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Peas frozen

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 2 Comments

I have travelled far but pause to remember that MAY last year I was an innocent and  knew so little of all things plasticky

Now I know that those of you kind enough to peruse these pages may imagine me as some kind of Birkenstock wearing earth goddess who loves nothing better than weaving yogurt while a pot of free trade, organic lentils bond themselves into a health some stew. Sadly not true. Dinner time finds me attacking the glacier that has taken up residence in our freezer in an attempt to liberate food, any kind of food, from its icy grasp. Frozen food is important to us and I am particularly partial to frozen peas.

I saw problems ahead when I had to give up plastic wrapped frozen food. So I was overjoyed when I saw the Co-op put much of its food in bio-degradable packaging. I thought they meant biodegradable – an understandable mistake. However if this journey has taught me anything its to second check. Bio-Degradable does not mean biodegradable. It means conventional plastic with an additive to make it degrade or fall apart faster. You can find out more here.

So I gave up peas and ALL OTHER PLASTIC PACKED FROZEN FOOD. SINCE THEN I HAVE NOT BOUGHT PLASTIC WRAPPED FROZEN FOOD I  know – feel free to marvel.

It was hard so imagine my whoops of joy when I found Emly Moor Farm Shop who do frozen food in tubs. Using the little scoop you shovel what you want into the bags provided. Of course the bags are plastic but take your own bio bags (corn starch bags – made from vegetables they are fully compostable) and problem solved.x

Here is the company who supply them – Field Fare. They supply shops nationwide. There is a postcode locator here which tells you where your nearest retailer is.

The Emley Moor shop doesn’t stock the full range, but it will give you an idea of what’s available.

 

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PLA Starch Bags – compostable plastic bags.

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged , , , , , 9 Comments

PLA starch bags are described as a compostable plastic.Which can be confusing as they are a very different product from conventional, oil-derived plastics. Many people dismiss the compostable claim despite them being certified compostable  See plastics and introduction for more on this.
PLA plastic  is made  from plant-based materials such as corn starch. You can find about more about starch derived plastics here .
Once again they are compostable and certified as such.

Same, same but different?

PLA bags are almost but not quite the same as conventional plastic bags. However they share enough similarities to make them a very useful substitute and can be a great tool in your plastic free armoury.
They are not quite as strong as conventional plastic bags so are not good as carrier bags but they are water proof for a limited amount of time, ( eventually there is seepage), but you can certainly use them to carry fish or meat home. 
They are compostable and despite what folks might say they can be composted in a garden compost bin. Read more about PLA and composting here

Biobags & Others
One example of PLA bags is sold by the company Biobags. Back in the early days they were amongst the first to sell  in the U.K. They have very good credentials. Their bags are certified to BS N13432 standard and are manufactured sustainably at facilities certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. BioBag is the world’s largest brand of certified biodegradable and compostable bags and films made from Mater-Bi®. Biobags are the bags used in Modbury the plastic free town.

These days many companies make and sell PLA bags and you can buy the from supermarkets.

NB do check you bag is certified compostable.

Compostable? 

What is compostable? To be classed compostable, items must biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades), and the resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive. For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the European Norm EN13432. You can find out more here.

What For & Which Size?

I use them for
fish and meat – (I ask that they use my bag instead of a plastic bag).
Buying loose frozen foodstuffs … yes you can frozen peas loose!
As freezer bags.

If you can get it, I find the 6 liter size best to take shopping. The 8 litre is obviously bin liner size, and eyebrows are raised when you ask to have your steak put in a bin liner..

Buy

PLA bags  can be bought from most big supermarkets. Biobags and other PLA bags can be found in hundreds of online shops  including Amazon & Ebay. Some suppliers are listed here.

Composting PLA Plastic At Home

While most agree that PLA plastic is indeed compostable, many say that it can only composted in large scale municipal schemes. As we don’t have many large scale municipal schemes this they say is a pointless advantage.I say the days of large scale municipal schemes is fast approaching as governments aim to divert biodegradable rubbish from landfill sites.
AND I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. We have used and composted a number PLA plastic products (including Biobags , Deli pots  and disposable Cutlery)
It does take longer than other products and  sometimes I have found shreds of it in my compost but I dig it into the soil where it quickly disappears.

