Plastic Waste: A One Week Collection
To get an idea of how much plastic I'm sending to the landfill these days, I decided to collect a week's worth of plastic waste, with the week starting last Monday and ending yesterday. Below are the results, a la Beth from Fake Plastic Fish, minus the weight measurements since I don't have a scale.
The Results
Clockwise from top left:
1. Bag from brown sugar: This was purchased before I started trying to reduce my plastic consumption
2. Two safety seals from Breyer's ice cream: I had people over for a potluck on Sunday night because it was my birthday, but I ended up running short on time when I was getting everything ready. To make up for it, I purchased ice cream to serve as a dessert, but I had to buy Breyer's since my boyfriend is lactose intolerant. Hence the plastic seals.
3. Ribbon: This was part of the gift wrap from my otherwise plastic-free birthday gift from my boyfriend.
4. Kleenex box plastic: This came from the box I used to have at work (I need to get a handkerchief!)
5. Packaging for disposable contact lenses: This is a type of plastic waste that I'm not ready to give up.
6. Safety seal from organic peanut butter jar: Not much to say here, but that I hate plastic seals.
7. Tag from asparagus: I didn't realize this was plastic when I was purchasing the aspargus for my birthday dinner. Darn.
8. Plastic tab: I found this under my couch while I was cleaning for the dinner party.
9. Two bags from microwave popcorn: My co-workers were going to throw the bags away because they were expired. I intercepted them and ate them as snacks instead of letting them go into the trash.
Not pictured: Two cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon (aluminum cans are lined with plastic). I drank these in a moment of weakness (read: pre-birthday drunkeness) at a bar on Saturday night.
Summary
I'm pretty happy with how I did, although I obviously had a few weak moments. I could have, for example, planned a different dessert for the dinner party or opted not to have the cans of beer at the bar.
Lessons learned: Plan better for dinner parties, examine tags on vegetables, and don't drink too much.
The Results
Clockwise from top left:
1. Bag from brown sugar: This was purchased before I started trying to reduce my plastic consumption
2. Two safety seals from Breyer's ice cream: I had people over for a potluck on Sunday night because it was my birthday, but I ended up running short on time when I was getting everything ready. To make up for it, I purchased ice cream to serve as a dessert, but I had to buy Breyer's since my boyfriend is lactose intolerant. Hence the plastic seals.
3. Ribbon: This was part of the gift wrap from my otherwise plastic-free birthday gift from my boyfriend.
4. Kleenex box plastic: This came from the box I used to have at work (I need to get a handkerchief!)
5. Packaging for disposable contact lenses: This is a type of plastic waste that I'm not ready to give up.
6. Safety seal from organic peanut butter jar: Not much to say here, but that I hate plastic seals.
7. Tag from asparagus: I didn't realize this was plastic when I was purchasing the aspargus for my birthday dinner. Darn.
8. Plastic tab: I found this under my couch while I was cleaning for the dinner party.
9. Two bags from microwave popcorn: My co-workers were going to throw the bags away because they were expired. I intercepted them and ate them as snacks instead of letting them go into the trash.
Not pictured: Two cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon (aluminum cans are lined with plastic). I drank these in a moment of weakness (read: pre-birthday drunkeness) at a bar on Saturday night.
Summary
I'm pretty happy with how I did, although I obviously had a few weak moments. I could have, for example, planned a different dessert for the dinner party or opted not to have the cans of beer at the bar.
Lessons learned: Plan better for dinner parties, examine tags on vegetables, and don't drink too much.
Comments
Is the Breyer's the only brand that makes lactose-free ice cream?
As for the beer, tap beer is better anyway, right? I shall not veer from course again :)
A flood of disturbing scientific findings since the late 1990s has abruptly elevated PFCs to the rogues gallery of highly toxic, extraordinarily persistent chemicals that pervasively contaminate human blood and wildlife the world over. As more studies pour in, PFCs seem destined to supplant DDT, PCBs, dioxin and other chemicals as the most notorious, global chemical contaminants ever produced. Government scientists are especially concerned because unlike any other toxic chemicals, the most pervasive and toxic members of the PFC family never degrade in the environment.
http://www.ewg.org/node/21786
You can buy regular popcorn and pop it in the microwave in a regular paper bag. I would not eat the microwave popcorn even if it's free. Maybe the trash would have been a better place for it, even though we know that there is really no "away" when we throw things away.
Martha's Homemade Brown Sugar