Day 6: Sometimes it’s hard work trying to be ‘plastic free’

Challenges at the Supermarket

The biggest challenge we have faced on this trip has been visiting the supermarket. When I last lived in UK back in 2006 I found the lack of loose produce extremely frustrating as I lived on my own and I was trying to save money and only buy what I needed to reduce food waste. I remember being really annoyed that the best way to do this was to buy frozen vegetables!

In 2019 I am disappointed at the huge amounts of single use plastic wrapped around virtually all the fresh produce - more than when I last lived in the UK. In most stores we’ve shopped at (from smaller ‘metro’ stores to huge 24hr super stores) almost everything is wrapped in plastic! This has presented us with two challenges, firstly we’ve had to accept that while we are doing our best, we are going to end up buying produce wrapped in plastic (including fresh ginger, and whole heads of garlic - why?); and secondly we’ve had to either buy multiple packets, or more than what we’ve needed. While I accept that it is possible to reduce plastic by shopping at markets and some smaller independent stores this hasn’t always been practical or possible for us due to where we’ve stayed, our ability to carry or store larger amounts of fresh produce or the needs of a hungry pre-schooler!

Day 5: These boots are made for walking...

Fancy footwork

Today I realised that I have had my hiking shoes for six years and still going strong. Thank you Facebook for reminding me of my awesome week of summer in Vancouver! I have a friend who always calculates the cost of clothing (mostly expensive dresses) as ‘cost per year’ so if it’s a $300 dress and it hangs in her closet for three years then it’s a bargain at only $100 per year. If I apply this logic then my hiking shoes are only $30 per year. I also know where my boots will be going when they finally bite the dust  - North Face stores now accept used footwear for recycling (see left - this is the drop off box in their Edinburgh store).
If I apply the cost per year logic to the black boots that I wear to work almost every day in winter then it’s a total steal. They have seen me through 13 winters. I polish them up a couple of times each season and I’ve had them reheeled maybe three for four times but that is still under $20 a year for an amazing pair of leather boots that get softer and more comfortable to wear each year.
Good footwear can be a good investment, but sometimes the cheaper the better! Last year I spent $5 on the most outrageous pair of sparkly high heel shoes to complement a fancy dress costume, purchased on the Friday they went back to the charity shop on the Monday - how’s that for circular economy!

Day 4: Clear labels

Can I recycle it (yet)?

Something that we really like in the UK is the clear and consistent labelling of what can and can’t be recycled. Especially food packaging.

This is something that is sorely lacking in Australia! 

For example after indulging in some rather tasty Thornton’s Chilli Chocolate I knew that the cardboard packet could be recycled while the ‘film’ inside could not be recycled in the UK.

In Australia ‘soft plastics’ like the film inside this chocolate packet are not widely recycled. However, REDcycle (a Melbourne based recycling organisation) partnered with the major supermarkets over five years ago to provide the ‘REDcycle Program’; which recovers and recycles soft plastics.

At home while we do our best to minimise purchases in soft plastics (focusing on reducing before relying on recycling), we collect the packaging drop it off at the grocery store every couple of weeks.

In April 2019 UK one of the major British supermarket chains announced it was trialling ‘new’ technology to recycle soft plastics in ten stores. Hopefully this trial will be successful and be expanded across the UK.

Day 3: Something good and something not so good

Filtered water (on tap) and a totally unnecessary piece of plastic

Today the family decided that they wanted to have Sushi for lunch. So we headed to Yo Sushi on Princes Street. Not only was it delicious but every table had triple filtered still and fizzy water on tap, as part of their ‘zero waste society’. While there are plenty of people who object to paying for water (I get it) I really appreciated this as I enjoy ‘fizzy water’ and haven’t had any since we left home (and our soda stream).

Less impressive was Edinburgh Zoo for its single use paid parking ticket which was unfortunately a rather large plastic sticker for the windscreen. Now this may be a ‘small’ thing but we believe unnecessary single use plastic items should be ‘called out’ as part of plastic free July. There is absolutely no need for the parking ticket to be plastic as we pointed out in our correspondence with the Edinburgh Zoo.

5 July 2019 Update: I received a personal and very friendly reply from Edinburgh Zoo. I was pleased to learn that the Zoo have recently halved the number of car park tickets issued as they are no longer required for members. However, at this stage some form of car park ticket is necessary as a record or ‘receipt’. Paper tickets are ‘not generally suitable’ as staff work outside in all weather conditions, so they decided to use the ‘sticker’ as they could be kept as a souvenir. They acknowledged that they are not currently recyclable and that is definitely something that we will bear in mind before reordering when we get through our current stock (which isn’t too far away!)

Day 2: Out and about

Seeing the sites (but no recycling bins...)