Read more about compostable plastics here

More

Find loose food outlets listed on the loose foods list
Other kinds of useful, plastic free bags are listed  here.

Greenwashing

And never forget that bio-degradable plastic bags do not biodegrade where as compostable plastic bags do compost. Not all bio-plastics (plant derived plastics) are compostable. Read more here.

Trash Vortex / 5 Gyres

by Posted in 2.1 reports, stats and studies Tagged , 2 Comments

Dotted around the world are  5 great trash vortexes. They are right out there in the middle of the sea and they are huge.  A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, is how scientists have described one such.

This drifting “soup” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.

And it now appears that there are 4 more.

They are called trash Votrexes or the 5 gyres.

What happens is swirling currents collect up all the ocean debris and mix it into a big rubbish soup in the centre of the ocean. In the old days this rubbish was biodegradable so would rot.

Not any more.

These days its plastic which does not rot.

Result a vast expanse of debris – in effect the world’s largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents.

Is how the Independant newspaper describes it.

Though Greenpeace have been worried for a while

Why are there no photos? Oysters garter has the best answer

Dont fancy reading? Watch one of these scary videos of what lurks beneath the waves

For educational dvds go to http://www.algalita.org/videos-research.html

other articles to read on the subject are Naked man in the tree

 

 

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Pots – PLA compostable

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged , , , , ,

These  deli pots are  made from  PLA plastic. This looks and acts just like plastic but is made from corn starch rather than oil. Not only is this a renewable resource, it is also  compostable 

I have bought  two size of pots ( with lids), specifically made to serve food portions,  which I take to the shops with me and use instead of the plastic pots provided.

I use them for
Olives
Humus
Potato salad
Pate
and anything else that takes my fancy.

I use them in supermarkets, farmers markets and anywhere that sells loose.

My Pots

The 350 ml (Big enough to hold a jar of Tesco olives)
The 500 ml (Big enough for a jar of beetroot)

Please note – the lids fit securely but are not completely waterproof – you might need to put the pots in a cornstarch bag for additional security.

More

The pots are really sturdy and don’t as you might imagine start biodegrading the minute you use them. For instance, I use them keep my home-made cosmetic cream in – months later there is still no sign of disintegration.

You can wash them but they do melt in hot water so cannot be washed at temperatures hot enough to sterilise. For this reason I would recommend that you take a new pot with you every time you go shopping.However that  need not stop you reusing them around the house. I recycle them as freezer pots , use them for sprouting seeds, growing cress and other garden based activities of which more later.

Find out more about PLA here

Suppliers

You can buy pots at various places on-line, they have started appearing on Ebay and there are some very good deals on Amazon

I bought mine from WF Dennys – very cheap but minimum purchase 100.

Vegware do a great range of shapes and sizes and will sell smaller amounts.

Compostable? 

What is compostable? To be classed compostable, items must biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades), and the resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive. For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the European Norm EN13432. You can find out more here.

Composting PLA Plastic At Home

While most agree that PLA plastic is indeed compostable, many say that it can only composted in large scale municipal schemes. As we don’t have many large scale municipal schemes this they say is a pointless advantage.I say the days of large scale municipal schemes is fast approaching as governments aim to divert biodegradable rubbish from landfill sites.
AND I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. We have used and composted a number PLA plastic products (including Biobags , Deli pots  and disposable Cutlery)
It does take longer than other products and  sometimes I have found shreds of it in my compost but I dig it into the soil where it quickly disappears.

Read more about compostable plastics here

Greenwashing

And never forget that bio-degradable plastic bags do not biodegrade where as compostable plastic bags do compost. Not all bio-plastics (plant derived plastics) are compostable. Read more here.

