Plastic Free Living

It’s been almost a year since I started my pledge to live without single use plastics - and mostly it’s gone very well.

The opening of the fabulous StoreSource Bulk Foods in Chiswick obviously helped make things a lot easier, as well as the great One Step and Four State stalls that pop up at lots of my Duck Pond Market.

The main advice I can give is be prepared. I always have some beeswax wraps, or Tupperware with me, and definitely never leave home without a metal water bottle and my bamboo tea cup!

Milk - is delivered (mostly - sometime they don’t bother!) by my lovely Milk and More milkman.

Vegetables  - come from my fabulous local fruit and veg stalls on Chiswick High Road, or Morrison’s has a brilliant British selection - especially when they do naked cucumbers in the summer.

Meat & cheese
 - comes from the counters in Morrison’s or Sainsbury’s, or sometimes in my local butchers or deli (when I’m feeling richer!) and I take along a good stash of Tupperware for these. All my Tupperware now have fairly sticky lids, from where the price labels get stuck on - but those are the only waste involved in these purchases!

I’ve stopped eating yoghurt, except for when I occasionally treat myself to a glass jar of delicious Riverford yoghurt.

Crisps/crackers/biscuits/cakes - I mostly bake myself. I’ve discovered I’m a whizz at making tortillas, and actually prefer them to the shop bought ones! The only exception to this is our local Lidl sells the most amazing pastries, so again, I take my tubs along to put them in.

Cleaning products - the Source has a great refill selection, so I take along my empty bottles and fill up with toilet cleaner, laundry liquid, white vinegar.

Toiletries - I’ve had a mooncup for about 10 years, so that was already sorted, and have had bamboo toothbrushes for a few years too. I buy soap, shampoo and conditioner bars from lovely people at the markets I do, but also refilled a bottle with shampoo at the Source, for my boyfriend, who refused to use a shampoo bar as he says ‘it doesn’t make sense!’

I am now so repulsed by the thought of buying anything plastic, that if I am out and about and hungry, I usually end up with a banana and a can of something to drink!

We have a few gadgets that help with the cause - a bread maker, and a Soda Stream machine! But I don’t want too many unnecessary gadgets cluttering up the kitchen.