To think reducing plastic consumption is only really possible for wealthier families.

[P3onyPenny]

So we recycle every single thing we can and having researched reusable bottles that don't leak all 5 of us have Smash bottles at £12 each. Not having the plastic in the house in the first place is what really counts and wanted to do more but every single recommendation costs a fortune.

We shop for most of our bill at Lidl which is the worst for plastic packaging so can't change supermarket.

Changing to a milkman to stop plastic milk cartons cost double.

Having toilet role delivered in non plastic wrapping which supports building 3rd world toilets is double.

Having a Riverford( or any box) for veg let alone meat is hugely more expensive.

Lush shampoo bars and tins are very expensive.

Bamboo toothbrushes,paste in jars,non plastic deo are things we would get though a lot of and again are££££££...

Beeswax wraps are £££££ for a decent size x5........

I re-use water bottles but my brother was horrified, saying that as they are re-used all the plastic starts to degrade into tiny pieces that go into the water and then into me and its poisoning me. He said I would be better off reusing metal drinking bottles - which is fine but they only hold 1 pint and I usually drink out of 2 or 4 pint bottles!

Does anyone know if the 'plastic degrading' thing is genuine or another urban myth?

Not true Bobby Those who sell water would like us to think so though.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/reuse-plastic-bottles/

oops blobby

Grandmother used the saucer on top of a bowl or cup in the fridge, and I do too.

If you cant reduce how much plastic you use stop worrying about it, and instead look at how much you can recycle and where your waste goes.

Where I live waste doesn't go to landfill (or the sea), it goes to an incinerator. We should be building better, cleaner incinerators, and work out what to do with the carbonised ash.

Another source of plastic pollution is clothing. Things like polar fleece shed micro plastics. This is far harder to avoid though.

We need more of these type of places - shops actively trying to cut down.

www.thecleankilo.co.uk/

One thing I would like to be able to do is reuse wine bottles. I remember as a kid on holiday in France you could take wine bottles in for a refund and you could also refill your own with the local wine.

I love wine, I buy a case of it and the bottles do go into recycling but wouldn't it be better if they could be washed and reused?

My local council have just stopped food recycling, I'm not sure why but I think maybe not many people used it. I know on my street I didn't see the food recycling go out much. My next door neighbours do not recycle anything, or if they do they never put the recycling bin out and they always have a couple of bags as well as the non recycle bin.

Areyoulocal - the OP wasn't specifically about people with disabilities / medical need reducing plastic use. It was about wealthier / less wealthy people. Hospitals are one of the worst offenders for single use plastics in a multitude of forms.

I agree to an extent.

An old school friend of mine was always one of the wealthiest in the school, she’s a Cambridge grad and has spent the past couple of years travelling around Asia to ‘find herself’ . You get the gist. She is vegan and considers herself an eco warrior so is on the plastic free hype.

It’s easy enough to buy fruit and veg without plastic from the market. Some supermarkets will have certain fruit and veg loose but definitely not all. It’s easy and cheap enough buying a reusable water bottle and coffee cup instead of using plastic ones. I think bamboo toothbrushes are fairly cheap on eBay. No idea what happens with things like chocolate.

The thing that gets me is toiletries and cosmetics. Everything she uses is Lush. Lush is extortionate, the average person can’t afford everything from there at all. It’s £1 for a big tub of shower gel or shampoo sometimes but Lush is at least five times the amount. I couldn’t afford it, I have three young DC. She always plugs lush products on Instagram and expects everyone to also be able to afford it, it’s not possible.

We don’t have a local milkman. I looked into it after reading about it on here. We had one as children but they disappeared about 15 years ago and I haven’t seen one since.

The school friend posts about making her own plant milks and avoiding plastic that way. I work FT and have three DC, there’s no way you’ll find me milking almonds.

For reusing plastic bottles, am I the only one that finds water bottles tend to go weird after a few months and does anyone know any ways to prevent that? I've tried all I've been able to find on it but it hasn't helped and I haven't really found any good non-metal large water bottles (1-2 litres).

