Using less plastic at home.

[loubielou31]

What have you done at home that has worked and you have stuck with to reduce your plastic use?
Inspired by a Guardian article (that I now can't find) for simple ways to reduce plastic use in the home. The Guardian list had things like metal water bottles and wooden cooking utensils.
Also what have you tried that was a disaster. Hoping to get good tips from other mumsnetters.

@BarnacleBeasley also converted little cans of tonic. I don't drink enough gin so a big bottle goes flat before I have finished it. And the little cans feel fancy.😆

I don't drink enough gin

You need to sort this out.

I buy box washing powder

reusable bags and try to take net bags for fruit to supermarkets

reuse containers and make my own lunches, take a flask on days out

cook from scratch as much as possible

we take our excess plastic packaging to supermarket

food caddy

Bread maker
soda stream
milkman
refills for cleaning products
washing powder from than laundry liquid
bamboo washing up sponges
bar soap to replace a lot of shower gel
will get shampoo bars when I can
get meat from butcher - still some plastic but less

I use a reusable water bottle and have bars of soap. Also washing powder in a box but I've done that since forever and not for green reasons. I use a filter coffee machine and rarely buy coffee with disposable cup, nor sandwiches - I take sandwiches to work (in foil).

I have a hybrid car which does use petrol but less of it. and I WFH and use the train (and walk to station) when I am in the office so my weekly car mileage is very low (although now ds is home from uni he uses it to get to the gym (he could use a gym within walking or cycling distance but the membership is a lot more expensive).

I haven't flown this year (but will be in October (within Europe) so the halo will slip then).

Could do a lot better on plastic though.

We don’t buy: fabric conditioner, shower gel, shampoo or conditioner, razors, hair products, bottled water, fizzy drinks, coffees out.

We do buy: bar soap, bar shampoo, Ecover washing powder in cardboard, veg box from Riverford, use a reusable coffee cup, have Chilly bottles for water. No plastic bags for a decade as we are used to the Wales 5p charge.

Unfortunately a lot of everyday things in the weekly shop still come in plastic and I admire those of you making your own yoghurt! If there is a choice of something in plastic or glass/ tin I will go for the latter as it’s more recyclable.

It scares the crap out of me that microplastics have been found in every human organ including the brain and the placenta.

Oh and we have coconut brush things for scourers and reusable dish cloths that go in the washing machine instead of wipes.

Yeah, no excuses about plastic for that!

Hmm
Most of my plastic avoidance comes from just not buying stuff. Especially stuff packed in plastic. I save all plastic packaging and containers for re-use.

Probably what reduced my plastic footprint the most in recent years was the pandemic: specifically following the instruction to keep shopping trips to a minimum during the first lockdown. I switched to click and collect for my supermarket shop and decided to make it a monthly trip. No nipping to the small local supermarket because I'd forgotten something (manage without) or we just fancied something different/ a treat. Sticking to a monthly shop for non-perishables required me to be organised and disciplined, but the pandemic was motivation enough.

No nipping to the local shop meant no unplanned purchases of prepared food or snacks. I was surprised by how quickly we adjusted. I figured unopened yoghurt would keep well past the nominal sell/use by date (it does - it's absolutely fine weeks out of date!) and simply stopped buying hummus and bread (make both myself these days). As soon as I could I switched my wholefoods and my fresh fruit and veg. to an online supplier and box scheme respectively (because the local organic co-op's click and collect was hopeless). To avoid paying postage for my wholefoods I had to buy in bulk and plan…

Writing this down, it sounds very hairshirt, but it wasn't and isn't. Best of all it saves me an enormous amount of time - I can't believe how many hours I used to waste on acquiring household supplies and now spend outside in nature.

The next human to be born without plastic in them will be thousands of years from now.

