So just over one week in, and time for our weekly rubbish review. Although we have had more unsmiley faces (denoting days where we bought something which included plastic – usually inadvertently!) than smiley faces (plastic-free days) I know that the ‘fails’ where we have brought some plastic into the house have been relatively small, so I was hoping for big things, and the results have not disappointed!

What has come in

Fails

First off a recap of the ‘fails’ – this is the plastic in the things we bought this week. I don’t have a handy comparison photo of before and after, as I usually split plastic into recyclable and the rest in with all the non-recyclable waste. This week though we introduced 3g of plastic into our house (actually probably less, that included the cardboard attached to the rip strip). I note is all non-recyclable.

Unsolicited items

So obviously the unsolicited items far outweigh the things we bought. I would say though that not all of these were completely unsolicited. Quite a few items I’ve categorised this way as I ordered parcels before the month started, so in reality I did invite these in (it was just not this month) and it is something I am taking into consideration for the rest of the month – most things ordered off the internet will contain plastic in their packaging. I think most frustrating was the packet of paper straws in a plastic wrapper.

 

What has gone out

And, for your delight and delectation, I give you our week 1 rubbish….

Plastic – recyclable

As our primary focus at the moment is vastly reducing plastic, I’ll start with this.

High five us! You can see from the picture above that we have been working on this for a year, and our plastic going in the recycling had reduced (from about 300g per week to around 200g per week), but this challenge has supercharged our efforts and we had record low – only 36g!

Plus we emptied 3 tetrapaks which include plastic.

Full disclosure, this is not all the plastic (recyclable packaging) we emptied this week, we also emptied the two items below, but following the 5 Rs, we will put these to use for a while longer – the bottle I have kept to ecobrick some old plastic wrap waste, and the tortilla packet will be used for batch meals popped in the freezer for now. They will make it into the recycling at some point though, and these are items we are definitely not replacing this month.

Non-recyclable waste

This includes all non-recyclable waste, plastic or not. Our efforts with reducing plastic so far this month have already had an impact on our non-recyclable waste. Again, have already been working on this for a year, but this challenge had given a boost. This time last year our non-recyclable waste was around 575g per week; last week it was around 200g per week; and this week, 76g.

 

A quick run down of what is left to remove:

 

Other recyclable waste

Does anyone have any knowledge of recyclable or at least compostable wrappers for butter and where they are sold? Anything else you are finding particularly difficult to source? Please do post any comments below!

A successful visit to the school second-hand sale today – 2 polos (with a couple of marks, but will be fine under pinafores), 2 school jumpers, and a pinafore dress. Combined with the bits and pieces I already had, I think we should be good for September now, apart from school shoes. Just a lot of name labels to sew on (35-year-old hand-me-downs from Mr MIHs Mum!).

Nothing else to report.

Fails

None.

Things we couldn’t buy

None.

Unsolicited items

None.

A busy day on the plastic-free (or not so plastic-free, as the case may be) front.

Chicken

First off a trip to a local farm shop, which has a butchers who are happy to put meat in your own containers, to get the chicken which I couldn’t get in Waitrose in the monthly shop. I had tried ringing to put through an order, but no-one was picking up, so I decided to drop by on the way to run a couple of errands. It got more convoluted as the butcher was out, and so I will have to put an email order in. But the good news is that it seems like we now have a system we can use – order then pick up on a set day of the week – and so we can plan meals accordingly. We had been meaning to do this for months, so this is a real plastic-free month win – a bit of a faff today, and I’ll have to rejig the meal plan this month, but hopefully now we have a system set up which works.

Sidenote: we realised that we needed more freezer space for various reasons (more bulk meat shopping, fruit season starting on the allotment so storage space needed, possibly more storage needed for advance bakes of homemade bread, and a slight increase in batch meal cooking and storage) and so last month we increased our freezer capacity by about 50% by picking up a local second-hand undercounter freezer from ebay (they seem to go for £30-£60).

