The War against plastic waste

Primrose

I dont believe ALL plastic is intrinsically bad. Indeed some of it lasts for years and years and is perhaps more environmentally friendly than one-use glass bottles like beer bottles which are thrown away and have to be recycled after one use, which I don't regard as particularly environmentally friendly.

It's one-use plastic containers for items like supermarket tomatoes and plastic drink and toiletry bottles which are the biggest trouble makers surely?

I have a plastic washing up bowl in my sink I must have had for about 15 years and a plastic mixing bowl for the same time. I have plastic plant pots in my garden for growing vegetables like tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, cucumbers from seed which date back 20 or even 30 years. They are hardy enough to be reused every year and I have no intention of throwing them away. In this respect they are perhaps more environment friendly than peat pots which come from a diminishing environmental source and can only be used once before they rot down.

I can,t imagine how devastating Black Friday and Christmas are with so many purchases made online and the amount of packaging used. How environment friendly is that compared to going into your local High Street shop and just putting an item into your shopping bag? We,ve ordered items from Amazon and other online suppliers the past and sometimes even tiny items have come packaged in cardboard boxes big enough to contain most of the contents of your wardrobe ! That's not a good use of resources either !

One day the world is going to run out of all these resources. The trouble is that we're all too affluent and too free and easy using them. I remember as a small child during the last war nothing was wasted. Even newspaper and pieces of string were stored, reused and valued because literally everything was rationed and in short supply.

Just look at the mountains of one-use Christmas wrapping paper which will be ripped off presents and thrown away in the near future. How many trees will have had to be felled to fuel that 24 hours of consumer wastage? I know some people carefully unwrap and reuse it but most of it just goes straight to garbage.

never_too_old

Afternoon all

Slowly but surely reducing my waste :j starting to see empty spaces on shelves where im not buying as many products.Glad to see a few more zero packaging shops popping up.I have one which has just opened less than a mile from me which im going to look at tomorrow.

Flew to Munich for a few nights earlier in the week .... yes i know flying is:( but i offset my carbon emissions and i use ecosia and pay to plant a few trees every month) What i noticed in Munich was most supermarkets have the reverse vending machines which i thought was fantastic to see as they are few and far between in this country and definitely none in my neck of the woods.

DigForVictory

Asda has joined the reusable mesh bag for fruit & veggies party.
3 for a pound, made in China and apparently completely unadvertised. Each can hold up to 5 kilos, breathable, drawstring, made from recycled plastic (BPA free polyester) & fully recyclable & machine washable...

And all a little late for me to include in the eco-gifts I’ve given my greener-than-Kermit relatives. Ah well, something for My stocking!

ailz95

I've sent for some washi tape today. It's totally recyclable - never really thought about sellotape before.

lobbyludd

ailz95 wrote: »

I've been reading round the internet about zero waste/plastic waste. None of them say - first USE the plastic that you have for as long as you can - talking to one or two people about it they've sad that they never thought of that and just got rid of all their plastic.

What's you views?

yes! I read some article where the first thing the reporter did to decrease her plastic waste was replace all her plastic things including spray wash bottles etc with alternatives containing less plastic - thereby creating a load of plastic waste, without any irony, or commentary that she was doing it specifically for the timelines of the article.

The first thing we should do is ...... nothing (sort of). I had to make this point to DD, who wanted a bamboo toothbrush (we have a zero waste shop very near that also sells plastic alternatives). DD can have a non-plastic toothbrush when her current plastic one needs replacing. The zero waste shop has a basket of donated jars and bottles that can be used by people who haven't brought their own, these are a mixture of glass and plastic that would have been "single use". It is much better to use these and keep using them, than buy a new non-plastic container. I think someone recently wrote (here?) that it's reduce, reuse, recycle, in that order for a reason.

lobbyludd

bobbiz22 wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm trying to be more conscious of what I buy in regards to plastic...whilst not completely plastic free, or very minimal in plastic use (yet) I am slowly making better choices and thinking about what I am buying more than I used to.

I have 2 things I want to switch to plastic free next, as the current plastic containers are almost empty. This is my aim going forward, anything that runs out...looking for a better alternative that doesn't cost substantially more, or if it does, it lasts much longer than the plastic contained option,

1. Shampoo & Conditioner - I have thick, long wavy hair and have heard varying degrees of information about the bars. Plus I don't want to do the whole apple cider vinegar rinse that is suggested for some of them! If anyone has similar type hair and can recommend a bar that is great & not expensive, I'd really appreciate it

2. Washing my clothes - My liquid is due to run out in the next week or so .Has anyone ever tried soap nuts? Do they work as well as liquid detergent for you and good for stains? Or do you use something else for stains?

Thank you in advance

I can't use soap nuts they irritate mine and DD's skin, but we do have a zero waste shop near us, so I buy laundry powder from there using our own storage container. For stains I tend to look up on the web when I've got a specific one and find out what the natural solution is and have a go at that rather than having a stock "thing", s cold water soak for blood, I've used soaking in warmed milk for a number of horrors, and sometimes it's the drying process as well that helps - rewetting and leaving out in the sun can beach out the last remains of some stains (obviously useless in winter).

we've used various shampoo bars, although embarrassingly I don't know the brand - they come unwrapped from the store above (Ripple in cardiff - it's great), but never used an AC wash afterwards.

dollypeeps

I’m a bit puzzled about these string bags at the supermarket.
I know they're not exactly expensive but what are they for?
Is it to keep your loose fruit and veg in to be weighed at the checkout?
Surely it’s not to take the items home in....
ofc I’ve got my own shopping bags that I take and tbh honest always have....only because my mother does and always has.
I use a store basket in my trolley and place any loose fruit/veg in there
Place the rest of my shopping in the trolley.
At checkout I use one of my shopping bags for said loose items ....


I suppose because I’ve already got bags the cynical
me thinks the supermarkets are jumping on this wagon too

DCFC79

dollypeeps wrote: »

I’m a bit puzzled about these string bags at the supermarket.
I know they're not exactly expensive but what are they for?
Is it to keep your loose fruit and veg in to be weighed at the checkout?
Surely it’s not to take the items home in....
ofc I’ve got my own shopping bags that I take and tbh honest always have....only because my mother does and always has.
I use a store basket in my trolley and place any loose fruit/veg in there
Place the rest of my shopping in the trolley.
At checkout I use one of my shopping bags for said loose items ....


I suppose because I’ve already got bags the cynical
me thinks the supermarkets are jumping on this wagon too

The bags you refer too replace the plastic bags you would use for the 2 loose pieces of fruit you would buy or mushrooms, courgette etc.

DigForVictory

I trimmed down one so I could indulge a son's adoration of pistachio nuts without bankrupting myself or my trying-not-to use-singe-use-plastic principles. Both of us happy, & only slightly "eh?" expressions at the till.

I have used paper bags for mushrooms when available, but I still have flashbacks to childhood & picking them from the field into my sou'wester. Scarlet PVC, & used both as headgear & foraging basket depending on weather & edibles - good times!

terributtons

I have recently eathen out twice - once at a Hungy Horse and the other time at a Whitbread Inn restaurant and on both occassions I was given a plastic straw with my soft drink without me asking, or indeed the barstaff asking if I wanted one. I was horrified. Unfortunately by the time I realised that they were just going to plonk a straw into my drink it was too late for me to say that I didn't want one; and so it was of course by then classed as used and went into their bin regardless of whether or not I actually drank through it. With Christmas just round the corner I dread to think how many plastic straws will be used (but not wanted) in people's drinks.