Archive for June, 2009
Lauren Hamilton’s Plastic Tally
Monday, June 29th, 2009
Plastic Tally
Starting Saturday June 6, 2009 ending Friday June 12, 2009
I work as a 6th grade reading teacher at a charter school for economically disadvantaged students, so I often work 12 -14 hours a day. Thus, convenience foods play a more predominant role in my life than I would like. Nonetheless, I want to tally my plastic once during a week of school and once during the summer. This is my last week of school and while it is only a four day week with 1pm dismissal times, it is a fairly typical representation of my personal plastic use.
Summer gives me more time to find non-plastic alternatives, and more importantly, eliminate more of the convenience food I rely on during the school year.
I have decided not to include items that may be lined with plastic materials, or items used by my partner only. I have included mutually beneficial items and items used at work.
Usually, my work plastic would include more dried up overhead markers, transparency film and the film packaging on Post-its, but being the last week of school, I’m done with most of that stuff.
Saturday:
Kettle Chip single serving size bag: I am certifiably addicted to Salt and Vinegar chips. They are my favorite salty snack. On Saturday, we picked up prepared sandwiches for lunch (in compostable packaging), and I could not resist the bag of chips. I checked the Kettle Chips website and they call their packaging “all-poly.” They are investigating alternate, more sustainable packaging that still ensure fresh chips. I am waiting.
Two bite brownie package(#1 snap lid and bowl): This is a vice. I know I can make my own brownies. But these are sooo good! I limit myself to no more than 1 per month, if not less often, but when summer comes, these are out. I will make my own. On the plus side, I wash these containers and save them until I make massive batches of homemade granola and give some to co-workers.
Sunday:
Bag from sliced sourdough bread: This was bought from a local bakery. I also often buy my sliced sourdough from the local farmer’s market. I prefer pre-sliced bread (see preface for my explanation regarding convenience foods) during the year, but I don’t mind slicing my own when I am not racing out the door with my toast. That said the bread does go stale sooner without the plastic bag, so I may just stick with the local farmer’s market version.
Plastic vacuum packaging for top sirloin: I know: eat less meat. I am working on it, but until then we get our meat from a local sustainable meat purveyor at the farmer’s market.
Yogurt container (#5): I want to buy a yogurt maker (I have had mixed results with non-electric means), but I am opposed to buying one new. I have subscribed to the Craigslist feed for yogurt makers. In four months, only one has appeared in my area and it was snagged before I got to it. I am now holding out for a used crock pot, which I found out you could use to make yogurt, not to mention other yummy meals.
Yogurt container lid (#4): While the pot can be returned to Whole Foods, the lid cannot.
Yogurt pot inner seal: Also, not recyclable.
DVD plastic wrapper: Only after I purchased this did I realize I could have rented it from Netflix. Grrr! But on the plus side, it is for work and will be donated to my school for use in the years to come.
Plastic seal on Ben and Jerry’s pint: See above for refrains on convenience and my penchant for sweet things. The ice cream shop around the corner from my house has an INSANE line. (Bay Area folk: Get thee to ICI, pronto!), or else I could satiate my ice cream craving with local, organic ice-cream-in-a-cone.
Monday:
Plastic lid and straw to a small McDonald’s Coke: (not pictured due to carelessness)
Junk food is my nemesis, eh? Now, I rarely go to McDonald’s on my own. We had a raffle/auction thing for my students and one of the prizes was a McDonald’s lunch. I had to pick it up for the student, so I bought a Coke. 99 percent of the time I order a drink at any eating establishment, I refuse the lid and straw, but this time I went through drive-thru and didn’t prevent it. End. Of. Story. Moving along now…
Plastic vacuum packaging for chicken: Same farmer’s market supplier.
Tuesday:
Plastic seal on Ben and Jerry’s pint: Boyfriend polished off my first one, so he bought me another one!
Wednesday
Full-sized Kettle brand salt and vinegar chip bag: Boyfriend strikes again!
Plastic fork: 8th grade promotion celebration at my school. I hadn’t had dinner yet, so I couldn’t resist hors d’oeuvres.
Small plastic (or cellulose?) film bag: Contained a single, delicious chocolate chip cookie from a local bakery at the Promotion celebration.
Used markers (not shown): Cleaning out my classroom each year means dumping dried-up markers.
Thursday:
Small plastic straw from a juice box/ Juice box (not shown): Last day of school! Field Day! School-wide BBQ! I had my refillable water bottle, but it was empty and I had students to monitor, so I couldn’t duck back into the building to refill. I drank from a juice box instead.