Other finds

While I was at the farm shop, I checked out the other things available. There was not too much in the way of food, although there was a small fruit and veg section which was largely packaging free (but I think for us, variety and price-wise, sticking with the local market will be best). Excitingly, there was a freezer with loose soft fruits (which we are well stocked on from the allotment at the moment, but could come in useful in winter.

But I did also spot a number of household items, which will go into our directory for when we need them: brushes, compostable sponge cloths, beeswax food wraps, and lip balms.

We won’t need the brushes any time soon – we have 2 spare plastic ones (Ikea – dangerous for cheap bulk purchases!), and the first one is going strong after a couple of years. Much better to use up the items we already have than ditch them for new ones, even if the new ones are plastic free. Also, we swapped to microfibre dishcloths about a year ago – we just pop them in the washing machine in a hot towel wash. This was before I realised washing microfibre actually releases microfibres into the water supply. Am contemplating seeing if I can make my own GuppyFriend rather than swap out barely used cloths!

Sainsbury’s

Popped into Sainsbury’s on the way past to see if they had yellow school uniform polo shirts back in stock for Little MIH. They did, and I actually picked them up before I realised my plastic bag siren finally went off. It turned out I didn’t have my card with e anyway, so that would have thwarted any buying. There is a second hand school uniform sale tomorrow, so I will check that out.

Tesco

Picked up a few bits we needed for tea, but I missed the plastic sticker on the avocado!

Yoghurt Issues

The yoghurt batch I made yesterday turned out a bit runny and odd this morning, so I have made another batch this evening so we will see how this turns out. The starter yoghurt now tastes a bit more bitter the usual, but I’m hoping the new batch will work out OK otherwise we may not be able to have any more yoghurt for the rest of the month, as buying a new live batch would involve a plastic pot (maybe not such a disaster as Little MIH is still refusing to eat it in her packed lunch, even when laced with gooseberry crumble, which she would normally wolf down).

Mr MIH work trip

With improved sandwiches with mayonnaise from home this morning, and a refillable Keep Coffee Cup with him, Mr MIH was well set up for a work trip. Unfortunately he had to buy a coffee for a colleague when he bought himself one, so a half-fail – I’ll put it down as an unsolicited item!

Fails

Avocado sticker

 

Things we couldn’t buy/things that have run out but we won’t replace

New school uniform polo shirts

Tortillas

Unsolicited items

Coffee cup

Envelope window

Bin bag – Wrapping for a water heater won on ebay on 23rd June, but delivered during the challenge month. I don’t think I wrote it in the rules, but I think my intention was that we could not buy anything new with plastic. As the water heater was second-hand although it is made with plastic, I have not listed here as I think reuse is a positive thing. More on the water heater here.

 

 

One week in already and we have our third plastic-free day in a row! This is largely because we didn’t need to buy anything and we live in a village with just one shop, so I don’t often pass shops or go in just to browse.

As a sidenote, Mr MIH did have a plastic-heavy lunch today though, but courtesy of work – sandwiches in boxes, chopped fruit in plastic pots, crisps, and little cakes in a box.

Check back in on Thursday, when I will do a run down of our plastic rubbish for the week!

Fails

None

Things we couldn’t buy

None

Unsolicited items

None

 

Mr MIH had to do the final stock up on lunch goods today for the week. His normal routine is to stock up on food for the week on Monday lunchtime at the Asda round the corner from his office. He went in with the homemade bread (note: although we made bread this time, we have had success before getting made-in-store sliced bread put into our own bags in Tesco), and the ham we pre-bought at the weekend as we know the Asda, does not have a deli. He tried red pepper as the vegetable matter. He was going to buy Mayonnaise (which he normally uses in lieu of butter too), but unfortunately the jar had an anti-tamper plastic film, so that was out. So slightly dry sandwiches unfortunately – he will work on some improvements. In good news, although the fruit offerings out of packaging comprised only bananas, apples and oranges, as Asda stocked only one type of loose apple, they didn’t need any stickers, so entirely plastic-free apples, unlike Waitrose on Day 1.

We also put in an order in to our local packaging-free store today: noodles, cashews, sultanas, and new deodorant for Mr MIH to try.

