I miss Luna bars most of all. sniff sniff.

Just kidding. Kind of. I mean, it's only been 4 days, but I probably would have eaten 2 or 3 Luna bars by now.

I hopped on the Clif website to see what the story is with the material they use to make Luna wrappers. Just to make SURE it's plastic. And I learned that Clif has partnered with this company called TerraCycle (www.terracycle.net) that is collecting wrappers... not only from Lunas, but also from Chips Ahoy, Stonyfield yogurt containers, wine corks and soda bottles. They then donate money to charity and turn the materials into stylish bags and/or worm poop.

Seems like a lot of effort to convert the wrappers from products we don't really need, right? Plus, you have to be a 501(c)3 charity to collect the wrappers. So I emailed to see if there are charities collecting wrappers in New York. But in the meantime, I'm fine with forgoing my Lunas!

In other plastic news... more plastic retroactively snuck into my life! There was a second box of crackers that I brought home from Becca's on Sunday. Inside that box is a BAG made of plastic. And inside that bag are delicious crunchy goodness. Constant vigilance!

Sneaky, sneaky plastic.

I think I have done pretty well for the last two days, but I must confess plastic is far sneaker than I once thought. I bought bakery goods (something I am oft to do) and was wise enough to ask the lady behind the counter to put my items in a paper box instead of the plastic one she first picked up. No problem right, not so quick. She used two pieces of tape (plastic!!!) to close the sides of the box. Really, why close the box? I'm just going to open it and eat that eclair...it may not make it to the car in fact. It was too quick I couldn’t stop her! Foiled again. Okay, Kerry and I have conferred and we cannot sweat the pieces of tape that will encroach upon our plastic diet. Buying tape on the other hand, that is a different story—that counts. Disaster temporarily averted. But when I got home I found a book that I ordered from Amazon (last week, before the diet) had arrived…in a plastic bubble pack envelope. The envelope has taken up residence with my straw from Sunday, patiently awaiting the arrival of their next petroleum product companion… I will not be ordering books online anymore I guess. This is really okay though because there are likely many used bookstores I can frequent. Now I just need to find them. Who needs new books anyway, I need to brush up on my classics!

Zero Pieces of Plastic

I didn't use any plastic today! I feel so, so... authentic. Erin, beware: we have a long summer of melty drippy ice cream cones ahead of us. When the melting is not contained in a plastic cup you need a carefully executed ice cream strategy: lots of napkins, no talking, focus. Good luck!

A Zip-Lock Bag

I didn't use any (new) plastic today! BUT I realized that I unwittingly accepted a zip-lock bag full of chips when I left Becca's shower yesterday, so I'm going to count that for today because I ate some (and since I'm in confession mode.. by some I mean all) of them today. Don't worry, I will rinse the zip lock and re-use it, just like Gwyneth Paltrow does.

Erin and I have joked that this is going to end up being the Plastic Diet because when you're avoiding plastic, you can't eat anything! And it's true. I went to Whole Foods tonight and stumbled around the aisles and threw some oranges and bananas into my basket. Good thing its summer..

One last thing... I finally booked my flight to Greece! It's 14 hours long, so that's going to take some planning to avoid plastic.. but here is my question .. are you allowed to bring fruit on flights? I seem to recall my dad got in trouble with customs and had to pay a $200 fine for trying to bring an apple into New Zealand. Can you bring fruit as long as you eat it before getting to customs though?

Plastic Fork

First day in New York! I was out all day and had to dodge some plastic bullets at Whole Foods and Pinkberry. Luckily I had my own plastic fork and spoon with me. But do the cups they use at Pinkberry have plastic in them? Someone on Yelp said they are made from recycled paper, but you can't exactly trust Yelp now can you. The Pinkberry site didn't mention anything about the materials they use, but I found out their chairs (Phillippe Stark Victoria Ghost chairs) cost $500. Now that is some expensive polycarbonate!

I then went to a bridal shower and used a plastic fork. It all happened so fast! One minute I walked in the door and the next minute I was eating veggie lasagna with a plastic fork and realized.. oh well, that's my one piece for the day.

First day in LA!

A pretty good first day if I do say so myself…

Score:
1 conscious choice piece of plastic: Pom Tea plastic wrapper (Why wrap glass in plastic I ask you? The up side is I do have a nice new glass container with a lid that seals. I am still suspicious it will pass muster, i.e. hold liquid, when it really counts though, like when in my purse);
1 let my guard down piece of plastic: red straw in my enjoying-a-lazy-Sunday-afternoon Amaretto Sour (I tell you, you let your guard down for one second and boom...plastic).
Total=2 pieces

Thoughts:
I realized many days may take on the following theme, ‘Sometimes you win the fight, but lose the war’.
This takes vigilance, make no mistake about it.
Toblerone is one of my favorite chocolate bars for a reason (zero plastic-hurray!)

The Plastic Diet Rules

Happy June 1! Today is the day that Erin and I are starting our Great Plastic Challenge. Here are the rules to guide our plastic free bi-coastal adventure:

Rule # 1: Limit/confine/reduce plastic intake to no more than one piece of plastic per day.

Break it down now...
a. If someone gives you plastic unwittingly, too bad, that's your piece of plastic
b. If you can give it back do, if you can reuse it do, if you can live without it do
c. You must keep all the new plastic you accumulate in your plastic heap
d. For the love of all that is good and holy, those little pieces of plastic on clothing tags don't count.
e. Be honest! We're allowed to mess up but we have to blog about it when we do.

Guiding principles:
1. Be polite to the purveyors of plastic in our lives; not everyone is committed to this cause :)
2. When in doubt about what is okay or allowed, ask yourself "could a seaturtle choke on this?" or "does this look like it will be around until the end of time?" Consume accordingly.

That's all for now.. this blog is our place to discuss our challenges, victories and questions that come up. Have fun and wish us luck!