Plastic waste week 2

{new; plastic waste generated this week}
1. 3x milk cartons (2x plastic caps)
2. 2x black diamond cheese wrapper
3. 2x chili sauce packet
4. 3x candy wrapper
5. a plastic lined lid to glass juice bottle
6. broken plastic snow globe ornament
7. cracker wrapper
8. plastic sheet from inside drill bit case I bought this week
9. Nature Valley granola wrapper
10. 2x envelope windows
11. wrapping from shoe insoles
12. chocolate Santa wrapper

{old; plastic waste that's been around for a while but is leaving my house this week}
13. bread bag tab
14. bio-vert dish detergent bottle ( I am actually going to bring this to the NDG bulk store because they take them for people to use when they buy bulk detergent, same goes for laundry soap bottles)
15. planters almonds (its been in our cupboard for ages, I buy nuts in cloth bags at the bulk store now)
16. Plastic window from a kleenex box ( I dont even buy kleenex! What a wasteful idea, I've got sleeves)

I do actually feel that I have gotten our plastic waste down to crucial elements now. That is, excluding guilty pleasures like the candy wrappers, granola wrapper and chili sauce. We need milk, and as far as I know, and have searched, milk isn't sold here in glass bottles, sadly. Same goes for cheese, although I am looking into ways that I can avoid the plastic here. I have also resigned myself to the idea that lids to glass bottles will have to be in the plastic I'm okay with pile.
Three things I am looking for alternatives for are dish and laundry detergent, as well as toilet paper.

Pictures of Garbage; plastic waste week 1

Our family's plastic waste collected this week:

{Food items}
1. Cat food bag
2. cracker barrel cheese wrapper
3. 2x bread bags and their tabs
4. milk carton
5. cookies tray
6. crackers wrapper
7. 3x animal crackers single serving bag (from Olive's stocking)
8. not pictured; a bunch of tins from canned beans

{non food items}
9. miscellaneous plastic bags
10. styrofoam from stand mixer packaging
11. tape from stand mixer packaging and other parcels
12. toothbrush package
13. eye drop vial
14. toilet paper packaging
15. envelope windows
16. lid to juice bottle

{old items (plastic used up this week, but not bought this week)}
17. toothbrush
18. VHS tape (broken or it would have been donated to soundcentral along with 150 others)
19. maple syrup tins (lined with plastic)
20. baby wipes package (these are from when olive was born, and have only been used up now, I usually use cloth towels to wipe her bum)
21. cinnamon spice container and lid.

All together now:

Changes I can make this week:
1. make bread, cookies, and crackers from scratch
2. wipe baby butts with cloth towels (already do!)
3. get off random mailing list
4. buy spices and beans in bulk

...So Don't Waste Your Money.

Number {1} of my goals for this year is to reduce our plastic waste more significantly.To be honest I am feeling discouraged already. I feel like I have voiced my opinion here, on this topic, pretty clearly, but I think I am not being heard. I am serious about it, and if it takes an unveiling of my stubborn side then naked I will be.

I knew the holidays, and birthdays orbiting them would be hard for me. I have really made a big(ger) change in how I see my own consumption this year. What once took an effort to control, spending, buying, wanting, is now indifference. I know what I don't need, and what I do, I know how to get it without sacrificing my ideals. But Christmas is a time of giving. Giving us what we dont need and dont want. I am left feeling ungrateful, which truly I am. Especially when I know that birthdays can be a lot more than presents. There can be simple traditions like a hair cut, or a special breakfast. Christmas, or more importantly the Solstice, can be about spending the day outside, a ritual walk, learning about the earth and how it moves, a feast, family. Do not get me wrong. When I am opening a gift I sit with a huge grin, excited "You got something for ME!" I think. But the moment fades, and I look around sitting in a pile of singly used wrapping paper, trying to figure out just what I am going to do with another bottle of moisturizer. Especially since I decided 8 months ago that I wasn't going to buy any more personal-care products in plastic bottles. I would use up what I have and then learn to make my own. I still have not gone through it all!
Like I said I knew it would be hard. I made a point to mention nicely beforehand that I would prefer if you let the family know we don't really want any presents in plastic. I knew there would be confusion, I knew some people wouldn't get it, don't understand. I'm not surprised when someone says "oh but its organic-eco-friendly plastic" (there's no such thing, in case I have to say. Again; There is no such thing as enviromentally friendly plastic). But I thought at least someone would hear me.
My mother sat beside me as I opened a gift for Olive: " I know you don't like plastic, but...". I thought inside "well if you know, then why did you get this for her?" IF YOU HEAR ME COULD YOU PLEASE JUST LISTEN?

Its over and done with and I have a couple of plans for what comes next:
1. I am going to be collecting our plastic waste and joining in Beth Terry's Show Your Plastic challenge. I feel like I have reached a plateau. Where I have eliminated what's easy enough, and now I need it in my face to find inspiration in what to do next.

2. The biggest leeway I give is to my mother. Almost because I feel sorry for her inability to comprehend the problem. She is after all one of those who does not believe in climate change. She also buys us a lot of things. Things we need yes, and things we could use, but she just loves to find it in plastic, wrap it in a baggy, and then bring it over in some Walmart bags (because they still dont charge a 5 cent fee). I am putting my foot down here, excepting my responsibility in the matter as I enjoy free shit, but will be saying no whenever she offers to buy a toy, some shampoo, groceries, dirt etc, etc, etc.  ETC. (You really might not understand how much crap she likes to buy us). We'll both, my mum and I, really just have to learn to love eachothers with company, quarrels, and power walking from now on.

