facepalm I bought a coffee and it didn’t occur to me to specify “dining in” so it came in a takeaway cup.
This has prompted me to think our reusable cups might need to live next to the door at home instead of in a kitchen cupboard, so that it’s easier to grab on our way out the door?
At least I have filled our car’s boot with reusable shopping bags so I won’t get caught out by that.
I’m shooting for 1 and 2, and 3 with the below exceptions and barriers. I’m trying to go beyond plastic and minimize all packaging. Paper, metal, even if it can be recycled, it still takes energy to produce it and recycle it. I’m gonna focus on Reduce in all areas, before I rely on Recycle.
Exceptions (change my mind!)
Prescription meds - not on anything currently but might go on the pill
Food that my roommate brings home from work, since that is destined for the garbage otherwise
Buy Nothing items that nobody else wants
Barriers (open to advice!)
Social food, like peer pressure ice cream. I will try to be strong.
The upstairs timer at my house is driving me nuts with how loud it is. A replacement electronic timer will have plastic. But I will finally get that incessant ticking out of my head and not be tortured by the heart I hid under the floorboards wait what? Another way to do this, maybe smother the sound with a blanket taped to the wall?
OTC meds. Melatonin, TUMS, etc. I will do without for as long as I can. Maybe this’ll force me to stop overeating so I don’t need to settle my stomach with a disc of chalk.
Produce stickers and rubber bands - I will focus on berry foraging and produce that doesn’t have stickers, like corn and mushrooms. But even the hippie co-op puts stickers on their oranges! I love oranges. Lots of things grow here, but not a lot of oranges flying around.
Freebies at neighborhood events. I’ll try to refuse unless it helps reduce waste in another way, like faucet aerators.
Hiking gear. I’ll try to borrow things like flashlights and look for clothes secondhand. But I’m getting a credit card with bonus money to spend at REI…
Non-essential personal items ahem. (JK, I don’t need more right now.)
Easy
Metal water bottle, snacks from bulk bins, reusing containers at the store
Carry bags, food containers, and cutlery everywhere
Cook a bunch from dry bulk ingredients instead of canned/packaged - yay pressure cookers and vegetable scraps
Don’t buy other shit, I really only need to buy food and not that much
Day One:
I went grocery shopping (on foot) and bought zero packaging. Produce without stickers and bulk bin items with reused bags. This meant I put chocolate covered walnuts in a bag coated in garlic dust, but ehhh it mostly rinsed off. Not doing that again, though…
Annie’s mac and cheese was on sale. I got to checkout, scanned 4 boxes, and realized that while the box is cardboard, the baggie with the cheese dust isn’t recyclable, might have plastic, and even if it doesn’t have plastic, it’s still wasted packaging. I had a clerk void the transaction and put my babies back on the shelf.
I picked blackberries from an alley instead of buying berries like a sucker.
Thoughts
I picked up Saran wrap from a free pile, and I’ve been thinking that’s a free pass. But, if I gave it away, it might reduce the amount that someone else buys, and I can be more committed to reusable containers. I might need to give it away.
Crap the above applies to some of my bathroom products doesn’t it…
food notes
Eggs
Ears of corn (WF)
Bulk peanut butter (FM)
Mushrooms (NS)
Loose greens (NS, friends?)
String beans (FM?)
Carrots (FM)
Bulk bin - nuts, dried beans, rice, chocolate, raisins
Use up tvp
Make chili
Make broth - corn and beef
Use up packaged chicken and GF bread
Don’t forget about the instant mashed potatoes! Or the Soyrizo!
So far, we seem to be using up the last of a lot of plastic-wrapped things. Definitely going to need to get to a bulk shop on the weekend!!
I’ve spent the evening prepping food:
Cooked 6x teriyaki tofu, rice and peas. This used up plastic-wrapped tofu and plastic-wrapped peas.
Pan toasted raw almonds for snacks, which used up the plastic-wrapped almonds.
Cooked up dried beans, which I had actually bought unpackaged. Woo!
Given there are no plastic and palm oil free chocolate options at work, I’m going to pack a block of foil and cardboard packaged chocolate to take in tomorrow with the rest of my food. When I get to the bulk shop I’ll buy unpackaged chocolate.
I like the method some of you are using to document, so I will too.
