PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 21

‪Day Twenty One:

Did you know that the average person goes through around 50 toilet rolls per year?
Have you thought about the impact that all that plastic packaging can have on the environment?

The best way to avoid all this plastic waste is to purchase toilet rolls that are packaged in recycled brown paper such as the brand, "Safe", which can be found in most supermarkets. This concept is relevant to all products that are packaged. 

Remember...paper is better than plastic!

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 20

Day Twenty:

Are you a meat eater?
Have you thought about the impact that all the meat packaging can have on the environment?

I was chatting to my local Butcher today about whether many people try and avoid plastic when buying their meat. He was telling me that there is one lady who re-uses her brown paper bags that they always put the wrapped meat into until it is almost disintegrated. And there is another lady who brings in her own tupperware for them to put the meat straight into. Therefore, totally eliminating the need for plastic at all. Imagine we all did that? How much of a positive impact would that have on the world of plastics.

I have tried to start using tupperware myself for meat purchased at the Butcher. Give this a go! Next time you're at your Butcher just ask them if they would accept putting your meat into a tupperware for you instead of a plastic bag. They just weight the container first to make sure they deduct the weight of the container and pop your meat in there for you...EASY!  You should find that most Butcher's will be only too willing to accept this method as it is saving them costs in packaging. I know ours is super supportive of this which makes life easier and a whole lot more plastic free :-). 

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 19

Day Nineteen:

Do you love sushi?
Have you thought about the impact that the tiny little soy sauce packaging can cost on the environment?

These little suckers land up in the ocean a lot of the time and small fish can mistake it for food. If you don't really need the soy sauce then make sure it isn't put into your bag by staff, alternatively if you find yourself using these little containers then they are recyclable along with your plastic lids (check out our post from Day 12 for more details).

Re-think your thinking...‬

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 18

Day Eighteen:

Do you find yourself constantly buying lunch at work? Have you thought about the impact all that packaging can cost on the environment?

I know we can't always be quite as prepared as we'd like to but we can certainly make a lot of effort to prepare as much as we can to avoid creating more waste as well as creating more of a hole in our pockets. It doesn't take long to cook up some food on a Sunday to store in glass jars in the fridge, ready for the week ahead. Depending what you cook for dinner you can sometimes just do double the amount and have leftovers for a few days. Time better spent than in front of the telly ;-).

I find glass jars so much better for keeping things fresh than plastic or cling film (both of which we want to try and reduce usage of). 

The accumulative cost of purchasing lunch every day as opposed to making it at home and bringing it in is quite substantial, both on your wallet and on the environment. Not to mention saving yourself from low quality, preservative-filled food options. Most lunches are also packaged in plastic or polystyrene and these are the two materials we need to make more effort to reduce.

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 17

Day Seventeen:

Are you quite the chef in the kitchen? Do you have a healthy looking spice rack?

Have you thought about how you could reduce the amount of plastic related to your spices?  A great way to do this is to have a spice rack with glass bottles and to purchase your spices from a bulk shop so you can refill the glass bottles. This will avoid the need to purchase many plastic refill bottles or plastic refill sachets as you would at the supermarket.

Having a large range of spices stored in glass bottles can also be useful to create your own mixes of spices such as curry powders etc.

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 16

Day Sixteen:

Do you spend a lot of money on high end toiletries? Or alternatively, do you purchase cheap toiletries that just get the job done?

Have you ever thought about the plastic waste created from many different toiletry items? Not to mention all the nasties that are put in toiletries and then put onto our skin or hair which readily absorb such things. Even if you purchase organic, healthy toiletry items there will always be preservatives in them to lengthen their shelf life as well as possibly the container being lined with plastic that contains BPA & Phthalates without you even knowing.

The only answer I felt comfortable with is to make my own. At least then you know exactly what is going in them. Not only is it better for your body and the planet but it is waaaaay better for your wallet too ;-).

I now make pretty much 90% of my toiletries as well as my partner's (which he loves!). Here is one of the items I made over the weekend for my partner. We made two versions of this. The first attempt was more of a Pomade and he found it too oily and didn't have enough hold so we melted it down and added some Kaolin clay and veolia!...we had the perfect hair moulding clay that he said was better than his previous chemically laiden, expensive pot of hair styling product. He applied a very small amount to towel-dried hair and it took about 20 minutes for his hair to absorb the oils and leave a matt look as well as leaving the hair looking thicker; well texturised and re-mouldable...WIN! Not to mention the essential oils I chose promote hair growth as his hair is quite thinned.