 

What are plastic bags made from

by Posted in 1.2 Plastic The Product

Most plastic carrier bags are made from polyethylene, a kind of plastic. Polyethylene, or polythene as it is known in the UK comes in different forms. The top three used in bag manufacture are

High Density PolyEthylene – HDPE- is used to make supermarket type carrier bags.

Low Density PolyEthylene – LDPE- used to make soft clear bags like the ones used for packing of vegetables, toys and clothes.

Biaxially Oriented polypropylene -BOPP- is the crisp crystal clear stuff used for greeting cards, the plastic wrapping round boxes of tea etc and food packs like pasta.

Find out about the  various types of plastic and what they are used to make here….

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Plastic codes and UK recycling

by Posted in 1.51 Reusing & Recycling Plastic Tagged , 12 Comments

Resin identification code 2 ♴ for high density...

Plastic codes are the numbers you find on the base of your shampoo bottle and the like.

They  identify the type of plastic used to make the product.

Only the most common types of plastic are numbered – there are many more plastics than numbers and new plastics are being made all the time.

This symbol DOES not mean the product has been recycled.

For recycling purposes, (for now at least), it is essential to know which plastic is which.

All plastics should be properly identified.

Here are the current plastic codes and what they refer to.

PET or PETE (Polyethylene terephthalate) plastic code 1
Clear drinks bottles, food packaging such as fruit punnets, textile fibres (polyester).

UK Collection Rates
PET bottles are collected by 92% of councils. Recycled PET is generally used in fabrics such as fleece, strapping and carpets. New technology allows PET to be recycled into new food packaging.

HDPE (High-density polyethylene) plastic code 2
Milk bottles, shampoo and cleaning product bottles. HDPE bottles are collected by 92% of councils.They are recycled into garden furniture, litter bins and pipes.

UK Collection Rates
New technology allows HDPE to be recycled into new milk bottles.

PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) plastic code 3
Window frames, drainage pipes, shower curtains, clothing, toys, large squash bottles.

UK Collection Rates
Not generally collected from households for recycling. PVC use in packaging is in decline.

LDPE (Low density polyethylene) plastic code 4
Carrier bags, some bottles and containers, yokes holding four or six-packs of cans together, lining or laminating cardboard containers.
Carrier bags are collected by some supermarkets and recycled into low-grade uses such as bin bags.

UK Collection Rates
Not generally collected from households for recycling. However, mixed plastic recycling is expected to be under way within five years.

PP (Polypropylene) plastic code 5
Soup pots, margarine tubs, most bottle tops, waterproof clothing, carrier bags.
Not generally collected for household recycling, although it has good potential.

UK Collection Rates
However, mixed plastic recycling is expected to be under way within five years.

PS (Polystyrene) plastic code 6
Take away cups, yoghurt pots, cushioning of breakable objects in packaging.

UK Collection Rates
Not generally collected from households for recycling. Some commercial polystyrene is recycled.

Everything else plastic code 7
Other Includes acrylic glass (perspex), nylon and polycarbonate. Items made from a blend of plastics also fall into this category.

UK Collection Rates

Not currently collected

The collection rates are taken from this BBC article

To know more about the above plastics go to everything you ever wanted to know about plastic

To find out where you can recycle each kind of plastic, contact your waste disposal authority, or check the internet. Some recycling plants will accept plastics from the public and are interested in bulk supply from anywhere.

But better still don’t create any plastic trash…..

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lip balm

by Posted in 3.1 Personal Tagged , , ,

Well looks like winter is finally here – again – and the need for a good lip balm has never been greater. Needless to say I take issue with the plastic tubes and pots that commercial balms are packaged in – especially as they are used only once then thrown away. So I make my own.

1 tablespoon beeswax pellets or olive oil flakes
1 tablespoon roughly chopped shea butter
1 tablespoon grated cocoa butter
1 tablespoon sweet almond oil
1 tablespoon castor oil
Melt the whole lot together in a bowl in a pan of hot water. Mix and pour into little pots (from here or other online stores) to set.

The end result is a really nice, very effective lip balm.

Pots and ingredients can be bought on line from www.aromantic.co and other companies.

