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.

[1000piecepuzzle]

Thanks for the cat food tip 3kids Harrington's duly ordered! Sadly no poundland near here so still searching for internet-orderable plastic free tins for now.

Also pleased to have found this site: plasticfreepantry.co.uk/
I was looking for pasta but they do lots of stuff.

mamapants that site also does ground coffee
plasticfreepantry.co.uk/products/coffee-whole-bean-or-ground

[ememem84]

A zero packaging shop is opening near me soon. I am excited to try it!

[mamapants]

Thanks 1000piece pretty expensive!
Anyone know if the foil on lavazza foil is recyclable?

[gigi556]

Sorry if this has been covered, but does anyone have an alternative to liquid dish soap (ie fairy liquid)? Or do you buy something giant and refill a smaller container? Can you get a bar?

[PlantsOfPerspective]

Method make really nice washing up liquid that they sell big refill packs for.

[1000piecepuzzle]

gigi we buy a 5l container and refill a smaller one, but would be interested if you find a bar version (or a diy recipe?) Another possibility is to refill with Ecover if you have a refill station near you.

Still making little changes:

• used up last disposable razor and replaced with an electric
  
• dd lost hairbrush, replaced with bamboo
  
• got separate recycling bin for bathroom as it seems walking a few steps to use the kitchen one for empty loo rolls is completely unreasonable for some members of our household...
  

Best of all, managed to get on a group visit to our local waste processing facility (who welcome community groups), saw inside the recycling sorting plant and the landfill and got to ask many questions about our local recycling do's and don'ts, and where the processed plastic ends up. Really interesting and I'd definitely recommend googling where you are to see if your local council do similar.

[Cynderella]

I've made cleaning sprays from vinegar, washing up liquid, borax, soda crystals etc. So far, I have glass cleaner, all purpose spray and heavy duty shower cleaner. Am going to make floor cleaner next when bottle runs out.

Bars of soap all in place now liquid soap has run out.

Have just ordered tins of cat food instead of pouches for elderly pussy cat.

[1000piecepuzzle]

Continuing with the small changes...

Been trying to start changing eating habits over the last couple of weeks e.g. baking from scratch. Going to try crackers this week and pizza bases for the freezer. It is more time consuming, I don't mind cooking but don't love it either, so its a harder change for me than just ordering something on the net!

Revisiting toiletries and going to try grating and melting solid conditioner to see if I can get that to work better.

Longer term we are thinking of cancelling our cleaner to regain control over the cleaning products used in our home. First world problem I know but it will mean losing several hours of free time per week, as well as adding several hours on for all the home cooking, its really becoming more of a serious commitment than a few easy swaps.

[1000piecepuzzle]

But it is also really encouraging to keep seeing threads on this topic on mumsnet - not just this one, but many. Feels like the tide is turning, in our country at least.

[OhHolyJesus]

@1000piecepuzzle it's interesting to see where your boundaries lie isn't it? I supply cleaning products for our Cleaner but I know she wouldn't go for a vinegar/bicarbonate option but I don't want to give her up!

I've written down all the things I've done to reduce plastic use and have realised I'm doing a lot but my soya milk comes in a tetra pack carton which isn't recycled in our area and I just don't know if I can switch back to dairy now. We all have our lines I suppose but I'm finding it quite interesting to see where I can do more in some areas but not in others. Finding it to be quite a journey and not just practically speaking.

[OhHolyJesus]

I've just received my Juliet Rose samples of solid conditioner. Will report back x

[stilllovingmysleep]

Hi all

Sorry I haven't read the whole thread! Just jumping in.

In the process of decluttering areas of my house, the most common problem I'm having is how to get rid of unwanted plastic items. I keep reading about the enormous problem with plastic (environmentally) & want to start somewhere...

Where do I start? . Really clueless. Any advice welcome!

[Cynderella]

Always better to reuse than recycle, so if possible, find a new purpose for unwanted plastic. Otherwise, charity shops, playgroups and the like will accept suitable items.

[stilllovingmysleep]

Cynderella, thanks that's helpful. However it is not always possible to reuse things such as unwanted / forgotten chargers etc... will recycling centres not take such things do you think?

[OhHolyJesus]

I saw something on the andkeep website about sending the item to them and they can sometimes find a use for it. They have a whole section on their website.

andkeep.com/pages/rehoming

And Pinterest sometimes helps to find a new use for things for crafting or gardening.

[Cynderella]

Have you tried getting rid of unwanted items through Freecycle or similar in your area?

www.freecycle.org/browse/UK

[stilllovingmysleep]

@Cynderella yes I do use freecycle quite a bit but I'm not sure they're good for tiny things

[Cynderella]

I expect freecycle works differently according to who posts on your board. I have advertised boxes of tat and had them taken!

