Could you go plastic free?

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Could you go plastic free?

Plastic free.jpg

 

Hello everyone,

  

With regular stories in the news referring to plastic in our oceans, it does feel that there is more talk than ever on wanting to address these issues. As part of this, recycling comes up a lot, but even more so there is a need to have more of a reusable (circular) idea about the product that we use. However, as an individual how easy is it to reduce our consumption?

 

With this in mind, if you had to go plastic free, or look to reduce the amount of plastic you throw away, do you think you would be able to do this? Perhaps you are doing this at the moment?

 

It would be great to discuss and hear your thoughts on this.

 

Thanks,

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

148 Replies 148

Sandra I have this problem too and I just throw away the tea bag and wash the bin liner for reuse. Takes 1 minute and nobody knows the difference!

I stopped using liners altogether.  They're really not necessary when trash is changed regularly, and I wipe out the containers.

Kath9
Level 10
Albany, Australia

@Lizzie, excellent topic! I am a huge anti-plastics campaigner and try to use as little of it as I possibly can. We have recently had a statewide ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, which has certainly generated an interesting response! However, I have been using reusable shopping bags for the last 30 years or so, so it's nothing new for me - I always carry a few of those strong, rollup parachute silk bags in my handbag - they are excellent. 

 

I also provide filtered water in a sealable glass bottle for my guests. @Sandra126, I no longer use bin bags or clingwrap at all. I use newspaper to line my bins (works fine) and have reusable wax wraps to use instead of clingwrap. I use a keepcup for takeaway coffees, I never buy bottled water (always take a resuable water bottle with me) and I ask for no straw when I'm buying a drink at the pub. I buy a lot of my bulk dry foods from the wholesaler where I can use paper bags, and I buy my milk in glass bottles from the local farmer's market. Toiletries is a big one apparently - those 'exfoliators' that contain tiny little balls of plastic - easy to avoid by going natural/organic. For travelling in developing countries, I take a Steripen with me, a NASA-developed device that uses UV light to purify water in about 30 seconds. Works brilliantly - I have used it in tap water for the last couple of years and never been sick. 

 

@Paul1255, maybe instead of individual miniature shampoos etc. (single-use plastic nightmare) you could provide large bottles in the bathroom and then refill them from a bulk-foods store. Or just not provide them at all - most of my guests seem to bring their own.

 

We still have a long way to go but there is so much people can do. Single-use shopping bags, water bottles, plastic straws and coffee cups are a nightmare but are all easily avoided with a little thought.

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

Takeaway coffee! What a crazy thing. Everyone has to walk around with a coffee. When I have coffee, I want to sit down and enjoy it. In my village, a holiday place, visitors walk around with coffee too. Like what, they are in a hurry? Que?

 

Will look up Steripen. Thanks @Kath9

 

Plastics are great in medical settings.

@Kath9   I so don't get the "exfoliating" products craze. Isn't that what a washcloth is for? And doesn't one's skin flake off all by itself when it's ready to?

When I was young I cared about things like exfoliating (these days? Pah. No time) and I used a product with crushed apricot kernels. Think it is still around. The microplastics is a modern disaster.

Esther359
Level 4
Seri Kembangan, Malaysia

Thanks for sharing especially that we can avoid using bin bags or clingwrap and replace with newspaper to line the bins and have reusable wax wraps to use instead of clingwrap. Thumbs up! 

 

Helen427
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

@Paul1255@Sandra126@Kath9@Lizzie

 

Interesting topic.

Yes Teabags generally also have plastic wrapping on there packet.

 

I'm not sure if we will ever get rid of plastic altogether but do think that we should be saying "no" to the importation of so much plastic.

 

In New Zealand the last 30yrs there has been an increase of plastic junky quality products that started to be imported under the guise of more affordable products as they were allegedly less expensive to manufacture in the countries they are now made in.

 

We all need to ensure there's international accountability and education why natural materials like wood, wool and dare I say it leather were used in the past and perhaps we need to revisit the practices of those before us to get ahead plastic free or reduced.

 

As an aside how many of you knew that they used to make pipes for water out of trees and now we use plastic?

 

 

Copper. Plumbers use copper in water lines and for waste water use  plastic pipe. For really cheap houses I think they use plastic for drinking water. I insisted on copper when I built my house. . Before that it was galvanized pipe.  Never heard of wood - except bamboo. 

