The War Against Single-Use Plastic: Plastic-free July Week 2

Week 2 of Plastic Free July has come and gone and I’ve found it a bit tougher thanks to lack of preparation, however, it is good to know that I am doing something positive on my journey to living more environmentally friendly.  On another positive note, this week we’ve managed to have our plastic campaign published in our local paper, The Lancashire Evening Post.  Local awareness on the subject will be great and hopefully, we can secure some national coverage so that more people are aware of plastic pollution and the war waging against single-use plastic.

This morning, a friend also sent me a link to a company called Loop that has just launched in the UK. Its the first service of its kind to offer waste-free groceries and has signed up the likes of Coca-cola, Heinz and Nivea so I am excited to find out more about this company!  They've also revealed plans to partner up with Tesco to offer this service in stores too.

Plastic-Free Successes

• This week we’ve made the switch to Greencane toilet roll and kitchen towel. The paper is made from 70% bamboo and recycled sugarcane with the remainder made up of certified and sustainable wood pulp to it the softness, strength and superb quality that it needs. It’s allergy sensitive, with absolutely no inks, fragrances or chlorine bleaching and as they only use plant-based glues it is vegan-friendly too. It also comes in completely plastic-free packaging as they use plant-based cellophane instead.

• I’ve also switched the lip balm I have been using. Until this week I have been using Burts Bees vanilla lip balm and although this product is sustainably made and can be recycled through Terracycle, it is at the end of the day plastic and if you’re trying to do Plastic Free July then I should go the whole hog! The brand I have now switched too is Valley Mist. I’m going to go more into detail about this brand at a later day but I met Joanne, the founder, in my former role as a wedding business owner.  She was one of my brides-to-be and introduced me to the world of eco-friendly living and she is one of the main reasons I am on this journey today.  The lip balms are 100% organic with vegan options available and come in zero-waste packaging.  I’m hoping to get them stocked on the website over the summer months so watch this space!

• Food-wise, we’ve had successful trips to the butchers using my reusable packaging and to the local market for plastic-free fruit, vegetables and cheese.
• I also managed to grab a plastic-free lunch on the go on Monday when my morning out overran and I had not prepared anything to bring with me. I paid a trip to Greggs and just had a pasty in one of the paper bags and a can of pop.

Plastic-free fails

• Finding plastic-free bread nearby has been a difficult one this week so I’ve also added it to week 3’s tasks!
• Butter is another difficult one. I swapped the plastic tub this past week for the butter in what I thought was just paper. It turns out that butter paper is actually one of those products made out of mixed materials so can not be recycled!  I am sure there will be another option out there but I am yet to discover it.

• We needed to have a quick tea on Saturday night, which normally just involves us reaching for the freezer but as I had been running down all the freezer food in plastic packaging, i.e. chips, frozen breaded chicken or fish, we had nothing in but pizzas also in plastic wrapping, which we ended up having. This week we are going to attempt pizzas from scratch.  We’ve done this before but using pre-made bases so I’m keen to try it from scratch then it will be completely plastic-free!

Plan for week 3

• I am hopefully going to a chance to visit maybe one or two local refill shops as we need to stock up on cupboard essentials such as rice, pasta and cereals.
• Keep visiting the local market and butchers for our other essentials.
• Get my bake on! Baking is another way of ensuring you remain plastic-free whilst still getting those sweet treats that I’ve been craving this last week or so.
• I am also going to look more into Loop to see if I can pick up any plastic-free essentials online so I will feedback on that next week!

Let me know how you're getting on in the comments below!

Joanne x