Week 5 of plastic

Week 5 of my plastic consumption

June 8th to June 14th

6 cup lids

6 straws

3 plastic fast food cups

3 2-litre soda bottles recyclable

2 20 oz soda bottles recyclable

7-11 grocery bag reused for kitty litter or taken to grocery store and put in the bag recycling

plastic freezer bag

The freezer bag is from frozen mice, food for my snakes, so it is regular thing that I don't have an alternative to. Everything else was completely avoidable. I had a craving for cream soda and my husband replaced the soda's from last week. I also had a craving for a shake and that is what one of the plastic fast food cups is from. When we do eat fast food I have been trying to get the smaller sizes that come in the waxed paper cups, they have to be a bit better than #6 plastic cups right, that's what I tell myself. I was going to try turning the larger soda bottles into upside down planters but all I have are peppers and apparently peppers don't like the upside down as much as tomatoes so I think I will just be recycling them. I so wish my tally for this week was just a freezer bag.

Week 4 of plastic

Week 4

June 1st thru June 7th

-3 produce/bulk bags will be reused for kitty litter

-cracker bag old saltines that had a hole in it and were disgustingly stale

-carrot bag

-chip bag

-bread bag

-ice bag

-2 cereal bags

-2 envelopes with plastic windows

-sour cream container

-2 fast food dipping sauce containers

-spoon

-wrapper from spoon

-drink lid

-bread bag tab

-lid to soy milk I realize now that every time I have a soy milk lid I also should include the soy milk spout since it is plastic but it is not easily removable from the "paper" carton. I put paper in " " because it is paper but coated in plastic...

-seal from soy milk

-chicken broth lid the spout on this is plastic too and the same with the "paper" carton...

-3 2 liter soda bottles we went to the store for ice cream and next think I know hubby bought three 2 liter's of soda (will be recycled)

-gatorade bottle, I was beyond thirsty one day on my way to work and had to buy something, I love gatorade but resist buying with all my might. (will be recycled lid is reused at work as a food dish for baby geckos)

-mouthwash bottle I went to the dentist for the first time in at least 7 years and while the poor hygienist really worked for her pay that day scraping years of tartar build up off my teeth I got the all's good (my husband says I am a cheater because I have no cavities, ever, and I haven't been in so long and he has 5 new ones) but you may want to think about purchasing some mouthwash, not because I have horrible breath, well they didn't say that at least ha ha, they said since I have my wisdom teeth still bacteria will tend to build up back there and mouthwash is a good idea.

-mouthwash safety seal

I got ambitious at some point in this week and cleaned out my cupboards of old food, a lot of the stuff was easily over a year old, like the crackers, the chips, the cereal, and the stuff out of two of the bulk bin bags. We don't purchase items like that any more and if we do we do it in MUCH smaller quantities so we don't get "sick" of it and still have a large amount.

I also cured my problem with ice by putting the ice I can make with one good ice tray I have into a paper bag so they don't stick together. So no more ice bags for us.

Not much else to say about this week, I've pretty much made all the major changes I am willing to at this point it is just now a matter of thinking ahead so I don't have to purchase things like the gatorade because I have no other option or will, I don't really need a this or that.

Week 3 of plastic tally

Week 3 Plastic

May 25th to 31st

-solo cup that I had been using to hold some all purpose ecover cleanser

-little plastic bag from a cleaning pad, don't plan on buying these ever again, they are pretty useless

-plastic container from new toothbrush, my husbands and a toothbrush he got from the dentist

-six pack ring, hubby brought 3 cans home from work, he worked late and the got dinner for him, he brought me some pizza and sodas

-ziploc bag from something finished in the cupboards

-2 grocery bags from takeout

-2 produce bags from using things bought at store, will be reused for kitty litter

-2 ice cream plastic seals, mmmmmm haagen daz and probably another one by the end of the night, have some dark chocolate waiting in the freezer for me

-plastic tape from sweet potato

-2 meat packages

-bag from rolls, will be reused for kitty litter

-2 styrofoam cups with 2 lids and 2 straws from take out

-pasta package, I wish the store I shopped at had bulk pastas, but I use plastic bags for bulk items still so it would only slightly lower the amount of plastic bags

-honey bottle, bottle recyclable lid is not

-bag of sugar, didn't use it up but put it into a glass jar to keep on my counter

-big bag of kitty litter, not pictured because it was used to clean the boxes and promptly taken out

-shoyu (soy sauce) bottle, it is #7 plastic, from now on we will be buying the smaller bottle that is glass so we can reuse it or recycle it

-trash bag from kitchen garbage can, usually only take trash out once every two weeks because our trash can is too big for our current trash making and it started smelling very badly this week

-styrofoam box from take out, place uses plastic whether you eat in or out more if you eat in actually because they serve their burritos on styrofoam trays if you eat there and wrap it in paper if you get it to go and serve everything in the same containter for take out or to go for the most part

I have 3 pictures:

First is one of the meat packages that I used at the beginning of the week and wasn't going to keep around and stinking to get a pic of it with everything else.

Then there is the bulk of the plastic that I arranged and took while dinner was cooking.

I thought I had gotten everything then I realized the leftovers were still in the fridge and I wasn't going to finish them and then I needed shoyu for dinner and I had not refilled our table bottle since using it up the other night and refilling that emptied the big bottle.

More Plastic

I didn't track my actual trash this week. I did keep track of my plastic. I think this may become an obsession, and it's not a bad one, but I think my husband might get fed up of the pile of plastic that grows on the counter. It isn't that much though so it shouldn't be too bad. This week was a more eat at home week so there is a lot less convenience food trash. This is the whole households plastic trash not just mine, but it is just me and my hubby and a bunch of animals. It doesn't include any of the plastic he may use at work for personal consumption, i.e. plastic bottle of soda or something from the vending machine. It is literally all the plastic I use for myself. I did track how much plastic I use at work, for work purposes, in a day but I have not decided if I want to go there or not since there isn't a way to cut back or change what we use, it wouldn't be enlightening or anything. It would be more of a look at all this and I would start to feel real guilty and that's not the point.

