Archive for July, 2009
BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #7
Monday, July 27th, 2009I have lost another lb this week! 4 lbs in 7 weeks. Obviously not falling off of me but I wasn’t convinced that I would loose any weight so this is an accomplishment. I have also been going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week. This is likely helping – perhaps more than my change in eating habits? I did notice that I got away with no wandering around the house looking for junk food for a couple of days. I think I am finally weaning myself from old eating habits. I feel like I am giving up smoking or something the way I am talking!
On to my plastic count:
Weight: 1oz Items: 14
cracker bag
deli salami bag – will reuse
plastic sheet from deli
plastic wrap from a box of chamomile tea
seal from new shortening container
blue cheese wrapper
candy wrapper
milk cap + zipper
2 x Kreurig coffee pot
3 x Kreurig hot chocolate
What could I easily replace?
Nothing on this list is easily replaceable. I have hit all the low hanging fruit. I was actually pondering buying a wheel of cheese like Beth did so there would be no wrapping. I might even consider that if I think that I can’t eat it like a reasonable human being and not binge. Maybe in a couple of weeks.
What would I give up if no plastic alternative was found?
I look at this list and I know I am not going to give up milk, cheese or crackers. No how, no way.
Pepperoni? That was probably the first time I ate it this year. Not much to give up.
I am feeling very conflicted about the plastic pots for hot drinks from work. I get two drinks out of each hot chocolate pot so I feel like I am using it efficiently. I don’t think I am going to give this up totally at this point. I just let go of my General Foods Coffee (at least temporarily) so I think I have given up enough of my luxuries at the moment.
Other conclusions?
With some effort, I have limited myself to about 15 pieces of plastic a week – on average. I can’t even imagine how many pieces of plastic I would have consumed without my effort. So with a fair bit of effort on my part – ok… it FEELS like effort, I still consume about 60 pieces of plastic in a month. That is 780 pieces of plastic in a year JUST related to food. It is mind boggling and a little depressing. It makes me wonder how many pieces of plastic one would consume if one wasn’t paying attention.
BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #6
Monday, July 20th, 2009In Week 6, I managed to lose another pound. WooHoo! There is still a fair bit of wondering around looking for and failing to find appropriate junk food. Or at least finding appropriate junk food in which I am willing to toss the plastic into the plastic tally. I did a great job in terms of the weight of my plastic but I haven’t reduced the number of items.
Number of items: 16
Weight: 1.25 oz
Pecan plastic bag
milk cap + 2 zippers
plastic ring from a bottle of roasted garlic
hotdog baggie
parmesan cheese bag
bag from a block of Cheddar cheese
3 x Chamomile tea
1 ginger tea
bag from Strawberry Kiwi tea sampler
3 plastic containers from tea at work
What is easily replaceable?
The pecan plastic bag came from before I started this challenge. I now buy nuts in bulk. Easily replaceable.
Some of the tea bags are easily replaceable. I haven’t seen loose ginger tea but I only drink ginger tea when my stomach is upset (tastes nasty in my opinion) as it works to calm down your stomach. I often drink Chamomile tea. I have found some Chamomile dried flower heads that you can supposedly make a tea from. I purchased a bit to make some tea but am seriously skeptical of how it will taste. Ideas on how I can make this palatable? When I drink tea, I tend to drink a fair amount of Chamomile tea as it helps me sleep. It doesn’t have to taste amazing but I would like to not torture myself either with the taste. There will probably be many more tea bags to come in the count as I plan on using up what I already have.
What would I be willing to give up if there was no alternative?
My conscience is really bothering me about the 3 plastic containers that I got from work. For the past 6 years at my job, I have had 2 hot chocolate every morning. No plastic involved as far as I know. Last week, they switched over to a Keurig brewer. This brewer works by taking a little plastic individual brew pot and putting it into the coffee brewer. The brewer punches a hole in the top and bottom of the plastic pot and water goes through the pot and makes a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate. I have reduced my intake from 2 to 1 but I am having a hard time wanting to give up this habit that is extremely ingrained. I could switch to something I bring from home but that is not quite the same as the FREE offering from my company which I had been taking advantage of.
