Cutting down on plastic

This is a collaboration. 

Is it just me, or is everyone a bit obsessed with plastic at the moment? David Attenborough seems to have had a big effect on the nation following Blue Planet II.

As much as it’s easy to ignore things like this, it seems a lot of companies have started getting on board, too! Gone are the days of free plastic bags in supermarkets or being praised for putting out your recycling once a week. Minimal effort doesn’t seem to cut it anymore, so here are some ways to go a step further in keeping those oceans clean!

Invest in a funky drinking bottle

If you’re one of those people that always carries a bottle of water with them, invest in a hardy bottle made of hard plastic or glass if you haven’t already done so. The initial investment is the same cost of only a handful of the ‘disposable’ water bottles you might already be buying so it’ll pay for itself pretty quickly. A lot of places now have installed or are planning to install drinking fountains for bottle fill ups so hopefully soon we’ll be able to avoid buying bottles of water ever again! Try buying one with a really snazzy design so you’ll enjoy using it, and never leave a building without topping it up!

Say no to the bag

If you keep forgetting to take your bag for life on the big shop, you’ll end up with far too many plastic bags and spending unnecessary money on new ones for this ever-growing collection. A good way to avoid this expense and annoyance is to always carry a shopping bag with you inside your other bags incase you need to take an unplanned trip to the shops while you’re out and about. For big shops – keep a ton of bags in your car’s boot so they’re always with you and this should keep those 5ps where they belong…in your purse.

If you’re more of an online shopper (food or otherwise), there’s sometimes a checkbox on your account you can press to say you don’t need your shopping delivered in bags – you’ll just have to take the loose items out of the van’s boxes  – perfect if you’ve got lots of little hands to help you unload when the delivery arrives. The same goes for buying and selling online – try reaching out to the seller and making it clear that you don’t need all that plastic on your eBay delivery.

Inspect food packaging

Does it annoy you that your fruit and veg come in big plastic punnets when they really don’t need to? Consider switching to buying loose fruit and veg (it’s often cheaper, too) and bringing your own reusable bags to keep them in once they’ve been weighed, or to keep safe in the trolley in case you’re worried about putting them in loose.

It’s a good idea to start scrutinising the packaging on what you’re buying generally – perhaps you’re used to buying things overloaded with packaging that you can’t see a reason for. It can be difficult to shake up your routine, but if there’s a similar product without an unnecessary plastic cover, consider making the switch. Once you start to notice these things you might even feel inclined to write to a company and asking them about why they need so much plastic. Or maybe that’s going too far…

 

Have you made the switch to go greener as a family? What top tips do you have for cutting down on plastic use?