My Plastic Impact

Knowing where to start when it comes to reducing your plastic use can be a bit baffeling. Whether you have made a few changes already or are just starting out, picking out what to change and how to change it can leave some scratching their heads and eventually giving up on the whole idea. I personally have fallen back a few times when I felt there was no viable option for me to go plastic free with something. I felt bad at the time and now realise that, at that time, there wasn't an option that worked out for me in a practical or financial way. I'm still far from plasic free myself, but I'm still making changes and fighting back against the pit falls I have found. And in the end, that is all that can be expected of anyone. To try. There are mountains of internet influancers out there showing you how to live 100% plastic and rubbish free, showing you their 'trash jar' that cointains the only throw away scraps from a whole year or two. Is it possible to live that way? Yes, it definatly is. Is that achievable for all of us? HELL NO! If you want to do something to reduce your rubbish and one shot plastic, you can. It won't go a long way to fix the world's plastic problem, but you will know for yourself that you are reducing the problem. If you buy less plastic packaging, you are sending a message to the manufacturers about what the consumers want. It's already starting to happen and things are starting to change. If we keep pushing this with our purchases, we can keep that momentum going and it might even pick up pace.

What can we do?

Shopping Bags

The obvious one. Most of us have started to swap over to the reusable shopping bags. I know it still happens, you end up with a plastic one now and then, but there are so many out there now that fold away to be popped out when we buy something. And then there are the big, tough ones that we take out for the 'big shop' that are so hardy they could last you years. These are wonderful swaps. I try to avoid any tough plastic 'bag for life' bags as they still cause the same problem. They are just thicker plastic and will still end up breaking and be unfixable. I opted to buy a new bag each time I did a big shop until I had enough to hold it all. The big, tough bags, made from fabrics and canvas. I have had some for about two years now and they are still going. I can wash them and if anything on them was to break, I can stitch it back up. If you feel crafty you can even make your own shopping bags from upcycled materials for an extra eco bag.

Click below to find some ideas on making your own bags.

Cosmetics and Toiletries

There are plenty of places on the internet to buy eco friendly items. It's not only Lush that does that kind of thing. If you have a look on Ebay and Etsy you will find all kinds of natural and package free products. Some of these may be cheaper and you would be supporting small busnesses, however, I'm going to tell you why I tend to favour Lush.

Quite honestly, it's hard to beat Lush when it comes to sustainability and packaging free products. I use a lot of Lush and love it. Most of their stock is made in a way that it has no need for any packaging. They do wrap things in paper and use paper bags, but if you don't want that, they have no problem with you bringing in your own containers, wraps or jars to take your purchases home in. I will often do this.

When you buy an item that is in a plastic bottle or tub, these are made from recycled plastics. If you return the plastic to the store they will have it recycled in their own recycling system. Nothing is passed in to general recyceling, so once a Lush pot, always a Lush pot. When the plastic reaches it's end and can't be recycled anymore, it is then turned in to something else for the Lush stores. You see those little chalk boards with prices on? Guess what that is made of. Partition walls, tables, counter tops? Yep, a lot of these were once the product pots.

Many people are unaware of the range of items they could be replacing with a plastic free version. Lush does carry alternatives for all these things, but you will also find them with other companies too.

Shampoo, conditioner, deoderant, moisturiser, creams, oils, bubble bath, shower gel, face wash, syrums, hair gel and spray, perfumes, body scrubs, face masks, hair treatments, makeup, toothpaste, mouthwash, the list goes on. In short, every item in your bathroom has a plastic free alternative. You can even get a bamboo toothebrush.

One item I had a lot of trouble with was deoderant. I have only recently managed to crack this one with Wild. It's a natural product in a reusable applicator. The refills are in compostable bamboo card and all posted items are in card boxes. You can get one off purchases or a subscription. I'm loving mine so here is the 20% off offer they gave me to share. I have found this to be the only natural deoderant that works on me. As much as I love my Lush, their deoderants leave me stinky.

Keeping it clean

So you want to clean the house. Another big area when it comes to going plastic free. I have found that a few simple items can do the job of those tough sprays in their big plastic bottles. It's shocking how much you can do with vinegar and bicarb. Vinegar you can normally get in a glass bottle which will be easy to recycle, and bicarb for cleaning you can get in a card box at Wilko. I use cloth made with cotton and have made my own scrubbing pads by either crocheting or knitting natural garden twine into little squares. It's rough stuff to scrub with and will go in the compost when it's done.