Here is the list from Monday to Sunday, 18th to 24th:

-2 styrofoam meat trays with plastic film (only one is in the picture because it was thrown out at the beginning of the week)

-sugar bag (I could buy my sugar in bulk but I much prefer the organic and fair trade I can get although it's in a bag, I probably go through one bag a month if that)

-herb box (I bought a living mint plant from the grocery store, I did re-plant it but it's not looking so good)

-styrofoam box from leftovers

-tofu container (#2 plastic that is being recycled)

-2 lids and 2 straws from fast food cups

-cheese wrapper

-1 envelope with a plastic window

-plastic cover from set of hooks

-fig bar tray and wrapper (those things are so addicting)

-cap from box of chicken broth

-package for shoe insoles (been getting really sore feet from working on them all day)

-bubble wrap lined mailer

-safety seal wrap from a bottle top

-1 plastic grocery bag from buying insoles (not in picture but I did put the meat tray in a plastic bag left over from some previous shopping trip so let's pretend it's that bag)

-plastic foam padding from mailing (not pictured, forgot to add it to the pile)

Trash Tracking

I got a free membership to Going Green Today and on Saturday the daily action was to track your trash and then on Tuesday Fake Plastic Fish posted a Challenge: show us your (plastic) trash. I decided to do a whole week a tracking my trash starting on Monday May 11th. I was doing pretty good writing it all down and putting the plastic aside through Wednesday. After that I didn't put in as much effort and figured I could sort through things on the weekend. That didn't go as planned either and I went digging through my trash about an hour ago figuring out what I actually threw away. I got pretty much everything but I was not super meticulous about any of it.

This week seemed to be a bit low on trash over all compared to an average week, we were flat broke until Friday but also because of that we had a few meals of fast food graciously provided for us which did result in a lot of trash items we usually don't have. In whole though this week would fit well into a months worth of trash. We often have times of little money and meals provided by friends and family, we also have times of pure laziness and the quick run to the fast food joint. In the past month we have really tried our best to not visit fast food establishments and were doing pretty good until this past week. Also because of the lack of funds we were not cooking at home as much and so there was less packaging waste than normal so it probably, amount wise, balances out.

Here is my list of the week's trash:

Trash Tracking Starting Monday May 11th

Trash:

10 or so paper napkins

lemon rinds

about 2 cups of various leftovers not eaten

1 medium pizza box

5 bags with kitty litter cleanings

little balls of hair everyday from shower drain and/or brushing my hair

6 inch piece or so of floss everyday

Non-recyclable plastic trash (only #1 and #2 plastic containers are recyled curbside):

package from ramen noodles and sauce packet

tahini tub #5 plastic

1 fed ex bubble envelope from shipment of new moto renew phone made from recycled plastic

1 plastic baggie from charger for phone with a bit of tape

2 small grocery bags from taco bell

1 plastic plate and lid

1 food envelope with plastic window

1 salsa cup with lid #5

4 plastic lids and 4 plastic straws

1 plastic film wrapper to new "eco" sponges

1 plastic wrapper from top of wine bottle

1 ice bag (i know you are thinking, "you buy ice" just a luxury we have gotten use to)

1 asparagus tag

1 plastic twist cap from soy milk

1 inner plastic seal from soy milk (often times save these and use them as cat toys, they love them)

6 hot sauce or bbq sauce packets

1 gallon zip lock bag that appeared out of cupboards, hubby probably finished something

1 fig bar snack tray

1 container of turtle food no recycle number on it so I just toss it

Plastic Trash that will get reused:

Lid from turtle food (reused as an animal food dish)

3 fast food cups (reuse in garden, for watering or cut bottoms off and use to start seedlings)

cottage cheese tub (reuse in garden use as pot)

2 produce bags (will be reused for cat litter collection)

2 bulk item tag/clips (will reuse for next purchase, i always say that and always forget them and get new ones but i have not thrown any away in a long time)

Plasticized items that are trash:

plastic coated paper soy milk carton

8 paper lined with plastic tea bag wrappers

6 paper coated with plastic fast food taco wrappers

paper bag from fast food with plastic reinforced handles

butchers paper lined with plastic from meat counter

1 produce bag used for pre-marinated meat from meat counter (cant use for cat litter)

8 fast food sandwich foil looking plastic coated paper wrappers

1 paper coated with plastic fast food box (says on it not to microwave because its lined with plastic)

1 fast food fry plastic coated paper cup

1 regular fast food plastic coated paper drink cup

plastic lined paper "saftey" seal from new turtle food

Recycle:

1 large can and lid, plastic coated

two foil trays from dinner leftovers

2 half foil half paper lids to trays

2 cans cat food and 2 lids, plastic coated

6 paper Lipton tea bag wrappers

cardboard egg carton

paper display sleeve from sponges

4 straw wrappers

2 receipts with coupons/adds on back

5 pieces of old scrap paper with notes on them that are no longer needed

2 glass drink bottles with metal lids

Mail that gets recycled:

small box like envelope from dog treat sample

6 junk mailers, add coupons and things, that's addressed to postal customer

nrdc native voice mailing

2 election fliers

netflix DVD flap

Paper that gets added to scrap paper for notes then eventually recycled:

2 envelopes

7 bill envelopes with plastic windows

2 receipt

Here is the picture of just the pure plastic stuff, including the stuff I plan on reusing: