to ask what you're doing to reduce your use of plastics?

[k2p2k2tog]

Lots of coverage on the BBC yesterday about how we used to ship loads of plastics for recycling to China, and China have said they aren't taking it any more.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42455378

Of course recycling is a good thing. But that should come third after reduce and reuse.

Plastics are an environmental nightmare - we can't avoid all plastics but we can certainly reduce what we're using. I've just ordered reusable sandwich wraps for the kids to take to school rather than wrapping in cling film. Little steps. If everyone does a little bit, we can reduce the total amount of plastics.

So what are you doing???

I've had stuff from Splosh in the past : www.splosh.com/

You get one initial plastic bottle then buy little concentrated tabs which you dilute. It wasn't too expensive and the washing liquid was good.

Small changes but recently stopped using bin liners in kitchen and bathroom bins. Just empty them into one big bag in the garage and wash the bin out.Only takes a few minutes,and bin liners were always slipping down or splitting anyway.
Hand wash with soap,no more hand wash bottles.Bath and shower gel in big,refillable dispensers.No more little bottles.
No more bottled water,refillable filter bottle.
Lots of reusable containers for food storage.Reuse plastic soup cartons etc now rather than binning.
For ages I have hated the amount of packaging in shops.M and S for example,boxes and boxes of over packaged food.Boxed baked potato ?Don't get me wrong I know people are busy ,I am,but how hard is it to buy a loose spud and cook it ?I was seriously wondering if I could take some stuff out of packaging after I've paid and hand it in to customer services and say,here you go I don't want all this.I understand some goods are more perishable and easily damaged,but the amount of layers on some produce is ridiculous.
And I've come home seriously depressed today after high winds and bins overflowing after Xmas and not yet emptied have resulted in huge amounts of litter,adding to the stuff already jettisoned from cars.
I simply don't understand how people don't care,or can't see that if we all made a bit more effort the planet could be a cleaner safer place.For humans and wildlife.Since becoming a grandparent I feel a greater sense of urgency to make changes.

I get a veg box, which means most of the veg we use is not wrapped in plastic. When I do get extra fruit and veg in the supermarket, I don't put it in a plastic bag - things like apples and potatoes and onions are fine just loose in the trolley, and then in my shopping bag.

I've been emailing the local food retailers I love, telling them how much I love them and their food, and how great their staff were (all true) and then politely suggesting that it might save waste - and them money - if they did one small thing. For example I asked the local mexican food outlet if they might consider asking their staff to not always routinely put a plastic fork into a takeaway burrito bag, but only if the customer asks - it's a burrito, doesn't need a fork anyway! They responded very well and said that's what should be happening anyway.

I have been refusing straws and teaching my kid to refuse straws, too, if we are anywhere that serves cold drinks.

We have switched to a lot of unwrapped products. Now my shampoo, conditioner, shower cream and bubble baths are all packaging free. All creams and liquids I buy come in recycleable pots and bottles which we always recycle, which although not perfect is better than landfill.

Food wise we avoid packaging on fruit/veg where possible and try to stick to items with small amounts of packaging. We take reusable bottles with us and that type of thing. We use cotton shopping bags etc.

We do still use plastics but try to limit as much as possible within our means.

I’ve been trying to decide whether I’ll have more impact by buying fruit and veg loose at grocer who uses less packaging , or to buy from big retailer and leave all plastic packaging behind on the packing shelf.

I don't frive neither does DH and we use glass and metal just fine and im about the clumsiest person there is. Plus id rather have the minute risk of a glass breaking that have my hormones messed up with plastic. Its not just the environment its leaching into you know

OP your hectoring tone makes me (and I would guess others) want to go out and buy more plastic

Really so an annoying OP on Aibu would disencentivse you against taking action that will slow down an inevitable environmental catastrophe ? That may not occur in our lifetime but will affect your great grandchildren and future generations

Because that’s where we are heading but people don’t care

And you know for all my actions I still have a HUGE carbon footprint and I am no angel in this area .

