Plastic Purge Phase 1

Part of my January Plan is to "ditch the plastic," meaning replace all plastic water bottles with alternatives. I also want to greatly reduce the amount of plastic we have in our home in general. So here is phase 1. This is a purge of our plastic water bottles, sippy cups, and regular plastic drinking cups. (wow!)

Reusable zip-top bags?

Last night I was teasing my mother-in-law. She is not green. Not at all. She told me, as she has before, that she uses zip-top plastic bags for everything. She said, in fact, that she "uses them like water." I use them to. (I say, ducking the bullets) It's a major thing I need to change. Anyhow, so I was teasing her. I said I would need to create a reusable zip-top bag for her. I mused out loud, in a joking tone, about how I would do it. I've been pondering it ever since! Of course the green thing to do would simply be to find alternatives that are safe, reusable, and so forth. But you can lead a horse to water.... It would be a lot harder, I discuss with myself, to refuse to try something if it is basically the same product only safe and reusable. HM! Maybe waterproof diaper bags that people use for holding soiled cloth diapers when out and about. I dunno. This has become a challenge I may just take on. I happen to have some PUL (water-proof) fabric in my stash. Is that safe for food? I'll need to research that. The best way to influence people is to teach by example, so maybe I'll see what I can create for myself, and if they work, I can slyly introduce them to MIL and others. =)

I might try this tutorial , if PUL is safe for food. I would be using PUL instead of the plastic this calls for. I have PUL in my stash, for one thing...

Just a quick online search on PUL safety for food storage has me believing that it has not been approved. Darn.

PreserveProducts.com

A while back I learned about the Preserve company from a book I was reading called Gorgeously Green, by Sophie Uliano. She spoke specifically about the fact that this company produces toothbrushes which they make from recycled yogurt cups. Cool, what? So I checked into it. Once the toothbrushes have done their duty, they can then be returned to the Preserve company, and recycled again into other plastic products. Wow! So I bought some. They're ok. I find that the bristles bend quickly, but whatever. I got them for the kids and for hubby and me. I haven't tried mine yet, even though I've had it for some time, simply because I had more than one to begin with. But I'll get to it. Today I went back to the Preserve website in anticipation of blogging about it today. I found a cool new thing (new to me, anyhow) they've added. Brita water filters can now be recycled and the plastic repurposed. This was great news for me personally, as I happen to use Brita pitcher filters. The only thing is that there are drop-off sites for the fitlers (and other items) but of course there are none that are within a reasonable driving distance from me. There is one, however, within a short distance from my father's house, which I frequent. That means being really on top of things. Collecting the used filters in the house, remembering to bring them to his house, then getting them to the drop-off site. That's a lot for my poor tired brain. But it could happen. ... .... Anyhow, the company is worth taking a look at. http://www.PreserveProducts.com.

Too much plastic! Interesting links.

Here are a couple of links I've just found, for those interested in reducing the plastic in our lives!

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com

http://www.lifewithoutplastic.com

Plastic Reusable Bottles

Plastic ... I use a water bottle every day. They're all plastic. My children use them, to... Time for a change. Here's one source of information:

http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/plastic_bottles.htm