I am six months is with my wee one and I have noticed just how much plastic and paper and waste there is in her world. Its everywhere, in her nappies, her toys, her bottles, her dummy, in every aspects of her life. And if the hype is right her generation will be literally drowning in the stuff as they grow up ! It has to stop. So this series of blogs is how we as mums and parents can turn the tide, see what I did there, on use of plastics and waste and help to teach our kids alternatives that they can carry on.
Today Im starting with REFUSE. Yes, refuse the refuse! Refuse the rubbish. It takes a wee bit of extra work but we owe it to them and ourselves. Disclaimer, I'm just starting out on this journey so I am sure there are many ways to do this and many alternatives so please implement your own and let me know what they are ? Also many of the R's fall in to each other categories so some you might think thats a reuse not a refuse etc But I digress.
Refuse is I feel the most important , because if you cannot buy the plastics and waste in the first place, job done. So here are ways of helping to let go of the plastics in babies life
Not use at all- shopping we all do it and in swathes with baby, who knew someone so little can need so much! So take /reuse the bags and or I take large woven ones no plastic at all , they fold up small and always on hand. You can get some really lovely ones and or netting ones that scrunch up in to nappy bag but fit so much stuff.
And my favourite little find is honey wax paper wraps .... Material that is soaked in honey wax that can be used for covering just about everything.... No more clingfilm or zip lock bags. It does all the bits and pieces in the fridge, comes in a variety of sizes so you can cover everything from left overs to the kids sandwiches. You just have to under pain of death get it back from said child each day. This and no more plastic lunch box and you are saving the planet every week day school run.
Don't get the packaging - In the supermarket , buy the fruit and veg out of the plastic, don't reach for the wee thin bag to pop one pepper in, it's not going escape let it room free in your trolley. Look for choices that have less packaging and vote with your money, there are products that come in glass instead or cardboard.
Buy less- there definitely is a movement with suppliers to offer alternatives to the plastics I have found , every washing product I have found there is now a half the packaging alternative, refills in cardboard cartons and or half the plastics to refill the shampoo and the soap. Heck if you're going all the way buy the bars of soap , not plastic bottles. There are even shops in places that allow you to bring in your containers and refill them from the store. Not enough of these stores but a change is a coming.
Get yourself on the milk round - Who else remembers from yester year the milk man coming around, well there is a resurgence in the milk run and in glass bottles .....
Yes, plastics can mostly be recycled ( but there is evidence that most take way longer than thought to break down ) but its better not to use in the first place. With a bit of care and a keen eye , we can change the landfill one product at a time.
next I tackle REUSE