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Nuts & Nibbles

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Food & Drink

Was in Wilcos the other day and was delighted to see these snack packs of nuts and other tasty treats in biodegradable recyclable yet sealed packaging. Just like plastic but better. Recyclable or compostable paper that should it end up on the streets will not go on to choke wildlife.

Yay. 

From U.K. company  Evolution Foods based in Telford.

They are a dried fruit, nuts and seeds producer and have introduced the paper packs as part of its new Natural Selection snacking range, 

available at Wilko stores across the UK but they also supply  a range of other retailers in the UK.

the breakthrough innovation could potentially save over 1,350 tonnes of plastic in the dried fruit, nuts and seeds market in the UK.

There are 25 products in its ‘Natural Selection’ snacking range. All packed in paper.

This includes such delights as yoghurt covered peanuts. 

The range also includes snacking trays and shot packs which have been redeveloped to ensure that the packaging can be widely recycled.

You can visit their website here though honestly it is not that good and fails to explain clearly their innovative packaging. Better to read about them here. 

Shropshire Live

Packaging news

 

Read more about plasticfree Wilcos here
 

 

Compostable Packaging

There’s the old school stuff – paper, cardboard, leaves and other plant based materials. And then there is the new. The biodegradable plastics.

What is biodegradable?

Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem. More about biodegrading here

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.

Want to start composting but dont know how? Find the answers here

 

Talking of composting, theres a new logo on the block. “The Home Compostable verification logo clearly identifies and differentiates packaging materials as biodegradable and home compostable. This means that the biodegradable packaging will break down under specific home composting conditions back into water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and biomass.”

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Menstrual Pants

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Personal, 3.1.7 wear Tagged 6 Comments

Menstrual pants are knickers you wear during your period. They come with inbuilt protection. Some can be worn instead of a pad or tampon. All provide additional security against leaks.

Already popular in Asian countries they can now be bought in the US. You can read some reviews here.

“Every-year, in the UK 200,000 tonnes of pads and tampons ends up in landfill and 2 Billion sanitary items are flushed down the toilet leading to polluted rivers and seas. This is also major reason of death of millions of birds and sea creature.

A person can use up to 16,000 tampons or pads in a lifetime. We are reusable, one set of 3 underwear replaces two years worth of disposables. We are the only reusable period underwear which completely replaces disposable tampons and pads, helping us to be kinder to the planet for us and future generations. We are made up of eco-fabric called Tencel made from sustainable Eucalyptus tree.

We are reusable and allow free-flowing, the benefits of which are huge and eliminates any potential health risks.We are designed and manufactured in Nepal so our product is made to the highest standards and supports small communities through sustainable employment.

WUKA wear is being created so anyone menstruating can have an ultra-luxurious, hygienic, comfortable and an eco-friendly period – because we care about our bodies and the planet.

More

Find out about plasticfree and reusable menstrual products here

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U.K. water bottle refill schemes

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.5 Plastic Free People, Projects & Campaigns, 3.7 Other Solutions Tagged , , , 2 Comments

Bristol Water Refill

"Refill Bristol is a practical campaign to make Bristol a city in which refilling your water bottle becomes a cultural ...
Read More

Selfridges Water Refill

Selfridges are setting out to tackle plastic pollution in the ocean by "removing all single-use plastic water bottles from our ...
Read More

Bath, Love Tap Water Refill Scheme

A new water refill scheme based in Bath. The following has been taken from their website... Two local women want to ...
Read More

Water Abroad

We sterilize our own water using a Steripen …. but when a bottle refill service is offered we will use that instead. Find refill places here…

Of course water in many countries the water is actually safe to drink – you can find out where here.

And here are a list of places you can refill your bottle abroad

Water Bottles

Check out which water bottle here

Water Bottle Bans

Links to interesting projects that are tackling the problems of bottled water

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Inhalers Homemade / Recycling

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Personal Tagged , , , , 2 Comments

Now I would never suggest you don’t take your plastic packed medication. If you need it you take it. But this recycling scheme might be of interest to those who have use inhalers.

Did you know you can recycle your inhaler?
Find your nearest participating pharmacy via this website.
Enter your post code
and its as easy as that to breathe new life into your old inhalers.

There is some scope for home remedies to deal with blocked up noses and the like. strong smelling essentials oils are useful. And it seems you can buy refillable inhalers which makes the whole process a little easier.

You soak the cotton wick in essential oils of your choice, put in the inhaler and sniff away.

If you live in the States you can buy these rather nice ones in glass and aluminium from Amazon.com  3.5 inches x .75 inches, outer shell is aluminum.

