Compost Bins Which Is Best For You

21 September 2012 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 6 archive Tagged 00 working 17 Comments

lets talk waste.

Waste is used to describe:
materials not needed after primary production:
the unwanted byproduct of a process:
Products no longer needed:
Objects that are now defunct:

Examples include municipal solid waste (household trash/refuse), hazardous waste, wastewater (such as sewage, which contains bodily wastes (feces and urine) and surface runoff), radioactive waste, and others.

Waste is often considered worthless but this is usually not the case. It very much depends on the type of waste. And the waste disposal system favoured.

Read about disposing of plastic here.

Empty

29 July 2012 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 6 archive

Sun block for a year

12 June 2012 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 6 archive Tagged 00 edit 5 Comments

I have absolutely no melamine and my skin burns even in cloudy conditions. Sure I cover up but I still have to factor up on a regular basis.

I have been making my own sun block for years now and it does work (details below), but when setting off on our plastic free travels I had to ask myself:

Could I really carry a years supply of home made sun tan lotion out there with me?
If so, how I would I carry it?

Last time I went away I took my home-made lotions in metal pots. While they are fine in the handbag they are not so good for hard core backpacking. My pack gets flung on and off jolty old buses and the metal bottles crumpled and creased under the strain. Then the lids could not be removed or started to leak.

Obviously I am not going to use glass bottles.

This is one of those times when plastic bottles are the best option so why not just buy the lotion out there ready made and packed in plastic bottles. Its not even as if those bottles would be going to landfill or end up as litter. In most of the countries we visit plastic bottles represent cash and are collected by litter pickers.

Plenty of justifications for buying ready-made, plastic –packed lotion and yet I was not keen on that idea. Part of it is just stubbornness. I want to see how far I can go with this. Another reason is I hate the crap they put in those creams – all those nasty chemicals and irritating perfumes.

So here’s my solution.

Back home I made some uber strong sun block cream. It’s as thick as axel grease with a factor of about 100. I adapted an Aromantic recipe, reduced the water and upped the sun block ingredients,details below. It was all very ad hoc so there is no recipe.

Now, while travelling, I thin down the axel grease with homemade lotion as needed. I refill the reusable plastic bottles I took from home. I can make a range of factors depending on how much lotion I add. So far it is working.

The logical amongst you will be looking puzzled. Surely the problem remains? Rather then carrying a years supply of sunblock I now have to carry a years supply of lotion to thin the sunblock down with??

No because I make the lotion as I go along using the Plastic Is Rubbish backpackers home made lotion kit.

I think you will be proud of me!

Here’s how you make sun tan lotion

And here is The Plastic Is Rubbish Backpackers home made lotion kit

Other cream related posts can be found HERE. If like me you don’t tan, you might be especially interested in Home madehfake tan

There are lots more plastic free beauty products here.

Cream in Bangkok

16 May 2012 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 6 archive Tagged 3.2.4 make 1 Comment

I don’t know what you do in a downtown hotel room in Bangkok but I make body lotion. I have been making my own creams and lotions successfully at home for ages now but since then of course I have packed my bags to travel the world. Obviously I don’t want to go back to using plastic packed cosmetics but carrying a years supply of creams and lotions was not an option. So I thought why not continue to make my own creams WHILE back packing.

As I am sure you know, cream, body lotion and the like is basically water and oil mixed together in varying quantities. The more oil the richer the cream. As water and fat do not naturally mix you need to use an emulsifier.

The process is simple – mix the oils and emulsifier and heat to a certain temperature. Heat the water to a certain temperature. Mix the two together to make cream.

So before I left I weighed out, mixed up and melted together a batch of oils and emulsifiers. I used hard oils like Shea so the end mix set firm – think butter in the fridge consistency. I planned to add the water at a later stage.
So when my body lotion ran out in Thailand it was time to see if my cunning stunt was going to work.
I set out my equipment.

Tiffin Tin 2
Metal cup
Heating element I had brought along to make tea (and cream) with.

Shea butter emulsifying oil mix
Let the show begin.
I put a dollop of the oil/emulsifying mix in the metal cup and some water in the tiffin tin.
I clipped the tin cup to the side of the tiffin tin with my tweezers.
I heated the water in the tiffin tin with the element.

When I thought everything was hot enough I added some of the water to the melted oils and mixed vigorously.

Not a complete success. The oil and water did emulsify but didn’t thicken quite as much as I had hoped. I had created a kind of sloppy lotion rather than a cream but it was good enough for moisturising.

I refilled my plastic bottle and went on my merry moisturised way.
Lots more information about my cream making exploits can be found on the following pages