Meg Mcdonald

Fantastic Elastic Anti-Plastic

"Do less harm"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
645 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

1.0

community event

hosted or attended
UP TO

25

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

28

zero-waste meals

consumed

Meg's actions

Food

Use Reusable Bags

I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases, including produce bags.

COMPLETED 25
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Buy Unpackaged Produce

I will purchase produce items without plastic packaging.

COMPLETED 11
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Minimize Packaging

I will purchase food items with the least amount of packaging.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Cook a Zero-Plastic Waste Meal

I will prepare 1 meal(s) at home each day without using any items packaged in single-use plastic.

COMPLETED 28
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Join a Cleanup Effort

I will host or participate in a beach, highway, river, or other cleanup effort in my community.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Lather Up

I will replace my soaps, shampoos, and conditions with either a bar or refillable option.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

Meg Mcdonald 7/30/2019 10:41 PM

I don’t shop every day, or eat out very often, so at didn’t have the opportunity to refuse plastic-wrapped food every day. I hope not shopping more than a couple of times a week is also seen as a positive action!

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Meg Mcdonald 7/25/2019 10:37 PM

Since I don’t shop for food every day and my challenges were mostly about food, that limited the number of points I can collect per day.

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- Rebecca Rix 7/26/2019 12:20 AM
  
  Same! I would like points for the other daily kinds of acts - bar toiletries for example.
  
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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Minimize Packaging

With the added mindfulness of reducing your packaging, what have you noticed about the amount and type of single use plastics used for packaging when you shop in the grocery store?

Meg Mcdonald 6/25/2019 8:50 PM

I try hard to avoid buying anything in hard-sided plastic, such as produce or bakery items, because there is no option for recycling them. Some produce items packaged in sealed plastic bags are a bigger challenge (particularly carrots for snacking) because they help me eat better. No bag-o-salad for me, though! I only buy unpackaged salad greens. I need to learn better options for storing them than plastic bags.

Another area of concern is that many specialty foods and particularly delicious treats come in single-use plastics, often with lids that cannot be reused for storage or sharing. Giving up my favorite hummus will be hard - but I can try making it at home. That's not a realistic solution for most plastic-packed delicacies.

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- Rebecca Rix 6/27/2019 8:46 AM
  
  This is precisely why I'm seeing how many ways I can transform single use into multiple use - if not for food storage, then for something else. For example, using single use plastics to create a drainage/storage unit for my bar shampoo and conditioner. Giving up all plastic wrapped produce involves a lifestyle change that I'm unwilling to make, but I'm going to see what I can do to re-use the bags, etc. Heck, maybe I will use them as dog waste bags, or if they are nice enough, for sandwich bags, or veggie snack bags (including baby carrots!). My son who isn't signed up yet and I were musing on transforming juice pouches (I know, I know, I know!) into a beach/picnic tarp with duct tape. I fear we may be veering into OMG look at those weird hippies territory. We'll see.... Here is to creativity!!
  
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