A fellow mommy blogger, Boogiemum, has taken on a Great Plastic challenge. Here are the details of her week 1 and week 2 efforts to use less plastic in her home and life.
And that is exactly what the Great Plastic Challenge is – an effort to improve our world by wasting less and using less plastic.Here it is in a nutshell:
Each week, choose one plastic-packaged item that you buy regularly and commit to PERMANENTLY substitute a home-grown or non-plastic-packaged alternative.
We do take plastic for granted, without a second thought about how much will end up in a landfill. I recently posted a video showing how ridiculous plastic packaging has become. We really have to stop this wastefulness and take a stand.
I will join Boogiemum on her quest to use less plastic. My first step will be to no longer purchase bottled water. I have many reusable water bottles. I pledge to use these instead. Yes, I know, they are still plastic so maybe this doesn’t qualify for the challenge. But I already own them – so it is better for the environment to use what I already own instead of purchasing a bunch of single use water bottles that would end up in the trash or recycling.
Will your family join us in this Great Plastic Challenge?
Here are some more recycling tips:
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! Kudos to you and to her! I will try.
We have a water system so we don’t buy bottled water. We don’t actually use much plastic around here… so, I’ll do better at recycling. Because that’s a place in our lives where we are really lax.
Wow, thanks for joining the challenge and the mention/link.
We all have our own water bottles and it makes it nice with the kids. The fill their own and become responsible for their stuff. It also has saved us a lot of money!
I look forward to seeing what your idea is next week
Hi there. If you’re going to reuse plastic water bottles, make sure you’re using the ones that are least toxic. Look at the number on the bottom. Avoid numbers 3 (PVC) and 7 (polycarbonate.) Number 1 (PET) is not so good to reuse either. The best ones to reuse are number 2 (HDPE), 4 (LDPE), or 5(PP).
I myself use a Klean Kanteen bottle, which is made out of stainless steal. And no, I don’t work for the company or get paid to promote it. I’ve just found that it works really well for me.
Rachel,
It’s great if you already don’t use too much plastic – that’s half the battle!
boogiemum,
You are quite welcome – and I am happy to join the challenge. Before kids I was a lot better at conservation. But now convenience sometimes wins out. This is a great way to become more coscientious and teach the kids to respect the environment.
Beth,
Thanks for the info on the plastic water bottles and also on the stainless steel one. I especially like the version with the sippy cup top (I know the spout is made of plastic) which would be very attractive to moms.
Bravo!
Hi there!
I’m so excited that you’ve taken up the challenge!
I hope you’ll join us at http://thegreatplasticchallenge.ning.com
Cheers!