We’re halfway through Plastic Free July so it’s time for my second plastic audit. Here is our plastic waste for week two:

Let’s have a look at the breakdown:

• Plastic bottles. I know, I know! Plastic bottles in Plastic Free July, what was I thinking? We had a trip to the Asian supermarket to buy rice and I decided to let the children choose something. They wanted awful, brightly-coloured sweets or juice and, as it was a hot day, I opted for the juice. It was a bit sugar-laden, so I had to ration it out over two days and we’ll either reuse or recycle the bottles.
• Yoghurt pot. I actually make my own yoghurt when we have a glut of milk, but we do buy the occasional pot of yoghurt. The tub and clear lid can be recycled, the film lid will go in the green bin.
• Hash brown packaging, ice cream wrappers, wine foils – all weekend treats. Sometimes we make our weekend treats (pizzas, curries, chips) and sometimes we don’t.
• Linguine packaging. We sometimes make our own pasta, but I’m only human and sometimes I just need to have tea on the table in 15 minutes.
• Packaging from my husband’s Sorbothane insoles for his running shoes. These are an essential for my husband and last a long time.
• Our son’s medication packaging, covered in When Plastic Is Unavoidable.

Looking at it all set out on the kitchen floor, it doesn’t look good, especially for a family who are trying to reduce their plastic consumption. However, I think it’s important to be honest with my readers, because it shows reality. It wouldn’t do if all you saw was an idealistic year’s worth of rubbish in a mason jar of rubbish. This certainly isn’t achievable for us and I don’t think it’s achievable for the majority of people, and can therefore be very discouraging when people are starting out on their own journey.

I realise that some of that packaging could have been avoided, but I’m happy with our decision making on the whole. We’ve always said it’s important for our children to learn to make their own decisions and compromise. I don;t feel right dictating to the rest of my family what we should and shouldn’t be buying. I compromised on some items they wanted when we were shopping and hopefully they’ll appreciate that.

How are you finding Plastic Free July? If you’re going without something, does it feel like the longest month ever? Or are you finding it easy to make new habits? Let me know if you’re managing to stick to your pledge or if you’re facing some challenges in the comments below.