Day 1
Used/purchased
apple cider vinegar (existing) - I used up a bottle of ACV that I had gotten from a friend probably more than a year ago (they were moving out of state and weren’t taking open items or perishable items, I got quite a lot from her (including those damn instant potatoes that I still have 1 box of!). I don’t use ACV that often, and in fact, I have another, smaller bottle that I had just purchased a few weeks prior to getting the big bottle. Using up the ACV helps with my decluttering. I’ll keep the bottle, to either cut down to use as a cloche for tiny plants, or possibly to bottle my apple scrap vinegar when it is ready. At least it is out of my tiny cupboard.
cucumber (existing) - PLU sticker
tortilla (existing) - I have a few tortillas in the freezer and used one for a 360 burrito knockoff; the tortillas came originally in a plastic bag
rice (existing) - used up the last of the rice purchased in a plastic bag
spray coconut oil (existing) - I use this oil to make poached eggs pretty much exclusively (the “nonstick” cups are not really nonstick without oil) - the can (which is not recyclable, because it is pressurized) also has a plastic cap and nozzle. I realized this sort of belatedly (after I used it to make eggs). The can is super close to being empty, I may just use it until it is, to help declutter, and then use olive oil afterward.
vitamins (existing) - my vitamin D is in a plastic bottle, and all three have plastic lids; not going to stop taking vitamins as they are helping me
half and half (existing) - already opened from last month, and I’m not wasting!
milk (existing) - ditto above! I usually don’t drink milk but I had a small glass yesterday because I used too much Thai sweet chili sauce in my burrito and it was super spicy!
Considerations:
So far everything is existing not nothing new purchased. Since I am a single person, I could totally cheat this and just eat out of my pantry/freezer again for a month. I am going to try not to, but… it takes me a long time to use things. Like, I have a jug of olive oil that will last me 6 months at this rate.
I removed the liquid soap from the kitchen and bathroom and will use bar soap (which I have). However… not sure what to do about dish detergent. I need my dishes to be clean and I make a lot of them with all the cooking. So it will stay for now.
Cleaning solution - I use Mrs. Meyers (in fact, I have a big bottle of concentrate that I dilute and put into a smaller bottle). I’ve been trying to clean more regularly so that things don’t get so bad that it seems like a disaster. This uses a lot more supplies than I am used to. Not sure what to do about that. I can use rags and vinegar I suppose (I do have a giant bottle of white vinegar, but as the most economical option (by far) that also is in a plastic jug) but for certain pet cleanups I need to stick to paper towels and actual cleaner (for pets, Nature’s Miracle, with also comes in a big plastic jug then transferred to a smaller spray bottle), because hygiene is important.
I found out I can use powdered detergent in my washing machine, if I can find the right kind. However, Doggo had an accident last night (on her potty pad, so not really an accident, but I still have to wash it) and I realized I still want to use liquid for that. I’ll see if I can find any appropriate powder the next time I am out, but will use liquid for Doggo’s stuff regardless, because it feels like powdered won’t get a urine soaked pad clean (IDK?).
Well this was unintentionally a book, I sure hope I don’t do this every day!
Good luck making progress toward your goals, everyone!
Do you compost? If so, you shouldn’t really have very much wet garbage (except maybe meat, which freeze until garbage day) and can use paper bags. For many years my parents used paper grocery store bags as trash can liners, long before it was “environmental” to not use plastic. Kept a separate (very small) bag in the freezer for meat waste.
Otherwise (although it may be too late for this) you can use any bag that will fit your can. I have a tiny can that grocery store bags fit in. Sometimes friends bring me their excess bags that they would return to the store (to recycle). Or compost/potting soil bags, or kitty litter bags (40# pine pellets), or the larger wrapping that big packs of toilet paper or paper towels come in. I only empty my garbage can (usually) once a week, so have plenty of these. I also dump garbage from the bathroom can into it on trash day, plus (usually) scooped poop from the litter box as well. Obviously that doesn’t help if you have none of these things and are not buying any for the duration of the month. (If you are really desperate, many grocery stores nowadays have bins out front too for recycling the plastic bags, since they don’t go with regular recycling. You could grab a few out of a bin - they are just going to be recycled anyway.)