Today we’ve been out and about in Edinburgh, a truely magnificent city. We’ve visited the Meadows, given Greyfriars Bobby a pat, walked through the University of Edinburgh, seen the Elephant House (the ‘birthplace’ of the Harry Potter books) and visited the Museum.

But something we didn’t see, and haven’t see anywhere in the UK is a recycling bin in a public space. There are plenty of  litter bins (like the one to the left), but no recycling bins - something we’re use to seeing in the City of Melbourne. There are some recycling bins in Shopping Centres, and ‘private’ spaces such airports and major tourist attractions but none on the streets. The recycling station below was one of several inside Edinburgh Castle.

At a guess there is no public (‘council’) contract to pick up recycling along with the waste? A lost opportunity in terms of making recycling an easy option when people are out and about drinking water from plastic bottles, or drinking cans of Irn-Bru.

Day 1: Our goals and aspirations for Plastic Free July 2019

Day 1 - New beginnings

The past few months our focus has shifted away from plastic free and zero waste to reducing household inputs - energy and water. We’ve installed a solar battery and we are in the process of getting more water tanks.

But now it’s July we’re keep to refocus on unnecessary single use plastics and how we can do our best to eliminate them. So, After a year off we are back with another month sharing our journey though plastic free July. We’ve learnt so much over the last couple of years and changed a lot of habits for the better. We are:

• eating better - less packaged and processed food;
• saving more money - our spending is much more considered; and
• making new friends - in our community and through my Permaculture course.

There are definitely days when things seem too hard (sorting out compost for the worm farm / bokashi bin / the compost / direct into the garden) or a bit pointless (bringing home a single piece of clingfilm to add to our bag of soft plastics for recycling) but we keep on aiming for small sustained changes. We also figure that lots of imperfect actions are a lot better than waiting for a ‘perfect’ action.

So this month is about refining a few things, and making a couple of extra changes - such as consistently taking our containers to the butcher and the deli. It’s also reducing our use and reliance on plastic while travelling and sharing what we learn along the way - as there’s a limit to how much plastic you can reduce just by being organised. Travelling with a pre-schooler sometimes means you have to do things quickly!

We saw this at London Gatwick airport last month and while it is only one coffee store we though it was a great initiative. It also saved us time as we didn’t need to rise out a personal keep cup!

Anyone seen anything similar at other airports, or other similar spaces?

The count down is on - two weeks until Plastic Free July!

Plastic Free July 2019

We remain committed to making deliberate choices to buy and consume less plastic. However, our goals for plastic free July are a little different this year because we will be spending the first few weeks in July travelling in the UK and Western Australia. Plastic free and travel don't always go together so this year we are making an effort to tread lightly on our travels by planning ahead to reduce our use of single use plastic items.

We're aiming to share our experiences - both good and the not so good along the way so that we can identify and share the challenges. Hopefully this will help us work out what we might do differently next time, and yes there will be a next time. Even though we try to minimse overseas flights and holiday locally we have a lot of close family in the UK who we want to stay connected to.

I'll also be sharing some storeys about what our family and friends in the UK are doing to recycle and reduce their reliance on plastic.

Planning ahead for Plastic Free July 2019!

Planning ahead for Plastic Free July 2019!

Happy New Year! It's pretty much the half way point between 2018 Plastic Free July and July 2019, so a good time to share some reflections.

We remain committed to making deliberate choices to buy and consume less plastic. Our goal is not to become a strict Plastic Free Household, but a household that produces as little waste as possible based on: Refusing, Reducing, Reusing  and as a last choice, recycling. We're also big on using the fifth 'R' which is rotting - we promise we will write at least one blog on compost in July 2019. In simple terms we are continuing to try to eliminate as much single use plastic as possible, and when we need to replace a product (that can't be repaired) we make sure that we choose an appropriate no, or low plastic replacement.

So far we have continued with what we see as 'the basics' of living with less plastic, which includes:

• Carrying our own water bottles (since plastic free July we have purchased four water plastic water bottles, all while on holidays)
• Using Keep Cups for Take away Tea and Coffee
• Carrying utensils and a napkin to reduce take-away food waste
• Taking our bags to the grocery store, along with mesh bags for fresh produce
• Increasing the amount of fresh produce that we are growing, and using our compost bin for food scraps
• Using our Council recycling bin, and collecting and recycling soft plastics

Our main goal for 2019 is to strive to eliminate as many single use plastics as we can, especially from personal care products. Some of our other goals for the next couple of months are:

• Baking more bread and making our own yoghurt and cheese
• Taking our own containers to the Deli and butcher
• Purchasing more pantry staples in bulk

We're looking forward to sharing our Plastic Free July challenge again in 2019. We’ll be in England and Scotland in early July so there will definitely be a focus on travel and what our family and friends in the UK are doing to reduce waste and their reliance on single use plastic.