Plastic spoon: The spoon came from a helping of potato salad. I own bamboo flatware for when I bring lunch from home, but I don’t have it with me everyday. Even if I had a reusable one inside the school building, it wouldn’t have been feasible for me to leave my group and get it. I would have had to refuse, but I was starving after running around all day with sixth graders.
Friday:
Single wrapper from a Nature Valley granola bar: The day after school ends is a work day to clean classrooms. I needed something to stave off hunger and delay leaving for lunch until I was done working.
• What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?
Dessert! Treats! Food, in general, clearly. Although, what this tally doesn’t show is the multiple ways I have eliminated other forms of plastic from my food choices. For example, I usually refuse to take home the green basket that my strawberries come in by dumping them in a small reused bag and handing the basket back to the vendor. If I don’t have enough reused bags with me, I keep the basket, wash it and return it for reuse. In light of this, and other similar actions, I tend to justify my ice cream and chip habit.
I am bummed about the plastic straws, bag and 2 utensils from end-of-year events that I could have resisted and didn’t. I didn’t plan ahead to make sure I wasn’t famished before my only options were plastified (new word!).
• What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn’t exist?
The brownies. I can make my own. The chips? No way. The ice cream? From my cold dead hands. I did mention going to get ice cream in a cone now that it is summer, though.
• 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?
Damn brownies again. Ice cream and yogurt, if I had the tools. Chips, I suppose, but I’m least willing to attempt those. I made homemade granola bars once, and I didn’t like them as much as Nature Valley. I can try again though.
• What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
I would say the meat. Clearly, it is not essential in the truest sense of the word, but we are not vegetarians and enjoy eating meat at least two times a week. We have tried to incorporate more meatless dishes into our repertoire.
However, it is important to me to purchase more sustainable meat products, and to patronize the local farmer’s market vendor who only packages meat in vacuum-sealed plastic bags. The only other option would be to find a local butcher that sources sustainable meats and doesn’t mind using my reusable Tupperware as packaging. I’m not there yet.
• What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Quit teaching? I have a high stress position and it leads me to make decisions that don’t always put the environment first. That said, I am pretty happy with what I do accomplish: homemade dinners 3-4 times a week (thanks to the novio); farmer’s market shopping, virtually no-waste lunches that I bring from home most days, etc.
• What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
There will be no plastic utensils! That doesn’t require much sacrifice, though, because I rarely use them as is. This week was an aberration with two. So in the spirit of true change, I will try out a different brand of yogurt that is sold in a reusable ceramic crock.
• What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Food is clearly the biggest barrier to a plastic-free lifestyle for me. Without those choices, I would have two items: DVD wrapper and used markers. Not surprisingly, plastic use with food is one the easiest for me to justify. I recognize that plastic allows for the safe transport and longer shelf life of items I enjoy. On the other hand, I know that plastic can present a host of toxic dangers to my food, so I should be least tolerant of plastic on/in/near my food. I do the best I can to reduce in light of this dilemma.
Total # of items: 22
1 Reusable item: #1 Brownie package for homemade granola.
Sometimes, I wash and reuse plastic utensils to get one more use out of them, but not this time (due to close proximity to the used meat plastic)
Normally, I wash and reuse the plastic bread bags, but this one was smushed in with the meat plastic, so I will use it as a trash bag instead.
1 Recyclable item: #5 yogurt pot to Preserve collection at Whole Foods.
Total weight: 6.5 ounces (not including the lid and straw from McD’s, the juice box (which I found out is 70% plastic), and the used markers which were all carelessly tossed at work)
BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #3
Monday, June 29th, 2009Lets just say that eating healthier is apparently not the key to losing weight. I am still at +1 pound. Although, you can buy junk food in bulk! And I am a bit *whimper* But please take pity on me. You haven’t seen me on a Friday night when I am desperate for anything and I keep repeating to myself – If you take some of those chips/pretzels/granola bars/chocolate bars you will have to add it to your plastic tally! It is very sad folks!
On to my items for the week:
Items: 20 weight: 6oz <- hmm... going up? ARGH!
Once again, nothing to recycle but I will reuse a single item.
