Living plastic-free: PROGRESS REPORT JUNE/JULY/AUGUST

I’ve finished month #8 living the ‘no-new-plastic’ pledge. It’s been a while since I reported on my progress. Been busy holidaying, moving, then unpacking. But still living the NoNewPlasticPledge (except for those couple of days visiting kinfolk…but more on that later).

As you can see, I’ve added substantially to my plastic shrine since May (which contains all the new plastic I’ve let into my life during 2007 that’s ready for recycling or the trash. To give you some context, the round dark brown thing is a coffee lid from Tim Horton's).

Actually, let me rephrase that….OTHER PEOPLE have added substantially to my plastic shrine.

Here are the most notable additions...

Brown Packing tape: nope, not from moving, but from a package sent in the mail from loving female kinfolk. Now, if you’re like most people, don’t ya just love getting parcels in the mail? Alas, not if you’re EnviroWoman. ‘Cuz EnviroWoman knows that they usually contain some wonderful little object wrapped in plastic, or in the case of this particular package – swaddled in packing tape.

My heart nearly broke when I saw that package arrive. Especially since the kinfolk knew I was living the no-new-plastic-pledge. But how can I expect them to be ever-conscious of how pervasive plastic is, when EnviroWoman has her own share of plastic-blonde moments? I’d look like a total a-hole if I sent it ‘Return to Sender’ like I do with most of my plastic packaged mail. So I had to keep it and claim it as my own.

And it gets worse. Inside that package were 2 lovely little jackets, both size zero (so hard to find)….one made entirely out of plastic (well ya know, nylon, rayon, polyester) with plastic buttons (a total, yet pretty, SINNER). And one, entirely 100% cotton with metal buttons (yippee a total, and pretty SAINT). One SINNER, one SAINT. The story of my life in 2007.

So the rule is, I gotta regift the SINNER so it doesn’t count. It’s a tad too small anyhoo. I’d bust a seam in no time. So a skinny-minny friend will get be to be the happy recipient of a ‘re-gift’

Clear packing tape: two instances occurred whereby OTHERS brought clear tape into my life.

1. Let me set the stage...it’s the end of July, and my little plastic shrine is pretty darn sparse. I’m busting with pride. I’ve even managed to go through my whole move without using hardly any new plastic (see #2)….so I get back to work from taking some time off to move….and discover my boss and her husband have sabotaged my work area – decorating it in a moving motif – the filing cabinets were all wrapped up in kraft paper to look like beat up moving boxes. There was a beat up box marked FRAGILE and one with HANDLE WITH CARE and another with ‘THIS SIDE IS UP’ written upside down. My phone was all wrapped up, as was my chair. There were ‘BOXED UP ENERGY’, and ‘HOPE CHEST’ and OLD TAX FILES – 1965 to 2003 (Hey I’m not that old!!!)….and even CHOCOLATE fake boxes. Even pizza coupons and a MOVING TO DO LIST which included ‘Remember TheBeast!’ It was an absolute hoot. I laughed myself silly for a solid 10 minutes when I saw it. Alas, they used scads and scads of clear packing tape. Now, I know THEY used the tape. But they used it for ME, so it counts as my SIN. And there’s no way I can ‘regift’ used packing tape. So there’s a big wad of clear packing tape in my shrine now as a memorial to moving. But ya know, Gotta love the boss (She is TheBestBoss). Gotta love the bosses’ husband.
2. As I mentioned, I made it through the entire move without using any new plastic – almost. Admittedly, I did use packing tape and plastic I still had in my life as of Dec 31, 2006 (that’s acceptable by my rules), but when that ran out…I had to use ‘plastic-free’ alternatives. This meant instead of using boxes that folded into shape and which required taping, I had to resort to:

• apple and orange boxes which came pre-glued and with a lid (very smart way to go for a plastic-free move – don’t require any tape or string, and most come with side holes for ‘save-yer-back’ picking up), or
• boxes that folded into shape, and instead of taping them shut, just folding the flaps in on themselves so they kept contents safe. Or so we hoped. Alas, the frozen food (one of the last things ya pack, right?) made it into one of these boxes. And the moisture and the cold made the box flaps unstable. I had warned the moving guys ‘WackedoutEcoFreak here has a new year’s resolution I expect you to abide by…no new plastic. This means you can’t use packing tape, and you can’t use shrink wrap. Only blankets, only string.’ Great guys that they were, they abided by the rules….except for that box of frozen food, which eventually gave way, and spilled frozen goodies all over the back of the truck. This occurred at the exact moment I happened to be looking at the truck from an upstairs window…and what to my astonishing eyes did I see…but MovingMan using packing tape to rebind the box. I wrapped on the window. He looked up at me doefully, caught in the act. Sheepishly in fact…then threw the tape into the back of the truck with a ‘who me?’ look on his face. So I had to claim the plastic packing tape from that box.

Plastic clothing hooks. Those who read EnviroWoman know that she purchased a new home. Alas, new homes have plastic. The previous owner had a love-affair with Rubbermaid plastic clothes hooks – those handy-dandy ones that use double sided tape to stick to the wall. EnviroWoman loathes them. They are ‘too-too plastic’ so she’s removed them from closets and bathroom doors. Because they can’t be regifted, they must be recycled, and so now live in her plastic shrine.

