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

Not sure the Sale of Goods Act is still in force???

bluecrown

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54

Last updated on 8 Nov 2018

This weekend we were spring cleaning my sons room and putting a few outgrown toys in the loft. Of the four bigger toys he elected to keep, three had been secondhand to him. Whereas quite a lot of flimsy broken former Christmas presents had to go in the bin.

@LadyPasserine I think your changes are fantastic.
In our last house we converted half of our garden to be a veg patch. We haven't got as much space in this house and we've only been here 6 months so haven't done so yet, it's definitely a plan for the new year though. I renewed my passport last year but only for ID (I havent been on a foreign holiday for 10 years) I don't drive so don't have a driving licence but still get IDd on a fairly regular basis (I'm late 30s for goodness sake!). Anyway, hats off!

Hmmm, I didn't think that first post had posted @LadyPasserine oh well, I thought it so important to write it twice! X

My dc's are beyond the toy stage now, but something I think they should do with toy packaging is to make it the way they used to. When I was a kid, you got a toy, played with it, and when you put it away afterwards, you kept it in the cardboard box it came in.

These days, so many toys seem to come in packaging that you have to completely destroy in order to get the toy out. Total waste. Not only do you not have a box to keep the toy in any more, but you also have a lot of packaging to get rid of as well.

I'm so bored with these hectoring threads

I think this is a bit like dieting for me. Start small with one thing and when that is working we’ll tackle something else

@AramintaJones I'm really sorry you think it's hectoring. Nobody has been nasty, nobody has been forcing anything on anybody. It's felt to me like a discussion between likeminded people about what we are currently doing and what we can do in the future to slow the ridiculous over use of plastic. Of course you did not need to read the thread or involve yourself in any way if it was something you're not interested in.

Wow. You are soooo right. I’m going to stop washing my hair right away! I’ll have to stop eating all food as well of course barring eggs and loose carrots.

Interesting thread. I find kids magazines one of the most annoying. I would love to buy them for my kids as a way of encouraging them to read more but I couldn't find a single one that wasn't fully wrapped in plastic with a piece of plastic tat attached to the front that would never get played with. So I just don't buy them. At least I saved myself the extortionate cost.

I find it is a terribly middle class attitude. There is no way we can buy ethically sourced wooden toys for our 7yo - and he wouldn't want them. We have never had the budget to be so selective. We are also not in the UK but a country where charity shops or any kind of secomd hand culture does not exist.

However, i'm a great sewer and make tons of toys and personalised bags/blankets and dolls' or teddies' clothes etc for gifts for children. And for the last 4-or-so years i have been reusung fabric bags and swatches and ribbon i made instead of wrapping paper.

I think you have to be quite well-off to live the ethically sourced plastic-free way a lot of people have quoted on this thread. We have no garden, we live in a flat. Thankfully in the city centre so we don't use our car except on weekends and for camping. Cannot afford to fly, so that's that out of the window. I do have a passport as i need photo id and i'm not a local. We also have a child and a dog and we all breathe air.

Ifwishes I'm in belgium and we recycle the 'soft' plastics like ribbon, veg wrappers, magazine wrappings, plastic that biscuits come in etc. I fill one pink sack every 5 weeks. The plastic tops from the milk cartons and the little plastic closures go to someone dh works with who passes them on to the scouts.

I think our local council might be one of the best in the country for recycling, they have been taking all manner of plastic for quite a few years now, including a lot of things that other councils won't touch. We can put any small electrical and electronic items out for recycling as well. The local recycling centre is a sight to behold, with umpteen different bins and containers for all kinds of things. You drive in at one end and pass each section as you go through. There is even a re-use area. Quite heartening actually.

