no children, and as of yet, there are no options at my job to telecommute.
List of Recyclable Items
My county, in an effort to make their [...]

Read the entire entry.

November 3, 2009

Green_grrl – Plastic Challenge (week 4)

This whole cutting down on plastic is harder than I thought it would be.  First I’m finding that there is a lot of existing plastic in the house.   And second, it is taking me (us) ages to change our habits.
Take the steak package above.  We could have bought the steak from a butcher in paper [...]

Read the entire entry.

October 26, 2009

Green_grrl – Plastic Challenge (week 3)

Didn’t do as well this week as last.

Here’s the tally:
Recyclable Items

Plasticized milk carton (part of the curbside program but unsure how it’s recycled)

Non-recyclable Items

nacho chip bag
2 windows from bread bags
plastic wrap and inner packaging – fig bars
1 piece saran wrap(cucumber was wrapped in plastic – why is this necessary??)
2 empty deodorants
4 lids and 2 [...]

Read the entire entry.

October 26, 2009

Billie Ryder – Month #5

I have lost another 3lbs for a total of 13lbs. I have had several people say that they can see that I have lost weight!
I wanted to get below 40 pieces of plastic this month and I made it! This was actually pretty hard and didn’t leave much room for splurging.
Number [...]

Read the entire entry.

October 22, 2009

Bibi’s Plastic Challenge, Week #1

Week#: Wednesday 30 September to Wednesday 7 October
Name: Bibi
List of Recyclable Items

PowerAde bottle
laundry detergent bottle….x1
dish liquid bottle…x2
hair shampoo plastic bottle 

 List of Non-recyclable Items:

Plastic wrapping bags for Klean Kanteen aluminum bottles…x2
Plastic wrapping for Wallstreet Journal…..x7
Plastic wrapping for BMJ…x1
Plastic wrapping for Surgery Magazine…x1
Plastic bag wrapping for children clothing Olive Juice…x3
Plastic bag mail….x1
Paper envelopes with plastic [...]

Read the entire entry.

October 20, 2009

Green_grrl – Plastic Challenge (week 2)

Recyclable Items

Plasticized milk carton (part of the curbside program but unsure how it’s recycled)

Non-recyclable Items

plastic lined can (can is recyclable but the plastic lining isn’t
plastic wrap from local cheese
bag choc chips
1 piece saran wrap(was used to cover pie brought home from M&D’s)
remains of a scrubber (used to wash dishes)
two labels from local beauty products [...]

Read the entire entry.

October 13, 2009

Green_grrl – plastic garbage (week 1)

Week one is done.  Hadn’t quite thought about how personal posting pics of one’s garbage is!
Is worth it though.  Is such an eye opener and it’s already having an impact.  Today at work we had an all day meeting so pizza was ordered in for lunch.  With styrofoam plates.    I certainly couldn’t use [...]

Read the entire entry.

September 28, 2009

BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Month 4

Another month has gone by. It goes by so quickly.
Weight Loss: 3lbs (all in the last week)
Items: 58
Weight of plastic: 10.25 oz
21 hot chocolate pots
tortilla bag
candy wrapper
peanut butter jar +lid – recycled
Bavaria Blue cheese plastic wrap
3 milk lid
3 milk zipper
3lb beef tray
chocolate chip bag
celery bag
vinegar lid
pasta window
tea bag
thai instant soup
ice cream wrapper
ice cream seal [...]

Read the entire entry.

September 1, 2009

BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #12

No weight loss to report. It is hard to believe that I have spent 1/4 of my year involved in this challenge. I have lost 7 lbs to date.
And on to the weekly statistics:
Weight: 1.75oz + chicken tray
Items: 17
Styrofoam chicken tray
plastic from cheese “Sole Gran Queso”
plastic from Parmesan cheese
plastic from cheese “La [...]

Read the entire entry.

Older Entries »