However if like me you work out doors, digging mud, applying lip balm from a pot with grimy finger is not ideal. So I refill my old lip balm tubes – you will need to wash them out and rewind them first – obviously. Sometimes you have to push the base plate down a little before they will wind back.

Or you can buy new, empty tubes from here or  www.aromantic.co

Filling the tubes is fiddly and a small funnel helps. small funnelsYou can get these metal ones here.

 

Mouth diameter is 3.2cm Spout diameter is 4mm Inner spout diameter is 3mm Total height 2.8cm

NB

One more advantage to making your own balm is not being poisoned! In addition to the synthetic preservatives and flavours, white petrolatum, the basis of many shop bought balms, is derived from petrol. Yuk. Every time you put it on your lips you ingest a little – make your own and you know what you are eating.

Plastic alert – most of the products will come plastic packed but you will ultimately be cutting your plastic consumption.

Find more homemade makeup and other stuff here

 

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Shampoo

by Posted in 3.1 Personal Tagged , , 5 Comments

Shampoo in a plastic bottle? Why bother when there are gentler, cheaper and plastic-free soap substitutes?

Liquid Shampoo


Soap Flake Shampoo
Long ago  I stopped buying shampoo and started making my own. Simple recipe – soap flakes mixed with water to make a liquid soap

Soap flakes are pretty much pure soap and so my shampoo contains  no artificial fragrance, color, preservatives, detergents, alcohol, urea, formaldehyde, sodium laurel sulfate, DEA, propylene glycol – or any of the other synthetic hair care additives.

SHAMPOO RECIPE

2 cups of soap flakes
2 litres of water
30ml of glycerine. ( I can’t decide if this makes any difference so it’s obviously not essential
This makes a big pan full.

Heat up and stir till the soap flakes melt then leave it.
When it cools the soap will go all stiff and jelly like.
If it is too thick add some more water.
When it is the desired consistency you can add a few drops of scent if you wish.
If you make a batch and store it for a while you might find that it solidifies. Don’t add water whisk it with the blender and it will return to its original consistency.

It’s not as sudsy as shampoo though if you do two washes and you get lots of lather the 2nd time. You don’t get the feeling it is stripping your hair bare and it doesn’t leave it frizzy and mad. It seems to take hair some time to adapt.

Buy Soap Flakes
I use Soap flakes from Dri pak, a Derbyshire based company. They are described (on their website) as follows

Dri-Pak Soap Flakes are predominantly pure soap – with no added perfumes, enzymes, bleach, phosphates or additives, so you can be confident that they will degrade harmlessly without damaging watercourses and aquatic life.
Soap Flakes have not been tested on animals. They will leave your clothes feeling soft and fresh, and far less likely to cause skin irritations than regular detergent washing powders. They are gentle enough for woollens, silk, delicates and modern outdoor fabrics that have special waterproof and breathable properties, which can be damaged by detergents and fabric conditioners.
They also come in cardboard boxes so there’s no nasty plastic packaging. You can get them from Wilkinsons hardware stores, Ebay or direct from Dri pak.

Wilkinsons also do own brand soap flakes in a cardboard box. More details here.

Ecover emergency shampoo
This one also works well and so far no one has twigged. Put some Ecover  washing up liquid, which you buy as a refill, in a nice bottle ( you can dilute it if you think it is too strong, I do). Add few drops of scent if you wish. Luxury shampoo in no time at all.

Using Essential OIls
Essential oils are concentrated and so should be used with some care.
Do not apply neat to the skin. They should always de diluted. Read more about how to use them HERE
It is good practice to do an allergy test before you slather on any product containing them.
Do some further research into the oil you plan to use. Some are very strong and need to be used with caution.
Buy from a company that is clear about how they grow and harvest their oils. You can read more about this,here

Solid Shampoo

Bar Shampoo
If that seems like a lot of faffing around, get a solid shampoo bar from Pure Lush. These come wrapped in paper if you buy them from the shop and plastic if you buy from the website. I know – plastic – but it is a small shrink wrapped bag as compared to a whole bottle.You can find many stores on-line selling similar.

