The War against plastic waste

K80_Black

tori.k wrote: »

I don't actually drink milk or eat eggs. husband & I are vegetarian our children eat meat, as is our individual choice.
If im going to choose a soap box ( and I often bang that drum) its going to be for food miles in the form of local products regardless of meat or plant based. as I see that as a positive sustainable option.

I actually do drink milk (well, eat cheese) and eat eggs. Just occasionally. This is sustainable in my eyes - eating a variety of foods from various sources, not drinking pints of milk every day. If you ONLY care about plastic, or food miles, or strict veganism without looking at the bigger picture then you end doing more harm than good - as you showed by buying an 'eco friendly' washing up bowl you don't even need.

tori.k

Absolutely
And I unintentionally lied I eat cake probably more often then I should and often that has milk and/or eggs in them, but you got my gist.

A UK plastic free product turned up at work in the form of shampoo bars by Bath bubble and beyond, most of their products are plastic wrapped but the shampoo bars are just in a cardboard box, half the price of the lush ones.

DigForVictory

I googled various virtuous lists & this is a summary of the first 4

Carry a reusable bottle
Say no to plastic straws
Take a reusable coffee cup
Avoid excessive food packaging
Use refill stations for detergents
Say no to disposable cutlery (carry your own - but be prepared for eco conversations with security)
Get your milk delivered (I know, not for everyone, but Greenpeace & WWF both advocate it)
Avoid microbeads
Carry a shopping bag
Give up gum.
Buy boxes instead of bottles.
Purchase food, like cereal, pasta, and rice from bulk bins and fill a reusable bag or container. (Waitrose have started in Oxford - but other suppliers are available)
Use loose leaf tea with a tea strainer (teabags are plasticised)
If you must use glitter, use eco-friendly, biodegradable glitter
Ditch the cling wrap (you can make your own waxed cloth with cotton cloth & wax)
Become a wine bottle sommelier - choose wine bottles with natural cork stoppers
Carry your own containers for for take-out food and leftovers.
Treat yourself to an ice cream cone (rather than buy the plastic containers, plus inbuilt portion control [soem greens can be body fascists])
Bring your own container for meat and prepared foods.
Buy fresh bread that comes in either paper bags or no bags.
Buy large wheels of unwrapped cheese. (Eco may also be MS but upfront affordability may be an ulp issue)
Clean with vinegar and water.
Baking soda is a fantastic scouring powder.
Use powdered dishwasher detergent in a cardboard box.
Hand wash dishes without plastic.
Use natural cleaning cloths and scrubbers instead of plastic scrubbers and synthetic sponges.
Wash clothes with homemade laundry soap and stain removers.
Use natural rubber gloves.
Check labels of personal care products! No polyethylene please
Switch to bar soap instead of liquid soap.
Give up shampoo in plastic bottles.
Choose lotions and lip balms in plastic-free containers.
Switch from a plastic razor to a second-hand safety razor.
Reconsider how you clean your teeth.
Choose toilet paper that’s not wrapped in plastic.
Use plastic-free feminine hygiene products.
Look into plastic-free sunscreen options.
Explore plastic-free hair accessories and tools.
Keep your own reusable foodware at the office.
Carry lunches in reusable stainless containers or cloth bags.
Learn to preserve foods without plastic.
Avoid non-stick cookware.
Choose stainless steel ice cube trays and Popsicle molds.
Acquire necessary plastic items used instead of new.
Repair things when they break.
Avoid disposable plastic pens.
Choose natural cat litter.
Choose pet toys and furniture made from natural materials instead of plastic.

At which point I rather ran out of eco puff, but by doing a few things, it's better than doing None. And you can always migrate gradually.

Says she already using a fabric bag to carry food & drink containers & carrying a spork. That's not virtue signalling nor desperately caring about the planet, it's solid MSE taking your lunch to work! Which happily turned out to be limiting plastic waste as well.