Butter tub + Lid: from fresh Farmer’s Market butter – reusable for bulk purchases
Lettuce bag – used up husband’s lettuce that was going bad
Starbuck’s Caramel Frappacino – cup, lid and straw
General Foods flavoured coffee foil top + plastic lid
cap from olive oil
2 milk caps + 2 zips
2 rings from ice cream lid
Quick eggs container
plastic film from a tub of store bought butter (bought to go to retreat but never used at retreat)
plastic wrap from Fociacci bread – plug for Grace’s Pastry – YUM!
styrofoam tray + plastic from 6lbs of hamburger and 5lbs of chicken
Note: And no, we did not eat 11lbs of meat this week. We ate the chicken but not the hamburger. I shop at Costco once a month to stock up on some items. I often purchase meat because it is so inexpensive there.
What could I replace?
- Quick eggs container – Easypeasy – I won’t be purchasing this again and just using plain eggs
- plastic film from store bought tub of butter – I usually use the sticks or I buy at the Farmer’s Market. I did this for a retreat I went to.
I was feeling pretty smug on the ice cream part. The two lid rings were from ice cream bought before I started. I didn’t want to give up ice cream so I looked for something with no plastic and there it was – PET Ice cream. Sneaky, deceitful packaging! I opened up the box and there was a sheet of plastic under the paper lid. It doesn’t seem that ice cream is possible without plastic but I don’t want to give it up. Will have to ponder my options
What would I be willing to give up if there was no alternative?
BIG FAT NOTHING. Starbucks is once in a blue moon – just about given up. Grace’s Pastry bread was a whim and not to be repeated very often at 7$ a loaf. I am not giving up meat and sadly not buying it at Whole Foods where I might be able to put it in my own container. Good golly, my grocery bill has already exploded in an attempt to eat locally, more organic and plastic free.
Essential items?
Lets face it, Starbucks, ice cream and Fociacci bread are not essential but if you can’t enjoy what you are eating because your diet is so limited – what is the point? You might as well just eat bread and water. I know… not very Beth Terry like.
Conclusions?
I have several of these:
Impulse buys are my downfall. These are the times when I am NOT thinking about plastic. And they showed up in the Starbucks and the Grace’s Pastry purchase. They were yummy delicious but I didn’t think about the plastic until I was getting ready to toss the garbage in the container.
Some people say avoid packaging. Other people say eat local. Other people say eat vegan. All of these are supposed to help the environment but you can’t do all of them at once. For instance, I can purchase butter and support a local farmer but he is going to sell it to me in a plastic tub. I have seen a number of these contradictions and it is really frustrating to figure out which is suitable for me.
Living sustainably is EXPENSIVE! My grocery bill has shot up substantially in making the switch from the grocery store to the Farmer’s Market and bulk foods. In many instances, buying food at either of these places is more expensive. I know I spent more money on pasta, eggs, peaches and apples (and who knows what else) than I would have if I went to my local Shopper’s Warehouse. I truly don’t know if I can sustain this practise – budget-wise – in the long run.
Basilbias-Week Number Three
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
Plastic Sticker
Discovered when I went to use my new cast-iron pot to make vegetable stock.
Three Produce Stickers
One from a lemon, two from nectarines.
Plastic-Windowed Box
I ordered lasagna noodles from Planet Organics because I needed another item to complete my order. They were very good, but I will try to find them in bulk next time.
Plastic-lined Jar Lid
From Muir Glen organic tomato sauce, which I bought rather than a plastic-lined can of tomatoes. The sauce was so innocent-looking in its glass jar and metal lid, who knew there was plastic lurking just inside? In the summer, I usually make tomato sauce from scratch, but tomatoes aren’t quite in season yet and a lasagna was in order, due to the tofu ricotta I made way too much of last week.
Cap
From a tamari bottle that ran out.
Seal
From the new tamari bottle I subsequently opened.
Piece of Tape
I forget what this came off of.
Expired Credit Card
Shown cut-up in the photo for obvious reasons.
Stencil Cut-Outs
We stenciled old t-shirts to wear to the Dyke March.
Plastic Cup
From the March. Inexcusable, I know. I was very thirsty and I forgot my water bottle. (I did my penance though, carrying a sticky cup around for the rest of the day…)
Items: 12
Total: 1 ¼ Ounces
This week, besides the plastic cup, I refused to buy anything I knew contained plastic. Between avoiding all animal products and all plastic, I have to say this made my grocery shopping incredibly difficult. For instance, I wanted to make burritos, but all the tortillas and vegan cheeses came in plastic. So I didn’t get them, thinking I could do without the cheese and make the tortillas from scratch. When the time came, however, I was rushed and so ended up making a sort of cheese-and-tortilla-less Mexicanesque stir-fry. Not one of my culinary masterpieces, to be sure. (My friends, though, were very sweet and ate it anyway.)
