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Vivian Beatrice's avatar

Vivian Beatrice

Saugerties Green Team

POINTS TOTAL

  • 0 TODAY
  • 0 THIS WEEK
  • 624 TOTAL

participant impact

  • UP TO
    5.0
    minutes
    spent learning
  • UP TO
    3.0
    pieces of litter
    picked up
  • UP TO
    12
    pieces of plastic cutlery
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    12
    plastic containers
    not sent to the landfill
  • UP TO
    13
    zero-waste meals
    consumed

Vivian's actions

Family

Swap the Snacks

I will swap out 1 prepackaged snacks a day for fresh fruits or veggies.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Lifestyle

Travel Toiletries

If traveling, I will reuse my old travel tubes to refill with my soaps or only bring bar soaps with me in a TSA approved reusable quart sized bag.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

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 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Use Reusable Utensils

I will keep 1 plastic cutlery out of the landfill per day by using my own reusable cutlery.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Keep My Community Clean

I will pick up 1 piece(s) of litter each day.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Use Reusables at Work

I will use reusable dishes and silverware when eating at work.

COMPLETED 12
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Estimate Your Plastic Consumption and Go #PlasticNeutral

I will visit rePurpose website, complete the 3-minute plastic consumption calculator, and explore how I can reBalance my annual plastic footprint.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Create Your Own Action

Learn to make our own beeswax wraps as an alternative to using plastic

Community Event: A group of us from the Saugerties Green Team will learn how to make our own beeswax wraps as an alternative to using plastic. We will then host an event to shows other folks how to do it for themselves and others. We had one trial run so far and need to tweak the recipe we found online as the wraps were not clinging enough to do the job they need to do... to create a good seal on food. Looking forward to creating our own 'plastic alternative'!

COMPLETED 1
DAILY 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?


  • Vivian Beatrice's avatar
    Vivian Beatrice 7/18/2019 7:24 AM
    Here are a couple of us from the Saugerties Green Team experimenting 
    with making beeswax wraps as an alternative to plastic. 
    Sorry to say we could not come up with a
    good recipe using the 3 ingredients: beeswax, pine rosin and jojoba oil,
    to satisfy our need for clinginess and texture.

    HELP!! 
    Does reading this feed anyone have a recipe that works?


    • K M's avatar
      K M 7/25/2019 8:13 AM
      I should have spell checked that better.

      *keep the mixture very liquidy 

      *We used the oven and iron technique

    • K M's avatar
      K M 7/25/2019 8:11 AM
      Hey! I saw your comment about the beeswax wraps and I wanted to share the recipe that worked at my workshop. We used 2 parts beeswax to 1 part pine resin (Or white copal, and make sure you grind it into as fine a powder as possible!) with about 1 tablespoon of jojoba oil per 2 cups of mixture. We mixed the beeswax and oil first, heating them up in the microwave, then slowly stir in the powdered resin, reheating the mixture as needed to keep it very liquify and smooth. It is fine if some of the resin clumps, but blending slowly helps. We used the over and iron technique, and I like the oven best, but the iron is more practical for some. 

      For your wraps that didn’t make it, just use twine or rubber bands to hold them in place or you can sprinkle powdered resin lightly and evenly across the already made wraps, and use the iron technique to disperse it. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! k.mankowski@hotmail.com
  • REFLECTION QUESTION
    Food Use Reusables at Work
    It is often true that we only have control over our own actions and not the collective community. How can you lead by example when it comes to switching disposables for reusable dishes in your community?

    Vivian Beatrice's avatar
    Vivian Beatrice 7/01/2019 5:58 AM
    Q: It is often true that we only have control over our own actions and not the collective community. How can you lead by example when it comes to switching disposables for reusable dishes in your community?

    A: When at work, those folks around me will see how I bring my food in reusable dishes.  I find it's a matter of setting up a system that works so that it becomes habit and not a struggle. I carry a recycled apple bag in my car that always has the items I need and it's easy to carry between the house and car.

  • Vivian Beatrice's avatar
    Vivian Beatrice 6/29/2019 5:37 AM

  • Vivian Beatrice's avatar
    Vivian Beatrice 6/14/2019 4:14 AM
    I hope this is the ‘future’, making a plastic alternative out of a renewable, biodegradable source.. in this case.. cactus!

    We need to put an end to petroleum products.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-48497933/how-to-make-biodegradable-plastic-from-cactus-juice

    • Susan J Murphy's avatar
      Susan J Murphy 7/29/2019 11:23 AM
      Let's see now: corn, hemp, cactus... what other fibers have been used to synthesize polymers that function like plastic? 
      A nagging concern is: once these things have been converted to plastic polymers, do they have (all, many, most) of the problems of fossil-fuel-based plastics? 

  • Vivian Beatrice's avatar
    Vivian Beatrice 6/11/2019 6:06 PM
    Is this recyclable?

    • Vivian Beatrice's avatar
      Vivian Beatrice 6/13/2019 8:28 AM
      Thanks for your responses Maggie and Jen,

      Here's a handy chart our Plastic Free group has found to be useful.
      It is a little shocking that #1 plastic, which is the crystal clear plastic bottles that
      Poland Spring water and our local health food stores use.. are NOT Reusable!!
      They are recyclable but not safe for reuse.

      I can't find any Recyclable label on the coconut sugar package!
      Wondering if it is required by law ?

    • Maggie Ostdahl's avatar
      Maggie Ostdahl 6/12/2019 7:49 AM
      What Jen said, and where in your community will accept soft plastic for recycling. https://earth911.com/ can be a good resource to find out.

    • Jen Joseph's avatar
      Jen Joseph 6/12/2019 7:11 AM
      It depends on the type of plastic, should be a number somewhere on the packaging to tell you. 

  • Vivian Beatrice's avatar
    Vivian Beatrice 6/04/2019 7:44 AM
    Very excited to be learning how to reduce and refuse the plastic around us, with everyone here on the Saugerties Green Team.
    I hope we can share ideas and learn from each other how to transform our plastic addictions into more sustainable lifestyles.
    My hope is that we can show those around us that there are ways to live without consuming so much plastic.

    Viewing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is my inspiration that our lifestyles need to change.
    We are each contributing to this horrible problem. Can we achieve zero-waste before it's too late?
    It's a massive task and I am looking forward to putting our collective minds together.

    Vivian