One of my local bulk food stores |
A writer I love once wrote that in order to have
a good morning routine, you need to have an excellent night-time routine. What
does that mean? Well, if you want to be one of those people who get a good jump
on the morning, whether that's via morning exercise, meditation, a good healthy
brekkie, a delicious packed lunch or simply not sprinting around the house like
a crazy thing as soon as you jump out of bed, it’s easier to have it all
organised and ready to go the night before.
Why am I writing this? Well, I’ve found it also applies
brilliantly to nailing this whole Plastic Free July thing.
Throwing your keep cup in your bag so it's ready
to go the next day, pre-filling a water bottle and putting it on the kitchen
bench next to your cutlery/grocery bags/produce bags means you’re ready for
whatever the day throws at you without the added stress of trying to do it all
in that precious time between waking and heading to work/social
engagement/wrestling clothes onto a child who appears to have grown 20 extra limbs
overnight and attempting to leave the house.
And that brings us to now – at the end of the
third week of Plastic Free July.
So, how are Steve and I going? Despite a number
of challenges raising their heads in the past two weeks, I’d still say we’re going
well.
Yes, some plastic has still entered our house.
Some of that has been knowingly done (see my earlier post about milk and
garbage bags), while some of it has been taken out of our hands, often after
we’d opened something we thought would be plastic-free only to discover a
lovely layer hidden somewhere in it. Or, shock horror, when we forgot and
remembered way too late.
Single use plastic, it’s a sneaky little devil!
And it seems that no matter how organised you are sometimes you simply can't
avoid it. It's just the way our society is wired.
For the past two weeks I have toted my pyrex
dishes into the butcher, only to find on one occasion they used a plastic bag
to grab my meat (note: I found this varies butcher to butcher. Some have washed
their hands and grabbed the meat bare-handed). Well-meaning friends would buy us
drinks in plastic bottles, an event would only have plastic cups on offer, or a
late afternoon walk to the bakery to grab bread – with pillowcase in tow to
bring it home in – would be fruitless after discovering all the bread had been
pre-sliced and bagged.
The majority of this could be, and often was,
counter-acted simply by our being prepared. It was easy enough to pour a drink
into my keep cup rather than a plastic cup at a party, or to eat with our hands
to avoid using a plastic plate.
Loose leaf tea in my own jar |
But it also brought home just how used to grab
and go convenience we, as a society, have become. A trip to a bulk store to
refill a spice jar, grab some flour and icing sugar as well as snacks for the week
cost me a grand total of $2 - not even close to how much it would've cost to
buy everything new at the grocery store. And yet, because it involved walking
to a third business I found myself initially hesitating over doing it. And
walking down any aisle at the grocery store became an eye-opening experience
when you realised the majority of the packaging would be thrown away.
I should also note that even if we were
struggling badly at reducing our plastic use, I would still say this month was
a success if only for the conversations it has started.
Friends and family who know us and our
left-leaning ways were unsurprised by our efforts, but would be curious about
the challenge and ask straight up how it was going, while other friends began
to jump on board the bandwagon, getting themselves reusable straws or keep
cups, bamboo toothbrushes and reusable bags or simply becoming more mindful
about single use plastic.
Those who hadn't heard of the challenge would
listen with interest – or outright surprise – when we said we were avoiding
single use plastic for the month. Very occasionally we would run up against the
negative nancy who would tell us our efforts would make zero difference in the
long run (FYI, between the two of us we saved more than 40 disposable coffee
cups alone going to landfill this month. That’s not a small number.
Imagine
But there are other ways this challenge has
benefited us.
In our house, the food we're buying is of better
quality. Fewer nutrition-free snacks or "just in case" purchases,
more cooking from scratch – and realising how easy it all is.
Habits from childhood also re-emerged. Growing
up my mum would always throw a water bottle and a piece of fruit in her handbag
before heading out, and I began to emulate this again, as well as putting that
shampoo I didn't like into my handwash container and using household
ingredients like vinegar, bi-carb soda and essential oils to clean. Homemade
lotion is easy-peasy and cheap to do and, thanks to stores like Biome, the
ingredients and recipes are accessible all in one place. Or, just open your
cupboards and grab that olive oil and slather it on. It works just as well and
is super cheap.
Here is a quick list of the other take aways
we’ve found from the three weeks of Plastic Free July:
- · Organisation is key. Have everything ready to go so you can just grab it. Make lists your friend too! From meal planning (which also helps reduce food waste) to what you need to get from which store.
- · Bulk is beautiful. Grab your flour, sugar, tea, coffee, peanut butter, oil, washing up liquid, laundry powder and soap from your local bulk store. Or, if you can’t do this, look into better options that are available at your local supermarket. Can you buy things in glass jars or paper packaging rather than plastic? Just remember that recycling is a great place to start, but a terrible place to stop. For more info about that, head here.
- · Make google your best friend. There are so many blogs, websites and Facebook groups that can answer your questions when it comes to reducing plastic in your life. And we’ve found the results are often better, and cheaper, than store-bought items.
- · Hit up your local farmers’ markets with your own bags. Take a plate and coffee cup and grab brekkie while you’re there and really make a day of it!
- · Just start somewhere. We began this month aiming to refuse plastic bags, straws, bottles, disposable coffee cup and plastic cutlery. We’re ending it having significantly reduced all our plastic use! But at the end of the day, one less coffee cup in landfill is still a win.
Now, over to you. How’s your Plastic Free July
experience going?
Want more reading?
Hit up these blogs for inspiration:
http://trashisfortossers.com/
Or watch these:
https://www.tedxteen.com/talks/why-i-live-a-zero-waste-life-lauren-singer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v50PTSaOOGI
Or watch these:
https://www.tedxteen.com/talks/why-i-live-a-zero-waste-life-lauren-singer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v50PTSaOOGI
Or head back to these websites:
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