Living Plastic Free: PROGRESS REPORT MAY

I’ve finished month #5 living the ‘no-new-plastic’ pledge. And I gotta say….it’s been a bad plastic month.

I’ve almost doubled the size of my plastic shrine since April and it could have been prevented if I had just avoided two PlasticBlondeMoments....

PlasticBlondeMoment #1 & #2

The first ‘blonde’ moment occurred when I ordered a glass-blown necklace from an artisan shop in Victoria and forgot to tell them ‘Don’t package it in plastic.’ When it arrived in the mail in a foam pack envelope I’m sure the whole neighborhood could hear EnviroWoman barking 'Crap, crap and triple crap.'

And I had no one to blame but myself.

And if that wasn’t bad enough…I had another PlasticBlondeMoment at that very same instant. Because half way through filleting the plastic out of the envelope to add it to the plastic shrine EnviroWoman realized….'I should have just sent it back and told them ‘thanks but no thanks…please reuse this envelope.'

So that’s my strategy going forward…Return to Sender. I've been using it on junk mail (especially those with plastic windows) so why not on other things.

PlasticBlondeMoment #3

There was another PlasticBlondeMoment. It happened when EnviroWoman was distracted at a social engagement and realized she had been drenching her sushi in a plastic dipping sauce cup destined to be thrown away after EnviroWoman finished having her way with it.

But instead, that wee cup has taken up residence in EnviroWoman’s plastic shrine. See how happy it looks with all its plastic buddies!

Do not despair my sweets! Those three PlasticBlondeMoments increased EnviroWoman’s plastic awareness and helped avoid a major disaster.

Averting Disaster

As mentioned in April’s Progress Report, MyLittleCar had been the victim of a ‘hit and leave a note’. When I took it into the body shop for a repair estimate I told them about my No-New-Plastic-Pledge and they said ‘No problemo. The plastic door trim isn’t damaged enough to warrant replacing and we don’t need to use any plastic when fixing and repainting the door.'

Excellent! The Eco-Gods were smiling on EnviroWoman.

But when EnviroWoman finally took MyLittleCar in to get fixed, and had her wits about her enough to ask for a second time ‘Are you sure you guys can honor my No-New-Plastic-Pledge’ she was told…. ‘Sorry, we were wrong, the entire car will be covered with plastic when painted, and this plastic will be thrown out.’

Please forgive me MyLittleCar but EnviroWoman had to keep her NoNewPlastic pledge so said ‘Well, in that case MyLittleCar will have to wait until next year to get fixed…’cuz there is no way I am adding a whole car-load of polypropylene to my plastic shrine.’ She turned on her ruby red slippers and high-tailed it out of the body shop.

She was so proud of herself she had to bend over and check between her legs to see if she had grown balls.

But when she jumped into MyLittleCar and glanced in the rear view mirrow, she noticed the words TotalWhackedOutEcoFreak were magically and officially stamped on her forehead.

RudeAwakenings

Let’s see….the inside of Pepsi cans are sprayed with plastic, soda in glass bottles have plastic liners under the caps…beer has the same problems. Metal toothpaste tubes have plastic liners….as do most canned foods.

Ooeee, and even CFL bulbs contain plastic (oh yeah...you're gonna hear about that one, watch for the June post on CFL Light Bulbs #2 coming soon).

And anything in a glass jar also has plastic under the lid to help seal the jar. Yup folks, it’s everywhere.

EnviroWoman has resigned herself to the fact when she buys anything in glass jars (which she’s been limited to) she’ll have commit a MINOR SIN because of the plastic cap seal and sometimes even the cap itself. Bummer, huh?

Sayonara

In January EnviroWoman waved goodbye to meat substitutes, crackers, chips and The Body Shop. In March, it was dishwashing liquid. In April she gave the boot to her beloved Pepsi and ended her affair with Dr. Oetker’s frozen pizza

In May she said goodbye to highlighters and….it really hurts this GirlyGirl to say this next part…EnviroWoman kissed nail polish goodbye. Yuppers, it’s made of plastic. I first weaned the fingernails. Then two weekends ago, I bit the bullet and removed the last red remnants from my toenails. Look at those bland, white freaky little digits staring up at me!! They look totally naked, and ugly and very, very boring. But they ARE plastic-free.

And today, May 31st, EnviroWoman said goodbye to another good friend - Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Tofu will never be the same again.

Watch for upcoming XtremeMakeovers

In April's Progress Report EnviroWoman reported TheUrgeToPurge was starting to get aggravating. This month she’s turned the problem into a challenge, as she often does. It’s kinda her own version of Flip This House.

Mini NoPlasticMakeovers are happening all over the place. It started with the office desk, then migrated to the pen-stash drawer, then the medicine cabinet and the cutlery drawer, and now the bathroom cupboards. Wait until she hits the closet – it will be What Not To Wear like you’ve never seen it!

Watch for upcoming episodes airing soon on the Living Plastic Free in 2007 channel.

Good Plastic Fortune this month

Anyway, despite all of this here has been some good plastic fortune this month....

• Finding Toilet Paper
• Discovering how great expensive pens are
• Being interviewed on Australia’s ABC radio
• Brain food: Plastic Ocean

The big challenge this month

Kicking the nail polish habit. Plus, I’m still on the hunt for plastic free mascara. Now I’ve added eye shadow, foundation, eyeliner and body lotion to the list. These are my holy grails…because cruelty-free cosmetics that are also plastic free are impossible to find.

And here it is, my sweets, just to keep me honest, an account of my SINs for the month of May….

MINOR SINS for May 2007

• 8 plastic liners from soda pop bottle caps
• Tampon wrappers
• Plastic liner from a foam pack envelope
• 2 mini straws hiding in cardboard packaging from utensils bought at Ikea
• 2 plastic labels

MAJOR SINs for May 2007

• None. But mascara is definitely starting to put a voodoo hex over me, as is nail polish...at least for the toes ('come back to the dark side EnviroWoman')

Challenges Ahead

As current supplies are dwindling I’m starting to hunt for the following non-plastic/packaged, cruelty-free items:

• Mascara & Eyeliner. Potential for a MAJOR SIN
• Body Lotion
• Scotch tape
• Lint rollers
• Eye shadow
• Motor Oil
• Bandaids
• Sunglasses
• Sun tan lotion/Sun Screen
• Thongs/Sandals
• Powdered Milk
• Clothes. I haven’t bought any since January because not buying polyester, nylon, spandex, etc, is gonna be hard.

If you have any suggestions where I can find these items please post a comment.