Plastic reduction summary

Throughout 2018 Chris and I have made a big attempt to reduce our plastic consumption. We have now started to use natural soap instead of shower gel and Chris also uses shampoo in soap bar form rather than buying shampoo bottles. And even better, they arrive in 100% recyclable materials! Rather than polystyrene chips, the chips shown in the photo above are biodegradable and disintegrate in water within a few seconds!

We now have a weekly organic fruit and veg box from Riverford where most of the items are either loose or in paper bags. As well as fruit and veg they have a range of organic foods and I was delighted to find the organic muesli comes in a paper bag!

Some supermarkets such as the Co-op provide decomposable bags which is brilliant. We were given this when we did a beach clean back in October although sadly the Co-op bag was filled with drinks and snacks in plastic wrappers.

We are mindful when we shop to now buy items in glass jars rather than plastic containers (e.g. olives) and chocolate in paper and foil rather than plastic. Only a few short years ago people would purchase large TINS of Quality Street… these are now large plastic tubs… millions of them sold at Christmas and all ending up in landfill…

Below is one of the most powerful video’s which sadly illustrates the damage being done to our planet… selfishly destroying it for future generations. Brilliantly produced by Steve Cutts and available on You Tube.

Organic fruit and veg box

Our first organic fruit and veg box arrived yesterday and I was delighted that, other than the pack of salad leaves, there were no plastic bags in sight! The grapes were in a cardboard container and the rest was loose in the box (which we can return to the driver next week).

At £18.75 this isn’t a cheap option however from what we’ve tried so far the fruit tastes delicious and being organic it has to be healthier! We’ve already planned some creative meals to ensure we don’t waste any of this fruit or veg. This may even result in a more cost effective option if we plan our meals properly and stay at home and cook more often rather going out for something to eat several times a week.

While shopping for the extra ingredients for these planned healthy meals, today I made a conscious point of reducing plastic for example by buying black olives, tomato puree, herbs and spices in glass jars rather than plastic containers 🙂

On another note, Chris ordered a bar of shampoo for us to try rather than using plastic bottles.

Go us! We’re on a roll….

Plastic reduction update

According to Greenpeace, 12.7 million tons of plastic are dumped in our oceans each year, choking turtles and seabirds and ending up in the stomachs of sea creatures such as whales.

I’ve made some small changes throughout this year to reduce my plastic footprint:

Using a refillable water bottle rather than buying single use bottles of water. The only exception I can think of was during my week in Cuba where I didn’t have my water-to-go bottle with me. In Croatia last week I drank tap water from our apartment’s kitchen tap every time which was apparently safe to drink… well, I had no ill effects throughout the week 🙂
I was annoyed with myself for recently buying a 3 small packs of pineapple chunks which were supplied in 3 lots of plastic tubs. What an idiot… I could have brought a single fresh pineapple for the same price and with no extra plastic used.
I’ve finally got myself organised and have just ordered an organic fruit and veg box from Riverford Organics. Riverford have an environmental policy for their packaging and use cardboard boxes rather than plastic bags. I’m hoping this is going to be viable to do on a weekly basis… my concern is that I have to be at home to take the order so I need to fit around my ‘work at home’ days which vary on a weekly basis…
I use soap instead of shower gel… sometimes…
I buy chocolate wrapped in foil and paper and try to avoid plastic wrapped chocolate. For example, a few months ago I brought a large bag of Dime bars from an airport and it only occurred to me when I got home that each of the 80 or so dime pieces were wrapped in 80 small pieces of plastic…

I haven’t done any research but from my own memories of the 70’s and 80’s, fizzy drinks and milk were supplied in glass bottles, sweets were put into small white paper bags, chocolate bars were wrapped in paper, fish and chips were provided in newspaper (and not placed in a plastic bag), packs of toilet rolls were produced in a paper outer wrapping, parcels arrived wrapped in brown paper (rather than plastic bags) and fruit and veg came in brown paper bags.

I feel I still have a way to go before I confirming I have significantly reduced my plastic consumption but will continue working towards this…