The Las Vegas Dilemma

My trip to Las Vegas, NV was fun but nearly impossible to escape the plastic!

Photo Credit: storify.com

I do enjoy to party while on vacation, and doing this while in Las Vegas, NV at their clubs and bars makes avoiding plastic very difficult because everything comes in plastic. The majority of places you go gives you your drink in a plastic cup with two plastic straws and if it does come in a glass they add the two straws still. I was able to get the bartenders to leave the straws out but there was not much I was able to do about the cups.

What did work was that I did not buy anything else other then a bottle of champagne which contained just a tiny piece of plastic. Is there anywhere you can get champagne that contains no plastic in its packaging? When I made this purchase I refused their plastic bag and just used my own. 

For food I made some stuff that contained no plastic packaging and when I went out to eat I made sure to eat everything so I did not need a togo container. 

My next trip there I will be more prepared and know what to expect. Some measures I will take are:

• Ask if their drinks come in a plastic cup or glass.
• If in a plastic cup, go with a glass bottle or resist the urge to drink.
• I will be sure to tell the bartender right away that I do not need a straw.
• Pre-game before going out.
• Bring a togo container.

Now I am in Reno, NV and will be here until the 30th of December. Here it will be easier since I will not be going out as much. When I do I will make sure to refuse any plastic straws or cups. I wonder if they would fill my own cup if I brought one? My family is aware of my lifestyle change as well and are willing to work with me while I'm here if I do the work. 

This will be fun to bring this challenge to my family and friends while I am here.

Photo Credit: Holly Talkington Photography

If you know what champagne contains no plastic please let me know. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. I am always open to hearing comments, suggestions, and ideas.

Thank you for your support

&

Happy Holidays!

Prepping to Avoid Plastic On the Road

Today I fly to Las Vegas, NV then will be driving with my cousins to Reno, NV after a few days. From there I will fly home to Portland, OR on the 30th of this month.

While prepping to leave I realized this will be the first time I have traveled since I have started this journey to no longer consume plastic. Planes give you a snack and drink both containing plastic. I will not be at the connivence of my home where I can avoid plastic as easy. So I have created a list of what to bring with to keep up my good work:

• Bottle for water
• Coffee/Tea thermos
• Snacks
• Reusable bags

Prepping is an important part of this lifestyle switch. It is a lot of work and time but the reward is worth the effort. I am excited for this challenge to come. 

Let's Reflect

While I sit here at Spin Laundry Lounge waiting for my clothes to dry, watching the rain fall I reflect on this transition to no longer purchasing things with plastic.
I had no idea what to expect of this journey other then a lot of work. What I have discovered so far it has been both easy and hard.  I have realized more then ever that amount of plastic that is used in this world. It blows my mind! It is literally almost everywhere! If it is not made of plastic it is probably packaged in plastic. I know that is not always the case but more often then not it is. This makes is what makes my journey hard. My other challenge has been produce stickers which I talked about in a previous post.
There has been some breakthroughs such as:

• Keeping reusable bags with me
• Bringing containers or reusing bags to get bulk items
• Acknowledging my hard work

That last one I feel is very important. We can't always be hard on ourselves, because not everything is easy. We must learn to give ourselves more recognition on the work we have and are doing.

Some future things that I am keeping in mind is that I will be traveling and living in Portland, OR switching to this lifestyle is a little easier since there are many alternatives for the struggles I face. I will see what challenges and what comes of them when going to Las Vegas and Reno, NV. When on the plane I will deny the plastic beverage cup and asked for my own cup to be filled. The rest of the challenges I will face as they come and not put to much worry or stress on them.

Thank you everyone who has supported me on this journey so far! I love hearing all the suggestions and ideas you all have. It warms my heart hearing from some of you how I have inspired you and helped you to take steps in your life to make change. It all really means the world to me. Thank you!

There's Plastic on My Produce!

While pealing the label off of an onion for my lunch lunch today I started to wonder that little sticker had plastic in it.

After I was done eating I looked it up and sure enough there is plastic in though little stickers. It seems that everything contains plastic!
There are a couple ways to avoid the stickers such as growing your own produce, purchasing produce from farmers markets and CSA's. When you choose one of these routes you do have to buy locally which is a great way to support small businesses and keep the money in the local community. Another thing to keep in mind with these options is that your produce is whatever is seasonal to your area.

• Your local CSA can be found by clicking this link.
• For Portland, OR farmers markets you can look them up at portlandfarmersmarket.org.

Two alternatives I have found to the above options that is not throwing them in the trash is either saving them and turning them into art or you can mail them to Barry "Wildman" Snyder. Mr. Snyder is also known as the Stickerman. He turns produce stickers into really awesome pieces of art. You can learn more about him and his art at stickermanproduceart.wordpress.com and/or mail your produce stickers to:

Barry “Wildman” Snyder

Stickerman Produce Art

POB 301

Erie CO 80516

What will I choose? I will try to start working my way to purchasing food that does not have stickers. Until I fully cut them out of my consumption I will mail what ones I do get to the Stickerman.