Soap

I got to thinking why bother with all that flaking and making – surely soap is soap is soap. Turns out yes it is and you can wash your hair with a bar of soap just as well as anything else including shampoo which is just runny soap.

I find its best to wash twice.
N.B. Dove soap is not good for this.
For my hair type I have to use soap in conjunction with an occasional  vinegar rinse. Seems to clear out build up.
After a while you might find your hair stops looking so good after washes. Change soap.

Bicarbonate Of Soda

Often called the no poo method. You can read up about it here

Disclaimer

Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who
a) doesn’t have any training in this field,
b) most of what they know comes from Google,
That’s me I mean.

I am telling you of my own experiences for your information only. You should do a lot more research before proceeding. None of the following have been tested on anyone other than me. All I can say Is that I have used the above for a long time with, as yet,  no ill effects.

More

See a full range of homemade #plasticfree personal care products here 
And find out how to make lots more stuff HERE
Find all plastic free personal care products here…

Ingredients

An introduction to some of the stuff you need to make the above

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Ear buds

by Posted in 3.1 Personal 11 Comments

The not so darling buds…

I was brought up with the fear of perforated eardrums so avoid cotton buds, q tips, call them what you will. My husband however gets through boxes of them. He must have the cleanest ears in Yorkshire. So he did not react well when I told him his brand of bud has been banned from our house because the stick is made from plastic.

They may be small but the cotton bud features large on the pollution chart. One major problem is that people use them and then flush them down the loo. Each week an estimated 500,000 plastic sticks are sent down the pan in the Thames Water region alone.

Being small they can squeeze through filters at sewage works and so out into open water. During Beachwatch 2004, they made up 87% of sewage related debris found on our beaches – that’s a staggering 154 buds every km of beach surveyed. In 2006 they were the second most common item of litter washed up on our beaches.

Being plastic they are of course with us for ever. The obvious answer is don’t dispose of them in the toilet. Now in all fairness the husband (though guilty of many bathroom crimes) does not flush his down the loo. But that still leaves the question why make a disposable, one-use item out of something that lasts for centuries? If they don’t go down the loo they still have to be disposed of somehow and plastic is not got rid of easily. I don’t see why clean ears have to mean a dirty environment.

BUY plastic free

My husband though insists that clean ears are vital to health, and cotton buds are essential for clean ears. So we have compromised. We buy cotton buds with a paper stem – not only are they made from renewable sources, they biodegrade naturally in the compost heap. Biocototige (French company) do them and they can be bought from eBay – www.ebay.co.uk.

U.K. based….cotton buds

UK based online company Boobalu sell the bamboo versions pictured above. As she is very plastic aware, she will no doubt recognise your onward plastic free packaging needs! Check out her store for a whole load of plastic free goodness!

According to the comments below, Coop and Marks and Spencers sell paper-stem buds.
“Midlands Co-op do fairtrade ones with a cardboard shaft albeit in a a little plastic resealable bag”
“Co-op and Marks & Spencer now do Fairtrade Cotton buds which have paper sticks. These are also obviously made from Fairtrade Cotton.”
And this might be worth looking into “There is a brand called Simply Gentle made by http://www.macdonaldandtaylor.com that have paper sticks and are made from organic cotton.”

If you know of any others or have more information on the above please do comment.

Call To Action Switch The Stick Sign Up

Switch The Stick is a campaign and petition to get plastic cotton buds out of the drains and off the beaches. It has been organised by  Michelle and Natalie (both can be found in the Plastic-Free U.K. directory). They  are asking UK retailers to stop making plastic cotton buds by the end of 2017.

According to Switch The Stick ” Waitrose and Johnson & Johnson announced they’d make the change to paper, and the Coop and Marks and Spencers sell paper-stem buds. Now we need to make sure the others do the same.

Tesco, Sainsburys, Boots, ASDA, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi, Superdrug and Wilko are currently reviewing their policies on cotton buds … which is why we need to show them how many of us support the switch to paper!”