Kimberly54
Level 10
San Diego, CA

Wow! @Paul1255, @Sandra126, @Helen427, @Kath9, and @Lizzie.  I thought I was good!  You guys ROCK!  

 

Having been a polymer chemist (patents, whole nine yards), I know ALL about degradation, degassing, pseudo estrogens... don't know if it's true or ever even really been said, but I seriously/personally believe that this may be the reason for the enormous rise in prostate cancers.  OK, off-topic!

 

In the kitchen, the only plastic is the thin film wrap (tried wax paper... it really doesn't do the job), and these sort of "Tupperware" snap-lids that fit on a glass container.  Neither comes in contact with food.

 

I like straws, so I went to stainless straws (with groovy little pipe-cleaners--yes, but you really must clean the inside of a straw).

 

So otherwise, for the kitchen, that's it.  I have teabags for guests, but for me, it's really just tap-water or wine.   (We have AWESOME tap water here--better and more consistent than bottled!)

 

Once out of the kitchen, I think total plastic-free is absolutely impossible.  Truly, if you take inventory of everything in your home--and I mean everything--including your wardrobe!  It's impossible. 

 

If you think a Paleo diet is difficult, HA!  You're talking Paleo LIVING!  People already think of me as a bit eccentric, but this would definitely push it over the edge!  They put people away in hospitals for stuff like this!

 

Grocery store?  Nope.  If you don't have celery in something reasonably air-tight, that lovely crunchy will be gone in a couple of days.  In San Diego, we've all but outlawed the plastic bags they used to automatically put our groceries in.  I got sick of the bags and I shop with a large woven basket (or two).  This is really lovely, and I have never gotten so many compliments on ANYTHING before!  Elegant, beautiful, and none of those nasty bags (they now charge ten cents per bag if you need one).

 

I grow most of my own food and what I don't, I get from a little market (and I trade a lot of my seasonal over-production).  I know the sources.  But even on my small farm--the bags that hold the pine shavings?  The handles on many of the smaller tools?  There are polymers in outdoor paints (for sure), and even interior paints... in the concrete foundations.  100% is 100% not possible unless you want to crawl into a cave and eat raw snake meat. 

 

Honestly?  I couldn't brush my teeth, floss, or put on my shoes--or even my underwear!  (No, I will not be tying my panties on with cotton twine.)

 

Great topic, Lizzie.  I'm all for it, and for the right reasons, but YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!

 

OK, I think I've taken this too far... my thoughts became more elastic!

 

Best,

 

 

 

 

Kim

Hi @Kimberly54, I work in the field of complementary medicine and am currently doing a Masters in evidence-based complementary medicine. There is a growing body of evidence on the link between pseudo (or xeno) oestrogens and not only prostate but breast, endometrial, ovarian and testicular cancers, so you're not wrong on that point.

 

Anyway, re the plastic film wrap - I notice you said you'd tried wax paper (which won't work that well) but try beeswax wraps - these are becoming more and more common in Australia and they are brilliant. I've had mine for a couple of years now and use them over and over - they are basically squares of cotton material impregnated with beeswax and they work a treat! (plus they look so pretty in your fridge). You can buy them or make them yourself.

Hi @Kath9, I'm with you all the way... annnd does beeswax have anything to do with bees? 

 

Any other sourced fat/wax would be fine (so far) with me, but we've gotta leave the bees alone, no?

 

I would far prefer plastic!

 

Best, and great comments,

 

 

 

Kim

@Kimberly54   Bees aren't harmed in the collection of beeswax, anymore than they are in the production  and collection of honey. Beekeepers sell all those things and they certainly love their bees.

@Kimberly54, yes beeswax comes from bees, but the alternatives (e.g parrafin wax) are petrochemical based which is arguably worse. At the end of the day, you can't win, can you?

Hi @Kath9, you are correct about the no-win.  But bees are so incredibly critical to our planet and we already exploit the heck out of them for the most ridiculous purposes.  (I used to be a beekeeper--wearing absolutely no protection and never got stung, so I have the BEES ARE PEOPLE TOO attitude.) 

 

Funny, before I started using adorable baskets for the market, the check-out person used to ask, "Paper or plastic?" as to the type of bag they would put your groceries into.  My comment was, "Hummm... do we destroy the rainforest or clog the landfills today?"  That's when I quit bags altogether, switching to adorable baskets.

 

Thanks for playing.  Everyone on this thread is awesome.

 

Kim