If you live in the U.K. try these from Ebay.

Oils

To clear stuffed noses try Eucalyptus oil

Eucaplyptus Oil

More

Find more #plasticfree personal care products here.

And more refill services HERE

N.B.

Lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

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Take your own …. tray???

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.2 Outside the U.K. Tagged 2 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A tin cup and folding chop sticks  for sure … but taking your own tray? Backpacking?

In China they have some really great food stalls that set up on the streets late at night. They serve beer and a whole range of kebabs. Ahh the joy of sitting down, relaxing after a hard day of jostling, knocking back a cold one and munching on a grilled body part…..but wait! There’s a problem. They serve you your food on a metal tray…. good, covered with a plastic bag…WYF! Which they then discard! No washing up, lots of litter. Yes I thought China had banned plastic bags too but it would seem not.So we got our own metal tray. We eat our food off that and at the end of the night we take it home and wash it. You don’t get rid of us so easy….

This post is my contribution to Zero Waste Week (‪#ZerowasteWeek) the brainchild of Rae Straus (also featured in our P-f U.K. directory). Each day, for 7 days, we will feature a tip to help you eat, drink and – ermmm – excrete in the most sustainable OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAand rubbish free- way, backpacking kind of way. Each post will appear up on our advent calender of trash free tips. See them there.

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Refill/Bulk/Zerowaste Stores

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , 85 Comments

Bulk buy or refill stores are places you can buy all kinds of food like rice, suet, even soup mix – loose and unpackaged.
You take as much as you want/need from a larger container, weigh and pay.
You can usually use your own packaging.
The advantages for the #plasticfree shopper hardly need stating!
These are common in America and Australia, far less so in the U.K. But we do have some.
I have put together a list of stores that sell loose products, listed alphabetically by the location / place name.
If you know of others please add them, with as many details as possible, in the comments box below and I will incorperperate them.

Packaging

While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own plastic-free /reusable bags, tubs and bottles.

Tare

The weight of the container may make a difference at checkout. Some shops  subtract the tare weight but other don’t. The tare weight is the weight of the empty container.

Latest Loose Food Shop

from Twitter

Popped to the fantastically named @weighahead in Dunblane, a new #zerowaste shop near #Stirling. Highlights were finding packaging-free bar soap and stocking up on staples without any single-use plastic. We’ll be back! 

Jarfull Ltd

“Our shop all being well will be open sometime in the first couple of weeks of December. We will announce the confirmed date when we have done a little more decorating so please follow our social media pages to keep informed. “From their website

@jarfulluk

2 Bower Street, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 5BQ

Heard of one in Chapel Allerton. will be checking that out later.

A to Z of Refill Shops

A

Aberystwyth read more here

B

Barmouth Weigh & Save Travelled on to Barmouth on the Welsh coast. It was hot and sunny and the tourists were out in force. I don’t like it like that. I only stayed  for the excellent weigh and save shop (read more about them here…)  called the Weigh Out This sold (amongst other stuff), loose 

  • pasta
  • powdered milk
  • cystalised ginger
  • cocoa
  • roasted peanuts
  • dried fruit
  • sunflower seeds
  • bran flakes

Barnsley 

Market Got a loose lettuce pickled beetroot Cheese from the cheese stall shoes by Loake – British made 

Weigh To Save

Visited Weigh To Save and yes they did loose cocoa. This stall has just recently opened at 1 Metropollian Centre May Day Green, Barnsley S70 1SX Closes 4:30PM 01226 772239 “Unique Market Stall selling a range of dried products, choose your amount & weigh to save.Products include, Nuts, Dried Fruit, Cereals, Rice, flours, sugars, other baking products, washing powder, herbs and spices all at reasonable prices. Helping to save the planet with no unnecessary packaging, you can even bring your own reusable containers. see for yourself in Barnsley’s inside market, Unit 13 Market parade(old semi open market under multi storey car park).” Photos diary of my visit here 

Bath

KathrynH (https://secondhandtales.wordpress.com) had this to say “Just noticed that our Holland& Barrett store in Bath has some loose items (mostly nuts) but you can also buy, and then refill, bulk oils in glass jars. It’s quite a large store but wondered if other branches were doing the same?” Bath store – NewLeaf HealthFoods, 29 Shaftesbury Road, Bath, BA2 3LJ Happy to preweigh your container with what you are going to fill it with. Bulk bins of nuts, flour, sugar, grains, dried fruit and more. Loose herbs and spices. Ecover refills. 

