What happened when I tried to have a Plastic free Friday.

Last Friday I had the day off work so I decided to try taking part in Friends of the Earth's new initiative, Plastic free Friday.   You're meant to go without single use plastics one day a week - Fridays - to help the environment.  I'm going one step further, because I've already cut out a lot of single use plastics, I wanted to have a completely plastic free day, but as you can see it was more difficult than I thought...

Breakfast.

Despite trying really hard to have a plastic free breakfast, it didn't happen.  My organic mushrooms from Abel and Cole came in a plastic tray, my vegan margarine is in a plastic tub and although I store my seeds in glass jars they come packaged in plastic bags.  I made my own bread to save using pre packaged bread, but I used oil in a plastic bottle and even the bicarb was in plastic!  Urgh!

Getting up.

I'm not wearing deodorant because it's in a plastic tube, it's about 20 degrees today so we'll see how that goes!  I have washed my armpits with soap (came in a paper wrapper) and a cotton flannel, so that was plastic free at least.  Sorry to say I've brushed my teeth with a plastic electric toothbrush and paste from a plastic tube, and put on moisturiser and sun cream from a plastic bottle too.

Chores.

I washed up with some fairy liquid from a plastic bottle left by the previous owners of our house.  I use a loofah and wooden brush to wash up, and some really old cloths that get washed and reused to wipe the kitchen worktops.  I use Method eco friendly cleaning sprays for the kitchen and bathroom, and Ecover loo cleaner, all three have had a use today and all are in plastic bottles.  I put the dishwasher on, the tablets come in a cardboard box, but each tab is wrapped individually in plastic.  I usually use Ecover laundry liquid, but I have soapnuts so I used them, and white vinegar as fabric conditioner, to do a couple of loads of washing, which I dried in the sunshine.

Shopping.

I went to Wilkos, Holland and Barretts and Boots on the hunt for some plastic free sanitary towels, I found some in Boots and they were suuuuuper expensive, but I bought them and had a nice chat with the lady at the till about being plastic free (she buys her apples loose in the supermarket!).  I bought some antihistimines in Wilko, which come in plastic blister packs. I Really wanted some crisps but resisted, and instead bought some loose nardicotts, a cauliflower and a lettuce from the market.  The lettuce was all wrapped in plastic, but so is the organic lettuce that comes in our veg box, and I'm still waiting for my homegrown lettuce to get going.  FYI I am regretting not wearing deodorant. 

Lunch.

I had a huuge green salad with the aforementioned plastic wrapped lettuce, another homemade flatbread, vegan cheese, nuts and pretzels.  The cheese, nuts and pretzels were all in plastic.  Sigh.  I am beginning to feel disheartened. 

Gardening.

This was a fairly plastic free afternoon, but I did use some compost that comes in a plastic sack.

Dinner.

Joe came home super late from work, and I fell over in the garden like a wally and twisted my ankle, so we had a takeaway.  And some snacks before the takeaway came. Ahem.  

Bedtime.

Back to my plastic-y tooth bush and paste, and my medicine - at least the eczema cream only has a plastic lid, the tube is metal.

I tweeted companies throughout the day asking them to reduce their plastic packaging, but only got replies from a few (Abel and Cole, Oral B, Aldi, B&Q, Wilko), I suppose as long as we keep giving our money to companies that use plastic packaging they won't change their business practices - it's hard though because who doesn't use some pre-packaged foods, household and personal care stuffs!

So, as you can see, Plastic free Friday is not easy and I have to go away and think about how I can cut more plastic out of my life.  Have you ever tried Plastic free Friday?

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My plastic free lunch box.

I love my plastic free lunch boxes!  They're long lasting, don't leech horrible plastic chemicals into my food and won't end up as plastic landfill waste when I've finished with them*.

* I will never have finished with them, they'll last forever! 

I have two Klean Kanteen stainless steel containers in my lunch kit.  The bottle is really handy and I use the insulated canister for rice, curries, pasta, salads and that kind of thing for work.  I picked them both up from Ebay for about £20 each, the bottle is the Reflect 18oz and the canister is the 16oz Insulated Food Canister.

For sandwiches and wraps I have a stainless streel Elephant box.  It's really sturdy and nice (and soo shiny!).  I bought it direct from the Elephant box website, it's the square salad tin and it cost £11.99.

I also have a couple of little tins that I take dried fruit and nuts in.  I think one was from paperchase and the other used to have mints in.  I have a couple more somewhere, they're really useful for little portions of dry things.

I take my lunch in a second hand Skipping Girl basket.  I ALWAYS wanted a Skipping Girl bag in the 90's, and I found one recently on Ebay for a few pounds so I pounced on it!  They're hand made using re-purposed fishing twine.  This one is big enough for everything to fit in, and a magazine and book for lunchtime, and a pack-a-mack for when it rains on the walk home!