How long will I be able to keep this up? Although I’ve always been pretty good at doing without things, in combination with my old ones (nothing new [besides food and undergarments,] nothing grown with pesticides, nothing produced where workers were likely to have been paid unfair wages, nothing sold at large chain stores, and nothing containing animal products) my new purchasing restriction (nothing packaged in plastic) seems a little extreme even for me.
But I think the difficulty lies in the planning, since in most cases it’s the convenience and not the taste of plastic-wrapped foods that their homemade counterparts lack. I went to the grocery store this week without a list. If I had taken the trouble to look up a recipe beforehand, my stir-fry would most likely have taken a more palatable form, with or without the tortillas.
Vanessa Week 4
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Basilbias- Week Number Two
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Recyclable
Silken Tofu Container
Rice Milk Container
Carrot Juice Bottle
I went for a long time without buying carrot juice because of its packaging.[1] It goes bad within a day or two after you open it, so unless you’re feeding a family of four horses, you pretty much have to get it in single serving containers. But somehow, when I went vegan I was reminded of its existence (and that it tastes like amazing,)[2] and the proximity of the Odwalla cooler to the pasta section made carrot juice my only (albeit reoccurring) impulse purchase. But no longer. Maybe I’ll get a juicer.
2 Windowed Envelopes
That’s what you get for donating to a good cause, apparently.
Non-Recyclable
2 Nectarine Stickers
Plastic Bag
I used it over and over, but at last it got a hole in it.
Produce Tape
Newspaper Bag
Corn Chip Bag
I bought these weeks ago. Out of desperation one night, I finally finished the by-then stale chips sans salsa.
Tempeh Bag
2 Tofu Bags
Vegan birthday brunch = copious amounts of tofu consumption.
Mayonnaise Jar Lid
I believe this dates from a year ago (I cleaned out the fridge.)
Frozen Spinach Bag
I would have bought fresh spinach, but it didn’t look so good, and to get this kind of quantity I would have needed about 7 bunches anyway (those suckers cook down!) So I went with the cardboard box of frozen organic spinach, but lo and behold, it had plastic inside.
3 Fresh Herb Labels
I hate nothing more than those horrendously overpriced fresh herbs that most supermarkets carry that come two leaves to a blister pack. Some herbs at the Berkeley Bowl come with just a twist tie, which is awesome, but others have these plastic labels.
Lid from Breadcrumb Container
I bought these a long time ago and finally used them up. Of course, the recipe I was using them in called for more than I had left, so I went out and bought another box. It didn’t even occur to me that breadcrumbs wouldn’t be vegan, so I didn’t check. Turns out they have eggs, milk and buttermilk in them. Anyone want some breadcrumbs? From now on I’m making my own.
Scotch Tape Ball
Yes, I saved all the tape (and wrapping paper) from my birthday presents. I have become one of those people who takes ten minutes to unwrap a gift.
Blister Pack
From this device my dad got me for my birthday, oh-so-cleverly-named The Kill-a-Watt (I think that might be why he bought it) which measures the amount of power drawn by whatever you plug into it. Marketed towards penny-pinchers with too much time on their hands, but perfect for calculating your appliances’ individual carbon footprints!
7 Tea Bag Wrappers
We made iced tea for the picnic from some old tea I found at the back of the cabinet.
Packaging From Cast-Iron Pot
A gift from my super thoughtful friends (it can go in the oven!) Packaging comprised of some little rubbery things to keep the lid from clanking around in the box and a little plastic bag on the knob.
Packaging From Paring Knife
Also a present. Two little zip ties to keep it in place and a plastic sheath to protect the blade.
Total Number of Items: 30
Total Weight: 7 ¾ Ounces
This week was an abnormal week, what with all the celebrating going on, so most of the changes I made were obscured, and I ended up with about the same amount of plastic as week number one (as well as some fabulous birthday presents…)
[1] And I actually bought this one last week, but didn’t finish it til Sunday.
[2] I honestly cannot understand how it was that carbonated soda took over the world, when carrot juice is clearly so much better. And not only did carrot juice fail to conquer the global market’s taste buds, but it’s at the bottom of the list even among other juices.