For the jobs you can't get done with vinegar and bicarb, you can find a few items like Ecover which is in bottles made with post consumer plastic (recycled) so it's a lesser impact. However, if you are lucky, you might live close enough to a place with a refill station where you can top up your cleaning products in the bottle you already have. Asda have recently put refill stations in a select few stores and eco friendly shops have been popping up all over the country over the last couple of years. A quick bit of Googling will tell you if you have one of these close to you. If not, then there are another couple of options. You could order a large refill container for yourself or split the cost between family and friends. These are available on Ebay and are often a card box with a bladder bag inside. Like the boxed wine you get in supermarkets, but filled with washing up liquid, hand soap or detergent. Just don't mix them up at the party.

The final option I present to you also runs into the next catagory...

Food and Milk

Another thing I struggled with is milk. I wanted to be on a milk round and have glass bottles that are sent back and reused. I had one for a while but they would only deliver to my mum's address as I was just too far away from the round. I had to go all the way to my parents house to get the milk. It was an extra drive that was not helping my pocket or the environment. I found a small shop with glass bottle milk, but they didn't take the bottles back. A new owner took over the shop and stopped the glass bottles all together. Back to plastic we went. Until...

Modern Milkman literally came knocking at the door. I got signed up and now I have a regular delivery of milk and I can return the glass bottles. The reason the cleaning section spills over in to this area is that they don't only deliver eco milk. Eggs, pop, fruit juice, milk shake, tea and coffee(in returnable canisters), cereals, cream, butter, fruit and veg boxes, bread(in compostable and recycleable bags) and yes, cleaning products, all plastic free and in returnable glass bottles. Hand wash, laundry liquid, fabric conditioner, anti bac cleaner and washing up liquid.

You can click below and get signed up if Modern Milkman is in your area. If they are, this link will get you some free brownies with your first order. You run the whole thing through an easy app on your phone so you can change orders and start and stop as you like.

Now then, on to other foods. This part can be tricky and often involve a reasonable amount of cooking to achieve a good result. I'm not often interested in cooking so honestly I don't blame you if this part trips you up a bit. I often buy things I can just heat up and be done with, but even when doing this you can make a few changes.

If you are good with having cooking days then that is perfect. Batch cooking is fantastic and a great way to use all your fresh items before they have chance to go bad. Cook it up and freeze it. I have a lot of plastic containers for my batch cooking, but these are mostly saved from the odd take away orders. You can buy tough plastic containers even though they are the stuff we are trying to get away from. These more sturdy containers should last you a VERY long time if looked after well and will help you store your masses of instant meals made from plastic free produce. No more microwave meals from the shop that cost 4 times as much and are in a one shot plastic tray with a film lid. Reuse untill they fall apart, then recycle. Another way is to use foil trays as foil can be cleaned off and put in your recycling.

If all the cooking just isn't your bag then look out for food in packaging that can be reused, recycled or composted. As I said near the start, many companies are now trying to get on board with the eco way, so you can now find ready meals in plastic you can recycle. Not perfect but much better than the landfill fodder 'black plastic'.

And finally, we come to...

All the general stuff you just don't need.

Most of us do it. We see something we like and we just want it. I still do even though I try to fight the urge. Do I actually need some new headphones when the ones I have do work? I have to ask myself this. I might like some but I really don't need them. It would not only be my money I would be kissing goodbye to, but what happens when I get new ones? They often come in a load of packaging, mostly including some plastic. This is just an example. I'm sticking with my headphones. But just recently I did get sucked in to buying air fresheners for the house. Two of them. They both consist of glass, plastic, reeds and some of those orbie ball things. They both came in molded plastic. I got them and then I realised I really didn't need to have them at all. It was a waste of plastic packaging, the things themselves and my money all at the same time. I couldn't smell one of them in the room at all and the other seemed to vanish after a day. These are things I did not need. Impulse buys that people make all the time that serve no real good. The message here being to consider items before you buy them. Ask yourself if you need it, if it's something you REALLY want or you just like it now and won't be bothered later, can you get the same thing with less packaging or made of another material and can you get it second hand?

I know, there is a lot of info in there but thanks for sticking around to make it this far. It can be tricky to try and get rid of as much plastic as possible, but all you really need to do is start on one thing and just build up from there. If you try and do everything in one go it becomes overwhelming, so go easy on yourself and don't think giving in now and then is the end of the world, cut yourself some slack. My advice would be to start with the pampering products so you can have a nice bath and end up smelling like the superstar you are.

Welcome to the plasic free revolution and good luck out there.