Reducing plastic waste

I don’t normally go in on New Year resolutions but I’ve made a few this year.

One is to try and be more responsible with plastic waste.

So far the plan is:
I’m buying some re-usable packable tote bags to hopefully always use for shopping.
Try and buy stuff with less packaging on.
I’m fitting a water filter at home. Not going to buy any bottled water in 2018 if poss.
Not use plastic spoons, straws etc where possible.

I started the thread to get other ideas from people or hopefully make you think about your plastic waste in 2018.

Happy New Year!

Avoid supermarkets. Shop local. Bring a bag

I try to avoid buying unnecessarily wrapped fruit & veg, means broadly not buying from supermarkets, and opting to buy from hopefully locally owned independents. The paper bags they offer go in the compost.

Keep Cup instead of coffee shop cups. Money off cuppa and big reduction year on year of non degradable plastic

Local bakeries and butcher's will gladly except Tupperware boxes and most coffee shops will do re fillable cups too.
Buying larger packets of stuff and clipping them to seal saves bags.
I've also gone back to bars of soap rather then dispensers, in all but the downstairs toilet.

I’ve got a flask I’m going to try and start using instead. I worked out how much I was spending on coffee each year...

Well tuned topic what with xmas etc crap.
Supermarkets/retailers need to get their acts together.
Free carrier bags have almost gone and no one has died/suffocated yet.

Perhaps watch out for overpriced 'artisanal' brown cardboard/paper packaging sold as a marketing device.

Our household has been on this initiative for a while, among other things, we had a wrapping paper-free Christmas this year, which was surprisingly easy.

Any good metal bottles appropriately sized for bike bottle cages?

Maybe time to revive a thread from way back. How about switching from cartridge or disposable razors to using a safety razor or straight edge instead. (Beards being sooo 2017 after all... ). Zippos rather than plastic lighters too.

If you went in to my local corner shop to buy a plastic bag they would put it in a plastic bag. Small isn't always better. At Whole Foods they offer you a bag (paper) no matter how small the item you are buying is.

Yes our local does this, getting into the habit of taking a bag and having a bag on me for impromptu shops

Klean canteen?

Henniehaynes.com always a winner for customer service and speed of delivery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLdx-FEzE0Q

Neil Hamburger "Recycle Bin" wormhole was disappointingly shallow/brief.

Have considered thinking about maybe buying food and drink packaged in glass/metal/paper rather than plastic. I could build one hell of a raft out of my 2017AD Pepsi bottles, if I could build a raft.

Likewise have been trying to cut down on plastic use. It’s surprisingly hard to do as supermarkets barely offer any alternatives to things wrapped in / on plastic trays / in a plastic net. Those big retailers need to be compelled to change their packaging before there are big changes.

So far the thing I’m happiest about is swapping to bars of soap instead of shower gel.

I think recycling in the country has been left by the way side for so long, and largely ignored. The infrastructure that they have in places like Germany where everything in a glass vessel is recycled, and has clearly been recycled when it is purchased, how often do you buy something here where the bottle or jar has been refilled?

Our local health food shop does refills of washing up liquid, washing machine detergent etc. Bit off a ball ache but I try and do a bulk refill every couple of months.

Good ideas all cheers.

In an ideal world... Supermarkets would collect all the their packaging for reuse when they deliver the shopping. By doing that they're consolidating the deliveries, so there are less emissions and less vehicles on the road (amazon are terrible at this) and directly receiving their vessels back rather than them having to go via a third party for sorting.

If you went in to my local corner shop to buy a plastic bag they would put it in a plastic bag.

Yeah. They all do this. Those shitty, awful, will-be-around-till-the-sun-goes-out blue things. Boils my piss when I see them floating around where we live.

Oh another thing I’ve done is started using tupperware etc for food storage in the fridge instead of putting cling film over stuff. You’re using plastic to stop using other plastic so it’s not amazing but hey.

Also does anyone know if you can buy degradable bin bags? For a regular bin not the tiny ones for food waste.

In an ideal world

The cost of a managed recycling service like you describe would be priced in to all our food so that we don't even have to think about it. Requiring people to split their recycling up in to paper / glass / plastics messes the whole thing up, and don't we have robots for that anyway?

Yep... I think they add starch to the plastic material and it eventually breaks down the whole thing.
On the long term recycling and re using is better then biodegrade

One of the biggest offenders are cardboard coffee cups, their plastic lining prevents them from being recycled, other than into fairly useless expensive items.

And it's pretty easy carrying a re usable cup

The running shop that I go to gives you a drawstring shoe bag when you buy a pair of shoes. I keep one of these in my saddlebag for shopping on the commute home. Light, durable, packs small and works as a backpack. Much handier than a tote bag for cycling.
As soon as it's emptied at home it just goes straight back in the saddlebag ready for next time.

This isn't the bag itself but looks much like one of these.

Yes it is made of plastics, but it's already done the service of more than it's weight in single use plastic bags.