Vanessa Week 3 Plastic consumption
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Knutty Knitter: One week of trash
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Monday – lolly wrapper (behind child 2 bed) trash
– milk bottle (they only come in plastic here unfortunately) recycle
– cheese wrapper ( only plastic here too) trash
– bread bag (I wish someone would do paper at a reasonable price!) trash
Tuesday – 2 muesli wrappers (kids lunches) trash
– 2 lemsip packets (bad cold) trash
– sardine tin cover (why???) trash
– 2 pie bags trash
– bag from salt trash
– plastic shopping bag from butcher (this will change!!) trash
Wednesday – 5 wraps off peanut slabs (boys) trash
– pastry bag (freezer and old) trash
– frozen peas bag trash
– mince bag trash
– jam top (must look into alternatives here) trash
– cake wrap (indulgence) trash
Thursday – bottle top trash
– milk bottle recycle
– organic bacon bag trash
– polystyrene tray and wrap (no excuse really) trash
Friday – tetrapak trash
– bread bag trash
– tag trash
– biscuit bag trash
– meat bag
– old shopping bag trash
Saturday – bread bag trash
– piece of tape trash
– cake container
Sunday – 4 pie bags trash
– milk bottle recycle
weight minus recycle 1.2 oz
There was some paper which I didn’t count but not a huge amount. There was a cardboard box too which got missed for weighing. That got recycled too. The recycle truck caught me out 
Looks like I need that new oven to bake goodies in. I only have a bench top one at present and it only does bread buns and cheese on toast really. I think I can cut out the meat bags at the butcher. The hens get all the scraps. This was a fairly typical week on the whole except for the trip to the bakery which seems to have delivered most of the excess plastic.
viv in nz
Kathryn McGrath: One Week of Plastic Waste
Monday, June 22nd, 2009I work for the NRDC in New York and often write stories about making more sustainable choices on NRDC’s green living site, simplesteps.org. As you’d expect, I avoid disposable packaging and buying plastic items, or so I thought until I started dragging all my plastic trash home with me.
I stayed true to the spirit of scientific inquiry and didn’t avoid plastic despite my growing dismay at the pile accumulating in the kitchen. Once you begin setting aside your plastic trash you being to see plastic everywhere. Because it IS everywhere. My bag of plastic trash was larger than the week’s other garbage, which doesn’t include food scraps.
At the end of the week my plastic refuse covered the dining table, filled two bags and filled me with dread.
I was surprised at the amount of plastic that came from food purchases. In the photo below, most of the plastic on the right is food-related. And I’ll admit, sometimes it’s just far easier to accept a plastic bag. I let the bagger at the grocery store put my Marcal recycled toilet paper, wrapped in paper, in a plastic bag to keep it from getting wet in the rain. But looking critically at this list there’s a lot more I could do fairly easily to reduce my pile of plastic. (The cat thought this was all great fun.)
Why is plastic so bad? It pollutes from its production to its demise. Even when it can be recycled, it’s downgraded to other products, unlike metal or paper which can be used again and again to make the same products. And recycling plastic can be difficult and costly because it has to be carefully sorted by type. New York City’s sanitation department only accepts plastic bottles and jugs, PET #1 and HDPE #2, for recycling. Other cities may collect more types of plastic but that doesn’t necessarily mean they actually recycle all of it. Usually they’re just trying to maximize the amount of HDPE and PET plastics by making it easier. So even the small amount of my weekly plastic that is recyclable in New York didn’t make me feel any better.
At NRDC’s office, we collect plastic containers and lids numbers 1-6 so I was able to recycle more of my plastic than the average New Yorker. But I’m still trying to figure out whether all of that plastic actually gets recycled.
Here’s the lengthy list.
Recyclable
#2 gallon jug of water – this was the emergency jug stored under the sink that expired last month
#5 container of prunes – I didn’t even notice this was plastic and not cardboard when I bought it, why do the apricots come in cardboard and the prunes in plastic?
#2 quart of grapefruit juice
#1 bottle of conditioner
Recyclable at the office
3 contact lens cases #5
packaging for frozen shumai – #5 molded tray and outside packaging
#6 container of hot sprouts
Non-recyclable
5 plastic bags from Associated Supermarket – I brought my cart and canvas bag to the supermarket but not everything fit and of course, they double bagged it
1 plastic bag from Paragon Sports – Not taking a bag at Paragon leads to a ridiculous amount of explanations with the security staff
1 plastic bag from H&M – felt lazy and didn’t want to get dirt from the canvas bag on the new duds
1 plastic mailing bag that contained my new bike helmet
1 12 year old bike helmet
1 plastic bag from my lunch
2 plastic bags from Bed Beth and Beyond – again, the security people
2 plastic newspaper bags
1 temporary ATM card
5 paper envelopes with plastic windows
2 plastic screw things from kitchen faucet – if they were metal they wouldn’t have broken!
Molded plastic packaging from Dr. Glove foam glove conditioner
4 plastic ties from clothing hang tags
plastic bag that contained a softball (inside a cardboard box, no less)
#6 clamshell packaging for electric toothbrush
extra foam padding for bike helmet
plastic bag wrapping bike helmet
molded plastic packaging from toothbrush (manual)
stickers for bike helmet
plastic ice bag – left over from a party
plastic wrap from frozen pizza
wrapper from a Luna bar
2 chip bags
tofu container
plastic packaging for wasabi rice crackers – #6 molded tray and outside packaging
bag of pearled barley
plastic wrap from cheese
molded plastic tray and saran wrap from chicken thighs
4 plastic produce bags
1 plastic sealer from soybean container
plastic insert from glass bottle of olive oil
2 Ziploc bags
1 plastic straw
2 plastic beer cups and 1 clear plastic plate – from dinner out with friends
3 plastic forks – I’m not sure where 2 of these forks came from, usually I won’t hand over my lunch to the cashier to avoid the automatic bagging
I could easily stop accepting plastic shopping bags but I do use them for my trash. My local Associated grocery store doesn’t have paper bags, like many neighborhood stores in New York. In fact, I often run out of plastic bags and have to bring some home from work. (Even at NRDC, where over a hundred committed enviros work everyday, the plastic bags pile up in the kitchen. The difference is that we collect them rather than toss them.) Next week I’ll try saying no to all plastic bags.
I’ll forgo my Lambeth Groves grapefruit juice and I’ll certainly miss my fresh-squeezed cherry juice from the farmer’s market which comes in an unwelcome plastic bottle. I go to the farmer’s market a couple times a week which makes it easy to avoid packaging but I also order from the grocery delivery service Fresh Direct about once a month. The groceries are delivered in recycled cardboard boxes but all the produce comes in plastic bags. Sadly, bulk bins are few and far between in New York. I should give up chips for any number of reasons.
In a normal week there might be more plastic cups from going out for dinner and drinks. I could start drinking bottled beer more when the gin and tonic is coming in a plastic cup. There were a few unusual purchases this week — sports equipment and toothbrushes. I suppose I could have shopped around and looked for cardboard packaging.
But I am keeping my contacts, frozen pizza and tonic water. The pizza, from Fresh Direct, is pretty minimally packaged. I bought a home seltzer maker last year and love it but seltzer and gin don’t work well together. Eradicating each and every bit of plastic seems nearly impossible but I will try to keep it down to scraps rather than piles. Check back next week to see how I do.
In the meantime, in honor of our oceans, which inspired Beth to start this whole saga, take a minute to voice your support for national legislation to reduce pollution, protect ocean habitats and coordinate efforts to manage the coasts and oceans wisely.
BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #2
Monday, June 22nd, 2009I spent another week recovering from the cold I got so I didn’t exercise. Could this be the reason why I GAINED a pound on my NO PLASTIC challenge?
Here is my plastic trash for week 2: Jun 13 – Jun 19
There were no recyclable items as we can only recycle bottles and they are pretty easy to stay away from.
I am going to divide the items into two categories. What I used during the week and what I used to celebrate my stepson’s birthday.
What I used for the week:
Number of items: 6
Weight: .25 oz (I guessed since it weighed so little it barely registered)
Saltine cracker wrapper
Milk cap + plastic zipper from milk bottle
Seasoning insert top from minced onion bottle
1 foil candy wrapper
saran wrap off partially used onion stored in fridge – disclaimer below
Man, I tried not to use that onion. I even used a newer onion in the hopes that my husband would use the rest of the onion in his cooking. When it became apparent that I use the onion or it go bad… I used the onion and stuck the saran wrap in my tally. I do not store my onions in saran wrap if I leave an onion unused. I put it in a tupperware container. This was my husband’s doing!
What I used for my stepson’s birthday party:
Number of items: 11
Weight: 3.25 oz
Cake top and bottom from the Spiderman cake I ordered at Shoppers
McDonald’s salad container
Straw + lid : see disclaimer below
Newman’s salad dressing packet
Cutlery
2 small bags for salad accessories
I put iced tea in my cup and then left it there with my husband while I carried the kids’ drinks back to the table. My husband very kindly put a lid and straw on my cup for me and carried it back to the table! ARGH!
