Reducing single/throwaway use plastic - ideas please?

[LtGreggs]

So I watched the recent BBC documentary and have decided that this family needs to take action to reduce the plastic we chuck out (or send to "recycling" haha...)

Bathroom - I'm basically going to move us to bar soap & bar shampoo & bamboo toothbrushes. I think I'll be left with contact lens cleaner and medicine bottles, but that's quite low volume.

Cleaning stuff - I'm going to buy the big 15l refills from ecover or wholesale suppliers and decant those in to our existing stock of spray bottles as required. This will still mean some new plastic but lots less.

But I need ideas for food please. I cook mostly from scratch, with some helping along from supermarket prepped stuff. But last few nights dinners still involved LOADS of plastic wrapping. Meat trays, veg wrapping (just on tomato, cucumber, carrot bag etc - standard stuff), plastic bags inside cardboard packaging, plastic packing on pasta & pulses, films on top of malinated paper/plastic pots etc etc.

Any tips for reducing this please?

Me & DH both work full time, so I'd really like it to be fairly easy to source (ideally supermarket or online delivery)??

I buy all my fruit and veg from the farm shop now. They don't wrap anything in plastic. Even strawberries, raspberries etc are in giant tubs and you pop them into paper bag (or bring your own containers). If they don't have things I need, then I try to buy loose from the supermarket but they wrap almost everything.
I buy all meat at the butchers and take my own beeswax wraps and glass container to put meat into rather than letting them wrap it in plastic.
Solid shampoo and bar soap.
I use coconut husk scourers instead if buying those plastic green and yellow sponges. The coconut husk can be composted once it's used up.
I get milk & apple juice delivered in glass bottles.

Obviously farm shop/grocers and butchers isn't as easy as online delivery! But depending on the town you live in, they could be just as easy to access.

We don’t have online supermarket shopping here. But can you request no packaging for fruit and veg?

I’ve suggested to dh (who does the food shop) that he buys stuff in bags one week then takes the bags back the next. Therefore getting more than one use.

I saw a tv program where the presenter took his own plastic tubs to the butcher who was happy to fill them. Simple but a great idea.

Morrisons are moving to plastic free veg so I'm going to start doing my weekly shop there. There's also a butcher near us who delivers and uses waxed paper wrapping so going to try him too. You could look to see if anything like that is near you?

We do:

Splosh household products and shower gel

Loofah/‘None sponge’ for washing up (washable, and then compostable once worn out)

Beeswax wraps instead of cling film/sandwich bags etc

Greengrocer - plastic free and SOOOOO much cheaper!!! It’s amazing! I’m vegetarian so cant comment on meat related.

Ecoegg for laundry

Cloth sanitary pads

Who Gives a Crap loo roll - no plastic, no trees

Need to switch to a real razor; been meaning to for ages!

Errmmmm... I think there are a couple I’m forgetting but a few ideas there! There’s a new zero waste shop in town which I keep meaning to go to but it’s finding the time and inclination. Tesco delivery is so much more convenient 😩😩😩

Make ecobricks from non-recyclable plastic eg salad bags, crisp packets etc. Send them off to be turned into other stuff.

Oh also milk and more is a good one although I don’t do it currently. Abel&Cole/ river ford etc veg boxes.

Morrisons and waitrose butcher dept now facilitate bringing your own tupperware or dish to put meat in when you buy it.

We do have butchers locally. Maybe I have to think about meal planning and timing so do a Saturday butcher shop.

There's a big fruit / veg market on a local farm but it's a Tuesday daytime - not going to be possible.

I could look at veg box delivery, but how to fit that with meal planning. Hmmm. Kids (10 & 12) are ok veg/salad eaters but they want same repetitive stuff, not cool & funky 'interesting' stuff.

@BendydickCuminsnatch thanks! I've already ordered beeswax wraps, and I've seen the toilet paper so will try that. Tell me about eco bricks?

Our local Tesco also have signs up at the meat, cheese and deli counters saying you are welcome to bring your own tubs rather than have items wrapped in plastic.

I don't think we have a local greengrocer 😲

I just switched to cheeky wipes instead of toilet roll so no paper at all. There was the impact of the production of the cotton but it's a one-off and they just go in the wash with other stuff so no extra running of the washing machine. I bought my cloth sanitary pads from cheeky wipes as well.

www.ecobricks.org/

You basically fill bottles up with plastic, to a certain weight, then drop them off at a local drop off point to be made into other stuff, like this house!

