When talking about lowering waste and your plastic consumption, the media has spoken a lot about taking your own coffee cup and water bottle with you, using your own bags and refusing straws. This week, I am going to tell you about a few other products and ideas that I have discovered, to take you to the next stage.
In the Kitchen
Let’s start in the kitchen. This room is full of plastic: from utensils, gadgets, appliances and, of course, food packaging. Do not even start to think that you are going to be able to swap all of this for more sustainable items – that is an impossible task! There are, however, a few things that are easy to swap that could make a big difference long-term.
I have already mentioned cling film and options to reduce its use in your house. The two other rolls you probably have next to them in the drawer are foil and baking parchment. To reduce the amount of these I was throwing away after one use, I bought three silicone reusable baking mats in different sizes.
The mats would receive a 5* recommendation from me, as I have hardly used foil or parchment at all since I bought them. The mats are able to go under the grill or on a baking tray at high temperatures in the oven. Once used under the grill, you simply scrape off the fat into a fat catcher (I use a large, old jar which, when full, goes into the rubbish bin). You can then wash them clean in hot, soapy water. For cakes, as the sheet is rectangular, they are only suitable for a tray bake. The mat stops the cake from sticking exactly the same as baking paper would.
I will admit, the mat used under the grill has become a little darker in colour, but as it is simply catching the fat, that doesn’t trouble me. Do make sure you look at the sizes of the sheets you are buying. A lot are made for the American market and are therefore too big for our oven trays.
Obviously, silicone products are actually plastic and I can hear you cry but we are trying to stop using plastic! Plastic as a material is useful, durable and can last a very long time. Remember my spatula I spoke of last week – I also have a muffin tray in the same flexible plastic. They are brilliant products that save a lot of single use paper cases. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but, if these mats and muffin trays are looked after by hand washing them, they will last years and years.
When I was younger nobody’s parents bought milk at the supermarket, it was always delivered. This fell out of fashion but is now making a comeback. To find a milk delivery company in your area, a good place to start is findmeamilkman.net, although this list is not totally comprehensive. Again, I will not lie, it is more expensive. A pint of semi-skimmed delivered is around 80p, versus 60p in the supermarket but as I said yesterday, it is up to you to decide which swaps you are comfortable making and which are not within your current budget.
Swapping individually wrapped items would be my next suggestion. This could be the dishwasher tablets you buy or food such as portions of rice or even your pet food. Many of these wrappers cannot be recycled, and washing capsules, encased in plastic, release micro plastics into the water during the wash cycle.
I have found a box of dishwasher powder in Sainsbury’s or Waitrose that you simply scoop out a portion when needed (an old coffee spoon scoop is good for this). If you do prefer a tablet, Wilkos Eco Tablets are covered in a plastic like film derived from plants. Having used all three of these options I can honestly say they all wash normal dishes perfectly well.
It might not feel like you are making a huge change here, but think about it mathematically. If you use four pouches of rice in a week that is 208 a year. If your pet eats three pouches of food a day that is 1,092 pouches a year. This equates to serious numbers over the years.
At the moment, you may struggle to find dry food such as rice or pasta for sale in plastic-free packaging. However, if you go back to buying a larger kilogram weight bag, it will last you for a lot longer than the individual pouches, causing less waste. As Zero Waste shops start popping up around the UK, you might find you are able to buy dry goods without plastic at all. The Zero Waster website has a list of Zero Waste shops that are already established, however I know it is not definitive as Nada opened in Leicester back in July and it doesn’t feature on the list.
Around the kitchen there are a lot of items that you could swap to tins or glass jars, pet food being one. Your pet might kick up a fuss to start with about a change of food, much like any of us would, and as I am not a pet owner, I will just have to leave that one with you!
Tomorrow – the bathroom!