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Silicone

Plastic? Rubber? Just plain weird? Used for everything  from ice-cube trays to adult toys to cake tins it certainly gets around. So what is silicone?? Silicon is a natural chemical element. Silicone polymers are derived from silicon and so silicone is a  man-made product derived from silicon a natural element. Silicon the natural chemical element,…

Cork

Flexible Rubber cork Nitrile rubber is synthetic rubber. it can be used to bond cork to make a flexible sheetlike Klinger NI27 Rubber Bonded CorkKlinger rubber bonded cork is bonded with synthetic rubber, it provides the compressibility of cork with the resilience of rubber. This material has high mechanical strength.Manufactured from high quality cork oak…

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Supermarkets & Chainstores Index

And let me say right now I don’t like supermarkets. They are killing off the local shops and take money out of the community. But for many people they are the only option. So how to make your experience as ethical as possible? But before you enter those hellish portals please do consider shopping at…

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coffee press travel mug

I love coffee and I carry my own coffee making equipment with me when backpacking, (yes really I do), but this mug is also great for the office or even for take out. I have the tiffin tin to boil water in the biggest element in the world the reusable coffee press / insulated cup…

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Greaseproof paper/ waxed paper

There are two types of paper used for cooking and food preparations greaseproof bakery paper; waxed paper. The terms are used interchangably but they are actually different products. Greaseproof  Paper also known as  parchment paper  is used in baking and cooking. It provides a heat-resistant, non-stick surface to bake on. It is also used to…

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Condoms & Lubricants

If all goes well on Valentines day you may well be planning some intimate moments. Time to check out condoms. Condoms come in the following materials…. Latex: made of latex rubber from rubber trees a natural and therefore biodegradable. Which has led to claims that that latex condoms are biodegradable. Which is hotly debated! Latex…

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Plastics That Cut Plastic

There are always conflicts in any course of action and a plastic boycott is no different. Some times you need to use plastic to cut your plastic consumption. Plastic Products  If a product reduces your consumption of plastic disposables or packaging waste then we feel there is a strong justification for using it. The silicone…

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Sticky Tape

The moral of this story – change is slow but it does happen. Keep on pushing. Back in the day I had to boycott Sellotape. Now some of you may be thinking chill, Sellotape is cellophane and therefore biodegradable. To which I waspishly replied “NO! I checked it out.” I wrote to Sellotape and they said…

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sugru – mending plastic

“What if you could fix, modify or make almost anything? That’s why we invented sugru.” and I have long been a fan! It is high up there in my plastic2cutplastic category. That is a product with plasticky elements that helps to ultimately reduce your plastic use. Sugru is a  rubbery stuff that can be hand…

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Rubber

There are two major categories of rubber; natural and synthetic. The most popular compounds are; Natural RubberVulcanised RubberSynthetic History Thousands of years BC Indians living in Central and South America were using latex to makewaterproof clothes and shoes using latex from rubber trees. It was unknown in Europe until 1731when French explorer Charles Marie de La…

Everything Else on Amazon

Being committed to local shopping I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source. If you can’t buy local, please do check the links in the posts.  They link…

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Plastics – a big list of the different types of plastic

Plastics can be made in a variety of ways from a variety of materials; shale gas, oil, plants even chicken feathers can all be used to make plastic. However oil derived plastics are the most common. Plastics are created from single units combined in a variety of ways. This process is called polymerisation. Different combinations result in…