Fruit and veg from the grocers reuse their wooden box and paper bags
Compostable coffee pods
Milk delivered in glass bottles
Shampoo bars and soap in place of shampoo and shower gel
Ecover refills for laundry and cleaning stuff
Soda stream so can make my own fizzy water not buying plastic water bottles
I work from home flexibly I get this harder if you in office 9-5

The only thing is you have to get the bottles from somewhere - my first few ecobricks were sparkling water bottles, but then I got a soda stream for my birthday 😄

Good work, OP! I find food the most difficult. I have rediscovered the counter at sainsburys and now get ham, cheese and meat from there (with my own containers). I have some reusable drawstring bags for loose fruit and veg.

I use Splosh for cleaning products, soap and shower gel.

I use washable pads for cleaning eye make up off.

I buy laundry powder in a cardboard box.

Dishwasher tablets are Ocado own brand, plastic free.

I tried Who Gives A Crap toilet paper but didn't like it. Currently use Cheeky Panda - it comes in plastic but is degradable and recyclable.

My next plan is to get some refillable bottles and then go to my local refill shop and get shampoo and conditioner.

I may try Milk and More for milkman delivery but it is a lot more expensive....

Sodastream would be a nice-to-have - that can go on Christmas maybe list

I've not used laundry powder for years - got in to a liquid habit. Is powder OK? We're up north, with soft water.

Am googling cheeky wipes. Are they essentially washable toilet roll? That is going to be in hard sell to DH - tell me it's feasible?? (Am already the lone fragrant female in a house of increasingly smelly testosterone...)

I have made bags to put loose fruit and veg in at the supermarket.
I am currently using bar shampoo from Lush but the conditioner bar was no use at all. Does anyone have any recommendations?
I'm not sure about bamboo toothbrushes because they still have plastic bristles and this would make them harder to deal with in recycling. Someone might know better.

They are square of Terry cloth cotton. I got the organic cotton as the production has less environmental impact.
You get 2 boxes; one for clean and one for mucky. The mucky box has a drawstring bag. You get tea tree and lemon oil for the much and lavender oil for the clean.
Fill the clean box to the line with water and a few drops of oil , slowly put in 25/30 cloth squares to soak up the water. I then lift them out and turn them upside down and squeeze down, then give the box a shake. They will all be damp to touch but not wet.
In the mucky box, just fill with water and a few drops if tea tree. Use clean wipes and put them into mucky box. When full, lift the drawstring and then empty water into toilet, use the box to carry to washing machine and use the drawstring to then chuck into washing machine. You only need to touch the drawstring. Dont tighten the toggle; you want the string to loosen itself so the wipes fall out of the bag when the machine starts spinning.You won't have to hold or touch the bag or the dirty wipes. Put in the rest of the washing load and then wash at a normal temperature. Dry in dryer or hanging up. Repeat!
I studied microbiology at uni but don't work in that field anymore so I sent some to a former colleague and he tested them. He considered them clean! No one in the family has gotten ill, and you feel so much cleaner because you're actually cleaning and not just wiping with dry paper. I think if one of us had a tummy bug, I would tell them to use normal paper though.

They don't smell bad at all! The clean ones are all lavender and chamomile! Ita lovely. The mucky box smells lemony with tea tree. No nasty smells out of the boxes at all.
I would order an extra drawstring bag though, because when one is in the washing machine, you need a spare to make up a new mucky box.

Ok I would actually be on for trying the wipes (I used some cloth nappies, back in the day, and have used washable sanpro). DH however thought I was kidding, and then told kids I had lost my mind

I think I might start with de-plasticing other stuff first, and save up for my own wet wipes kit, then see if I can introduce by stealth!

My kids (6 and 7) thought it was really funny. Then I showed them their old cloth nappies and they were horrified that I'd wrapped them up in those! But they are uses to my insanity and too young to argue with me!

Back on the food question. Can anyone recommend any snacks /biscuits/breadstick type things that come in cardboard only, no inner plastic?? Or any pasta/rice that come in biodegradable packaging?

I realise that for rice & pasta I could buy very big pack sizes for less overall plastic.