Conclusions?
So we got rid of the outside of the house plastic this week. WooHoo!! But now that I am not dogging myself about that… I see another trend. The hotdog baggie is representative of my other downfall – the children. I have a hard time figuring out what to feed the kids that doesn’t involve plastic. They probably aren’t going to like the Quinoa Salad that creates not one bit of plastic nor Arduous’ ramja which also produced no plastic. I have been fairly inventive over the last few weeks in an effort to make items that are no or low-plastic. Not all of them have been successful. The Summer Squash soup – although reasonably edible – will not make its way back into the house again. I tasted Arduous’s ramja last night and it might well go in the same place as the Summer Squash soup. Ok to try it but it won’t be coming back. So last week was Pigs in a Blanket and this week was Pizza roll-ups (pepperoni plastic). Now I have to say that the Pizza Roll-ups will NOT be making a comeback. The kids liked them but neither Papa or I really liked them. I need to put more thought into the meal that I serve the kids on the weekend to see if I can make something kid friendly AND plastic free.
My Plastic Trash: Week 3
Friday, July 17th, 2009Here are the results of my second week cataloging and saving all my plastic waste. Despite the long list, it’s a big improvement over last week’s results.
2 newspaper bags
1 plastic bag from loaf of french bread
1 plastic packaging from crackers
1 Ziploc
1 plastic bag of walnuts
plastic wrap from cheese
1 Soyjoy wrapper
1 fruit leather wrapper
1 Cliff bar wrapper
1 plastic case for razors
1 plastic spout, cap and pull tab from milk carton
My waste includes 5 plastic bags this week, down from a high of 19 the first week and 6 the second. The Cliff bar and fruit leather were purchased before the start of the challenge (the Soyjoy mango bar was a free sample and not very good). The most obvious ‘oops’ is the plastic bag for the French bread I bought at the farmer’s market. As I walked away, I almost slapped my forehead when I realized I’d grabbed a load wrapped in plastic.
Nine of my 12 items of plastic trash are from food packaging. I could have easily avoided the bread bag, the Ziploc and the snack foods (5 items). The others are a little more difficult — I don’t know of a nearby place to buy bulk nuts, and it seems very difficult to buy cheese or crackers without plastic.
After three weeks I’ve managed to reduce my plastic significantly and it’s becoming much more natural to just walk away from unnecessary plastic packaging when I know I can find an alternative. But have I managed to permanently change my shopping habits in three weeks?
I’m going to take a couple weeks off from tallying my plastic waste and see what happens. Will my vigilance drop when I don’t have to report it online? We’ll see!
(It took me a couple weeks to get around to posting this so I’ll soon have an answer posted here.)
Basilbias-Week Number Four
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Produce Tape
Netting Scraps
From some produce bags I made for my friend.
Seal & Pull Tab Thing from Tamari Lid
Tamari Lid
Fruit Sticker
Toothpaste Cap
Two Jar Seals
I’ve forgotten what these are from now.
Laundry Detergent Bottle
I buy detergent in powder form, but my roommate bought the liquid stuff this time because she read on the machine that that’s what you’re supposed to use. I gave her some flak about the bottle it came in, but not before she’d already bought another one (she’s much more on top of things than I could ever hope to be…)
Rice Milk Container
Items: 11
Total Weight: 6.5 oz
During week number four, I planned a little better and avoiding most plastic wasn’t too bad. I made seitan and vegan mayonnaise from scratch. The mayo was really easy, the seitan was a lot of work (usually I only make it for special occasions) but they were both delicious in my seitan salad. I also graduated from reusing plastic bags for bulk foods to bringing my own jars. The bulk counter people at the Berkeley Bowl had to do a little extra work because I had the weights written on the jars in ounces and I guess their scales only understand pounds. But I went home and did the conversions, so now all my jars are set to go.
BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #5
Monday, July 13th, 2009I stayed the same weight wise this week. Losing weight has never been easy for me so I didn’t expect great strides. In 5 weeks, I am down 2 lbs.
I thought I did a great job this week just as long as you don’t count the bits collected from outside the house.
