I always buy fruit and veg loose; for most things, there seems to be the option of plastic wrapped or not, which only makes it more irritating because it shows that the packaging really isn't necessary. The only explanation is 'convenience', but people can, and would, cope with buying three loose, unwrapped leeks if they had to...I cope with it despite being 27 and unable tie my laces properly. Here are some photos of plastic packed multiple veg madness just for your consideration:
 |
| Madness |
 |
| Lunacy |
 |
| Insanity |
By the way, when you start buying loose veg you'll notice that people only queue behind you until they realise you have a haul of individual, time consuming vegetables to be put through and then they dash off to another till. Tee hee hee! You annoying lil' eco warrior, you!
So, on this occasion in Waitrose (hey, it's not that I'm flush, they just seem to have pretty good ethics as far as supermarkets are concerned) I set about looking at the loose fruit. Many were packaging free, none of them were plastic free. Every single loose fruit had a sticker on it. No sale. So, I moved on to new potatoes. There were lots of different types but they were all in plastic. All, that is, except these little beauties on the bottom shelf:
 |
| Taters: boil 'em, mash 'em, put 'em in a stew perhaps? |
Their cleaned, polished and packaged counterparts on the top shelf were accordingly well behaved. The loose potaters on the other hand, in all their dirt covered glory, were free to roll around the conveyor belt, leaving a trail of soil wherever they went. This was much to the annoyance of the lady at the till; "I'm going to have to wipe this off" she said, nodding towards the aforementioned dirt. "It'll ruin the conveyor belt". "I'm sorry, it's just that all the cleaned ones are in plastic, they should sell the clean ones loose" I explained. "Most people put these into the plastic bags" She retorted. "I'm trying to avoid it, single use bags are terrible" I replied (which reminds me, being apologetic about things like making a mess on a conveyor belt is the courteous thing to do, but don't apologise for your ethical stance when you're trying to make a difference!) She smiled and said she completely agreed, presented me with a Waitrose customer feedback card with a web address and asked me to go onto the site and make suggestions there. Well, you know what Mrs? I jolly well will!
I'm using things that I already had in the kitchen prior to this challenge that I wouldn't be able to buy during this challenge. Grains are one example of foodstuffs I need to find alternative shops for; I only ever see them in plastic. It feels a bit like cheating using packaged goods I already had...I guess it is really?! Going completely plastic free is, it seems, practically impossible. I wonder how I'd get on next month after I've run out of my stock of plastic covered goods. However, just because you can't get away from it entirely, doesn't mean you shouldn't reduce where you can.
Today's plastic reducing tip can be done by everyone:
Replace your Toothbrush and Toothpaste with non plastic alternatives
In the UK, if everyone changes their toothbrush every three months (usual recommended lifespan) that equates to more than 260 million toothbrushes being thrown away each year.
That is ridiculous when a plastic free alternative exists. Get yourself a toothbrush made from sustainable bamboo with natural bristles (non animal derived). It comes in a little cardboard box too, so everything in this product can be recycled or will biodegrade. I got mine from greenshop.co.uk for only £2.86. An eco friendly bargain.
Lush Cosmetics have mastered the alternative to plastic packaged toothpaste. Their Toothy Tabs are little tablets of toothpaste that you crunch up between your teeth. You then wet your toothbrush and brush your teeth as you would normally. There's a choice of flavours; if you'd like to retain the familiar minty freshness of your usual toothpaste, go for 'Dirty'. My personal favourite is 'Sparkle', with the tingly combination of grapefruit and black pepper. They come in a little recyclable cardboard box. Priced from £2.00 to £3.50 (depending upon which flavour/ingredients) these are available in Lush stores or online via their website.
 |
| Behold, the bamboo toothbrush! |
So there you have it, make one little change and help make a big difference!
Tonight I went for a walk on the beach and did a beach clean for a couple of hours, then sat and ate my dinner from a Tupperware pot whilst being watched by this guy:
In my next post I'll be looking through all the things I picked up off the beach, which included a lot of the main culprits for unnecessary, non recyclable, single use plastic rubbish that litters the beaches and seas.
Any guesses for the main offenders?