Blandford Forum

thanks for the add. I thought zero-wasters living in Dorset might be interested to know about my wholefoods store, Cariad Wholefoods, in Blandford Forum. We’re still quite new but sell lots of wholefoods, herbs, spices and botanicals loose. We also have a refill station for Bio-D cleaning products, loose soaps, etc. Everything we sell is ethically sourced, cruelty free and suitable for vegans and we are happy to take bulk orders and work with food co-operatives. It’s a growing business and my personal dream to sell as much as possible unpackaged over the coming months. Hope that some of you will visit 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/cariadwholefoods/ 

Bridlington 

Weigh & Save 

Brighton 

HiSbe We’re an independent supermarket standing up for how it Should be. We help people cut down on plastic packaging by selling many items by weight, including fruit, veg, pasta, rice, sugar, lentils, cous cous, porridge oats and chocolate buttons! HiSbe Website Hello! My shop, Wastenot, is in Brighton and offers dried produce, loose organic fruit and veg, cleaning product and bathroom product refills as well as plastic free household and beauty items! My website is http://www.wasenotshop.com 

Bristol

Bristol has a few: Scoop away- http://www.scoopawayhealthfoods.co.uk/ and Wild Oats – http://woats.co.uk/. Also worth mentioning if you’re a member of Bristol university or affiliated in any way there’s an amazing food co-op which is worth checking out: https://www.facebook.com/HungryCaterpillarCoop/?fref=ts 

Brixam 

Weigh & Save 

Burley in Wharfedale “Waste Not The Grange, Station Road, Burley in Wharfedale, LS29 7ND, UK
do shampoo refills as well as lots of other stuff. more details here“

Buxton 18.1 Day Zero in Buxton. A great little family run refill shop. Very friendly and helpful in giving advice on how to make changes. Also responds to the customer to try and source plastic free products should there be a request for it.

C

Camarthen
“There’s the ‘green scoop’ in Camarthen
http://www.thegreenscoop.com
9 Hall Street, Carmarthen, SA31 1PH”

Cardiff
Cardiff- Ripple in Roath. Zero waste shop

Chichester
Chichester has Refilled Chichester at Drapers Yard, The Hornets. Drapers Yard also has other plastic free friendly shops including Zest for Taste which does oil and vinegar refills and Bear Boy Fresh with local organic veg and a milk refill station .

Cleethorpes
Spill the Beans St Peter’s Avenue #cleethorpes now have paper bags out as an alternative to plastic. If you’ve not been here PLEASE check if out! Loads of fab whole foods plus cereals Baking stuff and more #cleethorpes #discovernel #totallylocallyne

D

Dundee
Little Green Larder opened in Dundee today

E

Edinburgh

The new leaf co-op that offers a wide variety of stuff package free. Bulk stuff includes washing up liquid ontap, laundry liquid on tap, hair care, loads of spices, flour, müsli, beans & pulss, grains, rice, dred fruit, nuts, seeds, vinega, oil, soy sauce and much more. It’s an incredible place! They also have a very nice website where you can read all about them and their products. Here is a snippet “The New Leaf Co-op is collectively owned and managed by the people who work here, and we have chosen to put our principles right at the heart of our business.Our aim is 1simple: To offer affordable, healthy vegetarian wholefoods, with a focus on organic, locally sourced and fairtrade products, with as little packaging as possible. We carry more than 150 different lines of food and household products for customers to scoop and refill themselves, and our range is ever growing!” 

Gin!!!!

To be truly plastic free, you may have to set up a still in the back garden!  Unless you can get to one of these liquid delis. 

Demijohn offer a spirits, liquor and other drinks refill service in

Edinburgh 32 Victoria Street Edinburgh EH1 2JW 0131 225 4090 

Bloggers

Check out Scottish blogger Westywrites for Scottish based plastic freeness  

Emsworth 

in Hampshire  – Pantry Weigh. Thanks to Emma for this info “There’s a small shop called Pantry Weigh in Emsworth in Hampshire  https://www.yell.com/biz/pantry-weigh-emsworth-763392/ 

G

Glasgow

Many thanks to Lord Cut Grass for this Locavore in Glasgow is another one for your list. Grows and sells its own locally grown vegetables and can buy grains, rice, pasta, etc in your own container. 66 Nithsdale Road, Glasgow, G41 2AN http://glasgowlocavore.org/

Harvest Co-op is another place in Glasgow where you can bring your own containers to buy in bulk. 1143 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow, G41 3YH http://www.harvestco-op.com/

Whole foods And there is always the Glasgow branch of Wholefoods. 124-134 Fenwick Rd, Giffnock, Glasgow G46 6XN, UK Do I sound excited? By a supermarket? Well yes I am. And the reason? This supermarket sells food loose and unpacked. I don’t just mean meat or vegetables (though that too) but nuts, spices and other dried commodities. The kind of stuff that usually comes swathed in plastic! They do a good range of rice, dried beans and pulses and more unusual stuff like blue popcorn, dried cherries and unroasted peanuts. Read more here See our Facebook Album here 

H & I

Horsham!

