Mary Renaker
7/03/2022 1:24 PM
I take a bag to pick up plastic litter everytime I go to the beach.
July 1 - July 31, 2022
Mary Renaker
Points Total
- 0 Today
- 0 This Week
- 726 Total
Participant Impact
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up to3.0plastic containersnot sent to the landfill
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up to13pieces of litterpicked up
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up to2.0conversationswith people
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up to45minutesspent learning
Mary's Actions
Lifestyle
KEEP IT UPCYCLE
Post to our Team APE feed about an item that you "upcycled" or "creatively reused" and thereby avoided consuming plastic associated with buying a new item and having that item sent to you/your area!
Food
Switch to Loose Leaf Tea
Because many tea bags and most sleeves and sachets contain plastic, I will switch to using loose leaf tea.
Family
Learn about Environmental Justice
Using the action resource links below, my family will spend 30 minutes learning about environmental justice, causes of environmental injustice, and how plastic waste disproportionately impacts already vulnerable communities.
Food
Email a company with photos of paper packaging to encourage them to switch from mylar/plastic
To keep plastics out of the ocean.
Community
Join a Cleanup Effort
I will host or participate in a beach, highway, river, or other cleanup effort in my community that follows the CDC’s current guidelines for prevention of disease transfer.
Community
Dig into Bioplastics
I will spend at least 15 minutes researching the impacts of bioplastics and how to properly dispose of them in my city, and I will share this information with 3 friends, family, and/or colleagues.
Food
Minimize Packaging
I will purchase food items with the least amount of packaging.
Food
Choose Reusable Food Storage
I will only use reusable containers instead of single-use plastic storage items (such as plastic wrap, single-use sandwich bags).
Community
Keep My Community Clean
I will pick up 3 piece(s) of litter each day.
Feed
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Mary Renaker 7/31/2022 2:41 PMI want to thank all my inspiring teammates for their creativity and dedication to helping us rid ourselves of the scourge of single use plastics to save wildlife and the oceans! You guys are the best! I also have a request. Our amazing teammate Nirel Davies (age 15) is entering 10th grade and is looking for more ways she can join and organization to work with others in groups and continue her good work saving the planet for the next generation. She has been dying to volunteer at the Zoo for years, but her age has always blocked her. She will be 16 in February, so if you have any advice for her please let me know and I'll pass on to her. maryrenaker@me.com. Thank you all again!!! -
Mary Renaker 7/30/2022 2:32 PMI'm very proud to say the LA Zoo now has organic, bird friendly coffee for sale in the gift shop! I can't wait to try it. AND it gives us an opportunity to talk about shade grown bird-friendly coffee and why that's so important to protect bird species from habitat loss and extinction. However, it would take a lot to move me off of Cafe Mam, which we've been buying in 5# bags since 1991, because Cafe Mam ticks two boxes. One conservation and one fair trade/socially responsible. The beans come from fair trade cooperatives of native Maya farmers known as the Mam people living in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. It's organic and bird-friendly and the fair trade cooperative earns enough money for
them to send their children to school. Plus the packaging is 100% biodegradeable. You can see pics of farms on their website cafemam.com. -
Mary Renaker 7/30/2022 2:10 PM
Our leader, Carol Armstrong, posted a picture of a pull-tab from a plastic pour spout and asked us what alternative there could be and who might we influence. These are used on 1/2 gallon milk cartons and other kinds of drinks. My response was: This has been a huge deal for me for years. I remember writing to Horizon organic milk thanking them for not using plastic pour spouts in the late 1990s and then they started using them. So we switched to Clover because they are old school, the way it was in 50s with only waxed paper. If the liquid can't be sold without a spout in waxed paper it should be in an aluminum can! -
Mary Renaker 7/15/2022 12:08 PMI wrote to GoodCulture.com and sent them a picture of another company using paper packaging for dairy-like products (non-dairy sourcream by Forager) and used the template Ecochallenge provided to write to the company. I received a positive response! Danielle Sternlicht, Customer Service Manager for Good Culture in Irvine, CA, on 7/11/22. She wrote this: "I'm fairly certain that we are moving to the same packaging as the Forager product you have pictured here." So impact recorded!-
Carol Armstrong 7/15/2022 4:22 PMWell done, Mary - thank you for doing that and for sharing your success with others!
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Mary Renaker 7/09/2022 12:13 PMI reacted to Team Member Carol Armstrong's challenge about the single-use plastic pizza box lid prop and suggested a small wooden prop made of toothpicks, or extra cardboard blocks at the corners of the pizza box to keep the lid from sinking into molten pie. -
Mary Renaker 7/09/2022 12:08 PMMy husband went to Farmers Market today and bought some peaches that were in this plastic clamshell. The woman who sold them said he could bring the clamshell back. I asked him if when he took it back, if he would ask her if she would continue to buy this type of packaging or if she would consider something else? and he said he would.
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Mary Renaker 7/08/2022 1:13 PMSent this image to company making similar products I love and encouraged them to switch to paper.
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Mary Renaker 7/08/2022 12:49 PMUsing foil instead of sheet plastic this week to wrap food. -
Mary Renaker 7/03/2022 4:43 PMI started to shop for non-plastic sandwich bags and learned there are many many kinds with those labels, even Glad sandwich bags, which is good because it means there is high demand. But, biodegradeable and compostable are not the same thing. Compostable is under "special conditions" in compost and biodegradeable only works in "industrial facilities." It's very confusing, and my husband recommends a small jar for cut up fruit or moist food, or wrapped in paper towel and put in a paper bag. So far, I'm going to hang onto my money and not buy biodegradeable or compostable plastic bags until I learn more. -
Reflection QuestionCommunity Keep My Community CleanHow does the act of picking up litter connect you more to your community?
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Mary Renaker 7/03/2022 5:10 PMAnd people come up and congratulate and thank me! I get to interract with other beach-goers who care about the ocean and wildlife.
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