Earthgirl's Final Battle

earthgirl

Thank you the madvix. I looked straight into the crisps you mentioned, they look lovely! Its great that manufacturers are moving away from using plastic and should be supported and encouraged. Obviously the technology is new and processes expensive, which has to be passed on to the consumer but I agree this isn't too much for the quality. In time I hope all the prices will come down.
Thank you so much for sharing!

A quick update.

Finances

I have a recipe for hm deodorant so I will give that a try.

I have dug over my veg patch.

OH has looked into the electric car thing for me, and the cost is prohibitive for us. Instead I am using the car share scheme at work and hiring electric cars, they seem to be available over night too. The electric car hire thing is a win win, good for the environment and my wallet too. When electric cars come down in price, we will consider again.

I am consciously using up everything rather than buying new.

Took some clothes to the recycling centre that pays so £2 in. I've sorted out the kids clothes, mostly hand me downs, so there is nothing we need except welllies and slippers when ds1 grows again.

Charity

my employer had a scheme running for donations and this week it was matched, so I donated £2 per month and there was a sign up bonus of £25 for the charity. This isn't loads, but it's only a little part of my plan, and I did it for the sign up/matching bonus!

I am volunteering at the school fayre this week and babysitting next week to give a mum a break. Ds1 will help me.

Environment - I'm just learning about this so your advice is so welcome!

I've realised that not using stuff is better than recycling. For example, not buying the crisps with the palstic wrapper which can be recycled but tbh its a process using up more energy - therefore better not to buy things where the packaging can't be composted.

This is so hard! I have decided to try to
1.buy package free where possible,
2. then compostable where possible,
3. then bulk and reuse that packaging as much as I can before recycling. Glass and metal are easier to recycle than plastic.

The town where I work is opening a zero waste shop next month.

Zero packaging - veg I have grown or foraged, loose fruit from shop, meat from butchers, fish from fishmonger. cheese, Bread from bakers? How expensive will this be? I'd need to be organised.

Compostable - coardboard and paper packaging (specialist compostable packaging when not too expensive). Flour, sugar, butter etc in this category so home baking could be an option for kids snacks etc until I price the zero waste shop.


Buy in bulk - I'm thinking things like cooking oil, pasta.

apple_muncher

If I was pondering all those things at the same time, my head would explode! Well done you!

beanielou

I think you will find buying everything locally will be really expensive.
Pro’s & con’s.

Karmacat

Earthie, you said about being new to environmentalism a bit, so I'm snipping in, hope thats okay.

earthgirl wrote: »

Its great that manufacturers are moving away from using plastic and should be supported and encouraged. Obviously the technology is new and processes expensive, which has to be passed on to the consumer but I agree this isn't too much for the quality. In time I hope all the prices will come down.

Plastics etc that describe themselves as "compostable" - they're often only whats called "industrial composting", and then only at specialised sites, which not every county yet has That stuff often can't be composted at home at all. There are so many technologies and piecemeal steps forward: its like when there was jpg and tiff - or vhs and beta. Very awkward!

I have a recipe for hm deodorant so I will give that a try.

I'll be really interested in how that turns out - I simply use a Body Shop perfume instead of deoderant, and I'm sure that if a hm deoderant worked, it would be cheaper!

OH has looked into the electric car thing for me, and the cost is prohibitive for us. Instead I am using the car share scheme at work and hiring electric cars, they seem to be available over night too. The electric car hire thing is a win win, good for the environment and my wallet too. When electric cars come down in price, we will consider again.

A nephew of mine likes to loan his electric car to his dad - but the journey between them is Merseyside/London, so its always a fair motorway job. And the recharging points, unless you have a supercharger of your own installed at home, seem to still be a sticking point. He has to sit 25 miles away from Liverpool for an hour or so to make sure he still has some juice when he gets home. And superchargers are bad for battery life. To me as an outsider, what it looks like is that its still Early Adopter days.

