CHALLENGE: reduce your plastic rubbish

[forestdale]

Reading CJ's post on the increasing price of plastic made me think about reducing the plastic have in my home even more.  I'll let you in on a secret.  I HATE plastic.  I know it's made life easier and that our kids can't imagine a life without plastic, but I try to limit plastic whenever I can.  I would love milk to be sold in glass bottles again as many of our native and marine life are being killed by those rings that are attached to the tops of plastic milk jugs.  They get their little heads caught in them and eventually choke.  There are so many horror stories with plastic waste I can't bare to type any more out.

But I would like to try to reduce it and if the price of plastic is increasing it makes sense that we here on a frugal living site should want to reduce our use of it.

My challenge to you is this: have a look at how much plastic you throw out in your rubbish bin every week.  Take note of how much is there and next week I want you to reduce it.  You decide how much you're willing to reduce it by and post your challenge objective here.

Shop and recycle for this challenge.  When you shop, use products that are packaged in cardboard or paper, or take your own calico bag to the store and fill it.  You don't need to bring anymore things into your home that you'll immediately throw away.  Shop at a bulk foods store instead of the supermarket.  Try to recycle 3 plastic things that you would otherwise have thrown out.

There are a lot of homemakers here at FV.  Together we could make a significant contribution to a cleaner environment by taking on this challenge. Who's in?

My target is to reduce my plastic waste by one third.

Next?

[baxjul]

Okay, I'll try. Most of my garbage is plastic and paper, so I'll give it a go by a third also!

[forestdale]

good for you Julie!

I've just packed my lunch for work and decided against using plastic wrap. I've put it unwrapped into a ack! plastic reusable flat box. I have to pick up a few groceries on my way home. I have my calico shopping bags in the car so I don't have to use plastic shopping bags.

[suesue]

What if I use the plastic grocery bags for trash bags. Does that count as recycling?

[psjkmom]

I'm in. I wash and reuse baggies, use plastic shopping bags for garbage liners and rarely use plastic wrap. I think I can do better, though. One of the worst over-uses (is that a word? ) of plastic is in the packaging of small toys. With the holidays coming, I dread all the plastic that will come into our home this way. Dh and I don't buy our children a lot at Christmas, but others do and the amount of packaging that goes into the landfills is astounding. The really horrifying fact is that the plastic that wraps my children's Christmas gifts will still be in landfills when my children are grandparents and beyond. The stuff doesn't go away.

[forestdale]

Sure does, sue. Of the 3 Rs - reduce, reuse and recycle, reduce is the most beneficial because it stops the chain at the source. But having acquired the bags, reusing it's an excellent thing to do as it gives two lives to the bag instead of just one.

It's scary isn't it, Emily? I think like that too. All that "disposable" packaging. It's horrifying. Have you set your target?

I had a no plastic day at our store yesterday. I'm not counting it in my target, it just felt really good to do it. Instead of using any plastic carry bags for the parcels I wrapped, I gave the shoppers who wanted one a brown paper bag, with string handles. So all day I just used tissue paper, brown paper bags of all sizes and brown paper carry bags. We generally rely on paper wrapping, DH and I made that conscious decision when we first bought our store, but we've always had plastic carry bags. I'm not giving them out anymore unless people ask for them.

I bought some fruit and vegies on the way home yesterday afternoon. Instead of packing them in their own plastic bag, I took a box from my car and loaded everything into the box. I thought the checkout girl might say something but she just said: "that's a good idea" and smiled. She took all the stuff out individually, weighed it, then put it back. Nice.

[baxjul]

I got groceries today. Did not buy any sandwich baggies, will use containers instead. Also, recycled the plastic bags. I never buy plastic wrap, so that isn't a problem.

[forestdale]

WTG Julie!

[psjkmom]

I can't really figure out a target as in a ratio or something like that. Just going to shoot for rejecting plastic whenever there's an option. I took cloth bags with me to the grocery this evening and used those instead of bringing home more of those hideous plastic shopping bags. I do pack my children's lunches in containers instead of baggies and that helps. I was really noticing plastic use today at the store. It is such a part of food packaging and storage, it's hard to get away from. If we all do our parts, though, maybe we can make a dent in the global environmental health. Rhonda, thank you for emphasizing the importance of reducing before we reuse and recycle. Sometimes that's the one that's easiest to forget. It's a lesson I needed to be reminded of.

