Archive for June, 2009
Lauren Hamilton’s Plastic Tally
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
Lets 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
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
Basilbias- Week Number Two
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