Items: 15 items
Weight: 3oz
The going out plastic:
water bottle
soda container + straw and lid
The regular old house plastic:
Plastic film from ice cream container
plastic sleeve from saltines
TLC cracker bag
2 milk lids plus the zipper
window from pasta box
lid from General Foods flavoured coffee
Werther’s Candy wrapper
Chamomile Herb tea
Thai Kitchen instant soup
What could I easily replace?
Plastic film from ice cream container – I was not happy to open up my box of ice cream and see this film on the inside. I bought some Edy’s ice cream this week and NO PLASTIC – not even hidden on the inside.
Chamomile Herb tea and GF coffee – I think I can replace this with loose tea from our health food store. I know they have loose tea. I am just not sure if this is one of them. Most likely, if I move away from the GF coffee, I will move to Chamomile tea as it helps me sleep. A few more of these will make it into my plastic tally because I will use up what I have before I try to buy plastic free.
And on to the outside of the house stuff which were obviously unnecessary….
I haven’t used a water bottle in months. This might even be the first water bottle I have used this year. I left my Ecousable bottle on the counter as I walked out the door to the July 4th festitivies. *sigh* It was hot out. I caved to the offer of a free bottle of water.
So I am looking at non-plastic soda cups at the movies. I order a large to share with my husband. Out pops a plastic cup that they fill up! ARGH!!!!! I almost never, ever order drinks at the movies to begin with so I find it doubly frustrating that I got nailed with a plastic cup the one time I did order one.
Convenience Foods I am willing to give up?
Umm… zero. I will not give up the Thai soup nor the crackers. Are crackers convenience foods? They must be because it is sure more convenient to buy them than to try to make them!
Necessary lifestyle changes?
For the moment, I am about at my limit. Every now and again, I find myself wandering in circles around the kitchen as I try to satisfy my junk food craving without touching anything in plastic. I have 1 candy wrapper in the listing and I think that is darned good. Occasionally, I am tired and harried and want access to a quick lunch. I think I spend even more time in the kitchen prepping food since I am making more of an effort to stay away from plastic in my food production. I am lifestyled out.
Conclusions?
I need to work on my organization. I could have saved myself a water bottle that way.
I need to get over the feeling that someone may think of me as a nutcase if I ask questions. I should have asked if a large came in a plastic cup. It didn’t cost my anything to ask and I could have avoided the cup. But then I would have felt like I had called attention to myself and come across as a nutcase. I already feel pretty nutty.
Amy: Week 1
Friday, July 10th, 2009I did not collect all my plastic. Though it makes for a great picture, and I love the visual Beth presents each week, I refused to wash it all and collect it. Instead, I thought about it on and off all week, especially when I chucked things in the trash that could be recycled if I made the effort. Here’s is all of the plastic discarded May 11 to 17. I had a head cold, so there is a LOT of cold meds listed.
Three black plastic trays with plastic film covers, from Healthy Choice frozen entrees
Cough pill bottle
Cough syrup bottle & dosing cup
Pill blister pack from Phenylephrine
Overwrap from Puffs Plus
Surrounding film from pop-up tissues
Cough drop bag
Tylenol bottle
Rice bag
Overwrap film, rice bag, veggie bag, and sauce bag from frozen Chinese
Tortilla bag
Stickers on bell peppers
Apple bag
Salad bag
Pudding cup and peel-off lid
Individual cookie wrapper
Twix wrapper
Catfish bag, outer bag, outer outer bag (our seafood counter and bagger apparently hate the smell of fish)
2 Cereal bags
Meat tray and peel-off top
4 newspaper bags
Ziploc bag (quart)
Spinach (frozen) bag
Lid and shaker top from a seasoning jar
Toilet paper wrapper
Unknown number of plastic window envelopes in the mail
Carrot bag
Outer wrapper from microwave popcorn bag
Spice jar
Peanut jar
2 milk jugs
Egg carton
Tally analysis
What items could I easily replace with plastic-free or less plastic alternatives?