What completely killed me about going to McDonalds is that I generated more plastic than everyone else combined because I wanted to eat healthily. Ok… only if you don’t take into account the little plastic toys that came with the Happy Meal and the whole reason why my stepson chose McDonalds for his birthday meal. If I went with the goal of simply not using plastic I could have done that. I could have ordered fries and a sandwich. No plastic involved. But my goal was to eat healthily and the salad was the way to go. But the salad was one big plastic fest which really bothered me to no end.
What items could I replace?
The seasoning insert won’t be happening again unless I have another old bottle floating around. I now buy my spices in bulk. This is actually a good thing for more reasons than just plastic. I have spice jars that only hold about 4TB of spice. Since I am only getting about 4TB of spices at one time, I am using up my spices more often and they end up fresher!
I could have made my stepson’s cake. Maybe next year I will try to get more organized.
Outside of the McDonald’s food, I didn’t touch any convenience items nor did I create plastic on food I am willing to give up. The sole example was the candy wrapper. I didn’t need that but boy… did I ever want it. That was the only piece of candy I had in two weeks which is a freaking miracle for me!
Conclusions?
I am fine if I stick to food created inside my home. This would be most food that I eat. The second I step out of my house, I have a real issue keeping in my mind that I need to be careful of plastic. Next weeks’ tally will show that in the Starbuck’s Frappacino cup that I have. It didn’t even cross my mind that the Frappacino came in plastic when I ordered it.
Condo Blues – Show Us Your Trash! Plastic Challenge
Thursday, June 18th, 2009My name is Lisa and I write about frugal green living on my blog Condo Blues. I don’t try to avoid plastic like my friend and fellow Green Carnival Mom Fake Plastic Fish, but I do try to limit the amount I use. I try to avoid sending plastic along with everything else that comes into The Condo to the landfill as much as possible. Recently Beth issued a challenge to collect all of my plastic waste for one week. I accepted. It’s time to put up or shut up. Here are my results.
Personal description: My husband and I live in Central Ohio.
1. List of Recyclable Items:
- 1 milk gallon jug, #2 plastic. My city recycles #1 – #7 plastics.
- 1 medicine bottle, #1 plastic.
- 3 plastic caps. From the milk, medicine, and a glass bottle of organic balsamic vinaigrette. The plastic caps are recycled through Aveda’s cap recycling program.
2. List of Non-recyclable Items I split this category into two sub categories: 2b Reuse, because sometimes I buy things just so I can reuse the container and 2a Toss.
2a. Toss
- 1 zip top bag of 4 flounder filets. (Too stiff for reusing to clean up after the dog. Too bad because it has zip top)
- 2 plastic wrappers that held 1 frozen salmon fillet each.
- 1 plastic wrapper from a container of organic mushrooms.
- 1 wrapper from ground turkey.
- 3 silver wrappers from my dog’s seasonal allergy medication. He gets half a pill a day.
- 8 silver wrappers from my seasonal allergy medication. Hey, look, the allergy pill wrappers make a happy face! That’s because I didn’t have enough trash to spell out “Hi Beth!”
2b. Reuse
- 1 plastic container from the organic mushrooms. It’s #2 and can be recycled. I’m reusing it in my craft room to store blog business cards that I’m making from reclaimed materials.
- 1 bag of frozen broccoli. Bag will be reused for pet waste pickup.
- 1 bag of dried great northern beans. Bag will be reused for pet waste pickup.
- 1 advertising bag. Bag will be reused to pick up pet waste. We get these weekly on our doorstep no matter what.
We have pooper scooper laws here. I have a dog. I have to have something to deal with this issue. This leads me to an extra category…
2c. Reuse 2 (Doggie Doo)
When we have an empty plastic bag, I put it away for doggie reuse. Here’s an example of the other types of bags we use/reuse to pickup Blitzkrieg’s daily payloads.
- The black bag is a biodegradable pet waste bag I purchased.
- A zip top bag from a gift of dried hot peppers.
- A clear bag that was part of the packaging of something we purchased. (I can’t remember what) – Bio is printed on the bag because they say that the bag is a corn based plastic and biodegradable.
