Multiple deliveries versus plastic

[ElphabaTheGreen]

I’m doing my best to reduce how much plastic we use. I’ve recently been looking more at the packaging on household stuff that we buy and going for non-plastic as much as possible but the only way I seem to be able to do this is via multiple deliveries which I’m kind of guessing cancels out the environmental benefit of reducing plastic waste? Eg getting toilet paper, kitchen roll and tissues from Who Gives A Crap, dishwasher tablets from Smol, milk deliveries in glass bottles, then Tesco delivery for everything else versus just getting everything in one Tesco delivery where none of these things are available in non-plastic packaging.

Has anyone done a weigh-up on this?

I get deliveries from Smol and use a local refill shop specifically to reduce plastic waste and the fact that I get multiple deliveries had never occurred to me

I do get 3 months worth of dishwasher tablets/non bio delivered at one time though...

Place marking to see if there’s a better solution!

It was DH who pointed it out Blackjack - asking me why pouring additional carbons into the atmosphere with multiple deliveries was preferable to relatively small amounts of plastic packaging. But plastic is my particular area of concern (I’m NHS and just choking at the amount of plastic PPE we’re binning every day) whereas he’s a cyclist so he does tend to think of the travel/fossil fuels burden more.

I read a thread on here last night where someone in the know said that reducing car use has a bigger positive environmental impact than recycling which makes me think I should probably go back to toilet paper/kitchen roll/tissues, dishwasher tablets, milk wrapped in plastic in the one delivery...(plus, it’s way cheaper...)

You can get dishwasher tablets in water soluble casings in a cardboard box (from Lidl) I think, so no plastic waste.

On the matter of kitchen roll, if you're wanting to reduce environmental impact, why are you even buying it? Just use a washable cloth.

Don't forget that other packaging has a carbon footprint too. Recycling glass is very energy intensive for a start. It also takes more energy to use because it's much heavier.

Also think about how much cleaning products and toiletries you're using. Some people use alarming amounts. If you're buying more than a bottle of bleach or other cleaner a month, or more than a bottle of shower gel per person per month, use more than a couple of bottles of fabric conditioner per year, you probably have significant scope to reduce the amount that you use, which should be what you're thinking about, before you consider recycling the waste you produce.

@BarbaraofSeville

You can get dishwasher tablets in water soluble casings in a cardboard box (from Lidl) I think, so no plastic waste.

On the matter of kitchen roll, if you're wanting to reduce environmental impact, why are you even buying it? Just use a washable cloth.

Don't forget that other packaging has a carbon footprint too. Recycling glass is very energy intensive for a start. It also takes more energy to use because it's much heavier.

Also think about how much cleaning products and toiletries you're using. Some people use alarming amounts. If you're buying more than a bottle of bleach or other cleaner a month, or more than a bottle of shower gel per person per month, use more than a couple of bottles of fabric conditioner per year, you probably have significant scope to reduce the amount that you use, which should be what you're thinking about, before you consider recycling the waste you produce.

I’d have to drive to Lidl just for dishwasher tablets which would defeat the purpose and I don’t have the time/energy to just do my full shop there. I always find I need to go elsewhere for stuff if I try and do a full shop at Lidl/Aldi so one delivery from Tesco is still less transport-heavy.

We use washable cloths 90% of the time. For big spills, I just prefer kitchen roll - it’s not like it sits on landfill for all eternity like disposable nappies. We don’t use much, plus you’ve also got to think of the energy consumption of washing cloths/towels.

The glass bottles get collected, washed and re-used by the delivery company, so no energy consumption on recycling although the weight of transporting the things has been part of my musings as to whether getting deliveries versus just using plastic is worth it.

We use a bare minimum of cleaning products - I think I’ve bought one bottle of bleach in five years! I try to buy refill stuff for cleaning products as well eg you can now get tablets that you just add water to in the original bottle to refill it, or getting refill pouches for reusable hand soap containers.

Tesco's do an own brand dishwasher tablet in soluble coating packed in cardboard. They work better than the finish etc.

I switched to washing power in cardboard rather than liquid.

We just started having a milk delivery.

I do the weekly shop on my way home so it's not an extra journey.

I switched to canned drinks rather than plastic bottles.

We still fill an entire wheelie bin of recycling in 2 weeks.

When dh worked shifts in town rather than wfh he'd get our months worth of meat at the meat market so we'd have less plastic from food.

We have washable pads and wipes for periods.

I really want to cut down but am struggling.

The plastic waste the covid world is generating is scary.

Single use masks, Lateral flow tests, gloves. None of it gets recycled.