A surprise discovery on a day trip to Horsham! Town & Country Weigh is at 7 East Street, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1HH. It has bulk food bins for rice (long grain, short grain, arborio, basmati), dried pulses (e.g. black eyed beans, chickpeas, butter beans, red lentils), flours (including rye flour and potato flour), milk powder, and a wide variety of muesli ingredients. Thanks to Kake for the above write up.  Please, if anyone knows of any more, do add them to the list! Hull Heres a new one for the list Alans Naturally Health food/scoop and save shop 13 South Street Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU1 3QG Huddersfield List of shops and markets here 

Hythe

in Kent I found another Loose Food shop called U Weigh in Hythe in Kent the address is 51 High Street Hythe, Kent, CT21 5AD Facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/uweigh What Are Refill Stores? Bulk buy or refill stores are places you can buy food loose.You take as much as you want/need from a larger container and you can usually use your own packaging.  

J&K

Kingsbridge

Save A Packet: http://www.saveapacket.org.uk
8 The Anchor Centre, Bridge Street, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1SB

L

London Shops

Earth Natural Foods,
200 Kentish Town Road, London, NW5 2AE
Open 8.30am – 7pm, Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays. Great review on Refuge For Daffodils

And another from Laurie Pym
I went to Earth Natural Foods on Tuesday. Bought some loose herbs and will be headed back there to get coffee & more soon! Still no taring, and it was quite difficult to use my own containers as I hadn’t read the A Refuge for Daffodils review in advance. Foolish me brought heavier containers. However, I used the available kraft paper bags, which I labelled with the seed and /kg price (as they request). Once bought, I put all bags in a Kilner jar to keep them fresh. When I got home I gently opened the bags, which I will reuse when we need more herbs. smile emoticon It is a lovely, LOVELY shop, which I will continue to patronise!

Bumblebee Natural Foods

To see what loose foods they do read this great review by Kake of Croydon

Food For All

A blog worth keeping an eye on this month is Junk Free January as they try to live without packaging for a month. I am sure lots of useful info will be sourced. Already another loose fill shop has been found. The following is taken from the blog….

“The hero of the day was Food for All, on Cazenove Road next to Stoke Newington railway station. The last shop on my search, I was pretty glum by the time I got here, but cheered up right away. This small independent shop has a friendly atmosphere, good ethics, good prices, and a huge range of loose goods – all the herbs, spices and teas you can think of and more, meusli, different kinds of rice, lentils, etc. “

The Big Table

http://www.thebigtable.net/ 45 Chatsworth Rd, London E5 0LH

Mother Earth
https://www.facebook.com/MotherEarthLondon
282 St Pauls Rd / 5 Albion Parade / 101 Newington Green Rd
London, United Kingdom

Planet Organic Muswell Hill
http://www.planetorganic.com/unpackaged-at-planet-organic/

111/117 Muswell Hill Road, Muswell Hill
London
N10 3HS

Whole Foods Market  

Whole Food Market – if we have to have supermarkets let them be like this….

Tooting

I just wanted to share with anyone else living in London (especially others in S / W London) that there are two sweet stalls/shops in Tooting Market- Get Juiced! (That sell vegan drinks, food and bulk products – they are also likely to go zero waste soon!) And Nuff Cosmetics that sells bulk cocoa butter , shea butter, natural unpackaged soaps etcetc. Really refreshing to find these two in this area!

Croydon – great write up by Kake who gives this shop a very good press

The rest

Leeds 

read a review here. 

Leicester 

Leicester now has a zero waste shop https://zerowasteleicester.co.uk/ 

Lincoln

Gaia Wholefoods in Lincoln Central Market Lincoln, Lincolnshire 07891 370197 Nicola, the proprietor sells whole food that she bags up but is willing to weigh out into your own containers if you give her enough notice. Thanks to Not Quite A Vegan for that 

M

Manchester Village Green Co-op

Prestwich Village Greens is a Community co-operative grocery in Prestwich with fresh, local, organic, affordable produce . For the plastic free amongst us it has some loose, self-service products in dispensers on the wall including Oats Muesli base Chia seeds Pumpkin seeds Hemp seeds Sunflower seeds Lentils Brown Rice I was pleased! Lentils and brown rice which have been off the menu until now. Yay! There was also paper wrapped butter and milk in glass bottles. Loose , organic veg including some unwrapped lettuce. Loose soaps, health care and Natura menstrual products. Plus some cocoa from Suma that I have to investigate. And really good fresh bread. They do Ecover refills you have to ask at the counter Well worth a visit. Check out the photo album on Facebook pastedGraphic_2.png

0

OXFORD

Welcome to SESI
We are Oxford’s longest serving refill station of food products and household detergents.

