Coalition of North American Zoos and Aquariums

Plastic Free Ecochallenge 2019

July 1 - July 31, 2019

DANIEL SUTTON

Delaware River Valley Pachamama Community

"To minimize consumption of single use plastic devices: bottles or packaging"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,056 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

62

disposable cups

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

80

minutes

spent learning
UP TO

186

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

28

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill

DANIEL's actions

Food

Buy Unpackaged Produce

I will purchase produce items without plastic packaging.

COMPLETED 23
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Use Reusable Bags

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

COMPLETED 28
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Use a Reusable Mug / Collapsible Cup

I will avoid sending 2 disposable cup(s) to the landfill per day by using a reusable mug or bringing my own collapsible cup.

COMPLETED 31
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Use Reusable Water Bottles

I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 6 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.

COMPLETED 31
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

Plant a Garden

I will plant an herb or vegetable garden in my home, workplace, or community garden

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Family

Natural Paints

I will paint rooms in my home with low/no VOC or natural paints.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Lifestyle

Travel Eating

If traveling, I will bring my own airplane snacks and eat at local restaurants to avoid take-out containers.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Lifestyle

Travel Smart

If traveling, I will bring my own plastic free items (water bottle, grocery bags, collapsible food containers, utensils, straws, etc.) with me.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Just Say No

I will avoid buying toxic plastics, including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl.

COMPLETED 8
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Share My Actions

I will make my environmental actions visible by posting to my social media networks.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Visit A Waste Management Facility

I will visit a local dump/transfer station, material recovery facility, and/or landfill to learn about the waste stream.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Family

Discover Together

I will spend 20 minutes educating my family on the basics of living a reduced/no-plastic lifestyle.

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?

REFLECTION QUESTION
Family Discover Together

What concerns you the most about how we are affecting the planet? Consider both local and global actions.

DANIEL SUTTON 7/31/2019 12:13 PM

The pain that I feel when I see others neglecting their plastic consumption and disposal and I get this one is selfish, yet it is what motivates me to share my concerns/knowledge with others.
Globally, I'm concerned about the loss of living nature.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Lifestyle Travel Smart

How can/did you prepare to be successful in this action? Did you engage in conversation with anyone about your new habit?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/19/2019 6:55 AM

My wife and I have been using reusable containers for shampoo and conditioner for a long time so this challenge was already a habit for us . However knowing that I was traveling for two weeks now I selected this to reinforce that I would do this for this trip.

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DANIEL SUTTON 7/19/2019 6:52 AM

I'm traveling now for my daughter's wedding so I get to do my one time challenges around traveling and avoiding plastics

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Lifestyle Travel Eating

Was this action easy or difficult to do? How did it change your travel experience?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/19/2019 6:51 AM

I have a travel picnic basket so it was easy to do

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DANIEL SUTTON 7/12/2019 7:03 PM

When I shop in a supermarket and I see something that I'd like, I ask how it would add to my life. It really has to be something special or I refuse to consume it. If I'm buying something that is packaged in plastic, it has to be required. I won't buy something nice to have if wrapped in plastic.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Lifestyle Travel Toiletries

What is the benefit of using bar soaps or refilling your travel sized containers? Is this an action you think you will keep in your life?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/09/2019 5:26 AM

I've found a shampoo bar that I like and will continue to use. I buy the largest conditioner bottle that I can find and refill a travel bottle. We're looking for a conditioner bar. I'm thinking that traveling with a 2in1 shampoo/conditioner in my own travel bottle will weigh less and be more practical than wet bars.
We will definitely continue doing this and encouraging others.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Buy Unpackaged Produce

Why do you think these produce products started amassing so much plastic packaging? Who is the plastic packaging really serving -- the consumer, the producer, or someone else?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/06/2019 7:34 AM

I think it serves the company doing the packaging, because when I buy packaged things the amount is generally more than I need, so I've bought too much. Now I've got packaging to deal with and extra food. This means finding a way to eat the extra food before it goes to waste. The packaging and possible food waste are primary contributors to green house gases. I feel really good when I purchase produce without their packaging, using nothing or my own reusable bags. For consumers who don't know or don't care about these two issues, grabbing a package of something is just really convenient/simple. The packaging of produce does not serve mother earth.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Use Reusable Water Bottles

Using the links provided, investigate the bottling practices of water corporations. There have been many cases where the water rights of the local people have been violated or even completely disregarded when a corporation decides to bottle water from a particular water source. How can you advocate for those who have been harmed by this bottling process?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/05/2019 3:09 PM

When Nestles drained the farmers ponds in southern Ontario, I started a petition to send to them, wrote to Nestles (emails); and encouraged my friends to contact their political representatives providing them with pictures of the healthy ponds and the dried ponds and describe the impact on their farms and income.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Use a Reusable Mug / Collapsible Cup

Great job on getting rid of your disposable cup habit! How does it make you feel? What's next on your list to reduce your waste?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/05/2019 5:08 AM

I love using my Contigo mug. It keeps things at desired temperature for a long time and it won't spill. After morning coffee in it, I use it all day to achieve my daily water intake. For my next reduction, I'm focused on my selected goals with this eco-challenge and looking for other opportunities to just avoid plastic; especially just refusing it.

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REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Share My Actions

In what ways is social media an effective tool for sharing your values?

DANIEL SUTTON 7/03/2019 3:14 PM

Those internet friends of mine who didn't know about this challenge have just learned about it. They've also learned what I'm concerned about and what I'm doing to save our planet which is kind of self aggrandizing, but they might be motivated to join me.

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