Week 1 Plastic Tally

About 2 weeks ago, I saved every all of my plastic trash that I used for a week. It includes everything I used, and things that my family used that I used too. It does not include just things my husband and son used. I am also posting it here Show your plastic.

So, without further ado :

I filled 1 plastic grocery bag with plastic trash. Just for a week! It is hard not to feel discouraged, although I will say that most of this plastic is from things I bought before I got on board with the plastic free/low plastic lifestyle. Most of my plastic waste is from food products :

And much to my dismay my nearest loose bulk food store is 12 miles away, which is discouraging when I like in biking distance to a town less than a mile away with plenty of stores. My nearest Whole foods is a 45 drive (uh).

Followed by bath products :

The hair products are an easy fix. I am going to try some shampoo bars, as there is no bulk shampoo near me, and the baking soda/apple cider vinegar thing made my thick curly hair a nightmare. The other thing is a floss pick (guess I only flossed once that week, oops!) which, so far I have not found any replacement for dental floss. I tried thread, and that was a nightmare.

Lastly is my junk mail plastic envelopes:

I have listed my name on all the stop junk mail websites. Hopefully this will help.

I have to say participating in this challenge has depressed me. I am hyper aware of all the plastic waste around me. Every time I see someone slugging a plastic water bottle I cringe, and I just want to cry. It feels like one person's reduction isn't going to make up for the millions of others.

But, I keep on, with that classic Gandhi quote, "you need to be the change you wish to see in the world." It's a start.

Katie