Easy ways to start to reduce plastic useage in our household?

[Sweetheart]

I'm keen to reduce the amount of plastic we use in our household......can anyone much wiser than me give me some pointers of good / easy places to start?

Start from when you get up. What plastic do you use first? What could you use instead?
When that’s sorted move on to what you use next etc.

Shampoo bars instead of shampoo, dont use cling film. Don't buy bottled water, don't buy anything on a black plastic tray. Buy a keep cup if you like takeaway coffee. Use a moon cup or washable san pro. Eat less meat and dairy, don't fly and watch where your pensions and investments support. Get involved in some community environmental project.

Good site for shampoo bars & soap.

I take mesh bags to the supermarket for loose fruit & veg instead of using plastic ones.

Well he easiest ones are obvious- but loose veg if poss, but reusable metal water bottles and an R cup coffee mug, take reusable bags everywhere. Don't buy plastic straws - use paper or wheat. Use silk floss instead of dental floss and bamboo or paper q-tips not plastic (50p Sainsbury's).

If your family don't have sensitive skin use powder laundry detergent in cardboard boxes.
Buy butter in wax paper not plastic tubs.

Eat less meat and dairy.....? Am I missing something aside from packaging to do with plastic?

We already all have refillable water bottles and Tupperware for our lunches......although the bottles and Tupperware count as plastic I suppose.......and the food we put into the lunches has all been brought from the supermarket wrapped in plastic.

I don't really buy takeaway coffee's but I do have a coffee machine at home.....which uses plastic pods........

I do carry bags for shopping usually and I do have a box of laundry powder instead of buying the capsules.

I think this is going to be much harder than I anticipated!

No straws, reusable bottles, no cling film or food bags, reusable containers (ok they tend to be plastic but better than the alternative) dish cloths instead of sponges, loose fruit and veg, meat from butchers (less packaging)

We use compostable paper sandwich bags from here www.ifyoucare.com/household/ these are for the DC packed lunches

We also have started using beewax wraps but they are expensive and don't go in the microwave.

We use the Ecoegg bamboo 'paper' towels - we really like them

Signed up to Splosh and have already reached 16 on the bottle o'meter - their products are actually really good and go a long way. Their washing powder even comes in a compostable pouch

We re-use what we can, like sliced bread bags I will use again.

I try to buy in glass containers, or paper. And also steer clear of pre-packaged multipacks. It's more expensive but we buy individually - for instance tins of beans. I've stopped buying the pre-wrapped packs of four.

If I can buy fruit and veg loose I will, and just put straight into the basket/trolley.

I'm sure there are others but I can't think of any more right now!

Oh yeah we use natural loofah as our washing up sponge, rather than sponge scourers.

(I don't know why I've interchanged 'I' and 'we'! Maybe it shows I make more of an effort than DP )

I second getting your cleaning products from Splosh!

Others things we've done are: switched to milk in glass bottles from milkman; shampoo bars and soap bars instead of plastic bottles; take net bags to supermarket for loose fruit and veg.

Oh, and washable reusable sanitary towels. Didn't think I'd like them but I'm a total convert!

@KateTheShrew good isn't it .
Re the milk, I'd love to switch to the milkman but we get through so much milk that we'd be bankrupt! Glass bottled milk is insanely expensive compared to the evil 4 litre plastic bottles - though we do recycle those and keep the lids for Lush (the stinky headache inducing beauty shop) as they make their containers out of those.
Maybe the plastic variety are just insanely cheap though and we are helping to abuse the dairy farm system...

Re the washable sanitary towels, I really hate wearing towels but have tried a couple of cups which so far haven't worked out for me. I've switched from applicator tampons to Lilets, though I'd love to find a cup that works.

I also really want to try shampoo and conditioner bars (but without SLS). My hair is very dry so I'm worried I won't get enough conditioner out of a bar?

@Frazzlerock yes, the glass bottles are expensive, but fortunately it's really only the 2 DCs who use milk in our house so we don't buy that much. If we used more I might have to re-think. It's great that lush recycle the lids, I didn't know that!

Re shampoo and conditioner bars, I've been using the Lush ones, but I don't think they're SLS free. I was sceptical about the conditioner, and the first one I tried wasn't great, but I've switched to a purple one (can't remember the name bit it smells of Parma violets, so possibly not everyone's cup of tea!) and it's great - very moisturising.

• Switch liquid hand wash and shower gel for soap.
• Use the tupperware you've already got to store leftovers etc, instead of clingfilm. A plate on top of a bowl works instead of clingfilm for microwaving/storing stuff.
• When you're in the supermarket, choose products that are packed in glass or cans instead of plastic, e.g. mayo/ketchup - buy the economy brand in the glass bottle, you can always decant it into an empty squeezy plastic bottle when you get home.
• Get your fruit & veg from the market instead of the supermarket. It's usually cheaper too.
• If plastic's unavoidable, buy in bulk and decant. One big bottle of washing up liquid going in the recycling is better than four smaller bottles.