I am consciously using up everything rather than buying new.

So important, good for you! Do you cut open the squeeze tubes? Horrifying how much product is left inside!

Took some clothes to the recycling centre that pays so £2 in. I've sorted out the kids clothes, mostly hand me downs, so there is nothing we need except welllies and slippers when ds1 grows again.

That centre sounds good. Wellies and slippers sound good too

Environment - I'm just learning about this so your advice is so welcome!

Thats why I'm hoping this is okay

I've realised that not using stuff is better than recycling. For example, not buying the crisps with the palstic wrapper which can be recycled but tbh its a process using up more energy - therefore better not to buy things where the packaging can't be composted.

Totally! Thats the "reduce" bit of the green sloganning: reduce, reuse, recycle. Plus repurpose these days

Zero waste shop opening

I was looking at the ones around Clapham Junction while I was there, and the prices are a *lot* higher - though some of that might be London pricing too. Though at one stage I found linseed at less than half the price its sold in a supermarket, that was a win!

Buy in bulk - I'm thinking things like cooking oil, pasta.

Definitely the way to go, as long as you watch the temperature of your cupboards (too hot, too cold, all of that).

HTH

themadvix

The Two Farmers crisp packaging is home compostable Karma... and I’m testing it out! But agree, it’s very tricky and people are easily misled by degradable and biodegradable which are not the same (and in the case of the former an environmental disaster!). Nothing/reusable is always better... but the clean kilo in Birmingham had run out of crisps when I visited Having cut so many things out of our diet because of plastic packaging, I don’t foresee us going mad for them now - it is nice to have the option on occasion though.

Sorry Earthie, total hijack there! Hope your zero waste shop is good and not a rip off. Ours is great and very reasonably priced - I spend about £20-£25/month there on all cupboard staples (rice, oats, pasta, sultanas, nuts, dishwasher tablets, lentils, beans, spices etc.). The stock is somewhat limited because not being in a city the audience is limited, but they’re always expanding the range.

Karmacat

themadvix wrote: »

The Two Farmers crisp packaging is home compostable Karma... and I’m testing it out!

That's good news then! Totally agree on not doing altogether without treats - though, as I've discovered today on my thread, I can't even bulk buy *savoury* treats now which is annoying .

earthgirl

Thanks for your comments and help - yes Karma, love advice and I'm just learning. Thanks for your comments on the zero waste shop prices.

Yes Beanie I think it will be more expensive. Not sure exactly how much more. My butcher does 10 reasonable sized chicken breasts for £12.50 which I think is comparable to supermarket. No organic option but local supplier.

What do you think about milk delivery? I thought the environmental impact of delivery will outweigh the benefit of reusable milk bottles? I have found a supplier of returnable milk bottles near my work so I am going to investigate if I can collect on my way past.

I've suggested to my dentist that they become a tooth brush recycling centre and they are going to look into that for me. I will switch to compostable when I have used up my plastic ones.

I had some money from my mum and dad for xmas. Bought silicone baking mats to avoid tinfoil and still have a little bit left.

Got cloth hankies, makeup wipe cloths and cloths instead of kitchen roll from my drawers - just got them orgnaised instead of lurking at the back! Money saving and just better.

Karmacat

earthgirl wrote: »

I've suggested to my dentist that they become a tooth brush recycling centre and they are going to look into that for me.

That's brilliant! There's a lot of packaging that goes into dental products - plus there's those little interdens brushes I use (recently seen bamboo toothpicks in Boots, that could be interesting).

beanielou

Beeswax wraps instead of cling film are good.

earthgirl

Thanks Karma and Beanie.

The beeswax wraps I've seen are quite expensive which will be worth it for some people but I know my kids would lose them/forget and chuck them in the bin. I am currently chopping up bits of unrecyclable plastic (i.e. the packets the food comes in) into shapes suitable to wrap in - this is not a good idea I know but will do for this week - it would be going to landfill anyway