SESI has its own range of laundry and household detergents which create no packaging waste from factory to consumer.  They are also effective cleaners, environmental and cheap.  We also offer refills of some well known products from Bio-D, Ecover and Faith in Nature.

The SESI food depot offers a growing range of fairtrade, organic and local foods.

We exist to help you minimise packaging waste and access the best products at a reasonable price.  We reduce packaging by encouraging customers to bring their bags, bottles and tubs for refill at our depot or at our farmers market stall.

All 250 refills and food/household products we hold as depot stock are available to order through this website.  You can download a catalogue of 5000 more! For tips on how to get the best out of this website go to ‘More About Ordering’.Please note we don’t take payment when you place an order – pay us on delivery or collection.  We accept cash, cheque or you can now pay by card.

P

Plymouth
Ethica: http://www.facebook.com/EthicaVeganStore/
155 Armada Way, Plymouth, PL1 1HY
Refills for detergent, shampoo, washing up liquid etc; soap bars, non-plastic toiletries, cleaning items
Blog post includes trip to Ethica https://ourrubbishblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/a-clean-break/

Peterborough
Backyard Food in Peterborough is an ethical shop looking to enhance the availability of local, organic, fairtrade, vegan, plastic-free products. It stocks food, household products and toiletries as refills. Recently re-launched, they plan to expand their current range of refills – https://www.facebook.com/backyardfoodpeterborough

Penzance

15B Causewayhead
Penzance
Cornwall TR18 2SN

One of the incredibly eccentric loose food outlets that can occasionally be found huddled under the idiosyncratic Weigh and Save umbrella. You can read more about them here…
This is a good one selling all manner of loose food stuffs. I stocked up on

  • raisins,
  • sunflower seeds
  • dried apricots
  • brown rice
  • COCOA!!!

Blog post about our visit to ‘Save A Packet’ and ‘Weigh Inn’ (Penzance) https://ourrubbishblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/the-incredible-bulk-stores/

R

Ramsbottom

Fulfilled: Plastic free shop

@FulfilledShop

Ramsbottom plastic free/zero waste food & household shop. now open! North West, England

S

Sheffield We are OPEN!!

Come along and check out our huge range of spices, refills of cleaning products, household items and plastic free wholefoods- we’re open until 6pm today! link here

Southampton

Jen ‏@choose_to_reuse   says Got some bulk dry food today from @RiceUpLtd – a #zerowaste haven! #choosetoreuse

Rice Up Wholefoods @RiceUpLtd We are an ethical (Vegan, GM Free, Eco/Organic friendly) mini supermarket. We are run as a Workers Coop. Open 10am-6.30pm (5.30pm Sat and closed Sunday)

T


Thatcham
Can you please add Thatcham Refillable to the list. We are in Thatcham near Newbury in Berkshire.
http://www.thatchamrefillable.co.uk
We sell refill household cleaning & personal care products daily and we hold a monthly market where we have stall holders selling dried food and other eco products from our shop.

Tiverton
Todmorden
Totnes

W
Plastic Free Places that start with the letter W can be found here
Including
Watford
Wimborne
Winscombe
Worcester

XYZ
York

A to Z

Frozen Food Loose
Pain Au Chocolat - home bake Pain Au Raisen - Home Bake Yorkshire Puds Fruits of the forest and other soft fruits Roast veg - peppers to potatoes Uncooked Vegetables ...
Read More
Lidles
Lidles  is a chain of budget supermarkets. It offers some plastic free surprises. (Click the links to see a review and other options). Take your own bags Lidl Stiftung & ...
Read More
Oil Vegetable Cooking Refill
Vegetable oil is difficult to source plastic free. Buy in glass and the metal caps will have a little plasticized disc or plastic liner on inside and maybe a plastic seal ...
Read More
Tea & Coffee Merchants
Here are some independent Tea & Coffe merchants. You may need to take your own bags Leeds The Teapot has coffee beans and leaf tea from all round the world. Really lovely ...
Read More
The Range – a chain of home & garden shops
Loose pet food, home wares and some loose sweets. Being committed to local shopping, I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same ...
Read More
U.K. All over Weigh and Save Shops
Long time ago when I was young we used to visit the Weigh & Save shop in the precinct down the road. In it were a number of  big bins ...
Read More

U.K. Wide

.