The frozen entree trays, the cookie wrapper, the candy bar wrapper. If I made more food at home, I could pack them in reusable containers. I usually do (see above about the head cold). I remember Ludens cough drops coming in a wax paper bag inside a paperbopard box. Is that still plastic free, or have they encased that in plastic wrap these days?
What items would I be willing to give up if a plastic-free alternative doesn’t exist?
The frozen chinese food. I just dicovered that over the winter, it’s still a novelty, but nice to have something quick and easy for time or energy strapped evenings.
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?
Frozen entrees, tortillas, microwave popcorn, pudding cup, cookie, Twix, frozen Chinese, cold cereal(thought I’m not sure I’d enjoy a homemade alternative – all I can picture is granola)
What items are essential and seem to have no plastic-free alternative?
Cough syrup, decongestant, carrot bag, meat and fish wrappers, Puffs Plus, Ziploc bags.
What lifestyle change(s) might be necessary to reduce my plastic consumption?
Prepping more meals on the weekend
What one plastic item am I willing to give up or replace this week?
That is a very tough question. I am happy to make my own lunches in lieu of frozen pepared entrees. I am happy to bring a produce bag, eliminating the apple bag above. In fact most weeks I do, but I was feeling worn down that week so eliminating them feels as much like cheating as saying I could eliminate the cough syrup or phenylephrine packaging. I think the mid-afternoon snack wrapper (I had a Twix and a cookie) is a good goal – If I bring in good snacks from home, I won’t be tempted to hit the vending machine.
What other conclusions, if any, can I draw?
Sick = plastic, both for the medicines and for the convenience foods I switch to because my energy is down.
About me
I’m a 31 year old married woman who lives and works in Massachusetts. The tally above is for myself and my cat – I didn’t think my husband would be interested in bringing his trash home from work. I read a lot of “green” blogs, so you’d think I’d have this thing down by now, but I’m still reluctant to leave my comfort zone, or to appear “weird”. I tend to do “green” things when they are also frugal. Thankfully they are both coming into vogue, so I can push the envelope a little more without feeling like people are staring or passing judgment.
About my week
Even starting to get sick, my energy was sapped. I bought some things I don’t normally (like apples in a bag) just to get the shopping over with. Once I had symptoms I had even less energy. Normally, if I buy frozen entrees, I will wash the trays and bring them home to recycle. This week I just chucked ‘em in the trash. On the other hand, there is no plastic from restaurants, because I didn’t want to share the germs. Also, no water bottles – we’re trying to use up an expired package,but we’re only using them when we’re outside the home.
Counting My Plastic Waste: Week 2
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009Here are the results of my second week cataloging and saving all my plastic waste. Despite the long list, it’s a big improvement over last week’s results.
Non-recyclable
1 bag of feline pine cat litter
2 shopping bags
4 small plastic bags, 2 plastic molded forms, a software cd, a hang tag and a plastic security tag from my new camera1
molded plastic form from scissors
1 plastic cover for the father’s day card I bought several weeks ago but still didn’t mail on time
1 #6 plastic cup from a club
1 plastic cup from brunch at a friend’s house
1 tiny ziploc bag and plastic hanger that contained extra buttons
1 plastic planter
1 herb marker
1 broken clothespin
2 ziploc bags
1 bag that held coconut
2 #6 containers and plastic wrappers that held shiitake mushrooms
1 plastic top and seal from a box of raisins
1 plastic bag that held muffin mix
plastic wrap from cheese
1 Soyjoy wrapper
1 licorice wrapper
1 fruit leather wrapper
Recyclable
1 Via Coco tetra pak
3 envelopes with plastic windows
1 broken #5 deli container
The first week of the challenge I had 19 bags and this week I’m down to 6 bags (excluding the camera’s packaging). This week’s plastic waste was far lighter and compact than last week’s, check out the photo. Much of this waste was purchased or in use before I started the plastic challenge but I have to take full responsibility for buying a new camera and a box of Via Coco last week and accepting two plastic shopping bags.
Again this week, the bulk of my plastic, in weight and in number of items, was from food packaging. It’s surprising how much of food packaging is not just plastic but the almost never recyclable #6 plastic, polystyrene. That’s the same type of plastic as Styrofoam, which I’d never knowingly buy. From now on, I’ll get my shiitake mushrooms at the farmer’s market.