But we need to wake up and care about this issue as our ‘Leaders’ are sadly slow to

Snuggle

Hear hear ! Seeing the waste everywhere today after that storm really woke me up . Loads of polystyrene packing my personal favourite !

After a christmas fucking CONSUMING

Another reason why I don’t especially care for christmas

I am a happy person honestly but I am starting to get very sad and despairing about this .

Can the PP dontgoogle come back and cheer us up !

I sensed my people were not too impressed by their brown paper packages this year tough !!!!

I genuinely forgot about cotton wool buds - plastic "handles". How on earth do we get round that one? I use buds quite a lot (wiping off dye from brows and hairline, wiping off eyemake up errors, correcting my eyeliner......) and I feel really bad now that I didnt think of them as plastic! BUT cant think of what else is a good substitute!

@amummyatlast never heard of the cheeky wipes before, really interested did you buy a kit or just a pack of make up removing pads?

PS Anyone read of the little Welsh village and their GIANT steps to reduce plastics? Very heartwarming and has many ideas in the article too.

You can get reausable make up wipe disc things and theres a reausable Q tip called the U-tip which i use and it pretty good its for earwax though not make up removals

@gertythegert you can get wooden q-tips can't you?

Cotton buds with paper handles are available:

images.ethicalsuperstore.com/images/42107-Simply-Gentle-Organic-Cotton-WoolBuds.jpg

What's more shocking is that people seem to think it's ok to flush the plastic ones down the loo!

utilitytip.com/

“Today 15:55 BahHumbygge

Those who are saying they don't care or are put off... you do realise that the usual export route of our waste plastics for recycling has been cut off - China has banned their import. So that means there is nowhere for our waste plastics to go. We do not have anywhere near the capacity to deal with the intensity of the consumption rate we use plastic packaging. We will either have to rapidly commission more landfill sites, more incineration plants, or "mothball" much of it in sheds in light industrial estates... with the fire risk that entails - many recycling plants regularly go up. Any of those could be sited the other side of your back garden wall. How does that suit?”

Well no, we just have to find another compliant and uncaring/ third world and desperate country to send it all too. As it said in the article, it’s already being arranged

Johnson's cotton buds now have paper handles, I noticed the other day.

Bore off OP!

@FireCracker2 what's the point of that? Not totally buggering up the country under a tide of used single-use plastic might be boring to you, but it's pretty necessary all the same. (And it was necessary before, but now we can't export our shit to China any more to bugger-up their country, it's absolutely crucial.)

Some really interesting ideas on here that I will look at using. I've been on mat leave for 9 months and have been made much more aware about the waste I produce at home and how to reduce it.

Currently we:

• Use cloth nappies
• I used bamboo breast pads when BF and now use these as face cloths instead of cotton wool
• Taking a reusable bottle/flask out with me when going out
• Trying to have a lot of no drive days and getting out and about with the pram
• Buying toys off Facebook market place or Gumtree in order to reduce waste. I often use toy libraries and sling libraries as well.
• Now DD is on formula we buy from Aldi, it comes in a metal tin with a plastic lid so would be easier to recycle but current DH uses the tins in the garage for storage.
• Hand soap bars instead of liquid soap.
• Cleaning clothes instead of cleaning wipes
• Using fabric shopping bags

This year has really opened my eyes and made me more aware of what I can do on a personal level. I have challenged myself to be as waste free as possible this year for environmental and finical reasons.

I've stopped buying individual pots of yoghurt and now only buy big pots (we love yogurt!) but would really prefer to cut out that plastic as well - does anyone know if any regularly-available brands use cardboard pots or corn starch biodegradable ones?

And I get my shampoo bars from here, which also does loads of refill products and non-plastic alternatives for things like toothbrushes

It's an amazing little company

https://www.purenuffstuff.co.uk/Hair-Care

I’ve stopped drinking white lightening cider (plastic bottles) and now drink thatchers (glass bottle) instead

I bought a Chilly’s water bottle for a king’s ransom.