Other Supermarkets & Chainstores
Sometimes supermarkets can surprise you – check out the plastic-free and reduced packaging products here.

Remember
While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own. 

Find A Milk Delivery Service With Glass Bottles

Here 

 

Online


This is an interesting option that allows you to buy basic foods on line plastic free.
You can even use your own produce bags. Read more
HERE

Ask A Local

A great source of info is the Plastic Is Rubbish FB support group. We have people everywhere who,are ready to help. Join up join in.

Please add any shops you know of in the comments below and I will incorporate them into the post.
Links to reviews particularly welcome.

SaveSave

SaveSave

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How to Refill

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.2 How To...plastic-free Tagged 7 Comments

Imagine a world where you returned your empty milk bottles to be refilled and took your washing up liquid bottle back for more of the soapy stuff. Seems such an obvious way to save resources and cut waste doesn’t it? Well thankfully a few far seeing people still offer such great services. You can find them here.

Any we forgot? Please let us know in the comments section below. Together we can make changes!

U.K. water bottle refill schemes

Water Abroad We sterilize our own water using a Steripen …. but when a bottle refill service is offered we will use ...
Read More

Inhalers Homemade / Recycling

Now I would never suggest you don't take your plastic packed medication. If you need it you take it. But ...
Read More

Refill/Bulk/Zerowaste Stores

Bulk buy or refill stores are places you can buy all kinds of food like rice, suet, even soup mix ...
Read More

Cleaning products – refill system

Planet Earth offers a range of household cleaning products with a unique refill and reuse system. It works and has ...
Read More

Cleaning Liquid Refills

ECOVER  do all of these products and you can get your plastic bottle refilled. To find where Ecover have a refill ...
Read More

Wine

I do have a social life. I occasionally get to  go out to dinner and wine is the present of ...
Read More

Milk Buying Direct /Refill Vending Machine

Recently our van trip has been milk free. Seems they don't do milk in bottles in France. But if you ...
Read More

Oil Vegetable Cooking Refill

Vegetable oil is difficult to source plastic free. Buy in glass and the metal caps will have a little plasticized disc ...
Read More

Beer

Of course you can get beer in bottles but those metal caps have a plastic liner or small disc to ...
Read More

Milk & Milkmen

British consumers got through nine billion pints of milk last year. 90% of that milk was bought in a plastic container ...
Read More

Water Refills World Wide

Find out first Of course water in many countries the water is actually safe to drink - you can find ...
Read More

Washing Up Liquid Soap

Soap Flakes I did try to use soap flakes to wash up. I did not find it  pleasant. Yes it ...
Read More

Pen Ink refillable

Here is a one of the worlds finest inventions as radical in its time as the computer has been in ...
Read More

Reusables

I don’t think theres enough said about reusing stuff. By which I don’t mean recycling – recycling is great but it usually means the waste product is taken away then processed into something else.
We really don’t need a new bag every time we buy some beans. A cotton reusable bag is more than good enough. Yet we have become such a throwaway society we have almost forgotten about reusables.
Here are some products that dont need to be thrown away after a few uses.

Disposables

Sometime you need a disposable and when you do it has to be compostable.  Here are biodegradable bags for the butcher, paper cups for the office party and plastic free tampons. To name but a few. Find them here

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Cleaning products – refill system

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 House, Office & Garden, 3.6 Businesses & social enterprises Tagged , , 2 Comments

Planet Earth offers a range of household cleaning products with a unique refill and reuse system.

It works and has been scientifically tested to be as good as the leading brand.

It’s an eco winner: To make a bottle of eco2life cleaner, fill a spray bottle about half full of ordinary tap water, simply add one ‘small wonder’ refill to the spray bottle and top up with cold tap water. Replace the trigger, give it a quick shake – you’re all set to go.

There is no lugging of ‘water’ back and forth, requiring less production, less energy, less packaging

Our spray trigger is designed for a long life and our spray bottles are reusable.

Vegetarian Society Approved.

It’s made in the UK and of course it’s made from naturally derived readily biodegradable aquatic safe ingredients with fully recyclable packaging.

Planet Earth eco2life ‘The brilliantly simple refill system’!

Please note

This post was written by the contributor. It is not a Plastic Is Rubbish review, does not represent my personal opinions and I may not have used this product or service. Instead it is a PfU.K. Directory submission.