• 2tbs organic natural Beeswax
• 3tbs organic unrefined Shea Butter
• 4tbs organic Jojoba oil
• 5tbs Kaolin clay
• 25 drops of organic essential oils of your choice (we chose 10x Rosemary; 10x Peppermint; 5x Lime)

Heat some water in a pot and place a clean, small steel bowl in the middle so the water is about halfway up the bowl. Place the Beeswax & Shea Butter in the bowl and gently stir with a clean, teaspoon until melted. Add Jojoba oil and stir, then remove bowl from the pot. Let the mixture cool for 2-3mins and add your essential oils & Kaolin clay. Using an electric hand mixer (you only need the one beater and not both) blend the mixture until it thickens and becomes smooth. The finished product should look like hair clay but will still be a thick, wet consistency that resembles cake dough. Scoop into 120ml glass jar (should just fit) and let it stand for a few hours, it should harden a bit more in this time. Apply as needed :-).

If you would rather purchase your own hair product then it is best to try and find one in a glass jar as opposed to plastic and also avoid a long list of unnatural ingredients where possible. Alternatively, I am happy to take orders!

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 15

Day Fifteen:

Are you a slave to consumerism?

In this day and age we are brainwashed into believing we need the latest, up to date gadgets and household items. We live in a consumer society, if it's broken, we don't fix it, we buy a new one. If it's last year's model, it's not good enough. But what happens to all the trashed items that get thrown in a skip and forgotten about? Fortunately, a lot of it gets sorted through and recycled where possible but there is still a large amount landing up in landfill. A lot of perfectly good working items being chucked out too.

Next time you need to buy a new item or replace a non-fixable one, why not look at second-hand items first. Websites like gumtree or ebay as well as many facebook pages such as "buy, sell and swap in Adelaide & surrounding areas", ( or a similar page in your town) have many new & used items advertised every minute of the day. Purchasing items that have been used or are new & unwanted massively reduces the demand on production of new products. If we all made more effort to utilise what is already out there we can hugely reduce the impact of waste that gets sent to landfill.

Fix; Recycle; Upcycle; Sell; Give Away! Try everything before sending to landfill.

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 14

Day Fourteen:

Do you keep a re-usable bag handy for those impromptu shops?

If you aren't in this habit already then you could try start today!

I love the eco-bags that you can get at Foodland, each with a different environmental message along with artwork. These are long-lasting and easy on the eye. I keep two in my car to use for shopping and if they come into the house after a shop they are emptied and left waiting at the front door for me until I next leave the house to put them back in the car.

If I go window shopping I take one with me, just in case I make a purchase. Don't be that person who goes into 5 different shops to buy 5 different T-shirts and gets home with 5 different plastic bags. It's just not sustainable...

The more we stop accepting the plastic bags at all shops, not just the supermarkets, the less plastic there will be in the world.

Say NO to plastic!
Re-think your thinking..

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 13

Day Thirteen:

Are you a supermarket shopper?...

When shopping at the supermarket it is extremely hard to avoid all the many layers of packaging on just about every item in there.

Buying in bulk is the only answer, that way you can take your own jars/bags with you and replenish them as needed. Saving you money by only buying the amount you need until your next shop (and buying from bulk is cheaper) as well as largely reducing the amount of packaging waste created from purchasing items at the supermarket.

We have slowly been converting our kitchen cupboard groceries into glass jars and although I was buying several items in bulk already, I realised that almost everything I need in the kitchen can be bought from bulk out of the Adelaide Central Markets. Including items such as olive oil; vinegar; nut butters; oats; flour; spices; herbs...the list goes on.

My top 4 stores for bulk are: 1. Goodies & Grains. 2. House of Health. 3. The Honey Shoppe. 4. Go Vita Health Food Store.

Re-think your thinking...

PLASTIC FREE JULY: DAY 12

Day Twelve:

If you are already pretty good at recycling you will know that you have to remove lids from bottles before placing them in the recycle bin...

BUT...

...DID YOU KNOW...

YOU CAN NOW RECYCLE THE LIDS TOO! :-)

It is now recommended to place all plastic lids in a large plastic bottle (i.e. fabric softener or 2L milk bottle) and once the bottle is full you can place it in the recycle bin. This way the small lids don't get stuck in the sorting conveyer belts as they would if loose. And can now be recycled too with same plastics.

You can do this for steel and aluminium lids as well. Steel lids will be magnetic (you can test them using a magnet) and can be placed in steel tins (also magnetic), once the tin is nearly full you can clamp it shut and place in recycle bin. Aluminium lids are not magnetic and should be placed in aluminium cans. Just make sure that all the steel lids as well as the tin are magnetic and all the aluminium lids as well as the can are not magnetic so as not to mix steel with aluminium. 

I have two empty glass jars at the kitchen window-sill, one labelled magnetic and one labelled non-magnetic. Each time I take a lid off a bottle I test it and place it in the right jar. Once the jar is full I put the lids in the correct can that I have saved and rinsed for this purpose. When the can is full enough, I clamp it shut and put it in the recycle bin. Easy!

Re-think your thinking...