Week 19 plastic waste, and rainy Friday blogging

First, Beth at Fake Plastic Fish has a new video up, giving a tour of her plastic shrine:

Impressive. Beth not only keeps a tally, she weighs her weekly output, keeps a Flickr stream of the pictures for documentation, AND has 2+ years of plastic neatly stored away. Keep in mind, she has kept EVERYTHING, and it all fits in 3 bins-- that is less plastic than an average household throws out in a couple of weeks, I bet. I think it is hilarious that Beth's kitties are also obsessed with plastic!

I just keep a 'more-or-less' weekly tally, and recycle or throw it away once the picture is taken. Maybe I could get a Flickr stream going though.

Here is this week's:


- pull cap from a bottle of walnut oil
- plastic/metal cap from a bottle of balsamic vinegar
- mystery tab from some fresh asparagus (came with rubber bands as well, but they aren't being thrown out)
- Sticker from a Spicy Falafel Melt from Pret
- several fruit stickers (not pictured)

I had thought there would be asparagus at the farmer's market, but it isn't up yet. Anyone know where there's a guide for what is in season and when in New York's food shed? I bought the asparagus at a greengrocer, figuring for the rubber bands but missing the mystery tag till I got home. The Pret sticker was a surprise as well. I know the wraps are 'safe'-- no box with plastic window. And I thought the stickers were paper before-- now I'm not sure if the plastic sticker is new or I just wasn't paying attention. Here's my e-mail to Pret:

Hi, I am trying to reduce my use of disposable plastics and enjoy coming to Pret for lunch because the hot wraps come in paper--unlike the sandwiches, which are boxed with a plastic window.

Yesterday I noticed the label sticker on my Falafel wrap was made of plastic. Is this new? I thought they were paper before. It is disappointing, because it means I won't be able to purchase lunch at Pret anymore.

Will Pret A Manger consider eliminating plastic from packaging, or switching to a biodegradable film instead of plastic for sandwich boxes?

Sincerely,

Juli Borst
http://plasticlessnyc.blogspot.com

Here are a couple of article links with great anti-plastic and anti-consumerism content, for your Friday reading pleasure:

Your Water Bottle Is One Quarter Oil, by Julie Whitty, on Mother Jones That water doesn't seem so healthy now, does it? I CANNOT WAIT until the bottled water backlash hits full swing. It is just starting, nowhere near the peak, and believe me it has been a long time in coming. Changing a multi-billion a year industry will not be easy.

Reverend Billy says: Eat Your Values (ok, that is my title) Interviewed by Gabrielle Langholtz at Edible Brooklyn. Choice quotes:

That’s the basis of our whole philosophy, to understand that story—who grew it, how did it get to you, will it decompose? It’s hard to be a normal American consumer when you start to discover where food comes from. It changes everything. If we could work out our food issues it would take care of a lot of the other stuff.

I really don’t buy anything. I’ve bought almost nothing in this whole kitchen. We use discarded candle containers for glasses. It turns out that when you yell “Stop Shopping” at people for 10 years, it makes it really hard to buy stuff.

HA! I am getting to know the feeling.