C_J

I was only thinking the other day how great it would be if they brought back those stores which we had (maybe in the 80s?) where you could fill your own containers from big tubs of things like flour, muesli etc. I am certain they had a shop like this on Coronation Street for a while but I can't find anything about it, and now all my friends think I have imagined it.

Anyhow - this turned up on today's local news. One of the Waitrose stores in Oxford is trialling "fill your own containers" for pasta, wine, beer and detergent :

https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/04/waitrose-takes-battle-plastic-next-level-bring-boxes-9795533/

jackieblack

C_J wrote: »

I was only thinking the other day how great it would be if they brought back those stores which we had (maybe in the 80s?) where you could fill your own containers from big tubs of things like flour, muesli etc.

The ones in our area were called 'Weigh and Save' - my colleagues and I often say how good it would be if they brought them back

tori.k

We lucky enough to still have ours its call the Weigh inn in Penzance

silverwhistle

DigForVictory wrote: »

Become a wine bottle sommelier - choose wine bottles with natural cork stoppers

Ah.. The best alternative is to live in France or Italy (etc.) and take your own container to the local co-operative winery and fill from those stainless steel tanks.


Failing that the Stelvin stopper is a reasonable alternative as it's made from aluminium and hence recyclable. The problem with the tremendous worldwide expansion of bottled wine over the last decades is the inadequate resources of decent cork, hence cheaper corks giving higher levels of taint and corked bottles. A tragic waste, as anybody will know who has opened a bottle in anticipation and...


My pet annoyance are those toilet rolls (and kitchen rolls) covered in plastic. Paper is easily recycled or I may compost or use as firelighters in winter but that plastic film is not locally (or anywhere in the UK?).



Disposable cutlery can be found made from wood, so there are solutions which need adopting more widely.

silverwhistle

PS Waitrose, in that trial have 4 wines and 4 beers on tap!


https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/04/waitrose-launches-packaging-free-trial

PasturesNew

bouicca21 wrote: »

I don’t understand why plastic milk bottles can’t be collected and reused.

they're most likely created on the fly, about 30 seconds before the milk's put into them. In the factory they'll have a machine that makes them instantly, that then passes them to the milk dispensing nozzle. There isn't a factory making them, then putting them on a pallet and a factory buying 1000 pallets of empty bottles.

halogen

DigForVictory wrote: »

I googled various virtuous lists & this is a summary of the first 4
Carry a reusable bottle

Won't fit in my handbag and therefore I always put it down places and forget it, resulting in my owning many resusable bottles

Say no to plastic straws

But paper ones go soggy and you have to remember to carry a steel one

Take a reusable coffee cup

again handbag space and memory

Avoid excessive food packaging

How? I don't have a choice on what supermarket I use so I have to accept what they offer or go hungry

Use refill stations for detergents

How? where? I use pods as they are quicker and go further

Say no to disposable cutlery (carry your own - but be prepared for eco conversations with security)

I have been known to carry a fork I spose

Get your milk delivered (I know, not for everyone, but Greenpeace & WWF both advocate it)

not an option here.

Avoid microbeads

there's no good replacement for them yet. Nut meal is too scratchy, oatmeal not scratchy enough, salt dries my skin out, sugar goes sticky. Flannels need washed and i never remeber so they go mouldy

Carry a shopping bag

Never remember to take one

Give up gum.

Only use when trying not to eat

Buy boxes instead of bottles.

again I'm limited by what lidl's cheapo range offers

Purchase food, like cereal, pasta, and rice from bulk bins and fill a reusable bag or container. (Waitrose have started in Oxford - but other suppliers are available)

Not where I live

Use loose leaf tea with a tea strainer (teabags are plasticised)

don't do tea

If you must use glitter, use eco-friendly, biodegradable glitter

Interesting. I rarely use glitter but when I do it's to mix into polymer clay in the oven. dunno how biodegradeable would cope.

