Disclaimer: the most sustainable thing you have is what you already own. Please don’t throw any of these things away if you already own them. Use them carefully, and wisely. The idea is not to buy new ones. Please don’t feel ashamed if you own some of these – because even I do! If you can avoid them, however, please do. 

This is our home and we are destroying it. Not only our home, but home to millions and species and trillions of animals. Beside global warming, there is the large issue of plastic. How it is sourced, where it is used and where it ends up. Every part of the plastic cycle is dangerous to our planet. Saying no to it as a consumer decreases the demand from the supplier. We are in an oil shortage, and using oil for things like straws is stupid (especially when there are non-plastic alternatives!). 

This post will detail 5 plastic items and why you can and should stop buying them. Let’s get into it.

Single-Use Plastic Bags

The shops say they’re single use, but if you ever buy them rest assured you can actually reuse them way more than once. That doesn’t excuse purchasing them, but please don’t be deceived by ‘single use only’ because that’s a whole load of crap. 

In my house, we keep our plastic bags because we know they’re not recyclable. We’ve not bought any for years, apart for those bags that tortillas wraps come in. Again, we do supermarkets use such excess packaging? *rolls eyes* Not only is there a charge on plastic bags in the UK now, but they’re also unnecessary. Be prepared and bring your own bag. 

Plastic Drinking Bottles

One reason I love ‘real’ and public school is due to the fact that you can meet so many different characters in such an institution. I know of one that won’t drink tap water because ‘it doesn’t taste nice’ and only drinks from plastic bottles. Wonderful. It’s such a joy to live in a world of ignorance. 

If my mum is reading this she won’t realise that was sarcasm.

Bring your own drinking bottle! Please! They’re so much more convenient anyway, and having a snazzy metal waterbottle always makes you feel like a boss. They are very affordable from Wilko, Home Bargains and other home stores. But if you can’t afford a metal one just get a reusable plastic one. If you use it long enough, you can offset all of the previous single use bottles you have bought. 

Shower Gel

If you are prescribed shower gel for a skin condition then ignore me. You know what is best for you.

Soap bars are genius, and thankfully lots of mainstream brands are starting to make them. Use these in place of bottled shower gel where you can. These bottles are largely non-recyclable! Still, you should try to prevent your consumption of plastic and crude oil in the first place, regardless of where it will end up. 

The shower gel I use is called Faith In Nature. It’s a small sustainable brand and you can take your recyclable bottle made from recycled plastic to be refilled at certain shops. My mum bought it for my birthday back in August and I have yet to refill, so that’s pretty good going! 

Plastic Straws

They’re bad. For so many reasons. Even recyclable straws are too lightweight and small that they don’t make through mechanical recycling sorters. They get disposed as rubbish, and once in landfill of litter they will break up into tiny microplastics that pose large danger for marine life. Fish and other Sealife will intake the tiny plastics. And if you eat seafood, then that will be you too. 

Alternatives: metal straws. Sturdy reusable plastic straws (not the best option, but better than nothing).

Cling Film

Not only does thing film cling to your food, but it clings on to the planet and doesn’t biodegrade. They are quite a few alternative to cling film these days, including beeswax wraps. And even then – beeswax isn’t how we would ideally do things. Try to avoid using cling film in the first place. Where you normally use it, consider whether it is necessary.

Made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) it is seldom recycled. I also found this on the Internet to do with PVC: “PVC contains dangerous chemical additives including phthalates, lead, cadmium, and/or organotins, which can be toxic to your child’s health. These toxic additives can leach out or evaporate into the air over time, posing unnecessary dangers to children.” Source here.

I suppose it goes without saying, but PVC is not considered eco-friendly. It is made by a chemical reaction between chlorine, carbon, and ethylene and because it causes the release of other harmful chemicals, it does a lot of harm to the environment. Source here.

Thank you for reading blogmas day 17! Not a very Christmassy style post, but I hope it warns you and gets you ready for a greener, healthier 2021. I will be posting more about sustainability on the run up to Christmas because we can be really wasteful at this time of year. As a nation, landfill increases to an insane amount over the holiday period!

What are you wishing for this Christmas?

Stay safe everyone,

Catherine x

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