What plastic could you live without?

[BuckingFrolics]

I've been thinking that there must be a large number of things that are currently made from plastic that we - normal people so to speak - could live without. But what are they?
One person's essential being another's frivolity.

I'm pretty sure I would quickly accept:

Paper shopping bags
Wood only picture frames
Washing up, shampoo etc in cartons like milk cartons
Loose fruit and veg, all types
Cat food not in pouches, tins only
Card packed tampons

Anyone else?

What would absolutely have to stay plastic?

Meat in plastic trays
Toys with a bazillion plastic ties fixing them to the box
Easter eggs

Oh yes to no plastic ties - they're on everything

All of it. I could live without all of it.

Paper shopping bags are not that practical for very heavy things

I hate plastic (polyester & lycra) in clothing and its becoming harder and harder to avoid it.

Milk used to come in cartons
Drinks used to come in glass bottles with penny back
Fruit and veg used to be loose and put in brown paper bags
Meat and fish used fo be wfapped in white paper
Pills used to come in small glass reusable bottles
Potties used to be china
Disposable nappies didn't exist
People used to have proper shoppong bags not plastic bags
I'd like bottles to be refillable.
Paper cups and plates
Shoes used to be all leather including the soles

Lego would have to stay plastic (it is plastic, isn’t it?).

I so wish all fruit and veg were loose and you put them in paper bags.

I wish we could go back to say, the 50s or 60s in terms of plastics use. In those days we had the modern conveniences we couldn't put back on the box now,

but without the prolific waste and consumerism we see now. Strawberries came in small cardboard punnets for about a month or 6 weeks of the year, for example. I'd like to see all fruit and veg sold loose with no plastic bags provided, like it is in most of Europe.

Actually milk did and still does come in bottles. Milkman anyone? We had a milkman until about 2005. Then as the dc drank less and less of it, it wasn't worth it.

I so wish all fruit and veg were loose and you put them in paper bags.

I take washable mesh bags with me but I still have to hunt round at times to find loose fruit & veg.

Shops seem to be making a big fuss about shopping bags & very little about the smaller bags.

I’ve switched to washing powder
Soap bars for shower/bath
Glass jars of honey, mayonnaise, tomato sauce
Refills for washing up liquid

Cucumber condoms

Paper shopping bags are not that practical for very heavy things

So, use a hessian or canvas bag. My mother used to have a big leather bag for shopping.

I liked paper shopping bags until I got caught in the rain with one and it disintegrated.

Plastic clothing, unless it's a specialist fabric.

Plastic food packaging within other plastic food packaging. Yeah, one layer is great for keeping the food fresh, but 2 is usually excessive.

The tiny sticky labels on apples

Toothpaste tubes - they used to be metal.

Plastic lids on coffee jars etc. And the shrink-wrapped plastic seal thing on other lids.

Chocolate wrappers - used to be foil with a paper sleeve.

Small cakes in 6's - they used to be in a box and inside that would have one plastic wrapper. Now they come in the box, in wrapped pairs with their own little plastic tray as well.

And while we're at it - why does every mobile phone have a different design of charger? Surely they could manufacture all phones that just used one universal interchangeable design.

Corks. Used to be made of - well - cork. Which is sustainable and renewable as the cork bark is peeled from living cork oak trees which then grow the bark back again.

Plant trays and pots. There really should be some way of recycling the plastic in plant pots. Just look round any garden centre and every single plant is grown in a plastic container.

Ready meals. They should come in a foil tray with a cardboard sleeve. If you want to microwave it, then decant into a glass dish.

The boxes toys come in. Why, oh why do they come in plastic packaging that you have to destroy in order to get the toy out? And then you have nothing to keep the toy in and have to buy plastic storage boxes instead. No. Just sell toys in cardboard boxes and the box can be used to keep the toy in.

Plastic cutlery. It's shit anyway.

Printer ink cartridges and felt-tip pens that last 5 minutes. Change the design, put more ink in them and make them last longer.

Astroturf.

unfortunately food/drink tins are plastic lined so swapping pet food pouches for tins reduces but doesn't eliminate the plastic used

i think they should do away with the little plastic windows on food packaging

The majority of plastic packaging really. Everything seems to be wrapped in cellophane or have a plastic window on it.

Most packaging, shower gels (haven't used those in years, we use soap), plastic scrubbers (use towels), bottled water in plastic.

I could literally live without any of it. Cannot understand why more isn't done about it.

One thing to remember much of the disposable plastic is made from left over oil after its been refinded to produce various fuels etc.

So essentially it's a cheap product made from waste material. What else can that oil be used for?
The way to reduce the production of cheap oil products is to reduce the amount of oil based fuels that are used.

unfortunately food/drink tins are plastic lined so swapping pet food pouches for tins reduces but doesn't eliminate the plastic used

They don't need to be. Tinned food has been around for 200 years. Long before the use of plastics became commonplace.

Plastic trays for food.

The fruit/veg trays particularly and things like biscuits etc. It would make no difference other than presumably to the cost.

I buy very little convenience food but still throw away endless amounts of plastic. The packaging this year for Easter eggs was shocking.

Not sure what you could practically do for toiletries/make up that would excessively increase cost/weight.