Steps towards zero waste - 2019

ailz95

I also reuse plastic bags that things like grated cheese come in - and bags that I've been using in the freezer, before I became more plastics conscious. I might not use them for food again, but I turn them inside out and wash them and then hang them up to dry.

Working_Mum

ailz95 wrote: »

Hi All, I'd like to join you if I may. I've been trying to cut back on plastics for a while and seem to be finally getting somewhere. My main bugbear was bottled water. I've moved from the NWest to the SEast, I'm used to very soft water and find the water here in the SE disgusting, so I've been buying bottles sparkling water - at 25p for 2 litres it didn't seem much - but the number of bottles I get through is terrible. I've now bought some activated charcoal which takes the limescale/dull taste out of the water and makes it, to me, drinkable. A piece(s) for 2 litres is about £8, after 3 months you boil it in water for 10 minutes and after 6 months you use it for something else - in the garden perhaps, I've not looked into this yet:).

I've also listed everything in my cupboards and freezers - and rationalised storage by making some lazy susans so things are easier to find.

We love fizzy water in our house and we bought a soda stream to use instead of buying bottled water. We spend about a fiver a week on it and a soda stream was £61 (I bought 2 x bottles too) so we will be cost neutral by the end of April!

My kids suggested it as a way of reducing our plastic recycling.

dollypeeps

Currently reusing the sandwich bags.... trying to keep the for the week as long as the flavours/aromas are ok....

Still not used any cling film!!!! Yay go me!!! Bought another glass dish with a silicone/plastic lid for storage in the fridge and the saucer on the dish or jug is also working for some sauces..

I’ve wrapped the lunches in ‘wrapping foil’ ( who knew there was such a thing!!) so hopefully this can be recycled and I’ve tried baking/grease proof paper too .... trying to find out if this can be recycled ....so along with these the reusable sandwich bags,foil and grease proof paper I’m pretty pleased ....probably do better but babysteps, right?!?
I too wondered about the foodwraps... I was in Lakeland and was a bit alarmed when they mentioned paraffin and paraffin free. I know it needs to ‘food grade/stable’ but even so I wasn’t keen on the thought.

Bit of a fail whilst shopping though as Dd wanted a bottle of water to drink ...on 2 fronts really as I obv bought her one, so there was the plastic issue but we’d been to Insomnia coffee shop where they have jugs of iced water for their customers for no extra charge and she forgot to get a drink then !!!!
Hope I redeemed myself a little tho , by recycling my carrier bags and polythene wrappers st Mr T ... quite an eye opener how many we had for the week as I don’t use carrier bags much as I have my own reusables butb there you go ....
Cutting down slowly....shower gel is next on my hit list ))

SuiDreams

Can I join in currently looking to reduce my waste, don't produce a huge amount of waste but I could do a lot better, not sure I'd be able to get to zero waste though. This is what I currently do:


Take Lunch to work in reusable tub
Use tubs to store and freeze food (rarely use food bags or cling film)
Take reusable water bottle out with my and foldable hot drink cup just in case
Don't buy bottled water use tap water only
Use washable Muslin cloths for cleansing and have recently switched cotton wool pads for eye make up removal for washable cotton pads.
Carry reusable fabric shopping bags with me


Recent switches
swapping handwash for bar soap
switched to bamboo toothbrush
switched to refillable cleaning products with Splosh
switched to plastic free sanitary products
using reusable veg bags


Need to do
Change from plastic milk bottles - haven't been able to find milk delivery so far
Shower gel replacement - currently have a lot to use up 1st after Christmas
currently using both loose tea and tea bags, once tea bags have been used up I won't buy more
Look into packaging free deodorant
Source Toilet Roll, Kitchen Roll and tissues in paper rather than plastic packaging
Then once all that is done, start looking at beauty and makeup products and seeing if anything can be switched (this is the scary one).


Hopefully I'm moving in the right direction.

Doom_and_Gloom

We buy greencane toilet roll. We buy it in 4 packs, from Abel and Cole, and the packaging is paper and plant based cellophane so you can compost it (takes a bit of heat to do so faster but possible). However you can buy directly and get it completely unwrapped but it's only available to buy like that in 48 rolls. We don't have the space to store that much.
It's 2 ply so I was sceptical as was OH but it's very absorbent most likely due to the bamboo used in it.

ailz95

We've now swapped lots of stuff over to our milkman. They now do Oatly Barista at milk & more, so we're getting that, orange & grapefruit juice, organic milk - we've been having the 'ordinary' stuff, but I prefer organic as it's better for the animals - butter, and 'wonky' potatoes from a crisp manufacturer. It's more expensive than buying from Sainsbury's but I'm in the lucky position - DH and I live for free with my mother-in-law and she can afford it - we save her a fortune in care costs (happily).

Since I was last on here I've had a hurried drive to Manchester to see my mother - went up Monday evening and spent all night in the hospital with her - and she passed on Tuesday - so I've collected a lot of stuff from her house that will now need to be sorted. I'm 270 miles away so my brother will see to the rest. I'm hoping he'll agree to a lot of the stuff that's left being collected by my son-in-law who is from Cameroon, so that he can send it over there to support his mother's convent's orphanage.

Nickitree30

Hi,
I'd like to join you if I may.
Been going ZW for a couple of years, slowly but steadily although my OH isn't totally on board yet.
Just got plastic free foundation from Lush yesterday, it's called Slapstick. I was a bit wary about ordering from online in case the colour wasn't a good match but I read in the comments that if you phone Customer Services they can colour match to MAC foundations, I'm really happy with it so far.
Love reading everybodys suggestions, so happy to see this thread. Hopefully it will inspire others to make small changes.
ailz95 I'm so sorry about your Mum. Sending hugs xx

Slinky

Happy_One wrote: »

My biggest gripe are the plastic charity collection bags that come through the door, I keep a permanent charity shop bag,put things into it and take it with me when I go shopping to drop off at the charity shop. I never use these bags as even though I give to the charity shop I would never put bags outside for collection. Being a no waster I now have a pile of these bags in my cupboard!

Have you tried sticking a note on your letterbox saying No charity bags?

SuiDreams

Nickitree30 wrote: »

Hi,
I'd like to join you if I may.
Been going ZW for a couple of years, slowly but steadily although my OH isn't totally on board yet.
Just got plastic free foundation from Lush yesterday, it's called Slapstick. I was a bit wary about ordering from online in case the colour wasn't a good match but I read in the comments that if you phone Customer Services they can colour match to MAC foundations, I'm really happy with it so far.
Love reading everybodys suggestions, so happy to see this thread. Hopefully it will inspire others to make small changes.
ailz95 I'm so sorry about your Mum. Sending hugs xx

Hi, wondering if you have tried the Lush Deodorants and what they are like, do they stop sweating? Is there a particular one anyone would recommend?

Nonnadiluca

I use the Aromoco solid deodorant from Lush and really like it. I bought it last spring so used it all through the hot summer - I'm quite active, dog walking and gardening etc and found that it works fine. In November DH started using it as well and he likes it too: he likes the fact that it doesn't feel wet or sticky, and I like that it doesn't smell of 'male deodorant', ( they all seem to smell the same - powerful and horrible!) We are still using the one I bought last May, so it's really economical too.