3 May, 2018
Reducing Plastic Waste
There has been a lot in the Press recently about the increasing problem of plastic pollution. What really brought it home to me was when one of my idols, Sir David Attenborough, highlighted the scale of the problem in his ‘Blue Planet II’ television series. Having studied and taught Biology, and having a keen interest in marine biology myself, I was heartbroken to see the devastation caused by plastic pollution. I’ve always been pretty vigilant about recycling plastic but I’ve now realised the importance of trying to reduce unnecessary plastic usage. I’ve seen from friends social media feeds that they too are exasperated by the ridiculous amounts of plastic used for example to package foods! I’ve seen single bananas packaged in a plastic tray with plastic wrap over them! Why?! It’s obvious to me that the food manufacturers need to have a serious rethink about how food is packaged and need to be held accountable for the use of plastic when it’s not necessary.
Having looked closely at how much plastic waste leaves my household in my pink recycling bag each fortnight, I was staggered to find the bag over flowing at each collection. I mean, we are a household of only three! That’s a lot of plastic per person! And if that’s the case for every household then it’s a frightening thought! So I’ve decided to look at ways in which I can reduce plastic waste, and I thought I would share my ideas with you…..
Firstly, plastic carrier bags! In Wales we have had to pay for bags for a number of years and that has certainly got me into the habit of buying the ‘bags for life’ which I can reuse, rather than the single use carrier bags that cause so mush devastation in our oceans. I refuse to buy carrier bags unless I absolutely have to, and then I make a point of reusing them.
Then there’s takeaway coffee cups! As we all know, I am partial to a coffee! Over the years I’ve used and binned many of these cups! Nowadays I tend to make my own coffee at home or ‘sit in’ if I’m going out for coffee, therefore reducing my need for theses cups. I have also purchased a number of reusable coffee cups like the ‘Keep Cup’. I carry one of these in my bag and if I’m getting a takeaway I ask the Barista to make the coffee in my cup. It’s fantastic to see so many coffee shops encouraging the use of these cups and even offering a discount on your coffee if you use one. Many coffee shops also sell reusable coffee cups, so they are fairly easy to get hold of. They also come in a variety of sizes and styles. I got mine from uk.keepcup.com
My recycling bag would usually be full of plastic drinks bottles, including water bottles. Why was I buying bottled water?! I live in Wales, where we have some of the best tasting water in the world coming out of our taps! To remedy this problem I invested in a “Chilly’s bottle’. This is a double walled vacuum bottle that keeps drinks cold or hot for up to 12 hours. They come in a range of colours, patterns and sizes, with the cheapest starting at £15. After that initial outlay, you have a stylish product that is dramatically going to reduce your usage of plastic bottles. I have found an added benefit to mine in that it has increased my water intake each day, as I usually fill it at least 2 or 3 times, so it’s probably improved my health too! I’m now drinking more water, rather than just coffee and gin!
Being an aspiring Barista, one product that I use a lot of is milk! I can easily go through at least three of the 4 pint plastic bottles each week! As I also like to support local producers, I decided to look for a milkman to deliver milk in glass bottles to the door. This was far easier than I expected. I was recommended a website called milkandmore.co.uk where they will tell you who the local milkman is and on what days they deliver. All you have to do is select how many pints you want and on which days. You enter your card details and you are charged weekly. You can change your order easily online and they can even deliver a wide variety of other products (hence the word ‘more’). I’ve found this to be an excellent service. My milk is delivered three times a week before 7am. I get organic whole milk delivered which at 95p a pint isn’t cheap but I’m reducing plastic waste, the glass bottles get collected by the milkman to be reused or recycled and I have found that the quality of my coffees has improved as I’m able to get a superior microfilm with this milk. When I posted on social media that I was getting milk delivered it seemed to split opinion. I had a number people ask me for the details so that they could also get milk delivered and others commenting on the high price. To me personally, it is important to buy good quality milk and to support local producers, even if it costs me about £10 a week. Some people would spend that on just one packet of cigarettes. Top quality milk is one of my luxuries.
I’ve also started to look at other non plastic products such as cotton buds made from cardboard and bamboo products such as toothbrushes. These are only small steps but I feel like I am making small difference, even if it’s just the amount of plastic waste leaving my house.
If anybody has any other suggestions of how to reduce plastic waste in the household, I’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment below 🙂