Anti plastic

We have a “fill your own container” stall in the indoor market.

Maybe you have one near you?

I do old plastic boxes, but over and over again.

We are very lucky to have 2 fill your own shops locally that you can take your own cartons to and fill up with anything from pasta, pulses, washing product and loads more. My daughter uses it all the time and, although, some of the bottles she uses are plastic, they are all over a year old and have been re-used many, many times (most are glass, though). Ask around your area - there is probably one you never knew about

It’s a huge problem. When I was little I think washing up liquid might not have been invented as my mum used washing powder for the dishes. But absolutely everything seems to come in plastic now. I can get unpackaged fruit and veg from the greengrocer in the nearest town but that means a special trip in my petrol car. We have no fill your own shops hereabouts. If only the supermarkets could be converted to go as plastic free as possible but I suspect hell will freeze over first. The nearest Tesco has got is selling four tins of baked beans without them being encased in a plastic overcoat.?

I'll have a look for a fill your own shop. Great suggestion.

Yes, Peasblossom, I try to reuse any plastic multiple times. I save drinks bottles (to the irritation of my DD) and wash out plastic bags (have done that for years though) to reuse.

But really, I think more is needed. A move away from buying products in plastic is needed.

I get annoyed with 'we are reducing our plastic' Tesco who deliver with hundreds (slight exaggerate) of pink plastic bags to protect things. Why can't they have one crate for cold food, one for cleaning stuff etc and no bags. I try and reuse them but threw away an armful last week.

I agree Tizliz, it doesn’t make sense. A packet of sausages for instance is already wrapped and doesn’t need another covering, but Tesco insist on giving it one. Back in the days of plastic carrier bags they took them back for recycling (though I was always suspicious of what that really meant) but I think that all stopped with covid.

Refills are the way to go, I’d have thought. My kitchen spray bottle is well re-used, because I buy refills for it. Ocean Saver is one make, and Ecover another for refills. Available in supermarkets.

Soap nuts can be used for many, many cleaning jobs, from laundry to shampoo. Info in my link. The ones I bought came in a canvas bag - no plastic involved at all!

earthbits.com/blogs/earthbits/a-guide-to-soapnuts-what-are-soap-nuts-and-how-to-use-them

I have gone over to solid soaps and shampoos and have found a couple of companies that specialise in them.

I have a cream deodorant in a tin, toothpaste tablets in a glass jar, (haven't tried them yet, as I still have a tube of toothpaste to finish up). I buy cotton wool buds with a paper shaft and have found a tooth floss which comes on a reel and has a little glass dispenser.

The plastic bottles I still have claim to be made of "recycled" plastic. That's all well and good, but surely it's what you do with the bottle afterwards that is just as important. I don't see how buying a plastic bottle at all can be environmentally friendly, recycle or not.

Of course, the question is also, is it better to have tins and glass containers? We do have a glass factory nearby that claims that 80% of its products are made from recycled glass but I recently read that recycling glass is not advantageous either - presumably it uses a lot of water.

Use soda crystals with a little grated soap store in a glass jar and just use a small amount. Washing up liquid is greatly over used.
You can also make a liquid version that does clothes washing that includes synthetic borax IIRC

I live in a small town and we have two of these 'fill your own' stores. Wonderful. Ours are down side streets where the rates are cheaper so perhaps there is one nearer to you than you know. Good luck.

You can buy a concentrated disinfectant and just water it down each time your kitchen spray needs refilling.

We tend to buy those big bottles of hand wash etc to refill but even they are in plastic.

A packet of sausages for instance is already wrapped and doesn’t need another covering, but Tesco insist on giving it one.

I believe that raw meat products are supposed to be overwrapped in case the packaging is broken, making it possible to drip things like salmonella, e.coli, or listeria over other products.

Milk: if you can afford it have it delivered to your door step from your local milk delivery company.
Its 81 pence a pint,I know you can purchase,sometimes,
four pints from the super markets for a pound.
So its up to the individual.

Wonder if you could use washing powder for your dishes? I use mine for cleaning my oven shelves. Seems very efficient.

Tizliz

I get annoyed with 'we are reducing our plastic' Tesco who deliver with hundreds (slight exaggerate) of pink plastic bags to protect things. Why can't they have one crate for cold food, one for cleaning stuff etc and no bags. I try and reuse them but threw away an armful last week.

I have both deliveries and click and collect orders from Tesco every week and don’t get things in plastic bags - apart from red ones for raw meat. The green crates are divided by type of goods, one for chilled, one for frozen and others for household items. As I don’t get much frozen food, I sometimes smile at a single box of fishmongers in a huge crate! The few red bags I get are reused for messy things which need wrapping before going in the wheely bin.

Maybe it varies regionally.

I totally agree though that supermarkets need to do a lot more, as do other companies that rely on delivering their goods.

clothing too, polyester. I have a humungous stash of sewing fabrics and none of them contain any polyester or oil derivatives. They are all natural fabrics and kind to the environment

We are lucky to have a refill stall near us, so that takes care of a lot of stuff, plus I have a spray bottle for kitchen cleaner which I dilute ( powder), and buy my washing up liquid and hand wash in 5 litre bottles which I use to fill the dispensers in the kitchen and bathroom. All little steps, but I agree it can be quite a challenge. I also use SMOL dishwasher and laundry detergent tablets, delivered through the letter box in cardboard, no plastics.