Last week marked the end of a fantastic giveaway we ran to celebrate Plastic Free July. Shanelle was our lucky winner who went home with the stack of goodies (so she’ll be doing well at this PFJ thing….)!!
As part of the comp, we asked YOU all to let us know what you’ve got planned or what you’re already doing to avoid single use plastic this Plastic Free July. The responses were pretty amazing and it’s clear that lots of you are already well on the way to using less plastic.
The list of YOUR ideas and suggestions was so good, that we thought it would be worth sharing.
So, here they are. Here are all the things YOU are doing. I think you should be pretty pleased with yourselves actually. But there’s always room for improvement and this list could prove to be just the inspiration that you need to take the next step.
A sincere thanks to everyone who shared their ideas and thoughts with us. Enjoy ‘The List’!!
1. Produce Bags & Grocery Bags
By far and away the most popular concept is that of reusable shopping and produce bags. And this shouldn’t be a surprise. It really is easy to do and it’s the first step that many of us take to reduce our single use plastic. The first hurdle is arming yourself with the bags. The second is remembering to take them with you to the shops. Every time….!! In the early days, this is indeed a challenge and can be very frustrating (as many of you mentioned)!! But once the habit is formed, it’s worth it.
I recommend you get a set of bags for supermarket shopping (including produce bags) and one or two other foldable versions that you can keep in your bag for when you are out and about and just happen to buy something. There’s lots to choose from on Green Elephant but we also had some crafty and industrious people who were making their own produce and shopping bags which is awesome.
2. Cling Wrap & Lunches
Lots of you out there have families and naturally worry about the mountains of plastic that can end up in your kids lunchboxes (or your own!!). Beeswax wraps or lunch wraps are a popular choice for those of you looking to swap out the cling wrap and it’s great to see people out there doing completely waste free lunchboxes for their kids. You’re also looking at stainless steel as an option for the lunchbox itself as a chemical free alternative that should last a lifetime.
You’re onto reusable drink bottles too – lots of you don’t buy bottled water anymore and instead, take a glass or stainless refillable bottle.
3. Your Daily Coffee Fix
Everyone loves a coffee right..?? But takeaway coffee cups are one of ‘The Big Four’ and we’re encouraged to ditch these for Plastic Free July (and beyond). And you are….!! Lots of you out there already carry a reusable coffee cup with you (high five) and for those of you with pod machines for coffee at home, some have already made the switch to Honest Coffee whose pods are 100% biodegradable. Tick.
4. Bulk Buy & Excess Packaging
Buying at bulk stores like Bin Inn is a great way to avoid excess packaging. Most of these stores are happy for you to fill your own containers with dry goods – and there are some peanut butter lovers out there (like me) who take their jars down to get their fix of freshly ground gold.
Meat from the supermarket normally comes packaged in plastic so try taking your own containers to the butcher or ask for your meat to be wrapped in paper. Choosing fruit and veg that isn’t pre-wrapped was a popular option and something we talked about in our PFJ Diary too.
To make a statement, we could leave unnecessary packaging in the store (like I did last week) and for other products, you talked about choosing options with minimal packaging (like cardboard or recyclable material). Making your own (hummus, pesto, bread, baby food etc.) or growing your own veg is also a great way to avoid packaging.
5. Health & Beauty
Plastic packaging isn’t restricted to food and lots of you are getting on board with solid beauty bars!! Swapping out liquid soap that comes in a bottle for bar soap and trying out a bamboo toothbrush were also popular choices – there’s lots of you loving the bamboo brushes already!! Razors were mentioned a few times too. To avoid the plastic here, it’s back to the old school safety razors our Dads used to use!!
6. Waste
Kitchen bins can be yucky and lots of us use plastic to keep the yuckiness contained. But there are alternatives. These certified compostable bin liners available in various sizes from ecobags are great – they are made from corn starch and after keeping your yuckiness contained in the bin, they’ll break down into carbon dioxide and water in a normal composting environment. Lots of you are into these already!!
For waste that isn’t too ‘wet’ paper is also a good option for lining your bin. Some of you pointed out that instead of binning everything, you’d be making sure it couldn’t be recycled first and there are others that are composting their waste or using a worm farm. Disposable nappies can be a big source of waste and some of you are making the switch to washable or reusable nappies.
7. Pets
For pet owners, poop can be a problem!! I have seen it suggested that we pick up the poop using paper but that won’t appeal to everyone…. These earth rated poo bags from ecobags are compostable and the Ensopet from Zing Bokashi is a standalone poo composting unit for your garden.
8. Other Ideas to Avoid Single Use Plastic
Other ideas you came up with that we couldn’t leave out include using glass jars for pantry storage, going microbead free, using bamboo clothes pegs, buying raw milk in glass bottles, using a bread bag (or pillow case) for buying and storing bread, educating our children about the damaging effects that plastics can have on our environment and keeping a ‘no plastic kit’ in the car.
We thought this was a brilliant idea!! The ‘No Plastic Kit’ includes a coffee cup, stainless steel straw and a knife, fork and spoon all kept in a reusable shopping bag. What an awesome way to be prepared!!
Thank you to all who contributed. There’s lots of great ideas here to help you get started (if you haven’t already) or help you take your plastic free journey to the next level. Find out how our own challenge is going by reading our Plastic Free July Diary, which we’ll share with you each week over the next month.
