Plastic Free July 2020

I've been trying so many new ways to be sustainable, and I have to admit my biggest struggle has been reducing the amount of plastic I use. That's everything down from plastic drinks bottles, to plastic lunch boxes. But, instead of panicking and throwing away every piece of plastic in my house, I've sat down and worked out where I can start getting rid of the plastic bit by bit instead.

Glass water bottle

I bought myself a gorgeous glass water bottle (with a bamboo lid) from Bornnouli. For a great quality, eco-friendly bottle, the price really wasn't bad. Plastic free, and odor free, it was a great investment.

Fruit and veggie bags

I'll admit, I've yet to use my fruit and veggies bags - I know, I know. It's terrible but, I keep on forgetting to pack them in my shopping bags 🤣. Once I remember to put them inside my other shopping bags, I'll be fully prepared to start buying loose fruit and veg. Unnecessary plastic packaging is so medieval (uh, not quite, You know what I mean).

Homemade lunches

Eating meal prepped lunches has really helped me stop buying food that is unnecessarily covered in plastic. I'm eating better because of it too, and I'm not buying food that's individually wrapped for the sake of one meal, when I have food in bulk already at home just waiting to be cooked. That's called saving the planet and saving money, too. Bonus!

My list isn't very extensive but, what's important is that I'm on the journey towards a plastic free future. And I hope you are, too. Good luck!

2020 (so far) has been...

I'm not sure I'll have enough time or words to fully explain my thoughts on 2020 so far but, this year has really been something. With all the bad things that have happened so far - the Australian wildfires, Coronavirus, and the BLM protests - the rest of the year isn't looking so promising. But, it's always important to stay positive, so I can now only hope that everything starts getting better starting with the arrival of summer.

Times are uncertain for everyone, we've all been affected in more than one way. If you look on the brighter side of things, there's now a global fight against racism, the forests in Australia are starting to show signs of regrowth, and society is finally starting to ease itself out of lockdown. I can't remember the last time I heard birds singing as much as they are now, or the last time the sky was so blue.

These must be signs that there's something better waiting for us all at the end of such a long and dark tunnel. All it took was for the world to finally get together and fight against common problems that affect us all, whether that's racism or climate change or a global pandemic. Now, once everything is better (although perhaps not quite back to 'normal') we can all step back and just breathe. We would have gone through hell and back together. And, if we had enough sense, we as a global population would look to a new future that would ensure we never faced anything like 2020 again.

Things I've started (or stopped) doing to help the environment

It's so important for everyone to starting thinking about how they can help the environment, even if it's in the smallest of ways. I wish I could say I'm perfect at being zero waste but, I'm actually far from it and boy do I know it. So, recently I'd decided to make a few changes to help me out on my zero waste journey, and I hope it helps you too. (NOTE: This article is in no way encouraging you to go out and spend loads of money on random things you think will help the environment. Only invest in things that you know you'll actually need, and that will save you money in the long run).

Compost Bin

I bought a compost bin. It isn't a huge one, and it fits in perfectly with the decor of my kitchen (here's the link if you're interested - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00Z65KDQ0/ref=twister_B01I4OEALS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1) . I've started adding food that otherwise would have been thrown away into this cute little compost bin, and it best of all it doesn't leave a nasty smell. Now, we can save scraps in the kitchen and let them decompose into nutritional compost for our plants outside.

Started making more homemade food

I'm vegan for many reasons - love of animals, it's better for the environment and my bank account, and it's healthier than a regular diet. But, things like tofu and oat milk can get expensive after a while, which sucks. I bought a tofu press, a nut milk bag and a glass milk bottle and (yup, you guessed it) started making some of my own vegan produce. I've lost count of how many empty milk carton bottles and plastic tofu bags I've stopped having to throw away. It's amazing! Say NO to single use plastic! Not buying store bought milk has saved me soooo much money alone.

I bought smaller bins

What's a great way of reducing rubbish? Get a smaller bin. This might sound strange, since smaller bins might actually end up forcing you to just go out and empty them more but, if you get a smaller pair of bins, one for green waste and the other for blue, you might actually find you'll end up producing less waste. Having a huge bin always seemed to be an excuse for me to just fill it up for whatever reason. Maybe, just because it was big and had lots of space? Opt for smaller bins, you'll hopefully starting creating less waste as time goes on.

I stopped eating takeaways (as much)

It's great to support local businesses, especially if they're small but, weekly takeaways can create so much waste it's unbelievable. Empty pizza boxes, tons of empty fizzy drink bottles, and styro-bloody-foam boxes. Uh, they were the worst. Either reduce how many takeaways you have a month and opt for fakeaways (shops like Tesco have great vegan pizzas, curries, or comfort foods that use way less packaging), or see if you can ask the takeaway places to somehow use less cardboard/plastic/styrofoam packaging.

Shopping loosely

There is so much plastic being used to package fruits, veggies and well...everything. It's almost becoming impossible to not find plastic on or around anything. Which is why I'd invested in some handy dandy reusable produce bags (I got these ones - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07G9T9JLK/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item) and I take them with me when I go shopping now. Not only is buying loose fruit and vegetables cheaper, and guarantees you produce less waste because you only buy what you should hopefully need, it means you also don't have to contribute to anymore single use plastic production.