February wrap up
Well I'm glad I chose the shortest month for a challenge. The hardest bit has been making extra time to visit about 5 shops (all in different locations/ shopping centres) instead of one - not just for bulk foods, butcher, baker etc but when you think you're going to be able to get something plastic free and can't. For example, I've run out of paracetamol so I'd decided I would buy the bottle in preference to a blister pack... the bottles were sold out at the supermarket, so I have to wait or go somewhere else. That seems to happen a lot with all different items. What's hard is not giving in and buying the plastic wrapped thing that *is* available right then and there, but I really mustn't if I want to send a message to retailers. Cooking more from scratch hasn't been that bad as it's only an extra ten mins to chop a few veg once you have them in the house, for example and the bread maker, yoghurt etc are v quick once you're in the routine. Setting reminders and doing a meal plan will be key to keeping this up. I find the extra time washing the reusable things a bit of a pain right now but I will get used to it.
Our plastic container recycling is greatly reduced as is our soft plastic recycling - it's probably about half but we are still emptying packets from pre-February. Our glass recycling hasn't really gone up because jars and bottles are are so handy and reusable.
I haven't been properly recording the dollar impact. I've spent about $200 on reusable things, and I have more to spend on decent reusable containers for the freezer i.e. oblong shaped plastic and pyrex tubs. I'm on the hunt for freebies and cheap second hand things, but trips to the op shop are just an extra trip I can't face right now!!
Here's some changes that I've made that I can see sticking:
- Being totally religious about not accepting plastic bags at the shops. e.g. today for some reason I only brought one reusable bag with me when I knew I needed to do a 'proper shop'. I asked the checkout girl to just give me the big things to put in the trolley instead of using a plastic bag.
- Using deodorant in glass containers / or bicarb / or none.
- Avoiding face wash in plastic containers by just using water and face cloths instead. Instead of shower gel I use bar soap.
- I've bought a few reusable cloth pads and ModiBodi all-in-one pants (not tried the latter yet). Between those two I think I should be ok although I find the cloth pads slip out of place and so aren't really suitable for all situations.
- Bamboo cotton buds and toothbrushes - well, we can afford them so why not. I've given up using cotton buds but hubby won't so this is a good solution.
- Choosing cordials, mixers, spreads & sauces in the glass bottle/ jar option. And there pretty much always is one in a larger supermarket. They are more expensive but glass is more costly to transport. It is infinitely recyclable tho so it wins.
- Making bread or buying it in a paper bag from a baker. There seem to be bakers on nearly every street corner so this is not hard.
- Buying meat from a plastic free butcher.
Things I can do sometimes to cut down a bit on plastic:
- Making nut milk - ok, I've made cashew nut milk once but it might be viable to do this once a week to replace the stuff I was buying in containers for our breakfast oats. It wasn't suitable for coffee.
- Using real potato and fresh veg instead of frozen mash and frozen veg. I think we are still going to have frozen peas in bags and probably a bag of that mash for total no spoons emergencies that happen about once a month.
- Buying a bit of dairy in glass - yoghurt, feta, milk are all things that can be bought in glass. They cost considerably more than the plastic packaged versions so these will be a sometimes purchase! I can make yoghurt from milk powder but there seems to be a bit of a shortage of supply for packaging free powder!
- I haven't bought any chocolate, drinks, cereal bars in February but it would be realistic to say I won't be buying any ever! I was given some chocolate and sweets for a gift, I haven't been a saint :)
Things that I'm just going to keep buying in plastic:
- Shampoo & conditioner - I've got one I like (difficult hair!), it's cheap and I only use a tiny bit from a big bottle.
- Toothpaste - it's in the too hard, too weird basket for now. Maybe this will change.
- Most of our milk - I'm going to try to only buy 3L bottles which should slightly reduce the plastic and we should be able to get to a point where it's just for coffee and making cheese & yoghurt.
- Block cheese, soft cheese except feta. I'll just buy the biggest possible pack.
- Cleaning vinegar, Jif, possibly washing detergent, but again, I'll buy the most massive bottles I can.
We didn't do any entertaining this month so we avoided that test but I have made a few snacky things this month with pretty low effort e.g. kale crisps, things for dipping, dips, which could become standards.
On the to-do list:
- Will get a reusable razor when my disposables run out.
- Will try more dairy alternatives with the hope that I can adapt to making a few more things from scratch with bulk bought cashews etc. Although that also raises the problem of finding an ethical source...
- Probably a million other things that just didn't happen to run out this month so I have not even thought about them!
I've probably forgotten heaps and will come back and edit this.