This month is only halfway over and I cannot believe how much single use plastic I use. This has been an eye-opener for me. I’m behind checking in due to vacation and the fact that I can preplan posts before, but usually get too busy on the return to catch up. So, here we are.
This past Saturday, I decided to keep tabs on a day-in-the-life of Plastic Free July. I get up in the morning and use my Keurig…..at least three times on the weekend days but only twice a day during the work week…unless I work from home. So really, it’s a lot of a single use plastic cup. I have a goal to give up the kcups and use my reuseable filter once the kcups I have are gone. So there’s that change coming down the pipe.
I always fill up my BIG water jug every morning. 64 oz of cold water. It’s more to keep me accountable and to always have cold water on hand than to carry everywhere I go. I take it to work, so I have no excuses to get my water in during the day. On the weekends, since there are two Brita pitchers in the fridge, I fill up my one of my Tervis water jugs (I have more of these than I care to mention) and I’m off to the races.
I don’t like buying single use water bottles so I take this Tervis with me everywhere. I will come clean and say we do buy Smart Water for Disney, but I am working on figuring out a better plan. Currently, the resort room fridge isn’t big enough to hold gallon jugs. Disney water is very “beach watery” and I don’t like drinking it at all.
Grocery shopping….I keep bags in the car so I have them readily available. This is something I started doing this past winter when I just couldn’t take those plastic bags anymore. Paper bags are always available at Trader Joe’s the others…not so much. So my cheap WalMart ones will do.
On Saturdays, we eat lunch at Hops. Best burgers in Greensboro and I love the atmosphere at the Lawndale location. I’ve officially given up the plastic straw everywhere except Chick-fil-A.
I really need an alternative to this one. I have the metal straws, but y’all, they have Styrofoam cups and those straws are hazardous to the longevity of the cups. I’ve been shopping on Amazon for a paper straw alternative. I snagged some from my last trip to Disney (they have paper straws everywhere), so I am keeping one in the car for lunch on Friday. We will see how it goes.
The other day I discovered on Instagram that they have large, smoothie style, metal straws. And they have all the rubber stoppers, etc. Ding ding ding! We may have a winner. Christine from SimplyStine.com was kind enough to let me know she found them at Crate and Barrel, but that I could probably find them on Amazon. Thank you, Christine! I found them. (Yay!)
So far, I would say I am sucking wind for this challenge, but at the same time…..I am so much more aware of all the plastic. We just in general use too much garbage. I may not be doing enough, but I am doing something and being aware is only the beginning!
Have you been participating in No Plastic July? How are you doing with it?
The fact that places still use styrofoam KILLS me. I want everywhere to be better about takeout containers. I can’t do paper straws. They do have BPA free silicone straws out there too, I’ve never used them.
You’re doing great!
I’m definitely doing better. I’ll look for silicone ones too. I went to Zoe’s Kitchen today. No plastic lid and no straw. If I can kick the straw habit I feel like I’m winning!
You’re doing awesome! Think about how much you’ve saved just by being aware. It’s not an easy process at first but it absolutely becomes easier with time. Silicone straws will be as second nature as your Tervis cups! Keep kicking ass!