Good Plastic Fortune these past couple of months

Anyway, despite all of this here has been some good plastic fortune in the past couple of months :

• Moving into a new neighbourhood that has one fantastic fresh produce market (whose tellers thinks MyLittleWireBasket and plastic-free way of shopping is so eco-nouveau) and even better…two fresh produce farms (grow their own, and plastic free, gotta love that). This has lead to the discovery of plastic-free cauliflower and grapes. A cause for celebration and gluttonous feasting.
• Finding mascara that’s as plastic-free as I’m gonna find. Plus cruelty-free. And that the wee beady eyes don’t seem to adversely react to.
• Seeing others follow in EnviroWoman's footsteps. I think I was the first to go plastic-free, but now there are other fellow bloggers that have taken the pledge in the past couple of months. That’s kind of exciting. The start of a new wave of consumerism – begun right here in LaLaLand.
• Body lotion. EnviroWench had to travel to far away lands to find it, but she finally did, after months and months of searching. Her skin was getting pretty dry, so she found it just in the nick of time.
• Pileated Woodpecker. Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with plastic. But I saw a Pileated Woodpecker in my new neighbourhood last week. I haven’t seen one since I was a kid camping in the Cariboo. I thought it was a Flicker when I first heard it calling in the forest….and then this prehistoric thing wafted out across the road. Could you hear EnviroWoman squealing with glee? What a fabulous new neighbourhood.
• Plastic-free chocolate. There are 2, count ‘em 2, places in the new neighbourhood that carry Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bars that come packaged in the old fashioned paper and foil wrapping. EnviroWoman is in her glory. Like I said....What a fabulous new neighbourhood.

Plastic Challenges these past couple of months.

• Clothes. I put off buying new clothes for six months until I knew which fabrics were plastic-based (nylon, polyester, rayon, viscose, spandex, etc). And then I dove in. I managed to buy all cotton clothes except for a beautiful summer coat that was wool with an acetate lining (but no plastic buttons). I wonder if it will be as easy when winter hits.
• Visiting kinfolk. EnviroWoman TheVegetarian is hard enough for kinfolk to deal with. So she keeps her cruelty-free and plastic-free way of life quite quiet. Don’t want to make it too much of a challenge to have her as a house guest. So when visiting country cousins I had to throw a moratorium on living plastic free for a couple of days. I quietly practiced my ways, avoiding bottled water, and pop, and yogurt, unbeknownst to the relatives, but wasn’t quite as a-retentive as I usually am…there was that one bag of chips which had that plasticy-foily wrapping which CountryCousin was serving up that I guiltily enjoyed.

MINOR SINS for June/July/August 2007

I can’t blame all my accumulated plastic on others. Admittedly, I’m guilty of adding some of it myself:

• Soya sauce jar lid
• 2 toothpaste caps
• a little plastic gizmo they put in the center of pizza box to prevent the lid from squishing the toppings. I learned quickly when ordering to say ‘hey, can ya do EnviroWoman a favour and not include that little plastic doodad?’ And ya know, THEY DON’T. Gotta love the Panago Pizza.
• Plastic pour spout from an olive oil jar (wasn’t expecting that one, I thought I’d really lucked out when I found olive oil with a metal lid and glass jar, who knew the evil plastic was lurking under the lid)
• A plastic-foily wrapper that came inside a cardboard-packaged bar of Swiss chocolate. Damn! Even chocolate is turning against me!
• One little plastic cello doodad from a sandwich’s fancy toothpick
• Five little plastic t-thingys that attach sales tags to clothes
• Tampon wrappers - now some of you ladies don't understand this one....but I bought them way back in January and I gotta use 'em up before shopping for non-plastic alteratives.

MAJOR SINs for July, August, September 2007

• A new home and the crap-lode of plastic appliances, light switches, floorboard trim, shelving etc which comes with it. And those nasty clothing hooks.
• Paint scraper blades, packaged in plastic. Hey, I’m still desparate to get that fireplace glass clean. Nothing’s working. Not even the steamer.

Challenges ahead:

• Telephone batteries. My little portable phone is nearly dead. I can talk for about 10 seconds, then it craps out. Replacement batteries come packaged in plastic. I may have to become a recluse.
• Protein. My place for bulk tofu-buying has let me down. I discovered it’s not so ‘bulk’ after all. All they do is take a 5-pack, packaged in plastic, and break it apart. I’m not really saving any plastic buying it this way. I rebounded quickly from this disappointment and thought I had found an alterative - a fab fab FAB fresh edamame salad from the local mega-store deli that would fill up my corn-based-bio-plastic container from home, rather than using one of their plastic ones. They were cooperative several times, but turned me down ‘for health reasons’ the last time I made a protein pit stop there. I suspect I’m starting to get protein deficient now. I’ve been suffering with a cold and a lot of jaw pain (do I hear ‘root canals’) for the past two weeks, and don’t seem to be able to overcome either. But, I'm positive I'll survive another 4 months.