3. Lastly, next year, I am just going to have to say "If you buy Olive a plastic toy, it will be off to the thrift in a week, so don't waste your money" and maybe then the point will be made.
Maybe then we will see a glimpse of plastic-freedom. :)

beet love

I bought a ten pound bag of beets the other day in Mercier from the farmers market. Its so big, huge really. My fingers, my plates, my pots, my baby, my towels, and even my urine are all stained burgundy. I love beets. I love all root vegetables. When I am eating them I always feel like I'm getting a good hearty meal. Beets are to me like spinach to Pop-eye.
I've been really frustrated lately going the grocery stores. Its seems everywhere, at least some of the produce is sold on styro-foam plates wrapped in plastic wrap. I like avocados, but I just wont buy them packaged like that. For one thing, unnecessary plastic, but another is maybe I don't want 3 of them, maybe I just want 2. The same goes for zucchini. I like to touch my food, feel it, smell it, and shake it for listens. Its therapeutic. Styro-foam is disheartening. I've decided the best thing is a CSA type thing we have in our area called The Good Food Box. Its an obvious solution really. The food is in season, comes mostly from local small farmers, using organic methods (although uncertified), and costs 10$ for a medium box that I pick up myself in cloth bags twice a month. I've ordered one before, and was very happy with what we got, so now I'm going to keep it up. They are supposed to go through the winter, so I am wondering what I'll get with the in season thing. Maybe I wont have to go to the grocery store at all. We'll eat beets and potatoes only.


Also, yes, I will go on and on for as long as it takes about what's wrong with plastic, because it matters, and is important to me. A light-bulb has been turned on inside me, and I wonder how I could not have seen it before: our world drowning in polystyrene and PVC; immortal garbage. Plastic-freedom has infected my brain.

PlAsTiC

So I think sometimes people think I am crazy or they know it, or they just aren't sure what I am talking about: "You are trying to refuse plastic?"
Yesterday I was in a mall with my sister and her munchkins. We were eating, there was various disposable plastics on our tray; a plate from Amirs, a fork, ... maybe more I can't remember. It was bringing me down is all I can say. I offered to get doughnuts because my sister had paid, and I wanted to share. They would come in a box, a disposable one yes, but cardboard not plastic, maybe we'd get some coffee too, so I headed to the Tim Hortons line. I made my order:
"20 timbits, a large moka, and a small, with no lids please."
"Oh we can't do that"
"Why!?!" (I was seriously taken aback)
"In case you burn yourself"
"Alright well I wont take the coffee then."
She tried to convince me otherwise, suggested that she could give it to me with the lid and then take it back, defeating the point. She still gave me one of the coffees, without a lid, we just didn't talk about. The whole while this is happening her manager is yelling at BOTH workers in French about how stupid it would be to give me coffee without (!) a lid. I really didn't want the coffee that bad. And I wont from now on. What I learned: I must take the plastic lid for my own good. Because I am not an adult right?
oh boy.

Plastic is everywhere. Our food is packaged in it, our coffee, our takeout, our water, our shampoo. EVERYTHING. And where does it go?: in the garbage. You might think "well I recycle", without thinking it through. Plastic doesn't recycle in a closed loop. It is downcycled until it cannot be downcycled anymore and then it goes in.the.garbage. Its pollution, and there is only one way for it to end, stop using plastic and stop buying things packaged in plastic. Its easy said, but I am finding it harder to accomplish. I just take it one thing at a time.
I kind of hope people who know me might catch the fever. It just takes saying no, being a little prepared. Our disposable culture really really scares me.
Here are a couple of videos that make the point:

  

Bread

I have never made bread before. I have to admit I was very intimidated and put it off for months and months and months. Ask Amy, she can tell you. But I now know that I was being so so silly. Obviously so. Making bread was so easy. Amy sent me instructions for a no-knead method. And I will say, I am a fan. The bread turned out so delicious too. I baked the first loaf at 10 o'clock at night and Greg bugged me after it was done for an hour about whether it was done cooling, and then preceded to eat almost the entire thing! Making the whole cooling part unnecessary, since you only need to let bread cool so it doesn't lose its moisture and become like stone.
I am going to try making a large batch (enough for several loaves) to refrigerate as part of my routine once a week, and hopefully phase out buying store bread altogether. Which is wonderful because that's one more source of single-use-plastic eliminated from our home.
Bread:
::Ingredients::

::Liquids::

::Flour::

::Rising::

::Dough::

::Bread!::

Trash

Our trash for the week. I've been working on, I am always working on getting our throw away down to as little as possible. Shamefully though, our recycling bin is monstrous. I say that only because I see recycling, especially in terms of plastic, as a numerous step detour to the garbage dump. That's why I am also trying to learn how to cut that back as well. My guilty pleasure is yogurt containers. Oh how I love yogurt. When I am eating it I think about all those lovely wild animals wearing beer-ring necklaces, building nests from twist ties, while they choke on some party balloons, and I think "why didn't I just buy the glass jarred yogurt?". Maybe I love to beat myself up too much? I am being morbid. Anyways, Amy has convinced me of the simplicity in making my own, as she usually does. I have a fear though, when it comes to cooking anything, of starting. Just beginning or jumping in to cooking something I have never done before is frightening for me. Like anxiety-scary-ghost-movie type frightening. It is silly. When I finally bake my own bread, I will print pictures and frame them. I always get around the fear, it takes me time though. Silly silly time.
While I was on my walk with Olive this morning, taking pictures of my own trash, there were so many people with boxes of boxes of cardboard outside for the garbage. I was sad, and brought some home to add to my recycling mountain. Yay for eco-hippi-mental-phrenia.

Check out this picture of a small child feeding herself:

With a wink.