I won’t lie, the deodorant is pricey, so we are hoping it lasts a long time, and that if he doesn’t like it, it has a smell which is ok for me to use. I’ve got a Pitrok crystal stick deodorant, which I bought pre trying to cut down on waste, and in particular plastic, so it does come in a plastic container. It was pricey too, but I think judging by the rate at which it is going down it should last about 5 years, so it will be a saving in the long run, and will have saved on lots of packaging in the meantime from a new roll-one deodorant bought every couple of months.

Fingers crossed our order will also include washing up liquid – it sounds like we will be able to get it in our own container, so do not have to buy a new bottle.

Fails

None…we are on a roll!

Things we couldn’t buy

None.

Unsolicited items

None.

Any questions on what we are doing on certain things? I realise my posts leave out a lot of what we were already doing before this, particularly where we have bulk bought in previous months to don’t need to restock this month!

A plastic-free day, woo hoo!

We were very tired after the party last night, and so it was lucky we had no shopping decisions to make, as I think we would have definitely gone for the easy option.

So nothing much to report today. I shall recount instead the yoghurt saga. On preparing for plastic-free July I realised yoghurt was going to be a major sticking point for us. Other dairy products have also proved impossible to find out of plastic, e.g. cream, creme fraiche, but we have just opted not to have meals which require these. That approach was not going to cut it for yoghurt. It is a staple of Little MIH’s diet, and also a key part of her pre-school packed lunches. There was a high risk of a hangry child without it.

Skip this next bit if you know how to make yoghurt! Some Googling of homemade yoghurt later, I found that it is possible to use a slow cooker to make yoghurt (see here). We needed some kind of temperature measuring device, but I didn’t want to invest in this in case the yoghurt making didn’t work out, so we reused Mr MIHs thermocouple (putting on a new, sterilised wire), which works a treat.

I invested in a small pot of Yeo Valley Organic Live Yoghurt (like this), as this had been recommended online as nice and creamy, plus easy to get in the supermarket. And it turned out to be remarkably easy (Edit: see later posts – it is not always this easy!). You heat whole milk up to 82°C, let it cool to 43°C, then add the live yoghurt starter pre-mixed with a little of the warm milk. You wrap the slow cooker in a couple of towels and leave (turned off) overnight, then in the morning the milk has magically turned into lovely thick yoghurt.

Pop it in an empty jar (keeping a little back in a separate jar clearly marked ‘Do Not Eat!’ to use as your next starter), and it will last for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

The biggest faff is not missing the temperature points, and so I can see an intelligent beeping thermometer would work well here (or you could invest in a Instant Pot, which I am toying with – overkill for just the temperature measuring, but they do seem very versatile, especially as I am also considering a jam maker to make use of our allotment fruit).

So, after the first few tries by Little MIH, all was going well. But then ‘I don’t like it. It’s got stringy bits’ and still full yoghurt pots started coming back in the packed lunch. Sad times. I’m hoping this has a happy ending though. I think the major problem was I had not removed the milk skin that formed when the yoghurt heated, so I have done this for the most recent batch. It has taken a little bit of coaxing to get her to retry it, plus lots of stirring up to smooth out any lumps, but I think (fingers crossed) she may be back on the yoghurt eating.

Fails

None. Let me repeat that – NONE!

Items we couldn’t buy

After my recent parcels (with sellotape) which delivered sample cardboard boxes, I’d really like to order a batch to get preparing my plastic-free craft boxes, but I know they will come with more sellotape. I’ve tried justifying it on the basis they are destined for plastic-free presents, and I probably will order them anyway at the end of the month. But I think I will be good for now and wait, and just prepare as much of the rest as possible this month.

Unsolicited items

None.

Do you have any top tips for easy homemade food swaps? Any extra yoghurt smoothness tips? Please do share in the comments below!

We realised we had no wrapping paper this morning for the party presents. I thought I knew where there would probably be some sheets of paper for sale in our local town, but in the end rather than risk spending too much time chasing an elusive plastic free option, I found some old brown packing paper we already in had in the house, and used twine and tags which we also already had to brighten it up a bit. So plastic-free crisis averted there. I guess once we have done a round or two of buying all these things, it will be easier, as we will know where to go.