[forestdale]

I totally agree with you, Emily. By doing our part, we do make a difference. I have friends who say that they feel helpless because whatever they do doesn't make a difference. I believe that we MUST do something and to do nothing is saying that all this over packaging and waste is OK. And it isn't. I think that starting in our own homes is the only thing we can do.

I'm disappointed that not many other ladies are joining this challenge, but even with the four of us doing it, it DOES make a differnce.

Today I recycled two more 15 litre buckets from my local baker. I'm using them to store my bulk goods. I've also decided to replace all my plastic pegs when they die with wooden ones. The wood is from renewable plantation forests.

[psjkmom]

This site and particularly threads like this are so encouraging to me. I live in a small-mid size town and we have a recycling dumpster (for lack of better word) downtown. I know other people in town use it because it fills up and must be emptied, however, no one that I know personally uses it. None of my friends recycle. No one in my family recycles. So I'm thinking - all those plastic milk jugs, all the Tide containers, every glass jar, every soda can - all that could be recycled is going into landfills. Ugh and double ugh! As far as reduce and reuse it's the same thing. The book, One Makes a Difference by Julia Butterfly Hill has encouraged me too to remember that the little things I do are important to the earth.

[homesteadmamma]

Rhonda, I'm up for the challenge. We've reduced our plastic a lot, however I know we can do more.

I purchased cloth bags for my groceries when Superstore started charging 4¢ a bag for grocery bags. I often forget the bags at home though, so I will make sure they get put in the van after each use. Also, some grocery stores will pack your groceries in bags if you ask them to. I know that Sobey's does in our city.

It really is an eye opener when you look at all the plastic that comes into your home.

I'm not sure how much I'll reduce it by Rhonda. I'll think on that one and post it later.

[forestdale]

I'm pleased you've joined us, CJ.

You're like me, I keep forgetting to put my cloth bags into the car. I've made it this week's goal to make sure the bags get put back in the car as soon as they are unpacked.

I'm just looking around me now and I'm surrounded by plastic. The computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, printers, phone, water bottle, calculator, stapler, ruler, I could go on and on. I can't do much about those plastic things but there is something I can do about bringing new plastic into my home.

I was going to go to the plant nursery during the week to get some seedlings. I've decided to get my seedlings instead from a lady at the local farmers market. She grows her seedlings in big trays and wraps them in newspaper. Yesterday I got DH to bring home a big 1 litre bottle of the organic hand cream I use. I'm not getting the smaller 200gram plastic bottles anymore.

I don't buy cleaning products or laundry detergent anymore, I make my own and store them in the old recycled containers that housed the store bought ones. The main area I have to focus on is my kitchen and cutting down on the prepackaged products that I buy, or used to buy. My bags are in the car ready for my trip to pick up groceries tomorrow. When I go, I'm going to tell the produce manager what I'm doing. He'll proably not care, but telling him is one way of them knowing that for at least one person who shops at their store, it's not acceptable anymore.

[homesteadmamma]

Rhonda you have a point there. We need to make others aware of why were doing specific things. When one person becomes two and two four and then more, they begin to look at it.

Will they change - there is a very good possibility if enough say something they will change.

I'm looking around our home too. There are a number of areas we can change in. The first thing I'm looking at is groceries and what they come in. Here, fruit is put into plastic bags to bring home. We don't have a fruit store where you don't have to do that. I'm going to be making some inquiries and see if they will supply paper bags. Sobey's does with apples, they should for other fruits as well.

Rhonda, how do you get your fruit?

[forestdale]

I buy my fruit from a green grocer who deals only in fruit, vegetables, honey, flowers and organic dairy. All their produce is loose in big bins or baskets, you pick your own from the bins. They have small plastic bags to pack your purchases in but they encourage people to bring small calico bags for multiple small purchases and large cloth bags to carry everything home. I usually keep a cardboard box in the back of my car so I will take the box in, or my bags. They also sell calico bags there.

In our large supermarkets, they have prepackaged fruit and vegetables but they also have loose ones that you can pack yourself. However, they only have plastic bags for much of the produce. They supply paper bags for mushrooms only. They give away plastic carry bags but sell cloth bags.

In the organic supermarket I go to, they only have paper bags and loose produce. They also supply paper bags for bulk flour, tea, rice etc and will get you a cardboard box to carry it all to your car in. A lot of their food, like jams, sauce, honey, spices, peanut butter etc are packaged in tins or bottles, rarely plastic. Their butter and cheese is packed in waxed paper, their milk is in cartons and their cream is in small bottles.