Could you go plastic free?

[Lizzie]

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

[Kimberly54]

@Helen427and @Sarah977, the stainless straws (got them on Amazon) came with a little pipe-cleaner, which I would consider absolutely necessary.  I'm not sure a dishwasher would do the job, and pouring boiling water could be downright tricky. 

Best,

[Victoria567]

@Daniel0

Perhaps an alternative are biodegradable bin liners made by Alio, who are a brand stocked by Aldi, as there is no way, I could have personal waste in a bathroom bin, without having a bin liner.

@Helen0suggestion of making disposable paper bags is very interesting.

Here in Scotland all retailers charge 5 pence for the smallest plastic carrier bag, the fees go to charities....it’s cut down use of plastic carrier bags,but not eliminated it...but every little helps....hopefully this idea catches on elsewhere.

Perhaps paper waxed straws when straws are required. 

Recycling yes if you can do so, if your local council has the facilities to help with this idea.

Here locally we recycle tins, glass, some plastics such as milk containers, grass, food waste and paper as we have 4 sets  of recycling bins plus our green bin for landfill.

[Helen427]

@Daniel0 I guess once upon a time the States was mainly farmland and rural to where they did have butchers that wrapped meat, bakers that wrapped bread & diary folk wrapped cheese in brown paper..people used to grow there own or make there own and now it's all corporate greed.

It's a sad state of affairs that urban sprawl has been allowed and that the wider ecological systems have been eroded by the people.

Franklin 1571 is worth a read about how they ensured people they meet on there navigations had hens, maize, dogs and goats so they had (fresh) food sources as there certainly wasn't plastic around until the 1880's circa

[Joan157]

In US you can buy your meat at meat counter.  They still use paper to wrap.  Just ask not to have little plastic liner piece.  Same for cheeses.  I find doing this the meat and cheese are also fresher and cost less. 

[Jennifer976]

I have 3 large bins in my garage for garbage, recycling and organic waste that the city provided.  My guests in my suite have to walk right past them and they do use them, however, they just chuck things in without thinking if it is the right bin.  Recycling in the organics or the other way around.  How much info is too much info in the House Manual?  Will an intelligent person read my manual and think, What the hell control freak why are you Momsplaining how to throw out garbage??

I provide a coffee press instead of those machines with the little plastic cups.  I'm not a tea drinker but perhaps i'll get some nice cups with filters and some loose tea for those who do like it?  My shampoo, conditioner, body wash and soap all come in large containers that have pumps so I don't constantly throw out those little sample size bottles.  I never buy prepackaged food and even make my own broths, spice rubs etc.  I buy my spices from a store that only sells spices and I can take my containers to the store and the spices are fresh ground and put in the containers.  One thing that just dawned on me is that I should provide some cloth bags to my guests for when they go get groceries so they don't have to use plastic.  

Anyway....great topic and as always.  When we know better we do better!

[Kath9]

@Jennifer976 great idea about cloth shopping bags for guests. I have a million of them and havent thought to offer them to guests when they go shopping. I guess I just always assume people have their own! 

Re the bins, I feel your pain. People just chuck stuff in whatever bin, but I've stuck labels on my bins now, which has helped.

[Sandra126]

And still, we have threads which ask about tiny teeny containers for bathroom consumables, advocating FOR them. But quite possibly those hosts will not read this thread, I have a feeling it is preaching to the already converted.

I have all my life been avoiding plastic, but my parents were never interested in recycling or the environment (recycling is for wimps). This is when I lived at home as a teenager. ''Do you want to go backwards?'' was the question to me. ''YES'' I would reply. But things changed. In Sweden the rubbish/recycling system is absolutely fanatical nowadays. It is very difficult and expensive to throw things out. Your bins are weighed by the rubbishtrucks as they have a scanning barcode on them. Yes, you pay for the weight of any snow on the lid too... This, and only this, have made my parents sort everything and they are now extremely conscious. Money changes everything, it can perhaps change America too @Daniel1992.

[Kath9]

@Sandra126 charging for rubbish by weight - what a great idea!. It annoys me that i pay exactly the same rates as my neighbour whose bins are overflowing every week. We should all be lobbying our local councils to do this. Although I can imagine people sneaking around at night putting their rubbish in other people's bins!

[Sandra126]

It's sweden... Not the done thing! I'm sure there are exceptions though. 

[Sarah977]

@Kath9  That used to make me so mad when I lived in Canada- I would have one small shopping bag of garbage in a week for my family of 4 (all else was recycled or composted) while my neighbors, one or two people in the household, would put out 2 huge garbage cans with more stuff piled by the side of them. Yet we all paid exactly the same amount for garbage pick-up. The people who were being responsible and not creating garbage were subsidizing the irresponsible.

I remember there were several city council meetings about the recycling efforts and garbage issues. A woman spoke up who had lived in Germany and said they had the same system @Sandra126 mentions- the garbage trucks had a scale on the back and you paid for the amount of garbage you left to be hauled away. How incredibly civilized.

And unfortunately, for a lot of people, hitting them in the wallet is the only way to get them to change their entitled habits. 

[Kimberly54]

@Sandra126, you are correct about preaching to the already converted.

Haha....we have Angel Wings... doing good deeds and all that stuff.

Best!

[Ria16]

@One0 day at a time.  😉  it’s great now in NZ most supermarkets  have stopped supplying plastic bags.  I only use one plastic bag in the bathroom guest bin. The rest can easily be wiped out if there’s a soggy tea bag in one,of them. I did see a YouTube clip on how to make a paper bin liner. Might try that. 

I do buy a lot of items buk and take my own containers in to be filled. But as I do serve a breakfast to guests I need to know exactly what’s in my food supplies in case I’m held accountable for some medical issue. So date stamp and ingredients listing is important.

I do collect rubbish off the beach  ...biggest problem these days are fisherman’s bait bags. They take the fish but leave their smelly rubbish grrrr.

[Mellisa2]

I run an eco resort and we have a number of initiatives on this:

Our customers only receive bottled water on day one, after that they can get as many refills as they like for free if they bring it back. We also sell Trash Hero reusable bottles for guests.

All the plastics, cans and glasses used at our resort are recycled. We have a collection area on the resort and the staff get paid for collecting it.

We only use paper straws and they are only given on request.

[Lizzie]

It's really interesting to hear you run an eco resort @Mellisa2. That's great to hear about your reusable bottles. 

Do you find your guests like that you are environmentally friendly?

[Joan157]

You say you're an eco resort.  I can't say I'm a resort, but can say I'm an eco cottage!  Let's people know it's ok I don't line wastebaskets with plastic, etc.  (BTW, I grew up with our never lining wastebaskets, just washed them out if needed). Thanks for the idea!