The Plastics Challenge

The dining room table at my parents' house is the catalyst for hearty discussions, spontaneous opinion giving and the occasional contest. As a family we are not shy about sharing our thoughts and opinions. It might begin with a simple comment about the extreme sourness of the homemade pickles (which I made) that leads to the rebellious act of eating store-bought pickles that starts the discussion about consumer waste and the overuse of plastics. Somehow a contest of who can use the least amount of plastics over the course of one week is the result of this pickled plastics debate.

So here I am, with a three week old newborn, a toddler that poops in his room, trying to think of all the ways that I can reduce plastic waste throughout this week. Here's a rough list of items I have to stop using (or at least reduce):

• Disposable diapers - newborn & toddler 
• Disposable pads
• Plastic food packaging and wraps
• Plastic bags

Basically, my dad and I are going to do a bag count of the plastics and other non recyclable garbage we discard over the week. Whoever fills the least bags wins the contest!

I'll keep you updated.