Or do we need to stop telling people that being environmentally friendly Is easy?

[Jackfruitburger]

Just to clarify I am not perfect, I am less than halfway on my zero waste journey. I'm on the Facebook groups thinking 'wow that sounds like a good idea' I'm not doing much yet!
The thing that really winds me up is people saying that doing these things are easy. I currently use reusable nappies, I buy loose leaf tea and I've started refilling my own Nespresso capsules. I refill my washing up and laundry liquid. All of it is a complete ball ache. There's not one way which is easier than buying the alternative.
Teabags, much easier and cheaper to Chuck one of those into a mug rather than get my tea out, fill up my filtered teapot, then afterward scoop all the bits into the food waste.
Until we start saying to people 'look this won't be easy but this is what the planet needs' we won't succeed. I feel deceived by everyone saying that all these changes are so 'easy and straight forward' when they're not!

Well no it's not easy otherwise teabags, disposable nappies and disposable plastic bottles would never have been invented.

Somethings are not that much more difficult though - reusable cups/shopping bags etc.

It isn’t easy, cheap or convenient. The whole recycling malarkey falls so squarely on the shoulders of the consumer and householder and it is quite unfair ...

@Theknacktoflying I agree, legislation is the only way we are going to get anywhere. All my colleagues chuck their plastic in the bin and I'm worrying about the plastic in a teabag?!

If you are just having one cup of tea, try a tea ball infuser with handle- super easy and convenient. They cost £1-2, I think.

I agree with you that not everything is easy, like getting rid of cars, airplanes, shipping, and the 100 companies which do 70% of the polluting.

I also think that some of it is a mindset, and if you start carrying your bags, reusing coffee cups, reducing your laundry, training your kids to be conscious of treading lightly on the planet, eating in a thoughtful way, etc, often things which used to seem difficult end up being a big part of life's small pleasures.

I don't know why anyone is worried about the amount of plastic in a teabag. It's miniscule (basically a tiny smear of glue). You could drink tea for a decade and not use the amount of plastic in one happy meal toy.

Surely this depends on personal circumstances...
we use reusable nappies & wipes ,reusable cups etc & can honestly say we've not found them difficult or hard work. So I will happily tell friends / family that we love using them & would recommend them.

Teabags can go in your food waste though so why do you need to use loose leaf

@covetingthepreciousthings so when you're wiping the poo out of the seal of your washing machine, going into work paranoid that you smell of ammonia you honestly don't wish you could just buy a pack of Lidl nappies?
I've cloth nappie'd with both mine, my youngest is just starting potty training and I love them... but they are hard work. Especially in the winter and without a tumble dryer!

Why was I told for years that teabags were fully compostable?

Even the nonbleached ones from Clipper are not plastic free ( according to the internet!) But the pukka herbal ones are.

Manufacturers havecp been Too unclear imo.

@sweeneytoddsrazor it's the packaging, I can buy loose leaf in a paper bag (it's about the same price per gram as cocaine.)

Thanks villers, I didn’t know pukka tea bags were compostable, I drink a lot so not I can compost them :).

OP I agree, it’s hard work, and also at times expensive. I’m on a budget, and find it tough when I have to sometimes compromise my principals because I can’t afford not to 😞.

Well done on your hard work OP! It's so nice to see people making an effort.

No it's not easy and it's certainly not cheap. I've found once I build it into our routine it gets easier, but every now and then I realise just how much extra effort (and cost!) we go through to help the planet! And we're not even half way on our journey.

Some things have been easier though. For example we used to fill up our antibacterial cleaning spray at the shop, but now we use a solution of water, white vinegar and citrus rinds which saves us a trip to the shop!

But yes, it's mostly harder. And I think it will be until more people do it. We're quite fortunate to live in an area with a few zero waste shops, but if everyone was doing it things would be so much easier!

Keep going - you never know who you're going to inspire! So many people I know have started picking up the odd habit, these things can catch on.

Oh and @sweeneytoddsrazor it's only some tea bags that can be composted :( I hear Pukka teas are okay!

But then again it is also up to the council as to how to dispose of rubbish. Our council has 5 bins ....all with different rules and when your neighbour thinks to put his pizza boxes in recycling bin it negates the recycling you have done. Our council has cut down the no. of days our recycling centre is open (huge amount of fly tipping), the rules how to recycle are long and complicated and so it is easier to dispose of rubbish in the normal wastebin.
I personally didn’t have the space for nappy buckets or facilities ....

I try to be environmentally friendly but I could certainly do a lot more. I’ve never been told, or thought, that it is easy.

I agree it's not easy. I believe PG tips have said they won't use any plastic in their teabags now. I use both loose tea and teabags as I've got one of those one cup loose leaf tea pots so if it's just me I'll have that.

I'm finding it tough on a budget tbh. Little things recently for example - 3 tins of sweetcorn with extra plastic wrap round the are cheaper than buying them individually. There is no need for them to be packed in plastic in this way but it's cheaper . Also, carrots in Sainsbury's and I think Asda are cheaper if you buy the big bag in plastic rather than loose. I could go on. It really, really irritates me! I'm on a very tight budget so these things really make such a difference to me.

My thing is just trying to buy less overall tbh. Oh and clothes I've been trying to buy quality over quantity so they last and I've found a brand selling reasonable organic t shirts so might give them a go for basics.

Basically the big companies need to do way more way quicker. But I just think I'd rather do something. Keep going op!

Don't take my word for it I seem to come up with new info each time-consuming take a look!

it's just because we're not used to it. My dad was, inadvertently I think, pretty environmental, mainly because he had a very wartime attitude to waste, and he was also quite tight with money. He recycled when recycling meant taking your papers to the recycling bins in the supermarket carpark.

but, he was also very good at making life quite difficult for himself (and us)!

@foxessocks I hear ya. We're trying to make the switch over to the milkman but it's 91p a pint! I'm trying to think of it as an investment in our planet but when you can see the cheaper alternatives in the supermarkets every day it is hard.
I can't afford organic either. My kids eat 8 pieces of fruit a day. I try to shop seasonally. I think the supermarkets need to help us out. In October I should be able to buy British apples and they shouldn't be four times the price of the ones from New Zealand!
As for beeswax food wraps and Lush shampoo bars, I just can't stretch to that right now. Plus we have hard water so loads of those products don't work for us.

I think there has been a (in my mind not so) grey area between being talked of as compostABLE and leaving behind no plastic webbing / particles.

Surely reusable nappies shouldn't be caking your washing machine with poo?

I though there was a detachable section which catches most of the solid waste to throw away before putting in the machine?

Surely reusable nappies shouldn't be caking your washing machine with poo?

^^

This. Poo should be scraped off into the loo before washing the nappy. If you do that and still get poo remaining after a wash, you need a new machine.

But on topic - we need strict laws preventing the manufacture/use of most plastics. With a 12 month deadline and high fines. It’s amazing how fast industry would locate biodegradable alternatives given the right incentive.

There need to be a responsibility for disposal showing precisely how stuff can be recycled, composted and what's left behind! Extra Tax paid on landfill items.

This may wipe out stupidity like foil and glitter wrapping paper.

I mean a responsibility on PRODUCERS not consumers who do not know about manufacturing standards and what precisely is in every product bought.

Sorry, what's the plastic in tea bags?

Just have a Google.

Most teabags have been incorporating plastic for some time! I've just spotted a guardian article from 2010!

It's just not crossed my radar til autumn of this year. I noticed my Yorkshire tea bags were positively stretchy! They are now saying they are moving to a biodegradable substitute. The (late) publicity is now having am effect.