They already have over 11000 signitures. If you havn’t done so already do add your name. It’s so easy to change this and millions of fish will thank you
The petition is now on 38 degrees (new link here)
lots more information about Switch The Stick, can be found here 

More

Find all personal car products here

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Pen Ink refillable

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged , , , , , 7 Comments

Here is a one of the worlds finest inventions as radical in its time as the computer has been in ours treated as a throwaway piece of rubbish
Not only am I ridding the world of plastic I am reinstating dignity to the much abused pen.

Refillable Fountain Pen

I have bought myself a fountain pen with refillable cartridge. Please note many pens use disposable plastic ink cartridges which defeats the object. DO CHECK!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Fountain pen with reusable ink cartridge.

The pen is from Parker and the body is made (mostly), of stainless steel.As is the nib.
Yes the cartridge thing is plastic but it is reusable.
I have been using this pen for a while now and I like it a lot.

Bought the wrong pen?

If you have got a disposable cartridge pen you may be able to buy a refillable cartridge.  For example this one for Parker Pens. You will need to Google the make of your pen to find out.

Failing that Indestructables have a guide fro refilling throwaway cartridges. Looks time consuming and messy to me but it can be done!

Ink

The ink  comes in bottle but they do have  plastic lids. The bottles are  so cute I plan to up-cycle them when I get enough.
I don’t actually do that much writting by hand so that might take some time.

Plastic Alert

Of course the pen  has plastic elements but we don’t boycott all plastics. We think that there are some valid uses for the product ( gasp!! yes I know…you can read our reasons here).

Buy

I strongly recommend you buy from a shop. This pen is going to last you a long time! You need to get the feel of it. Besides which, pen shops are lovely.

Though we try to link with business we know we cannot always do this. Then we try to find a similar product on Amazon.
Amazon is a very dirty word at the moment and I thought long and hard before suggesting them.  Heres why I went ahead….. No we are not entirely happy with Amazons recent history. However, we have always found their service to be good and their packaging usually compostable.

If you buy a product via this link we do get an affiliation fee for this. This is not why we do it.

Parker Jotter Stainless Steel Chrome Trim Fountain Pen Medium Nib - Gift Boxed Parker Fountain Pen Refillable Ink Converter Parker Quink 57ml Ink Bottle Permanent - Black
Parker Jotter Stainless Steel Chrome Trim F…
£13.97		 Parker Fountain Pen Refillable Ink Converter
£3.87		 Parker Quink 57ml Ink Bottle Permanent – Bl…
£4.48

Biodegradable Cornstarch Pen

But I am bad with pens – years of abusing them can not be wiped out in a moment. Used to loosing them destroying them throwing them away without a backward glance means I am careless.

 

In the meantime I don’t want to lose my expensive fountain pen so  I have bought some disposable pens – pens that biodegrade. You can read about them here.

They were rubbish so now I  use a pencil…..

Read more about pens & pencils here….

 

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Bread and bread machines

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged , , , 1 Comment

Buy

As you know, most bread comes plastic wrapped. Unless you are lucky enough to  have a local bakery, and don’t work office hours, this can be problematic for the plastic free.

I do get to choose my own hours so I can go shopping in the week, and we do have a local bakers – but there is still a problem.They put their bread in plastic bags. They do have paper bags for the buns but they don’t like using them for bread. Each time I ask, they tell me the bread doesn’t fit in a paper bag. It quite clearly does and has been proven to do so on previous occasions. It is, for whatever reason, an issue with them so I don’t push it.

Most supermarkets do unwrapped rolls and will let you use your own produce bags.

However man cannot live on barm cakes alone!

Make

So I bought a bread maker which is easy to use and the bread is fantastic. There are still some plastic elements – the milk powder comes in a plastic lined packet and the yeast is plastic foil wrapped but it is a small plastic price to pay compared to pre-packed bread.

Of course the  breadmaker has plastic elements –  but we don’t boycott all plastics. We think that there are some valid uses for the product ( gasp!! yes I know…you can read our reasons here). The breadmaker fits into the plastic products that reduce the use of plastic disposables category.

