Plastic Free Challenge: Week Two Update

The following blog post was written by Mary Nieting, Community Engagement Manager.

As we settle into the Plastic Free Challenge, members of our team are still finding unexpected sources of plastic. For team member Grace, it was in her kitchen, specifically with cheese. Grace knew that the cheese she was purchasing was wrapped in plastic, but what she did not realize was that there are very limited options for replacing and reducing her plastic waste when it came to cheese. 

To further complicate matters, some local specialty cheese shops wrap their cheeses in cheese paper, a specialty product made out of paper, wax and a layer of polyethylene. Polyethylene is a type of plastic that renders the paper unrecyclable. Since this wrapper is made out of paper, many people think it can be recycled, which ends up polluting our recycling streams.

Around three weeks into this challenge, Spark-Y staff have found everything from plastic-free deodorant and bathroom goods to plastic-free utensils and coffee cups. But we have yet to find a plastic free cheese. Even the bulk cheese at the local co-op is wrapped in plastic. After a bit of brainstorming, we cut to the chase and asked the cheese monger at Eastside Co-op for recommendations. They recommended purchasing in bulk and putting the cheese into a container or beeswax right away. 

Sometimes it takes a lot of creativity to find ways to reduce plastic. Some ideas our team members have had included buying an entire wheel of parmesan cheese or only eating cheese that comes wrapped in wax. Another team member suggested learning to make your own cheese, and another just wished we could all live in France with a neighborhood cheesemonger. This all got us thinking: sometimes plastic pops up in unsuspecting places, which is becoming more and more apparent to us as the month progresses. Overall it feels like we have made success in many areas, but in others (like with cheese) there doesn’t seem to be a realistic alternative to using plastic. I think that is the general purpose behind the challenge - to push  ourselves to find better paths when possible, even if it is difficult, but not giving up just because we can’t reach our goal 100%.

We know that as a society, if we can reduce our plastic usage, we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy. As we have seen this week, it can be more challenging that we originally knew, but the camaraderie I saw this week amongst my peers as we tried to navigate the unforeseen world of plastic wrapped cheese was heartening. And I know that if enough of us contact our local stores about alternatives, we can make a difference. For me, I have my sights set on that wheel of parmesan that will probably last me for years, but one can dream…

Plastic Free Challenge: Week One Update

The following blog post was written by Mary Nieting, Community Engagement Manager, and Pearl Pusiak, GreenCorps Member.

This February the staff at Spark-Y are participating in a challenge from Hennepin County, to reduce the amount of plastic they use at home and at the office. Organizations and businesses throughout the county signup and compete in challenges designed to bring awareness to how much plastic folks are using in their everyday lives. The challenges range from bringing reusable containers to restaurants for leftovers, to reducing the amount of plastic purchased overall, to finding personal care products made without plastic. Teams receive points for each challenge completed. 

Spark-Y was introduced to the challenge by our GreenCorps member, Pearl Pusiak. Pearl recognized this challenge as an opportunity for Spark-y to further extend our teaching and practicing of sustainability, which is at the core of what we do. We teach our students sustainable practices and want to lead by example. This is also a good opportunity for us to audit our own practices and reflect on our impact, both personally and as an organization. 

We started the plastic-free challenge last week, on the first, with about half of our staff signing up. Follow along after each week to see us reflect on the challenge and how it has impacted our lives at home and at the office. 

Plastic has been found everywhere in our environment, from our bloodstream to the ocean floor. While recycling plastic is a good start, reducing our plastic consumption is shown to have a larger, positive impact on our environment. In the state of MN, there is a law that dictates that if you put a plastic that can be recycled into your recycling bin and it is collected, then the recycle facility must recycle it. 

The recyclable plastics are:

• 1 – Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) – water bottles and plastic trays.

• 2 – High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – milk cartons and shampoo bottles.

• 5 – Polypropylene (PP) – margarine tubs and ready-meal trays.

But there are exceptions to these. Black plastic is not recycled because it is usually a combination of other recycled plastics and plastic can only be recycled so many times. Additionally, black plastic is most frequently used for microwavable meals and those trays contain an additive to make them microwave safe for our health, but that additive does not get recycled. There are many other exceptions and deterrents that keep our plastic waste from getting recycled. 

The best way to impact this cycle is to stop using plastic as much as possible. And this is where the challenge comes in. Hennepin County has an online platform (check it out - here) where our team members have signed up for a variety of activities and tasks that will help them remove plastic in areas of their life. Each day we report back on the efforts we have made. 

Our Community Engagement Manager Mary signed up to reduce plastic use in the kitchen. She says, “I was finding myself using a lot of plastic in my cooking - purchasing frozen vegetables in plastic bags, buying foods that came in plastic that I could otherwise buy in bulk. I acquainted myself with a few local options for buying in bulk (we have plenty of co-ops and even bulk markets - Tare, Eastside Co-op, Wedge Co-op-  to name a few here in Minneapolis). The first week was rather slow as I have a lot of plastic already in my kitchen cupboards and freezer, but I am bringing more mindfulness to the grocery store when I go out.”

As our team continues in this challenge, we hope to bring awareness to the rest of the office, other organizations we partner with, and with the people around us. While this is called a challenge, it really feels like something that we can strive towards everyday, competition or not, to propel our mission of sustainability. With the community outreach we do, it just makes sense that we work to be an example of sustainability. It starts with us and ends when we have made an impact on our community and the earth. 

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 1. Microplastics Have Been Found In The Human Bloodstream. (2022, April 8). Henry Ford Health - Detroit, MI. https://www.henryford.com/blog/2022/04/microplastics-in-human-bloodstream