The War against plastic waste

Caterina

Re butter wrapper: it's not recyclable because it's mixed materials (paper and foil). I have found that if I soak the wrapper of the Waitrose own brand organic butter, after a good soak it is possible to separate paper from foil and recycle separately. I confess I'm not so dedicated that I do it every time, but it's possible.

THIRZAH

I'm not sure of the brand of the produce bags as they were a gift but they are made of a very fine mesh type material.They'd be fine for most things but obviously not muesli.


Caterina-I shall try soaking butter wrappers. It doesn't seem that long ago that I could buy the cheaper butter in greaseproof type paper and I noticed today that lard is still packed in that type of wrapping.

thriftwizard

Delighted to say that I've been asked to join the team of our little town's fledgling Repair Cafe, to help people mend clothes & household textiles that they would otherwise throw out. Also to repair mechanical sewing machines & typewriters, hand-whisks & other mechanical gadgets - give me a can of WD4O, cranked aircraft pliers, tweezers, light machine oil & a screwdriver & I can mend most things! Slightly terrified, but thrilled to have the chance to halt some of the endless waste stream that living in a well-to-do community seems to generate! Which will hopefully stop people purchasing yet more inadequate plastic gadgets with severely limited lifespans...

never_too_old

thriftwizard wrote: »

Delighted to say that I've been asked to join the team of our little town's fledgling Repair Cafe, to help people mend clothes & household textiles that they would otherwise throw out. Also to repair mechanical sewing machines & typewriters, hand-whisks & other mechanical gadgets - give me a can of WD4O, cranked aircraft pliers, tweezers, light machine oil & a screwdriver & I can mend most things! Slightly terrified, but thrilled to have the chance to halt some of the endless waste stream that living in a well-to-do community seems to generate! Which will hopefully stop people purchasing yet more inadequate plastic gadgets with severely limited lifespans...

This post made me look to see if my local town has a repair cafe it does and has a session this Sunday.Im well happy:T
Thank you

Primrose

I have an ageing iron which is still perfectly functional but the plastic covered cabling has broken through the outer flex quite badly in a couple of places
I,ve asked around but can't find an electrician anywhere who is capable of Replacing the flex for a new one. I,ve wound Insulating tape around the outer flex a couple of times but it keeps coming unstuck.

Any ideas on who might be able to do this? . It seems all appliance manufacturers like to build in unnecessary obsolescence into their gadgets simply to sell more of them. Similarly pop up toasters can,t have elements replaced if just one of them fails. Very annoying and not eco friendly when we're supposed to be saving the world's resources.

thriftwizard

Primrose, you could see whether there's a Repair Cafe near you? Alternatively, you could try asking at a small independent electrical retailer? That's the kind of place where they would have done it in the past & some still may. Our local chap has retired now and I can't imagine that either a builder's electrician or a giant appliance superstore would do that kind of mend, so I don't know where we'll go now for that kind of thing.

There are a few appliances on the market that can be mended; our toaster, a Dualit, can be, for example. But it cost a lot more than a basic one would have. That said, it's required one part in the last 18 years, a new clockwork timer, which wasn't expensive & I felt competent to change myself. It's otherwise been very reliable, and coped with all sorts of ridiculousness from the family that a cheaper toaster might well have turned up its toes at - attempts to cook frozen pizza wedged into the slots, for example. Sigh... that one now works in an electrical engineering firm! But the one who set fire to the microwave cooking chestnuts has turned into a clueless academic...

Vanlady

Delighted to report that after watching Hughs' programme, my DM who is in her mid 80s, was so shocked by what she saw, has now switched to using bar shampoo and conditioner and has stopped using all wipes. So hopefully the programme will influence many more!
We also have been carrying around our metal water containers for many years now, but recently I have been asking for a refill in cafes or food shops when out and about....and surprisingly so far I haven't been refused. I have a reply ready for when I am................I admit, it has become a challenge for me:D
I am recycling any crinkly plastic packaging that apparently does not go into my recycling bin, into morrisonnns plastic bag recycling bin in the hope that it won't end up in landfill.
And yesterday I was in Lush who told me that they collect all no 5 plastic bottle tops, even if they are not Lush''s.
But I think the best mantra to apply is "refuse, reuse, recycle".

maryb

I had a steam generator iron where the flex wore through and could not find any spare to replace it. You can get the smaller diameter flexes for ordinary steam irons though - try espares. DH could have fixed it if the part was available. As the flex on a steam generator carries the steam it was spitting water over the exposed wires so it had to go even though the iron itself was still working, and it was an expensive one. Still cross about the waste, totally unnecessary

MoneySeeker1

Vanlady wrote: »

We also have been carrying around our metal water containers for many years now, but recently I have been asking for a refill in cafes or food shops when out and about....and surprisingly so far I haven't been refused. I have a reply ready for when I am................I admit, it has become a challenge for me:D".

i've also had a metal water bottle for a while now and recently decided I would take it with me regularly if out for walks and ask any cafe/food shop/etc I needed to to refill it (even if it hasn't got a "refill" sticker on the window).

So I'd be interested to know what that reply is please? That being in case I ever get refused.

Another thing is that many entertainment venues give out drinks bought there in plastic glasses. I've been able to get round it so far by saying I'm drinking my drink right there and it gets handed to me in a proper glass and then taking the glass back to the bar when I've finished with it.

I can think of entertainment venues that give out their drinks in plastic glasses and also refuse to let people take their own drinks in with them to the venue (saying they are "a security risk"). I would imagine those venues are lying and the real reason they are saying that is because they want people to buy their drinks instead. I'm okay about buying their drinks, but don't intend to have them in a plastic glass and am wondering what the best way to deal with that is? I am inclined to take my own mug with me (they couldn't make up a "rule" on the spot of saying "Oooh...glass...it might get broken") and, if they still tried that with pottery, then do what Ye Olde Ale Drinkers do and take my own metal mug with me for them to fill with a measure of whatever drink I was buying. WWYD in that situation?

Nonnadiluca

Re reusable produce bags - make your own, no special skills needed, just the ability to machine or hand sew straight(ish):lines!! I have made some from cotton but old net curtains work really well:
cut a rectangle about 60cm X 40cm; ( adjust the size to your preference)
turn over about 3cm along one of the long edges for a channel, pin and sew;
right sides together, sew the side seam, starting at the bottom of the channel, and the bottom seam; turn the right way out and thread drawstring through the channel, I have used thin cord, string and knitting yarn;
tie a knot in the string, pop into your shopping bag and there you go ☺
Net curtains work well because they are lightweight, it's easy to see what's inside and they wash and dry quickly and easily. You can often pick them up for pennies in charity shops. Why not make some for your friends? The more people see them being used, the sooner it will become the normal thing to do and everyone will be using them. We can but hope! Hope that's helpful.