As you can see, all these nice stainless steel lunch boxes and bottles aren't cheap.  But I've bought cheaper versions of everything before and they just haven't lasted.  I've budgeted and bought my plastic free lunch kit bit by bit over a few months.  I'm glad I did too, because these have stood up to loads of wear and I'm looking forward to many more years of happy plastic free lunches!

Don't forget to check out my other small changes to help you live a greener life!

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Make one small change, litter pick on the beach.

Making one small change at a time can make becoming eco friendly loads easier.  Lots of small changes add up to a big difference.

If you go on your holibobs to the seaside this summer don't forget to take a minute to pick up any plastic rubbish you see.  Small bits of plastic can be eaten by sea-wildlife like birds and fish and turtles - it hurts their tummies and can end up killing them.  The main culprits we found on our recent beach holiday were plastic straws, the plastic stems of cotton buds, and plastic bottle lids.  We picked up handfuls each day and there was still loads and loads left.   

The thing is, all of these are avoidable.  You can get reusable stainless steel straws for super cheap on Ebay, paper cotton buds (I use these ones from Marks and Spencers) and reusable bottles.

So, yes to picking up litter on the beach, but also yes (please!) to changing your habits a little and producing less plastic rubbish in the first place.  Somehow it's ending up in our seas and on our beaches and that's not cool.  

Don't forget to check out my other small changes to help you live a greener life!

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Make one small change, get a reusable water bottle.

Making one small change at a time can make becoming eco friendly loads easier.  Lots of small changes add up to a big difference.

This is one of those eco friendly changes that always come up in articles like '10 easy ways to go green!', it's so simple and easy but I haven't been doing it properly.  I've been reusing old plastic water bottles and I had a cheapo flask, but I recently invested in a good quality reusable bottle and it feels so good!

Mine is made by Klean Kanteen and it cost about £20 for a 500ml stainless steel bottle.  It's expensive, but I'm treating it as a long term investment - Klean Kanteens have a lifetime guarantee!  I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, and I've found it keeps my water nice and cool and doesn't give it a metallic taste (like my old Poundland water bottle used to do!) - I'm a convert!  And because I'm proud of my shiny new water bottle I'm more likely to remember to take it with me!

In Britain we go through 30 billion litres of bottled water a year, and as we all know plastic hangs around forever and ever and ends up being eaten by sea turtles and is nasty.  It can also leach harmful chemicals into your drink or food, so it's well worth avoiding. 

Do you use a reusable water bottle?

Don't forget to check out my other small changes to help you live a greener life!

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13 plastic free ways to start seeds.

Why would you want to have a plastic free garden?  Well, what about all that plastic in the sea, or the risk of chemicals leeching out of plastics and into our foods and our environment, or the fact that lots of plastics can't be recycled and hang around, literally, forever.  Forever. 

Thankfully, there are lots of ways to start you garden seeds off without plastic.

Loo rolls are my plastic free seed starter pots of choice.  You can cut them to size, fold over the bottoms to make pots, or use them full size.  I like to pop some into a larger container to help them stand up, fill them with compost and then plant my seeds.  When the seed is ready to plant out you can leave them in the loo roll tube, because it's cardboard it'll biodegrade.

I'm vegan, but my sis-in-law is a cake maker so I have a ready supply of cardboard (free range) egg boxes, which make perfect, ready divided, plastic free seed trays.

I've used loads of tea cups and old crockery this year, because they're plastic free and they make my greenhouse look prettier.  You have to be careful with drainage as there's no hole in the bottom to let out excess water.  I've found I'm more likely to have a problem with the soil drying out than being too wet, as it's quite warm in my greenhouse.  To prevent drainage problems you can add some gravel to the bottom of the tea cup, or drill a hole in the base and pop a saucer underneath.  

Terracotta pots are simple, classic and pretty.  You can buy them pretty easily and reuse them for years.  Lovely!

Lots of things can be sown directly in the ground, bypassing the need for any sort of pot to start them off!  I prefer to start most things off in pots because I plant in patches and drifts, then it's difficult to tell my seedlings from weedlings and I might hoe them out.  If you don't have a particularly weedy garden, you plant in straight rows, or you're planting big seeds (like beans) they'll be fine in the ground.

If you eat eggs then try growing seeds in eggshells (free range or home hens please!).

You can make round newspaper pots, with or without one of those newspaper-pot-making-thingies.

I like these rectangular newspaper pots too.

If you're in a rush to get your seeds started try this method, which uses a glass container with a lid and tissue paper, and claims to be super-speedy!

Make soil blocks for plastic free, pot free planting!

If you're a tea lover you can plant your seeds in used tea bags!  (EDIT - it's been rightly pointed out to me that some tea bags contain plastic, an online search can tell you whether your usual brand contains plastic.  If it does maybe it's time to change to a plastic free brand?!)

Make your own paper seed starter pots from scratch using paper pulp and a muffin tray.

Use citrus peel as a cute mini seedling pot.

How do you start your seeds off?  Do you garden plastic-free?  I'd love to know about it!

Linking up with Flaunt it Friday.

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