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)??

We have a farm butcher just half a mile down the road on a beef farm (you can practically see your future mince grazing from our window). It definitely ticks the food miles. But it's all prepacked in to meat trays & plastic wrapped. Also they sell Danish bacon (?!) which was disappointing.

That's a shame, LtGreggs. Sounds like a farm shop rather than a farmer though? I go through a friend who owns a farm & she sells whole/half animals but doesn't advertise it.

Ours comes butchered into the different joints, but just placed in one bag & I put into tubs at home.

@confusedofengland it's not exactly farmshop, more 'basic' in that it's a commercial butchery at the back of the farm with a little side shop open to the public. I will ask them if they would put mince in to tupperware for me :-)

Who asked about conditioner?
Solid bar company does a really good one, it doubles as a shaving substitute too.
It was me, thanks. I'll look into that.

Risotto rice often comes in a cardboard box.
I look out for things in glass bottles rather than plastic - so tend to use a variety of supermarkets when I pass by them. For example, our local ones don't sell tomato ketchup in glass so I grab a few when I see them elsewhere.
Costco has great stuff but as someone has already mentioned, everything is in plastic - sometimes double wrapped.

I feel really guilty about daily contact lenses even though the ones i use have (comparitively) minimal packaging. I asked the optician about monthly lenses but they brushed off the suggestion, saying you were more likely to get infections which is probably true but wonder if they are on comission to sign up for their daily lenses schedule Anyone else use monthly contact lenses?

Schnitzelvonkrumb I read recently that Boots Opticians will take disposable contact lenses and it's packaging for recycling.

That rogue apostrophe was not meant to be there!

I have monthly contact lenses - have been using them for 20+ years with no problem.

Not the same pair, obviously!

Also, I know eliminating plastic is the answer, rather than recycling but where this is currently unavoidable, or at least very difficult, this website is helpful www.terracycle.com/en-GB

My local curry house is now taking back plastic containers to reuse them.

Boots do recycle lenses and cases, I only found this out a couple of weeks ago and am really pleased about it.

I've ditched my coffee pod machine back in favour of the cafetière.

The kids have a metal bento style lunchbox for school so no wrapping needed for anything and we all have aluminium drinking bottles.

I do have a sparkling water habit so am considering a soda stream. I get through 6 or 7 two litre bottles a week.

I get meat from the butcher's in my own tupperware type tubs.

At Morrison's butchery and deli counters you can also take your own tubs... they just stick the price label on which is beeped through the till at the checkout.

I have a set of mesh bags for buying loose fruit and veg, though to be honest I really just use them for small items like brussels sprouts and mushrooms... things like carrots and courgettes I just put direct into my basket.

I make my own kefir... I was buying bottles of it from the shop. I still have to get the milk in plastic bottles, but it uses much less plastic per litre, so it's a huge saving both in terms of plastic and £.

I buy shampoo and washing up liquid refills at my local health food shop.

Use bar soap instead of liquid soap/shower gel. The Oliva one in health food shops is great as it's palm oil free.

Mooncup and an old facecloth folded in 4 lengthwise for the TOTM.

I buy conventionally wrapped things like rice/macaroni... BUT I use the empty bag afterwards as a dog poo disposal bag. (Pick up using a scrap of old newspaper). It offsets the use of a designated poo bag. Much cheaper and you've still saved a small plastic bag... win/win!

I buy very little junk/processed foods in packaging like crisps and cakes, I just buy and cook with basic meat, eggs, dairy, real butter, loose local/UK vegetables etc. Plus some rice/pasta etc for DH.

Most important thing use (and use up) what you have already. Low waste is about low consumerism... you don't need to rush out and buy expensive new stainless steel tiffins and water bottles. I've bought second hand plastic containers in charity shops. Eco doesn't have to mean gimmicky and expensive... cut back and reuse first

I’d love a soda stream. But no space for it on the counter top really. Dh has a bit of a sparkling water habit.

The local wine shop here has ditched selling any soft drinks in non recyclable packaging. So glass bottles for water, cans only etc. They have a recycle point in their car park too so you can take things back.

I do reuse a lot of single use plastic. Eg if I haven’t had time for breakfast at home and am in a rush and/or cba to make anything to take to work with me I stop at coffee shop and buy a fruit pot or a fruit muesli pot. Instead of throwing these away I rinse out and bring home and then when I do remember I refil with fruit or small salad etc and take to work. We have 4 currently. I just lost one to the dishwasher.