The scissors were from the office supply closet. The plastic packaging is ironic since according to the package, the handle of the scissors is made from recycled plastic. The father’s day card was made from recycled paper but wrapped in a protective plastic sheath.
Now about the cat… his litter and his food come in heavy plastic bags. He and I are both pretty picky about these things. I want a cat food without a lot of unhealthy grains and a nice smelling, light weight, renewable (if not sustainable) cat litter. Feline Pine is made from Southern Yellow Pine which is grown on tree farms. Allegedly I could compost the sawdust litter at the end of the week but I don’t think my neighbors would go for that. The litter is lightweight, so the energy required to transport it is less, and a bag lasts me about a month. But I’d be happy to hear about alternatives.
BillieRyder – Plastic Trash Eating Challenge – Week #4
Monday, July 6th, 2009My first positive post!!! I lost 3lbs this week. The eating or the exercising or both? I am having a few issues with missing chocolate and candies! Lets call it withdrawal and leave it at that.
Week of June 27th to July 3rd
Items: 15
Weight: 8oz – Once again going on up!
Recyclable: #5 ketchup cup can go to PreServe
Reusable: Plastic fork – my husband uses them until they break for his lunches
Five Guys – styrofoam cup from fries and plastic cup from holding ketchup
Lid from Shortening
Plate and fork for community BBQ
Kraft Mayonnaise container
Thai Kitchen instant soup
plastic ring from glass jar of minced garlic
Window from pasta box
Plastic bag from grapes
styrofoam container from a lb of hamburger – this sucker was 2 oz all by itself
Italian sausage plastic wrapping
milk lid + zipper
piece of plastic wrap – I have NO idea where this was from.
What could I replace easily?
Mayonnaise container is already replaced with a glass jar. Boy… just about every kind of mayonnaise is in a plastic container. What happened? You could really only find very small jars of mayonnaise. I ended up buying mayonnaise made from safflower oil because that is all that came in a decent sized jar.
I can source shell pasta(but not spagetti which this was) from our Health Food store. The real issue is the location of the store which I don’t want to go to regularly (it is a little far away) and the price. I have bought some tri-coloured pasta from there (because that comes in plastic bags) and let’s just say that it is EXPENSIVE. I will likely only replace pasta that comes in plastic bags from this source.
How many items are convenience food?
Let see – Five Guys? I admit that I wanted to spend some time with my husband and this is where he wanted to eat. For a whole host of reasons that I won’t get into, I went along with it without a complaint although I would have preferred to eat elsewhere.
Thai Kitchen instant soup – I actually really like this soup and for a quick, light lunch nothing beats it.
Community BBQ – I wish I had of been more organized. I really blew this one.
What items would I be willing to give up if there was no plastic free alternative?
None. Once again, I feel selfish for not wanting to give up more than I already have. I would willingly cut down on the Thai Kitchen instant soup and the grapes (which I have!) but I don’t know that I would go so far as to say, “No more grapes will pass these lips”
Conclusions
Going out is once again my downfall. Combine this with a husband that thinks I am nuts and I end up going to places like Five Guys. I did manage to use the BBQ as a conversation point. We had a friend go with us to the BBQ and I had to explain why I was taking my plastic home. I suppose I could have made the same point if I had of brought my own plate and utensils but I am not sure. Bringing home the plastic really made the issue obvious. I need to be way more organized about what I might encounter in the outside world as you will also see with next weeks plastic. I think next week’s plastic is ALL ABOUT THE GOING OUT! *sigh*
My other source of plastic is meat. I can certainly cook up meals that don’t have meat in them and do – plenty of times. But the sad truth of it is that I don’t want to embrace the vegan lifestyle. I like to eat meat. I think I can head to Whole Foods and get meat in my own containers. But Whole Foods and meat is a budget buster. Heck… I am already struggling to keep the food under budget without jacking up the price of protein. I am really not sure what to do about this because unlike getting caught when I go out, this is within my control.
Vanessa Week 5
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
