AIBU to ask if that bit of plastic is really necessary **title edited by MNHQ**

[Ifwisheswereunicorns]

If you think of every plastic toy you had as a child, every plastic wrapper or box it ever came in, every bit of plastic curling ribbon that made a pretty bow around that gift you gave, every happy meal toy you got as a kid, every happy meal toy you got for your kid, every drinking straw, every shampoo or conditioner bottle, every washing up liquid bottle, every milk bottle, every party bag filler toy (that falls apart in the car on the way home!), every bit of plastic your food of drink comes in; IT STILL EXISTS! In one way or another (unless it's been insinorated, causing atmospheric polution, cluttering up our planet; polluting our oceans, shores and land.
Our planet is in crisis.
AIBU to ask if you could think again about what to buy at Christmas? X

Met Office weather forecast for the week ahead and its 17 degrees centigrade in the seas around Iceland. That is 14 degrees higher that what it should be when we are only 30 days away from the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.

@Ifwisheswereunicorns what are the eco bricks you mentioned?

Interesting. I've really started to think about waste a lot in the last 6 months or so!

At a recent function, the table centres were bunches of balloons. I didn't like them at all.

Will be more thoughtful about wrapping presents and stocking fillers etc this year. I will probably be a bit of a hypocrite at times though as Christmas gets closer.

Christmas is a monstrous time for the environment. I’m not buying anyone who is an adult anything. I’m getting the kids stuff like a onesie - it’ll be worn, they need clothing. And other stuff like chocolate which will get eaten.

It is almost impossible to stop the plastic because it is money for businesses. You go to a kid’s party, you’ll likely receive plastic in the party bag.

I picked up an order form Next today, every single item of clothing was wrapped in its own plastic bag and then each one wrapped in its own Next delivery plastic. 20 bags of plastic that could have been combined/packaged differently and reduced the amount of plastic used.

www.ecobricks.org @balloondog have a look on their website, they're on Facebook too. As I said, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them when I've made them, possibly attempt a community project. For now, even though I thought we were already living fairly low plastic, it's interesting and alarming to see how much non-recyclable plastic my household is throwing away. It's quite unbelievable so far.

Also, for convenience when catering at Christmas we used to use some disposable plates and cups etc. Will have another think about that too.

@PrincessHairyMclary I put an online order in with matalan a few months ago and was horrified with that same issue. I emailed them about it and haven't done an online shop order since. It's mindless.

Gift wrap is not recyclable? I didn't know that

Well I will rethink that then.....

@bluecrown it is really hard because who has enough plates etc. for lots of people coming around for parties etc. There are better choices to make or bad choices to make e.g. paper plates that have been made from recycled material vs plastic plates; put those cleaned paper plates back to be recycled and it's not so bad. There aren't many people who can afford to or have room to stock enough ceramic plates for lots of guests for what might be a couple of do' s a year... are there?!

@FixItUpChappie the holographic stuff and glittery ones arent; most of the rest is printed with harmful inks (please add more reasons if anyone else has some...). It's bloody scary that we only find these things out by other regular people or if you make a point of looking into it, isn't it? Why isn't it broadcast on the news each year to make sure everyone is aware that the choices we make have such an impact on our environment? Capatilism. That's why. It makes the world go 'round, so they say. (Well, money, same difference).

@Youaremyfavourite, like my kids, yours are at the age where you can do this and bring them up not expecting gifts made out of stuff that's going to suffocate the planet and its inhabitants. I hope things will change regarding what's available to us when our children are a bit older. We have to start now though, right!

@Ztst it is so hard, my kids went to a party yesterday and got a party bag with a crappy plastic toy, they toy lasted longer than usual and broke today (As opposed to breaking on the way home!) The toy has a label on it with a web address, I'll be emailing them tomorrow (I'll say why in a minute).
My son's party, which is coming up, I've booked somewhere that includes party bags in its price, I've asked them to do a small discount as I want to do the party bags myself and have them plastic free. Party bag fillers are about my worst.

I agree in principle but can't help wondering about people's definition of 'tat'. It's not just cheap and nasty, frivolous stuff that's made out of plastic. It's easy to lament the widespread purchasing of cheap, throwaway plasticky stuff and forget about tvs, laptops and mobile phones - expensive stuff but with a relatively short shelf-life as new versions flood the market. Not sure what we do about that - I can't see bamboo iPhones becoming popular.

Sorry, I forgot, I'll email the crappy plastic toy company to plead with them to stop their antics. I know 1 email won't change anything but I'm sure there will be lots of other people doing the same thing... surely? I've decided to email at least one business/company each day to ask them to change their ways. It can't do any harm but maybe a bit of good?

@Knittink it's so true. It's all part of the disposable mentality. Hopefully people will grow out of it at some point. But more so it's the manufacturers only making their products last for a couple of years, often, max. If you look at all the people who have said they've had their Christmas lights or their vacuum for the last 50 years, things were, and could still be, built to last. It's consumerism and clever marketing that has made big businesses give their products a two year lifespan.

I’m trying really hard to use less plastic, and am saving the recyclable plastic wrapping/bags/packaging to take to Tesco for their bag recycling. I do recycle everything I can into household recycling. I’m going to do the brown paper thing for gift wrapping, and we use fabric ribbon which gets rolled up and used again next year. I don’t use cleaning wipes as I can’t imagine they are helping the landfill. We’re using a bokashi bin (even though I hate it!) and have a compost heap.

I’ll have a read of the eco bricks page. I did see a “greenhouse” recently made of empty plastic bottles fitted together within a wooden frame. Would probably work really well although it wasn’t very stylish!

@DNAwrangler

We use these for loose fruit, or don’t bother at all. www.lakeland.co.uk/73241/Carrinet-Veggio-Reusable-Fruit-and-Veg-Bags-Pack-of-5

Things aren't built to last and they're not really designed to be fixed easily either so repairing stuff becomes impractical and expensive.

And realistically we aren't going to fix our appliances if it costs say £150 when we can get a new item for £200 and you're covered by warranty.

However, it's worth keeping in mind that the sales of goods act states that appliances need to work reasonably well for 6 years so the shop often prefers to fix stuff.

This is a really interesting thread. I've been motivated by my children who (as adults) are making real efforts to live more sustainably and have educated me significantly about wrapping, plastics, eating less meat and living more 'ethically'.
Does anyone know, is all brown paper recyclable?

CheshireChat I didn't know about the sales of goods act... is the 6 years thing actually a thing?! My last washing machine broke just over two and a half years after buying it, it was no longer in warranty and it would have cost me £100 to get the suspected problem fixed but it wasn't guaranteed to work or the fix last; a new one cost me £200 which was the option I took instead of a gamble paying £100 and then still having to pay £200 for a new one. My old one went to the scrap man (to make money out of, but the world's resources paid more of a price). How do you get to call on the 6 year thing?!
Though, the rest of our stuff- dishwasher, tv, CD player- they're all second hand and seem to be lasting ok. Our oven and hob came with the house when we bought it so second hand and still working.

@scepticalwoman yes, but if you can buy paper that has been made using recycled paper then all the better!

Yes
Every year I get more distressed about it

@scepticalwoman sorry, just saw the 'all' in your post, I don't know, there maybe some laminating in the process of some.

@LadyPasserine your changes to your life are fantastic. In my previous house we converted half of or garden to be a veg patch, we haven't done it here yet (only been here 6 months), it is something we will do again.