Fantastic unplastic

Home

Fantastic unplastic

Avoid excessive packaging

Impact

Effort

What

Plastic is everywhere. From the wristband placed around your wrist at birth to the mouse your hand is resting on right now, you can't get away from it. It's fantastic stuff... when used well.

We've developed a bit of an addiction lately though, using it like it's going out of fashion in the most ludicrous way. From plastic-wrapped oranges to glue sticks encased in unbreakable plastic packaging, our use of plastic has gone wild.

And, as Blue Planet II showed so clearly, it's not without it’s consequences.

Why

We've all seen plastic bags stuck in tree tops and empty bottles lying among the autumn leaves, but not many of us have seen The Great Pacific Garbage Patch for ourselves. In 2017, a team of researchers found another giant mass of plastic soup in the South Pacific, the size of Kazakstan.

As Blue Planet II so powerfully showed, this is killing animals from pilot whale calves to albatrosses and dolphins. And perhaps most scarily of all, plastic deposits are building up in our food chain, eventually making their way into our own stomachs. That's not going to help anyone's health.

Our waste manages to find its way into every corner of our world, but unlike most other waste, plastic does not biodegrade.

Every piece of plastic ever made is still on the planet somewhere.

How

This one can be taken to varying extremes - our advice would always be to start small, gradually working your way down the list:

THE EASY THINGS:

  • Use a reusable shopping bag
  • Use tap water instead of buying bottled
  • Say no to unnecessarily packaged goods - like the infamous plastic wrapped orange, pre-chopped onions, or cauliflower steak.

STEPPING IT UP:

  • Get yourself a set of reusable produce bags for buying your fruit and veg, instead of those pesky plastic bags. Then head to your local greengrocer or farmers market where you’re more likely to find loose fruit and veg.
  • Buy your cleaning products in bulk. Ecover and Method sell a range of products in bulk so that you can endlessly refill your handy small bottles, using about 84% less plastic.
  • Say no to straws and disposable cutlery. Simples.

GOING FOR GOLD:

  • Avoid synthetic clothes - they shed plastic mirofibres into the water, which ends up in our oceans (to help reduce this when you do have to wash synthetic clothes, get yourself a GUPPYFRIEND Washing Bag).
  • Invest in plastic free bathroom goods - from metal razors to mooncups; bamboo toothbrushes to natural crystal deodorants.
  • Shop in unpackaged or bulk-buy supermarkets. You can find a handy map here.
  • Get your milk delivered by a local milkman.

Check out Lexy's blog for even more creative ideas, and Kate Arnell’s great EcoBoost YouTube channel.

References

  1. BBC News
  2. Plastic bags and bottles - CO2 emissions
  3. Rubbish and Shopping, Global Action Plan, Aug 2009
  4. New Hampshire Department for Environmental Services