[1000piecepuzzle]

@stilllovingmysleep I have gotton rid of tat very easy via the freebies section of gumtree. Some people in our village just leave it outside their house with a "free" sign on it and it usually goes. Alternatively take it to your local dump, depending on its quality. We're lucky to have a council that seems to take recycling very seriously and so I know everything I take there gets recycled if possible, or at minimum doesn't end up in the sea...

@OhHolyJesus our council recycle tetrapak (in fact almost everything!). I really hope in the next 5 years or so recycling gets sorted across the whole country, its bizarre and confusing how different it is between different counties.

On the lifestyle changes, I will be moving workplace from a rural location I have to drive 35 mins to, to a city centre location I'll have to cycle 35 mins to. I'm feeling very positive about the health benefits but also as a lot of our plastic comes from posted packaging, being able to nip into a shop and buy something in lunchtime I'm hoping will have an impact. I won't be feeling so positive in the winter driving wind and rain, but by then it'll be too late!

Small changes continue:

• Got the kids baking their snacks, sugar-free household will be another year's challenge not this summer!!
  

• Splosh now make their posted refills in pouches that you can return for reprocessing, which is a huge step forward and helps fill the breach between shop-bought bottled cleaning products and home recipes.
  

• Persuaded work to swap plastic milk bottles for glass delivery.
  

• Got some beeswax wraps to replace cling film, really like them.
  

• Still spending far too much time googling blogs and avoiding housework. Great to see new businesses popping up e.g. whatplastic.co.uk/
  

• Noticed that Orchard Toys puzzles are plastic free (no plastic bag for the puzzle bits) so planning on making these my go-to for the endless kids birthday party presents.

[OhHolyJesus]

@1000piecepuzzle amazing progress and tips as we end #plasticfreeJuly.

Love that your work now has milk in glass bottles, I think a few of my neighbours have followed suit.

I've learnt to be more prepared when leaving the house rather than relying on buying lunch or snacks etc out that are all in plastic.

Also I found that I can recycle tetrapack cartons locally just not kerbside so now know where to drop them off.

Can I say I'm loving Plastic Free Pantry, Nuts in Bulk, Friendly Soap and Juliet Rose. They are have my great discoveries this past month - also Morrison's do Plastic free cucumbers and they let you bring your own containers for the fish and meat counters!

[picklemepopcorn]

So Princess Eugenie is having a plastic free wedding.

[Lightroom]

Thanks for the thread. Anyone know which supermarkets sell butter wrapped in paper that's not plasticky? (Not sure what to do about DS who will only eat olive spread in plastic tubs and sliced supermarket bread).

I'm trying to radically change buying habits with minimum time, while saving hard to make financial buffer. Bit tricky. I already use washable sanitary towels, shampoo bar & soap, safety razor, water bottle, beeswax wrap, almost plastic-free dental floss (it comes in a little plastic bottle) & Who Gives a Crap loo roll. (Blimey, I'm doing more than I thought).

I also want to start shopping locally, but I'm not going to try to change every single thing at once, because I'll just fail. So...

Phase 1:
WEEKLY: Milk delivery. Morrisons to get meat, cheese, fish in own containers, tins, and plastic-free fruit & veg (using old bread bags & Ikea plastic bags - I have them so I may as well use them!)
MONTHLY: Pasta, rice, flour, tea, washing-up liquid, etc from zero waste shop in my city.

Phase 2 (if I can afford it):
Start using veg box, local butcher, and farmers' market.

[DontFundHate]

Hi! Can I join please? Still working my way through this thread

This is what I already do - bamboo toothbrush, deodorant soap, bar bubble bath, reusable coffee cup, I use my own cutlery, reusable shopping bag, cotton bags for produce, Tupperware for butchers counter, I try to buy loose fruit and veg but that's frustrating as it means I can't shop in also anymore as it's all in plastic, our big supermarket has so much more choice so more change to get plastic free. I've also ordered beeswax paper. It's great to see it all written down!

A question though - I want to switch to hand soap, soap in shower etc but I have a huge collection of spares. I'm tempted to give these to charity and buy bars from now on, does that make sense or is that a bit silly??

Also interested to hear about butter paper. Anyone had any luck with plastic free yogurts? We buy tubs of natural yogurt (also trying to go sugar free like someone mentioned above, aren't we all great people!) So I'm.goinf to switch to buy a very big tub every so often instead but I think that's the best I can do?

Thanks everyone, keep it up!

[DontFundHate]

@mamapants yes! Illy is in a tin and union coffee, three-sixty, Costa and Caffe Nero in paper bags. Can get them all from ocado

[DontFundHate]

I am.looking for recyclable instant coffee without plastic lids though, thoughts on kenco eco refill?