Ditch the cling wrap (you can make your own waxed cloth with cotton cloth & wax)

Life is too short to do that. rarely use cling film though

Become a wine bottle sommelier - choose wine bottles with natural cork stoppers

only use wine in cooking and then its the cheapest one I can find which is usually screwtop. just as well really as I don't have the arm strength to use a corkscrew anymore

Carry your own containers for for take-out food and leftovers.

No leftovers in my house alas and I rarely eat out

Treat yourself to an ice cream cone (rather than buy the plastic containers, plus inbuilt portion control [soem greens can be body fascists])

Ice cream cone from shop- 1 portion - £4.50. ice cream shop open only when its sunny, has no parking.
Tub of ice cream from Lidl 2 portions £1.99.open 8am to 10pm with carpark

Bring your own container for meat and prepared foods.

only an option if you shop in posh supermarkets with a deli counter

Buy fresh bread that comes in either paper bags or no bags.

pay double the price and eat it twice as quickly as its unsliced

Buy large wheels of unwrapped cheese. (Eco may also be MS but upfront affordability may be an ulp issue)

not an option where I am. also I'd eat it all at once

Clean with vinegar and water.

House will then smell like a chip shop making me hungry. It's also nowhere near as effective as vim/jif/flash/etc

Baking soda is a fantastic scouring powder.

Is it really?

Use powdered dishwasher detergent in a cardboard box.

Used to use it but it doesn't dissolve properly and doesn't last as long as a tub of pods

Hand wash dishes without plastic.

Not sure this even makes sense. I use the dishwasher ( which attempts to get things vaguely clean after 4-5 runs) as my attempts at hand washing do not result in clean dishes. Also it hurts to stand up long enough.

Use natural cleaning cloths and scrubbers instead of plastic scrubbers and synthetic sponges.

When they are 50p for 8 in Lidl then sure

Wash clothes with homemade laundry soap and stain removers.

Even brandname super bio products don't get my clothes clean and fresh 1st time round. a few soap nuts ain't going to hack it

Use natural rubber gloves.

Allergic

Check labels of personal care products! No polyethylene please

only if the polyethylene free option is as good

Switch to bar soap instead of liquid soap.

No. it's not as good, never smells as nice and drys out my skin

Give up shampoo in plastic bottles.

I have tried the shampoo bars and I wasn't impressed

Choose lotions and lip balms in plastic-free containers.

I have sensitive skin and there are a limited range of brands that I can use. I've never seen plastic free containers for moisturisers, let alone ones in brands I know my skin will tolerate.

Switch from a plastic razor to a second-hand safety razor.

I don't use a razor.

Reconsider how you clean your teeth.

Ahh how I wish I could remember to clean my teeth, let alone be fussy about my make of toothbrush

Choose toilet paper that’s not wrapped in plastic.

and pay 4 times the price for paper wrapped brand names?

Use plastic-free feminine hygiene products.

I have to use the biggest widest stickiest pads I find to have any hope of protection at all. Limiting that down to all cotton ones... unlikely to find an option that works for me.

Look into plastic-free sunscreen options.

Sure find me a waterproof SPF 50 thats affordable and easy to source and I will. I use sunscreen maybe twice a year so I doubt my use will be significant

Explore plastic-free hair accessories and tools.

Metal hair clip....plastic hairbrush. 1/2 point

Keep your own reusable foodware at the office.

Against policy

Carry lunches in reusable stainless containers or cloth bags.

Don't take lunch to work

Learn to preserve foods without plastic.

Anything else freezer proof?

Avoid non-stick cookware.

Ummm why? we are all contaminated by C8flourocarbons now anyway

Choose stainless steel ice cube trays and Popsicle molds.

not a thing I use much- silcone ones are much better

Acquire necessary plastic items used instead of new.

not sure where one buys 2nd hand plastic things from

Repair things when they break.

I do if its possible

Avoid disposable plastic pens.

and use what? fountain pens and ink don't work on whiteboards

Choose natural cat litter.
Choose pet toys and furniture made from natural materials instead of plastic.

no pets but if I have a cat it'd be cat flap not litter tray