Plastic Waste Collected
As I committed to do at the start of our plastic free journey this year, I kept the plastic wrappers we used in July to help work out where we could make improvements. I didn't keep all of the multiples of products - for example pasta packets - since I figured once we had a couple the message was there to try and find an alternative option.Here is what we collected:
Packaging
|
Number of items
|
Found a way to avoid?
|
Pasta packet
|
2 (more thrown out but not collected)
|
No – possibly at bulk store
|
Wholemeal flour
|
1
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Pepitas
|
1
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Green lentils
|
2
|
Yes - bulk store
|
Almond meal
|
1
|
Yes – bulk store or make own when buy a food processer
|
Ginger snap
biscuits
|
1
|
Yes – could make our own, time permitting
|
Sultanas 1kg
|
1 (possibly more thrown out but not collected)
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Goji berries
|
1
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Rolled oats
|
2 (possibly more thrown out but not collected)
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Raw sugar
|
1
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Seaweed rice crackers
|
1 (more thrown out but not collected)
|
No
|
Desiccated coconut
|
1
|
Yes – bulk store
|
Bread bag
|
1
|
Yes – bring our own for the bakery to use
|
Arborio rice
|
1
|
No – possibly at bulk store
|
Frozen peas
|
1
|
No
|
Green split peas
|
1
|
No – possibly at bulk store
|
Puffed corn cereal
|
1
|
No – possibly at bulk store
|
Disposable nappy bag (the bag the actual nappies are
packaged in)
|
1 (possibly more thrown out but not collected)
|
No
|
Dog poo bags
|
? None kept (thankfully!) but it would average 2 each day
|
Yes – use newspaper instead (have not done this yet)
|
Celebrating Success
- Starting to use cloth nappies at childcare;
- Buying reusable takeaway coffee cups to enjoy guilt free tea and coffee on the run;
- Reusing bread bags when we buy bread;
- Purchasing a moon or menstrual cup, which I've wanted to try for awhile;
- I finally watched the Bag It the movie; &
- Sharing this experience with my peers, and learning what they are doing, at Living Smarties and through Lizzing Lightly.
Lamenting Failures
I am so happy with our achievements during Plastic Free July this year but I thought it would be good to note down things we didn't get around to doing. We can make small steps to start doing some things now or leave them until next year:
- Shopping at the bulk store - we made it there on the 31 July at least but I need to keep looking for quite a few products (as you can see from the table) and get into a routine of shopping at these stores regularly;
- Dog poo bags - these are a real disgrace but it is difficult to manage without them. I'm keen to try using newspaper instead to see if that works. I expect it will need to happen close to a bin.
- Bin liners - I know we can go without and clean out the bin but we're not ready for that one as yet. I know the poor animals eating plastic are suffering from our inaction but we have to take small steps that we are comfortable with. This might be one to consider again next year.
Lessons Learnt
We use a lot of plastic! Even though we are conscious of the problem and try to reduce it as much as possible.
By making a reasonably small effort and doing a few different things when heading to the shops we can cut back on our plastic use quite a bit - it really is worth trying to do.
The environment is really suffering from the mass production and use of plastic products. I always knew this was a problem but I really thought about it and processed it through participating in Plastic Free July this year.
So there it is - all wrapped up for 2015. Thank you to those of you who have followed my journey and provided some thoughts or advice. I hope you have picked up an idea or two yourselves.
Linking up with EssentiallyJess for #IBOT
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