Sunday 5 June 2016

Making Sense of Plastic.....

I read/follow lots of blogs from people whose lifestyle choices are similar to my own.  Simplicity, permaculture, growing your own food and reducing waste etc.....I have followed Tammy on her blog for several months....she is a huge campaigner for the no plastic revolution and is an extremely passionate and committed individual...I was amazed to meet her as a guest speaker at last week's Permaculture meeting.....Small World ...she also lives in the Gippsland area and came to the meeting to discuss/share her no plastic journey..... I am aware and do try to reduce the use of  plastic , but Tammy highlighted loads of areas where it is possible to refuse the use of plastic...including taking her own containers to the butcher..... which I hadn't thought of myself and while I do take my own carry-bag the butcher puts the meat in single use freezer bags ........don't think I have been making quite enough effort.....very inspired to step up and introduce more of her ideas.  It does take quite a bit more effort but plastic is a huge environmental problem that will not go away unless people refuse to use it in all it's shapes and forms.

Image of Tammy from a report in a local newspaper.
It just takes a few minutes to check out these horrific images of seabirds who have died with stomachs full of discarded plastic which has found it's way into the ocean.
Heartbreaking image of decomposing Albatross full of plastic stomach contents.
A lot of plastic bottle caps....which can be a difficult one to avoid because they are used on so many containers...even eco products...... That is my goal for the next 6 months....try my hardest to avoid any purchases that have plastic tops...and keep the ones I haven't managed to avoid in a jar as a reminder of how I need to do better......  How do you avoid these?

10 comments:

  1. It takes alot of commitment and organisation to eliminate plastic use, I try to keep it to a minimum, I could do better, but at least I go to more trouble than some.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree Cheryl, it's not easy but definitely worth the effort.

      Delete
  2. After reading this, I looked through my pantry, and was happy to see there were few plastic lids. The ones I saw were on the occasional oil bottle, tamari, rice vinegar. I buy my oil in 3L tins when possible, though, & most of the smaller bottles have metal lids. We probably throw away plastic lids most from dairy products... milk and 1/2 & 1/2. I was buying milk from a local woman, in glass jars, but she stopped selling it. I'm not sure if there's any way around it, if I continue to use these products. Something to think about, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Laurie...wish I could get milk in glass. :-)

      Delete
  3. It really is an ongoing process to not use plastics, and we can all think about the way we shop and make some changes.
    Some of my changes are, cloth shopping bags, hand crochet fruit and veg bags made from cotton yarn just like the old 'string bags' and recently I have discovered and would recommend BeeEco wraps, which are a home based snall business on the Sunshine coast, you can order directly from them and the postage is included with delivery by post in a few days. I have bought 2 packs and use them every day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It certainly is an ongoing process margaret. thanks for the info on the BeeEco wraps. Certainly need to look at how I shop..already have two pieces of plastic today from a cardboard juice container..I buy juice in cardboard to avoid plastic bottles, but they have a plastic pourer and cap...will have to find a juice in glass now. :-)

      Delete
  4. We use beeswax wraps and food covers all the time. I have a range of sizes which work really well and, provided they are washed with a bit of care, they have been long lasting. I have some cloth bags for groceries and avoid pre-wrapped fruit/veg from supermarket. At the market or little organic shop I can choose either paper bags or most often I just pack my fruit/veg carefully into my box or bag. One of my recent discoveries which helps us to avoid a fair amount of plastic and those dreaded lids is milk in glass containers. This is sold at a little local bakery.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Meg for the tips...I wish I could get milk in glass containers here. Will look at the beewraps..several people at the permaculture group make their own. Would like to give it a go.

      Delete
    2. Morag, over on her blog, Our Permaculture Life, did make some of her own beeswax wraps. She did a post on it too so you might be able to follow her method to make them. Meg:)

      Delete
  5. Glad you were able to get some more ideas from my talk, Suzie. Thanks for introducing yourself, it was lovely to meet you :)

    ReplyDelete