The Pf U.K. Directory is…?

…a directory of UK-based groups, organisations businesses and individuals who are responding to the problems presented by the misuse of plastic. That does not mean anti-plastic necessarily but certainly plastic-problem aware.

In 2014 I hope to feature 12 UK-based initiatives featuring refuseniks, trash slashers, businesses and the rest.

The DIRECTORY is to promote their work not mine. Read more here…

Got a project?
It is very easy to get a project featured. Each contributor submits a short synopsis of their project, focussing on the plastic aware element and I post it. You can read the submission guidelines here.

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Christmas Crackers Reusable

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

As they sound – a cracker that can be used over and over again. Probably not completely plastic free, (those ribbons look synthetic), but a great way of reducing your trash.

These are made by a UK company Keep This Cracker. The following was taken from their website.
What makes our Gift Box Crackers so unique?
Slide open the box and it goes Bang! just like a cracker. Fill with your own gifts and personalise them for any occasion. Easy to reuse just feed a new snap into the slots at each end.
Sadly it looks as though the crackers come in plastic packaging. Check with the supplier…

I haven’t actually used these but you read about Westywrites experiences with  reusable christmas crackers here.

Fill
You could fill them with plastic free sweets  if you can’t find suitable gifts.
There are loads of printable joke sheets up on Pinterest. They are truly corny. But they come with snowmen. Here’s and example.

Make
And if you are crafty you can make your own crackers. I have never done this but there are instructions up on Pinterest.  Looks fiddly to me! You can buy cracker snaps from craft shops and on line.

Buy

You can buy crackersnaps and more reusable crackers from Amazon.  You can read about our Amazon links here.

 

Refillable Crackers - Bundle of 6 snaps Refillable Crackers 4 Packs (Folk Green) Refillable Crackers 4 Packs (Ornate Jade)
Refillable Crackers – Bundle of 6 snaps
£2.50		 Refillable Crackers 4 Packs (Folk Green)
£12.75		 Refillable Crackers 4 Packs (Ornate Jade)
£12.75

More

You can find lots more plastic free Christmas tips here…
And you can read up more about special days and general partying here.

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Cleaning Liquid Refills

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

ECOVER  do all of these products and you can get your plastic bottle refilled. To find where Ecover have a refill station check the  postcode search on their site

TOILET CLEANER
LAUNDRY LIQUID,
FABRIC SOFTENER,
MULTISURFACE CLEANER,
Washing up liquid (other options here)

You can find more about liquid cleaners here including how to make your own

If you cant get to a refill station try getting a refill by post….

What better to kick off your spring clean than these water soluable cleaning products in biodegradable packaging? 

Regular price£10.99

  • Easy to use; water-soluble sachets
  • Made using plant-derived, sustainably sourced ingredients
  • RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil
  • 100% Plastic-free
  • Plastic-free packaging & FSC Certified paper
  • Made in the UK – so extremely low carbon footprint
  • Made by Iron & Velvet

And here’s a review…. Not by me

“We have tested them all ourselves and were taken back by how much you get out of each sachet when mixed with water. They do a great job of tackling grease and grime PLUS, they are made right here in the UK, in the West Midlands, so they have a super low carbon footprint to boot!

This pack contains surface cleaners for both the bathroom and the kitchen, which break down fats, oils, greases, watermarks and limescale. These surface cleaners do not contain antibacterial ingredients; however, we do also sell the anti-bacterial versions of these cleaners here if you would prefer them.” 

You can buy them here

More On Cleaning

You can buy refills from Ecover for most cleaning liquid products in shops. You can also get refills by post from splosh. Or  make your own #plasticfree cleaning products. can be found here.

All plasticfree Cleaning up aids from mechanical (brushes to you)  to chemical (squeezy) cleaners,  both ready bought and homemade, can be found here.

Splosh

This is an online refill service. A new way to buy your home cleaning, laundry and health & beauty essentials.
You buy the starter pack which includes a range of bottles and concentrate product. You water down the product and fill the bottles. Thereafter you buy more concentrate on line and refill your bottles as needed.

Some products come in soluble pods which you drop into water; others in plastic pouches which can be sent back to be refilled or recycled. While the refillable plastic pouches obviously are plastic (duh) the soluble pods sound useful.

They supply a wide range of products. But  “currently the surface cleaners and hand washes come in water soluble sachets and the rest come in pouches.”

Splosh also claim that the postal packaging for the starter kit and refills is also plastic free. Though according to some reviews they come with some plastic.

