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 much prefer laundry powder OP, I think it gets things cleaner. Eco ones like Ecover are really expensive though.

If your water is nice and soft then a box should last you ages!

Watching with interest, had my second plastic free period, and am only buying bar soap/shampoo but have bottles to get through first.

Used to use ecoballs for laundry but really didn't get stuff v clean, trying to find the most eco way to wash clothes that does get them fully clean so we are not having to ditch them (school shirts especially) and yet had minimal impact (both the detergent and it's packaging). Anyone found a good balance?

Also second a request for solid conditioner please

Re food, do you have a refill shop nearby? My local one has pasta, rice, pulses, herbs and spices.

So hard to avoid plastic with snacks. Waitrose do a cardboard tube of mini breadsticks....that's all I can think of at the moment! Walkers Stax crisps are in a similar cardboard tube.

Another idea - if I went to Booker or Costco or similar wholesale place, would I find eg big packs of toilet roll that is paper-packaged instead of plastic wrapped?

plasticfreepantry.co.uk/shop/dish-soap-bar-by-no-tox-life/

I got that once, but it's sold out again!!! Amazing when it's not sold out though (not food stuff! But they do sell bulk packs of foodstuff)

Everything in Costco is plastic wrapped. You get big multi packs of toilet roll and kitchen roll... all wrapped in plastic to hold them together and then individualy wrapped in plastic so they can be sold in shops.

@Chartreuser I've tried quite a few eco laundry products but haven't been happy with the results. So for now just using regular detergent but powder so in a cardboard box at least. I wanted to try ecover powder but cant justify the cost - £12 for 40 washes 😱

Just had a quick look at the washing costs - Sainsbury's own brand big box is 10p per wash, Ecover Direct has powder at 29p per wash or liquid in biggest refill 23p (that does involve plastic packing). I'll probably start with the Sainsburys.

I've tried the eco washing ball things before - they just don't cut it on dirty sports kit (of which we have plenty) or pre-teen shirt armpits.

We have a refill shop near us but its at least twice if not 3 times as expensive as buying in packets.
Then if i add fuel and carparking charges when i go there its not that economic and making an extra car journey too. I will try and get a few things if i am shopping nearby but its too expensive to subsitute everything there.

I remember when I was a child in the 80s, the weigh and save shops would always be cheaper. Loose fruit and veg was cheaper. Sadly those days are gone!

Can't find a local refill shop on Google - but the independent healthfood shop v close by say they have the big ecover & similar packs and have non-plastic cleaning stuff. I will have a look.

Good job there are lots of bottles to use up first as buying all this lot at once would be a bit steep!

Result on my greengrocer googling - the local wholesale fruit & veg people are open to the public two mornings a week and I think would be largely plastic free. It's from 8 and only a couple of miles from work - so I could do that, but it means some extra car miles and leaving stuff in car boot all day.

Plastic = totally convenient lifestyle...

The neverending laundry thanks, any idea if bio or non better? I know optical brighteners are bad and they're in powder for whites

I’ve switched to bar soap and cloth sanitary pads. I bought cheeky wipes with the intention of using them on baby ds but couldn’t do it. So I use them to take my make up off instead.

I use a refillable water bottle all the time, have a lunchbox and bag which I try and take my pack up in (and found a local cafe who will pop a sandwich in if or make me up a salad in that instead of using one of their containers). I have a travel mug.

We use flannels instead of loofah puffy things in the shower (or we will once the ones we have are finished). And am going to buy large refills of liquid soap to refill our existing bottles.

I have a stinking cold at the moment so am trying to use handkerchiefs instead of tissues as here softer on my nose. But am a bit grossed out by them.

Why could you use the reusable wipes on your son? And what's so gross about handkerchiefs? I got a pack of really pretty fat quarters and sewed my own. For 16 out of the pack and they sit in a box in the living room. They get used and washed and they're totally fine!

Large regular if liquid soap really isn't going to make a big difference; they only come so big and you still need to replace them. It's still a cycle if plastic. Switch to bar soap for the family and get an all purpose bar cleaner for cleaning the kitchen/bathroom etc.

The wipes just grossed me out if im honest. To be fair I never even tried them. It was the thought of using them. DH was also never on board with them and said he’d still buy disposable wipes. Also nursery wouldn’t use them. And we’d have to provide wipes. So bit of a non starter.

Handkerchiefs - again it’s the fact that I don’t like carrying them around. Although they are much better for my nose. It’s the germ and snot Ick.

True re the liquid soap refill. But I think we have a shop here which you can take the empty to and refil. I need to do research on that.

Although. I have bought a couple of reusable nappies for dc2 (arriving in July). Going to see if I can get over the Ick and try them out.

Ds has a reuseable swim nappy and so far that’s been ok. And I’ve ditched nappy bags infavour of wet bags.

I can understand still noticing the ick factor when you've got a newborn, but after a few weeks... they've puked on you, peed on you, pooped on you. You sort of get over it at that point and don't really nice anymore!
Handkerchiefs really aren't yucky. You could get a pretty little pouch with a waterproof libing for used ones so they aren't just floating around in your handbag and you can just wipe it clean when you empty it.

If you stick to spaghetti there are rolls packaged in paper at the top shelves in Sainsbury's and sometimes in TK Max too.

Rice in cardboard boxes or woven bags at Asian supermarkets.

Veg from the market.

Place marking for later.

I know I could bookmark but it baffles me !

Go to an Indian run cash and carry: rice (and flour) in cloth or thick paper bags. Loose nuts / dried fruit / lentils / spices that you scoop out into a bag (you can bring your own compostable bags). Cheaper yoghurt pots made from good quality plastic which can be used for food storage.

Who asked about conditioner?
Solid bar company does a really good one, it doubles as a shaving substitute too.
It's pricey but suitable for vegans, palm SLS and paraben free and smells absolutely fantastic. It lasts ages too.

@AquaPris can you remember what spaghetti brand? Am shopping online and cannot tell from images. De Cecco??

Thanks all for the Asian shop suggestions - but we're in a small town in Scotland and I think would have to drive 50 miles to Glasgow for that kind of thing.

If you are a meat-eater see if you can buy whole/half animals direct from farms. Less packaging & less food miles involved.