Julie Falt

I have to admit, now that we're at the last day of the challenge, I'm going to miss it.  It's been fun working hard on this very important goal.  I've really enjoyed working with our group and sharing the challenge. It's also been eye opening as to how "enmeshed" our lives are with single-use plastic.  This experience has not only affected me  in a positive way but also my family and friends..  All are paying more attention to their plastic use.  I'm also more aware of waste everywhere, make a "leftover casserole" and don't throw that food away.  Turn off the water the 20 seconds while I'm washing my hands.  I'm ready to do some more work on saving our beautiful springs.  I saw a piece on TV 20 on the Florida Springs Institute and a three day workshop they just held.  I'll be researching their upcoming events while continuing to keep my goals and add new ones from the Plastic Free Ecochallenge.   https://floridaspringsinstitute.org/

     I was at square dancing last night, and they announced that there is a fundraiser involving saving the hard plastic caps on soda, water, detergent, etc. bottles to benefit the Shriners Hospitals for Children.  If you would like to do this, please turn them in to me, and I'll turn them in at square dance.
     I know we're trying to do away with these bottles, but we still use some in my family and at school.  Even though the bottles can go into the recycle bin, the harder plastic tops damage the recycling machinery and should be thrown away.  Please see link to the Gainesville Sun article that I posted on 7/9.  In the Q and A, they list many things that we think we can recycle but can't.
     Anyhow, I thought this fund-raiser was a potential win/win!

Laura, Travis, Mark (honorary member because he has to "live" with this challenge :-) ), and I had fun at One Love Café on Friday talking about our progress, sharing stories and tips, and making plans for the rest of the month.  We talked about doing a kayaking river clean-up on the SF near Ginnie Springs.  No date set yet, but that would be a fun way to cap off our monthly challenge.  

I wish I could add more activities, but there seems to be a limit.

5 Points for posting :-)
I want to keep the content of my posts relevant, so it doesn't look like I'm just trying to post to get points.
So---Happy Friday Everyone!

We're 1/3 of the way there.  This is fun, and challenging!  We should have a team coffee get-together or happy hour to talk about how it's going.

Publix had no problem with me taking some cherries out of the plastic bags and putting them in a paper bag.  Now for the blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.  I saw in the Gainesville Sun that the plastic containers those items come in are called "clamshell" containers and are not recyclable. https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190629/alachua-county-pushes-recycling-but-market-is-down

I'm so glad to get the opportunity to reflect on how much single-use plastic is everywhere in our lives.  Mark and I went to all the grocery stores in town and could find no store that sold berries, cherries, and grapes in bins.