More

So now our bread needs are met with a combination of buns from the co-op, a run in with the bakery when I have the time and the stamina and homemade bread.

Speciality Breads get fantastic nan breads from Maryam Bakery

Find more yummy baked things at bread, buns and biscuits

Courses & Community Made Bread

Not only do these guys do scrummylicious bread which I totally recommend, they do it for a good cause!

All quotes are taken from the website….

“LoveBread is run by bakers and volunteers who love baking bread. We want to involve the local community in providing real bread for their community.  ”

This not for profit organisation  bake handmade artisan bread for sale in  Ryecorn’s Wholefoods, Brighouse every day except Wednesday, Villa Farm Shop, Huddersfield on a Friday and Saturday and Ingfield Farm Shop, Southowram on a Friday and Saturday.

Learn to make Real Bread

Love Bread run regular workshops teaching the basics of making your first loaf to advanced techniques of shaping and flavourings.  We also run courses and training sessions for community groups and schools.

All workshops are available to book online, visit our workshop page for more information. Our workshop vouchers are now available from the bakery, market stalls or email us for more information.  We are now taking bookings for all our workshops, visit the workshop page for more details and to book your place.

 

 

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Produce Bags

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged , , , 1 Comment

Produce bags are reusable bags that (as the name suggests), you put your loose produce in. It means you don’t have to use those nasty flimsy plastic bags they dish out in shops.
I have been using mine for years now – in supermarkets and local shops, for everythingthing from green beans to bread. (you can check out a range of loose food here).
I cannot say how many flimsy plastic produce bags I have saved from landfill but it has to be thousands. From that point alone I am extremely pleased with them.

There are two kinds of bag available on the market – cotton and polyester mesh.
I prefer the cotton as they are biodegradable, last much longer and can be repaired. But the mesh bags  have the advantage of being see through, are lighter.

Bag Weight
The weight of the bag will make a difference at checkout in the price per weight. Some shops  subtract the tare weight but other don’t. The tare weight is the weight of the empty container.

Cotton Bags 


U.K

At last a U.K made produce bag. Thanks to DoYourBit who make the bags right here in the U.k. using  material sourced from a fair traded fabric company.
Read more about them here.
Buy from here.

America
My first  produce bags were from  eco bags. This American company  supply unbleached cotton bags made in India using fair wage fair trade.
Available in Large (43cm D x 33cmW) or Medium (25cm D x 20cm W)
I have also bought cotton bags  from  Reusable Bags made from fair trade, organic, cotton using fair wage labour; the company is reliable and the bags are reasonably priced.
Import Duties
Be aware import duty, customs charges and handling fees are payable on all goods purchased from America – last month I was summoned to the post office to pay £16.00 charges on a parcel worth £45.00. Do bear it in mind.

Spain
Cofo A Spain based company do a lovely range of organic cotton bags. they come in the following sizes. they are much thicker than the American bags and some have metal closures
 you can read more about the bags and the company here.

Polyester Mesh Bags ( available in the UK)

Onya
Onya Bags www.onyabags.co.uk a UK based company. They sell a nylon mesh produce drawstring under the name Onya Weigh. They are the lightest produce bag ever and scrunch up really small. They are sold in packs of 5 complete with their own nifty little carry bag. The whole package is the size of a peach and has a clip so you can attach it to your child, husband or bag strap. At nine pounds for 5 they are a bargain.

Flip & Tumble

More recently I came across these  flip & tumble Reusable Produce Bags- 5-Pack. I have not tried them myself having more than enough produce bags but they have a good review on Amazon. Rather more expensive at 13.13 pounds for 5.

More

Find other plastic free packaging here.

Loose Food A to Z

Find out if a shop near you sells bulk food loose. This is stuff that that normally comes plastic packaged ie rice, pasta and salt. And yes these shops do exist in the U.K. There’s just not many of them. Heres a list of towns with shops selling loose food,  organised alphabetically.