The Great Plastic Bag Stocktake

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...
Posted by on February 9, 2014

The plastic bag stocktake was undertaken the day I came home from the supermarket with these packaged tomatoes!Ā 

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

I was busted by my husband as I was unpacking my groceries earlier this week.

I can’t believe you bought tomatoes in all that plastic packaging?”

Gulp…

I could have replied with something lame like –

I was shopping with two children, pressed for time to get to swimming lessons and operating on automatic!”

… but I didn’t. I just stopped, looked at the amount of plastic used and felt like a complete fraud. The conversations I am having through my blog involve discovering the effect plastic is having on our planet – yet in my daily life I am still buying it!

I turned around and opened the fridge and was horrified at the amount of plastic.

This prompted me to do a Plastic Bag Stocktake! How many bags do we have in our home and what do we need them for?

The 3 Step Plastic Bag Stocktake

1. Firstly I gathered up all my plastic bags.

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

I had both a ‘Plastic Bag – Bag’ full (everyone has one of those in the kitchen right?) plus another separate bag holding the overflow.

A total of 114 bags all together just waiting to be used for something….

Might I just say this isn’t my collection just from this year, this is carried over from last year as well.

I am disappointed to say it looks like our household is well on our way to being one of those average Australian homes using 350 bags a year. (I have never been one to feel comfortable fitting into ‘average’)! You can read other discoveries I have made regarding plastic bags and their global effects here.

On closer inspection, I discovered a modest collection of 100% Degradable Bags…

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

as well as a couple of recycled bags – PHEW!

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

2. Next stop was the fridge and freezers

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

It was full of plastic. Ahhhhh…….

– Plastic containers storing food
– Plastic bags wrapped over left-overs in bowls
– Plastic bags in the freezer also being used as storage

25 bags in total, all being reused

3. Miscellaneous

Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

– We use bags to line two of our three garbage bins

– 10 plastic bags are currently used in the pantry to help sealĀ  opened, yet not finished, food items

– Since one needs to count all items to do an accurate stocktake, IĀ  must include both my cling wrap (all 300 meters) and sandwich bags.

Must Read: Lunchbox Essentials to Simplify Your Life, Save you Money and Change The World

I must explain something you don’t yet know about me . . . my friends call me, (affectionately I think?) a ‘tight arse’. I have earned this title through my careful, yet wise, approach to spending money?! One of my best friends once declared she was not taking me away for a girls weekend unless she could tip me upside down and start releasing some of my loose change….

I am telling you this to explain; the 300 metre roll of cling film was bought, not because we use that much, simply because it was more economical to buy in bulk.

So there you have it –Ā plastic bag stocktake complete!

151 plastic bags accounted for in our home as of today.
This is not including the plastic packaging which a lot of our items are brought home in, this is just simply plastic bags.

That’s a massive reality check for me – I am horrified!

Time to put our family commitment into action –

Be part of the solution, not someone adding to the problem

Now it’s your turn …

The way I see it – if we come clean together and fess up to our plastic bag addiction, we can support each other as we work towards minimising our personal usage. Even better still, build a collection of ideas on how to go cold turkey and having no plastic bags in our individual houses altogether.

Are you up for the plastic bag stocktake challenge?

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Doing a plastic bag stocktake in your home is a confronting way to begin a plastic free lifestyle. Sound crazy? Sometimes we need a bit of crazy to spur us into positive action...

There is plenty of space in the comment section below to join in this conversation or you can continue the chat via:

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I’m looking forward to meeting you. It is clear I’m going to need your help on this one…

X Shea

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