Ah, yes I do compost! I occasionally get lazy and scrape things into the trash, and tend not to compost meat. I will get some paper grocery bags on my next trip to the store!
We haven’t been getting our local newspaper, I don’t know why! Horrors!
OTOH I can say that with improving our compost efforts, it shouldn’t be much longer before we don’t need a bin liner on most bins because we’re so much better at it only being dry rubbish.
Brought an old takeout container to tare for bulk candy
Bought only loose fruit even though I wanted the sweet bluebs
Bought whipping cream in a glass jar (plastic top, but still an improvement over plastic or plastic lined cardboard)
Not progress:
Could not be arsed to drive across town to the place with the meat counter and got plastic wrapped bulgogi and some frozen chicken burgers which I’m pretty sure involve plastic wrap for the BBQ we’re hosting on the fourth
Got sticker shock at the price of glass bottle milk (twice as much!!) and could not bring myself to pay it
disposable coffee cup (I made coffee in my keep cup before leaving the house)
plastic water bottle
2-3x disposable nappies
plastic produce bags
plastic grocery bags
picked the mandarins from the store that didn’t have stickers on them (they probably had just fallen off though, so maybe not much of a win really)
Used/purchased
toothpaste plastic tube (existing)
deodorant (existing and I use the extreme stuff because I have the sweaty genes so this is probably the last thing I’ll attempt to change)
shampoo in a plastic bottle (existing)
conditioner in a plastic bottle (existing)
bread in plastic for lunch (purchased Monday)
milk from plastic bottle
papaya wrapped in cling film (used it up)
1x disposable nappy overnight
baby wipes from plastic packaging (I forgot to add these the other days too)
pasta from plastic packaging for dinner (existing)
cheese from plastic packaging for dinner (existing)
basil in plastic packaging (purchased today, I could not find a plastic free alternative and today is not a day for me to deviate from the meal plan).
thermal receipt (forgot that the manned registers at the supermarket always print a receipt even when you don’t want it…)
other feel good things
took the train with Pikelet to playgroup at the community garden - Pikelet cleaned up glitter rubbish from the garden.
purchased plastic free solid conditioner to replace the used up bottle (ethique is 50% off at Priceline FYI aussies, so I got the shampoo too for when I finish the bottle)
bought sweet basil and coriander seeds to plant, might need to hit up buy nothing for a pot.
emptied the food waste from the kitchen into our compost bin
only had one not too big bag of rubbish in the landfill bin for collection this week, usually we have two (due to the nappies).
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Oooh thanks @pancakes for the tip on ethique! I love their stuff so I’ll stock up.
Progress:
Bought lunch yesterday and today (OK not frugal) but none of it used plastic packaging. Paper and cardboard wrapping. I checked, the cardboard was not lined with plastic!
Went to my office to grab my cup for morning hot chocolate instead of forgetting and missing out or using a takeaway cup.
Opportunities (a manager’s way of saying “problems”):
my favourite mayo only comes in plastic squeeze tubs. Need to find a new favourite.
Local bulk store closed down. I can go to one 15 minutes and a few suburbs away, or visit one near work.
Need to start baking biscuits to go with coffee and tea. We’re running down the last of the packets at the moment.
Crackers and flatbreads for dipping in hommus only seem to come in plastic packaging. I either need a super easy recipe or one that lets me freeze the dough or bread
I haven’t been using the cloth nappies. Getting on that tomorrow first thing.
Using plastic wrapped, non biodegradable wipes for toddler’s bum. Probably won’t change this as I’d rather change the other stuff first.
Shit. I forgot and used plastic. I was doing so well on day 1!
Used:
1 freezer Ziploc and some plastic wrap to freeze beef bones from buy nothing. Without it, the bones would go to waste, so that’s something. I also threw a bunch immediately into the pressure cooker so I wouldn’t need to freeze them. I don’t have reusable freezer containers large enough for these cuts.
Toothpaste, electric toothbrush
Laundry detergent (but I will air dry)
Avoided:
Shampoo/conditioner (ok fine I didn’t shower at all)
Deodorant (nobody’s smelling me today, and lucky them)
Any other food packaging, all my food has been bulk bin snacks or leftovers
I’m thinking of petitioning my main stores to give an opt out option for this. Anyone have tips?
