No straw please.
No straw please.
No, I don’t need a bag.
No, I don’t need a bag.
Can you put it in my pot please?
Can you put it in my pot please?
We British folk don’t like to cause a fuss, do we! Today, I am going to tell you that you are going to have to move out of your comfort zone and start to be a refuser.
Many items that we use are not really necessary, they are born out of our love for a convenient lifestyle. As I said a day or so ago, you can avoid cling film by using other tubs and pots and the same goes for many other day to day items.
You must have been living under a rock if you haven’t heard everyone going on about how badly straws and carrier bags affect the environment. I will not disturb you by putting on videos of turtles having straws pulled out their noses or bags pulled out of their tummies. But if you haven’t seen them, they are easy to find on youtube and will spur you on in your quest to lower the amount of plastic you are responsible for.
Refusing items is simply a habit that you must get into. Psychologists tell us it takes 66 days to form a habit – so start now and you will be done just BEFORE Christmas day!
When ordering your drink at the bar or restaurant, finish off the sentence with ‘no straws please’; when buying your shopping (and you have forgotten your reusable bag) think about whether you really need a bag – and that goes for plastic or paper. Can you just put it in your pocket / handbag, reuse a fruit box or carry it back to the car in your hands?
Many shops are using paper straws or bags instead of plastic and therefore claiming you could still have one. But remember our Holy Grail - to not use any material unnecessarily. A paper bag or straw still uses energy, water etc to go through the manufacturing process. Personally, I don’t have a problem with drinking from a glass directly … well maybe except for when it’s a cocktail. For that I have bought these:
These are now easily available in any eco shops or the internet, just pop one in your bag for a night out and mojitos taste just as good! Just don’t get too tipsy that you don’t notice the waitress taking it away! Use the little cleaning brush it comes with to clean it at the end of the night, that way it won’t go fuzzy.
Now comes the big one of today … taking your own food storage containers to the shops. I have to admit, I was certainly a little shy about this one at first. But supermarkets are getting on board with this idea. Morrisons and Tesco now proudly state you can provide your own tubs for them to fill. Their only stipulation is that they will not mix raw and cooked food in the same container. So bring plenty. Annoyingly, most of the time their meat counter is a lot more expensive than the ready packed meat and does not always look higher quality. In time, this will hopefully change.
The reaction you receive in a bigger supermarket largely depends on who is behind the counter that day. I have found Tesco are always happy to put a chunk of cheese in a tub which avoids the cling film wrapper. However, it is definitely much easier in independent shops. I often buy fish from the market in Leicester and they are more than happy to put it straight in my Tupperware.
I wish you the best of luck with your new vocabulary. The first few times you forget to say ‘no straw please’ and get presented with a diet coke with a straw in it, you will have no choice now but to feel a little pang of guilt. Don’t worry, psychologists say feelings are all part of forming a habit. Your new vocabulary will be perfected by Christmas, I’m sure.