Resources

http://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/06/should-we-worry-about-little-plastic-produce-stickers/ (info)

http://stickermanproduceart.wordpress.com/produce-art/ (pictures & info)

http://www.portlandfarmersmarket.org/ (picture & info)

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ (info)

1 Day Down, a Lifetime to Go!

Today is the first day on my step by step process to no longer purchasing things that has plastic. This will be quiet the challenge and journey but I believe in myself and will not give up.

My 30 Day Waste Weigh Up was the build up to this moment. It allowed me to see where plastic is coming from in my purchase and start to think of ways to cut it out. This will take research, mindfulness and dedication to achieve the goal of no longer purchasing plastic. The plastic products that I have now I will not be recycling or getting rid of until they are no longer usable because I do not feel right getting rid of something that works perfectly fine.

Today I had my first struggle and that was when I went to buy my dog her food and realized it is all packaged in plastic!!! I saw that they had bulk, organic, wheat free dog food so I went with that. Instead of throwing away the bag when my pup runs out of food again I will just reuse it to get her more food.

I invite you to join me on this journey. You can also feel free to help me by leaving comments, ideas, suggestions, resources, whatever you can think of.

1 Day Down, a Lifetime to Go!

My 30 Days of Waste

From November 5th to December 5th I did not get rid of any of my trash, recyclables or compost! It was an interesting self observation.
I joined Sustainability In Style in a 30 day waste weigh up. In these 30 days I did not get rid of any of my garbage, recyclables or compost. In these 30 days I learned various things about myself and how I can make minor changes to live more sustainably. One thing I learned during my waste weigh up is where my waste usually comes from.
Here is what my waste consisted of:

Recycle:

• ·      Packaging

o   2-Cans of soup

o   Resign

o   Green Superfood mix

o   Mascara

o   LED Pet Light

o   AA Batteries

o   Scunci

o   Osprey Camelbak

o   2 pairs of hiking socks

• ·      8 pieces of junk mail
• ·      5 pieces of mail
• ·      5 clothing/product tags
• ·      6 flyers/handouts
• ·      Paper scraps from art project
• ·      Liquid containers

o   Hard Cider glass bottle

o   Gluten Free Beer glass bottle

o   Wine glass bottle

o   Cranberry plastic bottle

o   Apple Cider plastic bottle

• ·      28 tea bags

o   Most came from a tea party I had and again from being sick

o   Halfway thru my waste weigh-up I switched to loose leaf tea and a metal strainer

• ·      24 receipts
• ·      I have two broth containers that I will find a way to recycle

Reuse:

• ·      Two bottle caps
• ·      Wine cork
• ·      3 take out boxes
•      1 toilet paper roll(along with my roommates rolls as well)
• ·      Chocolate wrappers
• ·      Small round Cardboard piece from pizza
• ·      White 8x10 piece of cardboard
• ·      Incent sticks for kindling

o   Being stored in Udis Gluten Free pizza crust packaging

• ·      2 Thick manila envelopes
• ·      2 tea boxes for shipping
• ·      3 food cardboard packing for shipping
• ·      3 packing stuffers
• ·      10 various potential bulk item storage items
• ·      3 brown paper bags

 Throwaway:

• ·      Dog Food Packaging
• ·      16 pack tealight candle packaging
• ·      Rice Cakes Packaging
• ·      Cookie Mix packaging
• ·      46 non-recyclable packaging ranging from tea packs to small dog food packaging
• ·      3 non-recyclable containers
• ·      Old credit card
• ·      2 empty tea light candles
• ·      An unfixable resign mold
• ·      Razor head
• ·      22 dime size pieces of random trash

 Compost:

• ·      4 toilet paper squares from removing makeup

o   Switched to a soft towel

• ·      5 compostable takeout containers
• ·      2 napkins
• ·      1 brown paper bag ¾ full of food scraps

With seeing all of that I am now less prone to buy things that have packaging. When there is an option to not print a receipt I take that option. There are things that I can reuse so I do not have to buy either the packaging or a similar product. I reused a box my chocolate came in to ship a gift to my cousin, that I reused bubble wrap from a package I received and wrote her letter on the back of a receipt. A togo container now holds my homemade almond milk. My favorite part was turning some of my waste into art!

•      Photo Collage
•      Mounting was cardboard from the Udis Gluten Free Pizza Crust
•      Trim around photos was scrap lace from a sewing project
•       Cupcake decoration was a cupcake topper
•       The bottle caps and cork will be used in the name of art
•       Miniature Dollhouse (in progress)
•      The house was the container for vegetable broth
•       Smoke from the chimney was pieces of junk mail
•       Hanging light was a chocolate wrapper
•       The rest will be more upcycled materials!!!

     

    

      To check out more photos go to my Instagram hollytalksaton. The waste weigh up allowed me to learn about myself and how I am currently impacting the earth waste wise. I know now where I can stop buying waste and ways to reuse it. This has built me up to my next step to stop buying plastic. I will do this step by step by trial and error. This will be a challenge that I feel necessary to do to live a more sustainable life. I invite you to do a 30 day waste weigh up yourself. I also would love to hear comments, ideas and different resources to help me along my journey to live more sustainably.