@elQuintoConyo we're certainly not well off as such, I'm a sahm and it could never be said that my dh is a high earner. It's just a good job for us that we do have access to charity shops/ ebay/ Freecycle. Buying second hand just makes more sense to me, even if we had plenty of money I would still buy second hand, why should I drain the world of it's resources further if someone else has finished with an item I need. Its not about buying new and expensive things. Trying to keep away from buying our kids plastic toys, I do not see as a class thing.
It's great that you make things and avoid using wrapping paper. Opening up a discussion on how we can be more environmentally friendly and also avoid using plastic was my intention.

@festivellama I don't suppose you heard the discussion about tips on Jeremy Vine on radio 2 last week? It was encouraging to hear that more recycling centres may open up 're use' areas. They seem to have it right in Scandinavia where they have shop like set ups for things people don't want anymore (from memory, that's what was said). We just need to get away from the throw away attitude and allow people access to other people's cast offs!

Balloons, don’t forget balloons.

Especially balloon releases. Just don’t.

I've been really conscious of the problem with single use plastic in the run up to Christmas this year but it's a bloody minefield, mostly due to "recent" innovations. Take advent calendars. When I was kid you got a paper advent calendar. Nice picture every day. Entirely recyclable. Win. Nowadays the "standard" option is a chocolate advent calendar. Cardboard packet but great bit plastic insert inside. Fail. This year I've bought a fabric one to put bits in for my DC but don't actually know what to put in. I thought a sweet maybe but every Maom stripe or whatever has a little plastic wrapper. Fail. I'd rather the contents were edible as opposed to 24 bits of plastic tat though. I saw an advert online today for an article praising the non-sweet calendars for saving kids' teeth but the alternatives being suggested were one which contained 24 individual squishies or 24 individual pieces of small Frozen related tat. Maybe I need to go full yoghurt-weaver and give my kids a dried apricot every day. Wouldn't be a popular decision mind you.

Also trying to reduce plastic at the moment. The kids do want things for xmas that are plastic, but looking for second hand which helps a bit. It's just so hard as plastic is everywhere. Everything new comes with guilt attached (clothes, food, wrapping etc). Just cleared up the kitchen and it was depressing - plastic wrapped cucumber, plastic yoghurt pots, crisp packets etc. I'm trying to make changes but feels like a drop in the ocean

we have started ordering a fruit and veg box delivery from a local farm shop. Its locally sources where possible, bananas are free range and there's no plastic!

i tried buying cheese, cold meats etc. from the deli counter but they still wrap it in plastic there.

also agree that second hand is the way forward i made a vow this year to onlybbuy furniture that is made from fsc certified wood or second hand. You can get everything on ebay anyway. I will try and cut down plastic toys but second hand toys are a great solution.

i am another one who didnt realise wrapping paper wasnt recyclable. i am annoyed as I have bought all mine now. i think these things need to be more widely publicised.

The OPs comment about 'happy meal' toys made me think that there is a simple thing that could be banned as a 'free' giveaway and reduce plastic use. Every bit is a contribution. lets all get writing to macdonalds. They can either drop the toys completely or commit to only using recyclable materials. Think how many happy meals are sold globally, also their straw usage and those little posts of ketchup and their coffee cups, they would be a great company to get through to.

@Pigeonpost I bought some little paper advent bags in the ikea sale last year, I'm having the same issue with what to put in them! I would not be thanked for a dried apricot either. I might make some shortbread biscuits (because it lasts well), or something like that... I was going to make little needle felted things or sew some small toys but I'd have to start now for Xmas 2020 I think! Bring back the paper calendars!

@reallyanotherone agree about balloons. They seem to be the default decoration and give away item in so many situations.

We tried the whole fabric advent calendar with my eldest but it ended up being filled with mostly plastic/wrapped sweets any way and it was sooo expensive!

There's no way we could keep it up when #2 joined in, now I just buy the standard £1/2 chocolate ones.

The cardboard outer goes in the recycling and the plastic inners get used as paint trays or chocolate moulds for a bit afterwards. The little indents for each chocolate are perfect for a small blob of paint/glue/glitter.

I read this thread days ago and it's still on my mind!!