I think someone mentioned it earlier in the thread but I second Splosh for cleaning products - just in the process of moving everything over as it runs out.

Bathroom - really difficult as we have absolutely no space in the shower to put a soap bar onto, the stupid tiles also mean we can't attach shelves. When we re-do it then I will be able to change.

Kitchen - I have silicon baking sheets. Tupperware boxes for leftover, clingfilm is maybe used once a month.
I moved to degradable freezer bags and bin bags. They are not 100% ideal but better than the standard ones.

If we take food out for the day I use plates/cuterly made from vegware or other sources. We normally take a proper picnic bag but sometimes it has to be stuff I can throw away.

Paper straws if they are really necessary.
We bought a water carbonator as we go through tons of sparkling water bottles.

DD uses Modibodi period pants.

No throwaway coffeecups

I buy cans instead of plastic bottles for drinks, they do recycle better.

Will try bringing my own containers for meat soon. Still quite annoyed about veg/fruit wrapping in the supermarkets but the farmer's market is too far away to go each week.

reluctantbrit could you put a suction soap dish on the wall like this:

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiPrfuUvvPiAhXPne0KHfNbCu8YABAOGgJkZw&ae=1&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESEeD2Ileul8Hf3QiC9J4XzeHQ&sig=AOD64_2JJF4-dOQUyjC4t6IwwQS2kBdZMw&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjj7vKUvvPiAhWLecAKHf9eB1oQwg96BAgJEBU&adurl=www.johnlewis.com/bliss-lock-n-roll-suction-shower-soap-dish/p911103%3Fsku%3D232686993%26s_kwcid%3D2dx92700042125694618%26tmad%3Dc%26tmcampid%3D2%26gclsrc%3Daw.ds%26%26gclid%3DCj0KCQjwl6LoBRDqARIsABllMSb7dF0GJZD5KH7t-fZysRUjf0hwf26-voldl6FUsy1SE8p8JZxf3Q4aArK6EALw_wcB" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">suction soap dish

There are so many good ideas for bathroom and cleaning plastics. Also pretty easy to avoid takeaway cups and water bottles.

Food shopping really seems the most difficult - especially plastic packs for pasta/rice & snacks & yogurt pots. The realistic options from the above advise & my research seem to be

• Veg = find a greengrocer & go in person
• Meat = go in person to supermarket meat counter or butcher
• Dry goods (pasta etc) = no realistic options
• Dairy = no realistic options for yogurt or milk (my local delivery would be in plastic, so may as well stick to supermarket)
• Snacks = buy the few non-plastic options I can see at supermarket (block chocolate in foil and a few crackers that say they are box only, but suspect might arrive with a plastic inner). And bake at home as alternative.

I will have to put a lot of hope in supermarkets following through on their own plastic-reduction strategies.

Near to me, there's a shop call Roots, Fruits and Flowers. They sell yoghurt in glass jars, but it is very expensive. They are about £3.50 each or something. The vanilla was super tummy though!
Or you could just make your own yoghurt once a week and store it in a glass jar in the fridge. If you buy milk in glass bottles, then it cuts out the plastic.

@ememem84
I’d love a soda stream. But no space for it on the counter top really.

Ours is on the windowsill, if that helps! Obvs I don’t know your kitchen but sodastreams have a pretty small footprint. 🤗

I’m going to ask for one for my “push present” (baby 2 due end of July!)

Dh likes the idea. And I remember friends having one when I was a kid and the cola being ace! As well as the cherry ade!

Dparents never let us have one. or a mr frosty

Watching war on plastic now. Astounded about the wetwipes.

Have said to dh we should try to reduce wet wipe useage. So keep them for nursery. Out and about. But maybe in the house go reuseable.

I bought DP a Sodastream for his birthday as he was getting through many small bottles of fizzy water each week and it was annoying me. I rarely buy drinks in plastic bottles, I have a -large- collection of reusables.

I eat yoghurt every day so now make my own.

I've used bar shampoo for a number of years, but only recently switched to using normal bar soap instead of shower gel. Works just as well.

Switched to washable pads and a Mooncup a few years ago. Am tempted by reusable toilet paper but I hate the feel of wetness against my bum so I don't think I'd like them, which is a shame.

This thread has caused me to check the local recycling scheme and it appears it has improved without my knowing, which is brilliant news but makes me feel guilty for what we've been throwing away unnecessarily.

@CaptainMyCaptain

I use a apple cider vinegar solution in place of conditioner (after bar shampoo). Its an excellent detangler and my hair is so soft and smooth.