I don't buy:
Bottled water
Fabric conditioner
Bottled shampoo
Shower gel
Takeaway coffees
Cling film
Plastic wrapped fruit and veg
Plastic wrapped loo roll
Plastic wrapped cotton wool
Throwaway razors

I use or reuse or refill:
Bars of soap
Cleaning products
Washable make up remover pads
Food waste goes into composter

There are lots of small changes which add up to big changes

Bar soap
Plastic free sponges
Shampoo & conditioner I buy 2.5litre bottles from Faith in Nature and decant into refillable bottles for the showers
I use tupperware and freezer bags (reused multipe times) rather than clingfilm
I don’t buy takeaway coffee since we got a coffee machine
Milk in paper cartons not plastic
Don’t buy any drinks in plastic bottles - glass or cans only
Sheet laundry detergent
Reusable water bottles (mostly metal although do have some plastic ones as the metal ones are so blooming heavy)
Plastic free tea bags
Cat food is dry so comes in massive bags not pouches

Tried but couldn’t get on with

Bar shampoo - just couldn’t get it to cover hair properly
Bamboo/wood interdental brushes - fell apart
Fruit & veg box - too much got wasted/had to supplement
Recycled toothbrush heads - not as good

@MotherOfCatBoy this is the yoghurt maker I use .
You need a starter some people buy the powder type but I prefer to use a bit of yoghurt. If you do use yoghurt make sure it's plain Greek style you only need about 2 tablespoons of it.
It is really simple to use. Warm 1 lt of milk ( I use whole but any cow / goat milk will work ) to about body temp . Add your yoghurt or powder starter, stir well pour into the machine turn it on and let it do its thing.
It takes 8 hrs but you don't need to do anything at all to it during this time.
Once it's done either give it a quick stir chill it and use it if you prefer thiner consistency or put it through the strainer ( takes about 2 hrs ) to have a consistency you can stand your spoon up in.
Add any flavour you want at this stage not beforehand.
Either way round put a few spoon fulls to one side to create your next starter.

I’m do my bar soap also but always find, regardless of brand that they end up with ugly cracks in them? Looks a bit yuck > looking at you, Valentee soap <

And those fancy ones you can buy at places like TK Maxx start off a lovely colour, say bright yellow so look very pretty then it’s like it’s just a weird outer layer that reveals jyst plain old white soap.

I always tell myself my drink tastes much nicer using these dinky cans 😁

Yes, yogurt is easy to make, you just need somewhere warm, we have a range cooker that's always on so I do it in a pan on top of there and strain it through a muslin. But life has got very hectic at the moment so I'm getting it in glass from the milkman.

Yes also to veg boxes although I do buy from the supermarket/market too.

Cat food in tins not pouches.

Doh and now with the link 🤔https://www.lakeland.co.uk/31794/lakeland-multi-yogurt-and-soft-cheese-maker

I agree with pp, I use boxed soap powder but I always have done .
I Honestly can't understand why people used pods , they are so expensive by comparison.
Even when it's on offer Daz ( my prefered brand ) is almost £10 per kg for pods , the powder at its regular price is less than £3 per kg .
I also dont use any kind of softener .

I use Simple soap and they don’t seem to crack?

Oh, it definitely does! I find tonic always goes flat when I get a larger bottle but the dinky cans are always fresh and sparkly!
I stopped using kitchen roll and cling film a few years ago, as there are so many alternatives. Instead of kitchen roll, I used tea towels or rags instead and I have wax wraps and boxes and jars instead of cling film.

Oh, and Wype gel instead of moist toilet paper. It's really good. We don't use any single use wipes at all now.

How do you wash your car?

I reduced my plastic but then a friend got me a subscription to Ethical Consumer and that changed everything for me. I still try but overall, compared to other ethical issues, it pales into insignificance. Luckily my local zero waste shop stocks products that do well on the Ethical Consumer scale.

just recently I stopped buying dog poo bags and I use plastic from food items. According to Sliced Bread it’s the most sustainable way.

With a bucket and sponge and a hose to rinse off. Do people really use kitchen roll on their cars?

Cling film generally isn’t one worth avoiding.

Buy tye bacofoil one so none is wasted tearing it off. Then use when needed to preserve food and another options aren’t ideal. Very very tiny amounts and prevents the food waste.

You do that to the inside? Not all people who own a car have a driveway or an outdoor tap.