- A blue plastic grocery bag. I use reusable shopping totes for groceries. In my mom’s city she has to put her recycling in a blue plastic bag. Many of the stores in her area switched to blue colored shopping bags so their customers can reuse them for recycling. My mom gives me some of her bag stash from time to time since I need bags for Blitzkrieg. Sometimes I use these bags for household trash since my city requires me to bag that too. It takes us about a month to fill a plastic grocery bag with trash.
3. Total number of items
Recycle – 5
Toss – 17
Reuse – 4
Reuse 2 (Doggie Doo) – 3
Grand total of plastic items – 30
4. Analysis. Answer the following questions as best as you can. What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?
Organic mushrooms – During the summer we buy fresh vegetables at the farm market as much as we can. However we have snow that means that most of our winter vegetables are fresh nonlocal vegetables from the grocery store.
What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn’t exist?
2 plastic wrappers that held 1 frozen salmon fillet each – I should give up the salmon because it is the only type of fish we buy that comes in shrink wrapped plastic in another plastic bag. But I really, really, really like salmon. We don’t try to eat it very often though.
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?
Organic balsamic vinaigrette. We bought this bottle for a dinner party and finished it this week by using it as a chicken marinade
Frozen broccoli. We keep a small stash of frozen vegetables in the freezer for quick meals or when we run out of fresh.
What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Milk. As a runner my husband drinks A LOT of milk. I need to buy it by the gallon which comes in plastic. No creative reuse for the jug in my tally, maybe it will come back to me someday as a free reusable shopping tote?
Allergy Medication. I switched both Blitzkrieg and I from prescription medication that comes in recyclable bottles to an over the counter medication that generates some waste (the box is recyclable) due to price, amount of medication, and to cut down on the number of follow visits to the doctor and vet to refill the prescriptions.
Pet Waste. I looked into a pet waste composting system but they won’t work with our clay soil. Paper bags didn’t work very well either. I asked Blitzkrieg if he’d stop pooing but he gave me a look that said, “I’ll stop when you stop.”
Frozen Fish. The plastic free fresh fish are sometimes flown in, which tastes better and has less packaging but use many more resources and is insanely expensive. Frozen and economical win – there’s a recession on you know?
Meat. This is how my store sells ground turkey. At least this has less packaging than the plastic wrapped ground meat on a tray method, less expensive too. Our health department is very strict about not letting customers use their own containers for meat.
Beans. Dry beans come in plastic bags. When I buy them at Meier’s bulk bins, there’s usually drama when weighing the items at the cash register even when I use their plastic bags. I don’t dare use cloth bulk bin bags at Meijer.
What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Stop buying bulk items would cut down on plastic but would significantly increase the amount of our overall recycling/waste in my bin. Often the plastic bottle version is a large size that allows me to generate less household waste or is the only one available unless I want to zig zag all over the city buying one plastic free item here and there. That wastes time, energy, and gasoline (which are how we end up with the raw material to make all those plastics in the first place.) In essance I’m trading one type of recyclable item for another. Buying in bulk also helps us save money so we can easily afford more expensive items like Blitzkrieg’s kibble that’s made with USA sourced human grade ingredients.
Grow more food. We are working on raised beds in the front yard that can accommodate more herbs and maybe a few vegetables tucked in amongst the flowers in next year’s front garden. Fortunately my in-laws offered to grow extra vegetables for us in their garden including eggplant, which they don’t even like! Since they offered to grow extra fresh food for us, we opted not to buy half a CSA share this year.
What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
Soda in plastic bottles. I’m looking for some creative and affordable alternatives to pop in plastic bottles.
What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
I’m pretty selective about what I buy and I think our experiment shows that because our plastic waste is the only trash our household generated for the week. The rest was composted or recycled. We are very lucky to be able to recycle #1 – #7 plastic. We take full advantage of this service especially in situations when the price of the plastic free version of something is significantly more expensive or is of a much smaller size, which would mean that more containers would go into our recycling bin more often. Since we have to take our recycling to a city dumpster instead of easily wheeling it the curb for pickup we are just as conscious about the number of items that go in our recycling bin whether they are plastic, glass, metal, or paper as we are our city trash bin.
Blitzkrieg offers us a way to get an extra reuse out of the plastic bags that we can’t recycle. It’s not perfect, or ideal, because we are still throwing the bags away after one reuse but we’re trying to make the best out of the situation we’re given. Overall, I think the amount of plastic that we generated was small. Although there’s always room for improvement. I was surprised how quickly those allergy pill wrappers add up!