Came home with some a couple of plastic party spoils. To me it would seem rude to no accept them, plus they were not for me, so it is Little MIHs choice. I was ruminating on this earlier though. I wonder if one day it could be socially acceptable to be ‘no plastic’ or ‘no/low waste’ in the same way as a vegetarian is ‘no meat’ and it isn’t considered judgy?

While Little MIH and I were partying, 4-year-old style, Mr MIH went on a top-up shop to get some of the things I couldn’t bring myself to buy in Waitrose, as Aldi was half the price. He was also stocking up on supplies for his lunches next week. We have cooked 2 loaves of wholemeal bread in our bread maker (hello free solar electricity and hello £6 Ebay breadmaker!). Our big, less-local Tesco (near Aldi) were apparently fairly grumpy about letting him have ham and bacon in his own container, so he had to come back to our smaller local Tesco to get those – which they did quite happily wrapped in paper, go figure.

He also did a little bit of investigating of other options out there. Another shop that does cleaning supply refills, and also stocks coffee in a tin with a metal lid and a ring pull seal (photo to follow).

Our aim is to have to buy things in as few places as possible, so we are constantly reassessing options.

Also, a new artisan-looking bakery has just opened. It looks like a good option for those sweet treats. Anyone who knows Mr MIH will appreciate he has a somewhat sweet tooth, and is quite happy to polish off a 6 pack of hot cross buns (time of year immaterial) in nearly one go. But sadly most options are plastic wrapped in our local supermarkets. I think this will be one of those change of mind sets things – instead of ‘treats’ being constantly on tap, they really will be reserved for treats and savoured.

Anyway, an early post today, as we are off to party 40-year-old style next – do we take cups with us in case there are only disposable? I would do it with no qualms for coffee, but I think we will feel a bit more embarrassed in this scenario. I suppose it is just a case of making it the new normal. Or maybe we will just drink from bottles today!

Fails

Washing powder box rip strip – thumbs up for the cardboard box, hadn’t appreciated the plastic rip strip until starting this challenge.

Things we couldn’t buy

Last minute wrapping paper.

Unsolicited items

Party spoils – bubble wand and finger puppet toy.

 

Update: Party 2 spoils – foam light wand. Two ice pop wrappers (not brought home).

Any good book recommendations about the effects of plastic and waste for 4 year olds? 

No shopping today, some successes, but also some fails. Maybe at some point we will have at least one plastic-free day!

Birthday Party present

I hadn’t contemplated birthday party invites in my planning. Getting party presents is difficult enough at the best of times, and I think we exhausted the books option last year! Luckily we had a ‘drawing’ book which we can give and also a grow-your-own cress kit. Then additionally, to make it a little more special, I thought we could try out a homemade ‘treasures’ box. Little MIH was keen to design it, so a little cardboard box construction and pretty patterned paper decoration later, voila:

Little MIH is very pleased with it, so I hope it goes down well.

Toothpaste

We may have a toothpaste situation coming up. Mine and Mr MIH’s toothpaste is low and may not last the month. We do have some dental tablets that we got to try out and each tried them once and then left them in the pot not to be touched again. I can’t say they were a pleasant experience – you have to crunch up the tablet into a powder and kind of mix it with the saliva in your mouth to make a ‘paste’. I was not a fan of the whole powderiness thing, and also they just weren’t that minty compared with normal toothpaste and I could just taste too much of my yucky mouth taste leaving me concerned my breath would not be ‘minty fresh’! But seeing as our toothpaste may not last the month, we have switched to using them in the evening, and then still using the normal toothpaste in the morning before we face the world and the world has to face our breath. We’ll see how it goes. At least we will be using only half the toothpaste in normal packaging.

More difficult is that we are also low on Little MIHs toothpaste. I had fully intended to cheat and buy some more before the month started, but forgot. I am not convinced we will convert her to the tablets, although I suppose they might be something like sweets for her, so we may well give it a go. We have a little while to decide what to do at least.

