Plastic free living

[stargirl1701]

Has/Is anyone worked towards this? I have just started and could use a buddy. I feel quite overwhelmed tbh. I'm hyper aware of all the plastic in my life at the moment. It seems a momentous undertaking right now.

Ah juice, yogurt and berry punnets. We have loads of those too
Our long term strategy has been to grow the berries. This year we have 6 blueberry bushes that are producing loads of berries, and a couple of raspberry canes. This is all without a garden of our own (shared patio) but by next year we hope to have more berries fruit than we can eat on the allotment.

Yogurt: years ago I used to make a really good homemade yogurt in a yogurt maker which had glass jars and plastic lids. The best results I got were by using a small amount of total Greek yogurt as a starter in each pot, and then add milk (back then it was in those cardboard cartons). Then I could use my own yogurt to start the next few batches but after a while had to go back to the Greek yogurt to start again as they got progressively less nice...

As for juice, I can't get ds1 to drink water at all. London water isn't very nice, even filtered so I don't blame him. I've tried going cold turkey but he just refuses to drink and we have a few potty issues anyway that I don't want to exacerbate. I try and buy apple juice in glass bottles from the farmers market and dilute it. But we often end up with Coppella from Sainsbury's as its so much cheaper

No, slimmer, I'm with you. Tin foil isn't even recyclable here. Not an option for us. This just popped up on my FB feed.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/07/phthalates-dishwasher-microwave-plastic/398015/

Chocolate, at least Scottish water is delicious! We had some fantastic apple juice at a local farm on Open Farm Sunday recently...but...they can't sell it in their shop unless they invest in pasteurisation.

Scary, isn't it Star?!
We do hand wash our plastic stuff and hardly ever use the microwave (read scary stuff about that too!) but when we do use it, we have a plastic splatter guard. It's the only plastic thing to go in it...

My DP just looks at me when I start reading a bout something else that is poisoning us. He reckons I'll have us living self sustainably in a wooden shed in the wilderness soon. But tbh, that's too much like hard work for me!

Lol! Yes, we'll be living in a yurt in Sutherland at this rate!

I really rate these wooden bath toys. 18 months old now and no mould.

www.ethicalshoppingforbabies.co.uk/2014/06/new-plan-toys-wooden-bath-toys/

Hello again Stargirl and Slimmer. I'm loving the various links and ideas.

DH has just gone to sainsbury's without shopping bags :(

Was excited to find two types of bamboo fibre kids plate/bowl/cup and cutlery in TK Maxx todY. Bought two of one type but when I got home I realised the handles of the cutlery was plastic! Bizarre. Could have just made them plain stainless steel. Rest of the set is cute though so might keep it anyway. She usually just uses our regular plates as she's outgrown the throwing stage but DP still nervous about handing a 17 month old breakable stuff. Hasn't broken anything since we switched 3 months ago... :/

Love the bath toys stargirl!

That's annoying - why put bamboo with plastic?!

I found glass milk storage bottles - can't buy it in glass but could store it.

www.lakeland.co.uk/70500/Lakeland-1-Litre-Milk-Bottle

The beeswax paper arrived today! Can't wait to try it but no leftovers from tonight

I had a clear out of my cupboards and found some cheap Tupperware to pop on Freecycle.

What do you all do about buying shampoo, mouthwash, shower gel etc?

Interested! :)

I'm a bit hopeless about living plastic free tbh, although I recycle and re-use everything like mad. And buy my fruit and veg loose as often as possible using reusable mesh bags.

But we don't use mouth wash, and have bars of soap in cardboard or paper wrappers instead of shower gel.

Sorry, am not dedicated enough to forego toothpaste!

We don't use shampoo or conditioner. We buy soap in bar form at the farmers' market. Mouthwash is in a glass bottle. We still buy toothpaste.

Found (mostly) ethical toothbrushes though.

www.sarah-jaynes.com/ourshop/prod_3730023-Jack-N-Jill-Bio-Toothbrush-TM-BUNNY.html

Actually, just remembered you can buy solid shampoo from places like Lush?

I remember the good old days when The Body Shop was an ethical company and you could take your bottles back to be refilled .

Hello! How is everyone?

I've been beginning to figure out what I need to be plastic! Nappy pails, reuseable wipes boxes, nappy wet bags, wipe bags, etc.

We are part of a toy library for outdoor toys and most of them are plastic but it seems too ethical and budget friendly to give up our membership.

I'm still focussed on the kitchen. The bees wrap seems great. The bread keeps for sooo long and stays fresh.

I'm still seeing plastic everywhere! I realised this week we need to do something about birthday card shopping - so many come in cellophane wrappers which cannot be recycled.

How's everyone else getting on?

Hi,
This thread is full of good ideas!
I generally buy body stuff from Lush, initially because they have a good range of vegan things. But I really like that they have lots of things that come without packaging. Like shampoo and conditioner. Even toothpaste (they're little tablet things which you chew and then just brush with a wet toothbrush).
I'm looking for a present for my DSis 4th birthday which isn't plastic tat, she has so much already.
Any ideas?

Thanks for the ideas. Dressing up clothes definitely an option.

I'm so glad I've found this thread! Lots of ideas I can use.

A couple of comments: The best yoghurt maker I've ever made was made in a thermos flask. Try googling for ideas. Saves on buying expensive equipment that can only be used for one thing.

On toys for a 4 year old DD, it depends how much you want to spend but my DDs love the german wooden food I bought for them while travelling for work. I've used this supplier when I've needed a 'top up' but Amazon sells them too: www.myriadonline.co.uk/role-play-kitchen.php (My favourite is the teabags in a tin about half way down. Haba also make felt cheese and ham slices and fabric bread which are perfect for pretend picnics.

Mrsmortis
THanks for the ideas. She's my little sister actually, which makes presents quite difficult as she has everything already (all our old duplo, lego, playmobil, blocks, books etc). But your kitchen idea has made me think about getting her actual kitchen things so that we could cook/bake together, that's always fun.

so difficult - having riverford to deliver fruit, veg, salads and dairy however much of their stuff still has a lot of plastic. The milk comes in the tetrapack. Just bought a house cow and growing our own veg.

Not sure I can get rid of tupperware, I use it so much.

In general I tend to cook in glass.

I burn most of my plastic - rather burn it then have it floating around the ocean.

Hello! How is everyone getting on? Not much change here from the last update. Just too busy with study and work plus two poorly DDs to move forward.

Hoping to have a plastic free kitchen by Christmas.

We did a zero landfill waste challenge in Sep and got down to 30 litres of landfill waste for the month.

Looking at Burt's Bees stuff tonight. Looks like some is in metal or glass and it SEEMS to be ethical/sustainable.

Any other recommendations?

I use a lot of Neals Yard stuff - organic, ethical, and most of it comes in glass jars /bottles, although they do still have plastic lids.

They're made with essential oils too, so smell lovely without being chemically - someone mentioned lush further down the thread, but I can't stand them - I find the smell too overpowering!

Thank you, I'll take a look.