Overall though, I agree with others that more focus needs to be on pushing industries to clean up their acts. While we can all do our bits, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to industries and it's very frustrating when governments particularly focus on pushing individuals to do things with no concern for income or disabilities or access while ignoring what could do more.

raviolodreaming Single-use plastic straws were originally designed for hospitals and care homes, there isn't really a better option for them yet for hygiene, safety, and ease of use though I know some people who put them in the dishwasher who can get a pack to last years before getting holes or other issues, I'm not sure how that would work for public settings.

More research into alternatives for medical uses would be great but I think there are far worse industries in terms of waste and environmental impact. With the recent straw ban shite in Seattle and elsewhere that threw disabled people under the bus to appear environmentally friendly while ignoring far larger environmental problems has a few on guard for further so-called green actions to consider all people whether or not disabled people are specifically mentioned as we're part of the population - wealthy and not wealthy - too.

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

Do you best to reduce ALL packaging and waste
Do you best to reuse any packaging etc
Recycle all you can

And it IS worth us doing it because we send a message to the whole supply chain.

BTW
50% of all palm oil is used in biodiesel so the best way to save the orang utang is to not drive a diesel car

Best way to reduce plastic is to buy less stuff/buy second hand so no I think yabu.
Surely a £5 water bottle is no more likely to leak than a £12 one?? No one I know seems to have a problem with leaky water bottles.
I know not everyone has access to them but in cities Asian greengrocers sell the best and cheapest loose veg.
A lot of reusable stuff will save money in the long term although that's obviously no help if you're really struggling,

Amazon have bar shampoo for £2. They last for months if you get one in tins - just rub on head - don't take out chunks or stick fingers in it - just a rub.

It's not just about us personally reducing it. It's also about putting pressure on shops to reduce plastic

Personally i think/hope that the future is in things like Vegware going mainstream:
www.vegware.com/about/info_1.html

Agree that cutting down on plastic is harder if you’ve little spare money, and also -possibly even more so - if you have a disability.

Sorry meant to say “agree completely” to PP’s quoted excerpt above!

Bamboo toothbrushes aren't that expensive - I got 4 for £10 from Amazon. That'll last me a year, hardly breaking the bank!

I do agree. It was featured on Countryfile (I think) earlier in the week. Whilst I agree it great to do so, a practical way is by tracing the provenance of food, and buying locally; all of which require time, and additional money.

It was conceded it did indeed cost a fair penny. I can’t help thinking this is a wider issue though. Society is expectant of sourcing out of season food 24/7- does anyone remember the seasonality of things like strawberries?! All of which require additional packing to keep fresh.

On a sideline, it annoys me all the wee bags supermarkets have by the fruit and veg. What. A. Waste.

Maybe Brexit will take us back to a market that isn’t so consumable, dependant on huge buyer to market chains and ultimately: more environmentally friendly (probably not though).

We did a quick shop at Morrisons today (not a full week's) and had no plastic at all or disposable packaging. Fruit and veg straight into cloth/net bags, bacon, piece of beef, some chicken breasts and some mince into pyrex pots, cheese into a beeswax cloth thing.

DN4GeekinDerby I know. I'm absolutely not disputing the need for plastic straws in certain settings. I don't know why I keep being singled out for this! Anyway, just because they're needed in hospitals and for people with certain medical diagnoses I'm still not sure why that means that people who aren't 'wealthy' can't stop using them, as per the OP.

I make our own soap and shampoo bars. Last week I made my own Beeswax wraps.

I also make my own laundry detergent,

We pressure can our own sauces from leftovers,

It’s an interesting point; bringing your own containers to get meat, for example.

Why are we not doing this? They could (the gov) surely impose a charge on packaging in this sense (like plastic bags) and see a huge reduction in waste/ changed attitude towards it.

I for one would be delighted to lessen my recycling tub- it’s always overflowing.

Your absolutely right op. It is cheaper in the long run but you need the initial out lay.
Like you say, beeswrap wraps instead of cling film, reusable sanitary products. It’s cheaper once you have them. But it’s the initial cost.

I do what I can but those £10 bamboo toothbrushes would break my bank. I was really pleased with my 50p paper cotton buds in Sainsbury’s though.

I got 10 bamboo toothbrushes for £10 so they don't have to be that expensive

@cloudtree thank you very much for that link - very very interesting! I shall continue to drink out of my plastic water bottles (unless they have been in the car)