Fails

Lolly wrapper – It was the school Summer Fayre. We tried to distract Little MIH with cake, but her friend had a lolly, and it was super sunny and baking hot. A tricky one, but as Little MIH hasn’t really signed up for this challenge, although we can try and explain the reasoning, I didn’t want to say no on this occasion.

Things we wanted to buy but couldn’t

Unsolicited items

Sellotape – another parcel I ordered before we started the challenge. The last one I think!

Plastic packet – the parcel was part of an attempt to put together a plastic-free craft box. I ordered paper straws, and unfortunately they came in a plastic packet. In the plus side, the little wooden spoons came in a paper bag.

Two envelope windows.

Kids birthday party ideas? Any plastic free toothpaste recommendations? Please do leave any comments below!

We have put in an order with our local packaging-free shop – noodles, spaghetti, sultanas, cashews, almonds, and washing-up liquid. No other purchases today though.

Fails

None – although see unsolicited items.

Things we couldn’t buy

Deodorant for Mr MIH – we are currently sourcing recommendations for effective men’s deodorant that will work in a hot office!

Unsolicited items

Sellotape – another parcel which I ordered before our plastic-free month started. Outer packaging was cardboard (and content was card), but it was held together with sellotape.

Leaflet spine – Introduction to Reception Day here for Little MIH. I received a (very useful) information pack. I’ve just realised whilst writing this that it is held together by a plastic ‘spine’, like this:

How are you finding Plastic-free July so far? Any plastic-free effective deodorant recommendations? Please do leave comments below!

Hurray for Waitrose! Not long after deciding to go try out plastic-free month challenge, Waitrose announced that they were trialling a new ‘Unpackaged’ concept in one of their stores – until 18 August 2019 they are stocking 160 varieties of fruit and veg unpacked and have introduced 48 products to refill, from pasta and grains to frozen fruit, coffee, beer, wine, plus cleaning products, in the Oxford, Botley Road store  – you can read more here.  And even better for us, although not ultra-close, it is a driveable distance (44 miles) (sidenote: we have an electric car (2014 Nissan Leaf) and solar panels which in summer we can use to charge it, so CO2 emissions-wise and economically this isn’t too horrendous – just time and convenience, as usual).

So today, for the start of our plastic-free 30 days, I drove down to Waitrose, complete with our shopping list for the month (we will still have weekly veg shops and small weekly local top-up supermarket shops). And here is the result. Any plastic containers are our own (I have a stockpile of plastic freezer bags I have been using for frozen batch cooking).

There were some things we couldn’t get, and so I will still need to source these locally: chicken, bacon, washing-up liquid (see below), spinach (I was so hopeful but, alas, only in plastic bags!), frozen peas, sliced bread.

We have now switched to milkman-delivered milk in glass bottles. It looks like we may not actually use as much as I had anticipated, so hopefully the extra cost per year will go down which is good news, as at £250 a year more than plastic bottles, this is a pricey swap (and hence it has taken nearly a year for us to take the plunge to glass bottles).

Fails

Sigh, a fail on the first day. Plastic stickers on some of the fruit.

Also, a not-sure-if-is-a-fail – I treated us to a bottle of wine and bought a reusable bottle with a stopper which may include plastic  – I was rather hoping it was rubber, but it may not be.

Things we couldn’t buy

Refill bottle for Ecover washing up liquid. Unfortunately, to get a washing up liquid refill, we had to have an Ecover bottle, which I don’t, and as we couldn’t buy the bottle as it was plastic, we also couldn’t get washing-up liquid today.

Unsolicited items

Nappy bag – Little MIH had a mud fight at school, followed by a water fight. Her uniform and socks came home in a nappy bag.

Half-fail/half-unsolicited items from my pre-plastic-free challenge self. A parcel ordered on the internet, which included: sellotape; 2 clear stickers; one plastic bag.

One envelope window – mental note to stop mail from bank!

Anyone else starting plastic-free July? What do you think the trickiest bits will be for you? Please do leave comments below!