Here’s their mission statement. “Plastic waste is an environmental disaster and we’re committed to reducing it to zero. For each product we’ve designed a refilling system that takes plastic out of the waste stream. For example our pouches can be sent back for refilling and, at the end of their life, we manage their reprocessing into other products”

You can read more about how it works and order products here HERE
If anyone out there has used this product please let me know.

Why This Post Is ….

A little bit rubbish. You are reading a work in progress. Here’s how the blog is written and why we post half cocked.

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Oil Vegetable Cooking Refill

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged , , , , 10 Comments

Vegetable oil is difficult to source plastic free. Buy in glass and the metal caps will have a little plasticized disc or plastic liner on inside and maybe a plastic seal. Plus the bottle will almost always have a plastic pouring widget in the bottle top.Like I can’t pour oil out of a bottle??? Buy in  cans and they have a plastic lid, perhaps a handle and the can is of course  lined with plastic. You can read more here

On Tap
But if you are very lucky you might find a place that sell oils on tap that lets you use your own refillable bottle. Do you need me to explain that? They sell oil from the can and you take your own bottle, which they refill with oil.

Whahey plastic free oil!

That said in 2015  Defra  banned ‘On tap’ olive oil. The following is taken form their website….”These oils mustn’t be sold ‘on tap’ in their pure form: extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, olive oil composed of refined olive oils and virgin olive oils, olive pomace oil. Today (2016) seems oil is back on tap. So,  for now you can buy olive oil on tap from a variety of store.

Using your own bottle?
It would seem that some stores allow you to refill your own bottle. Whole Food Market do and I refilled my glass bottle there.  But I cannot vouch for the others listed below! Any information on the subject is much appreciated.

Oil refills in the U.K.

The butchers St Agnes, Devon
Wholefood Supermarket Cheltenham & London

Demijohn – Victoria St, Edinburgh refill oil & vinegar (and spirits at Demijohn).

Olive oil Stoneygate, Leicester http://www.deliflavour.net/may also do refills but not checked
Sheena Hatton Claremont Farm in Wirral (oils and vinegars) and Spar in Llanfyllin.Åsa PamphilonHoland andBarrer in Chelmsford.” I havent yet refilled but it is clearly two different prices for their bottle and oil/vinegar or just a refill so I assume I will have no problems.

More

Or you could try lard. Other greasy options and ways to buy plastic reduced oils and spreads can be found here the edible oil index here.
And everything you need to know about fatty acids here

N.B.

lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

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Do Your Bit Produce bags

by Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.6 Businesses & social enterprises Tagged , 14 Comments

DoYourBit is an organic cotton reusable bag company locally run in the UK that aims to put an end to the excessive amount of plastic packaging we find in shops and supermarkets like Tesco or Asda. The goal is to focus on package-free items which produce zero waste. From fruits and veg to bread or nuts, to be used for non-food items or also as gift wrap instead of using the disposable one time use stuff most people use nowadays – you can use these bags any way you wish!

Originally from Canada but now living in the UK, when I first moved here it came as a shock to me how much plastic there was and how few zero waste options there were. I began searching and it wasn’t even possible to buy produce bags locally. I had to order them online and have them shipped from elsewhere in Europe. Since then, I decided to start up DoYourBit with the hope of spreading the word of using less plastic disposables and creating change in a world where plastic is everywhere. My goal is to help everyone do THEIR bit to reduce the environmental impact they have on the planet.

Not only is DoYourBit a local company but the material is also locally sourced from a fair traded fabric company which helps us do our bit by buying locally as well! You can use these bags for everything; at the bakery, farmer’s markets, supermarkets etc. They are 100% handmade and machine washable.

Details:

  • Drawstring bag 34x28cm (with olive green cord)
  • Sets of 3 or 5 bags available

*Different bags sizes can be requested and custom-made for customers

For more information, you can visit DoYourBit at

FB @doyourbituk

Instagram @doyourbit.uk

Etsy doyourbit.etsy.com

Ebay ‘DoYourBit produce bags’

More 

You can find more reusable produce bags here

And check out our guide to buying food plastic free 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.

Please note…

This post was written by the contributor and  is  a PfU.K. Directory submission.

And the Pf U.K. Directory is…?

…a directory of UK-based groups, organisations businesses and individuals who are responding to the problems presented by the misuse of plastic. That does not mean anti-plastic necessarily but certainly plastic-problem aware.

The DIRECTORY is to promote their fantastic work. Read more here…

Got a project?
It is very easy to get a project featured. Each contributor submits a short synopsis of their project, focussing on the plastic aware element and I post it. You can read the submission guidelines here.