Straws – reusable

11 February 2010 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged 3.1 general, 3.1.2 reusables, 3.1.3 drinks, 3.2.2 Kitchen, 5 Content Veiw 10 Comments

I don’t use straws but if I did I would go for one of these.

Do note I have not used these myself so I cannot say how well they perform or what the onward packaging is like. You will have to check with the suppliers. Any one who has tried them, can review them or can recommend some other great product please do leave a comment. Together we can make changes.

Bamboo

Super fun for a cocktail party – haven’t tried them myself yet but will do….. You can get them from boobalu an ecofriendly online store

or these from Amazon

12 pack of bamboo straws.
The ecological choice for your health and the planet.
Washable. Reusable.
Made from 100% Real Whole Bamboo Stalks
Each straw is 10 inches in length
You can find a range of reusable straws on Amazon

Steel Straws

Urban techno chic! I love the look of them, stainless steel straws for the classiest of drinkers.

USA -Can be bought with a whole load of other good stuff from Reusable Bags (USA based).

Or you can make your own

UK – You can find a range of reusable straws on Amazon

Glass Straws

The glass straw man?? Yes he makes reusable glass straws. Glass straws may sound like a bonkers idea, but read this and then decide

I haven’t used them myself but if you fancy giving them a go they are currently available in the UK from EBAY and from this UK based online shop A Fine Choice

Disposables

If you must have disposable straws buy these compostable ones.

Campaigns

Join the straw wars here.

Buy

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. Coffee Evolution were doing take away ceramic cups for instance.

If you can’t buy local, please do check the links above. They look direct to the suppliers. Do consider buying from them and support their online businesses.

If you can’t do that then I have put together and Amazon catalogue. Yes I know…


NRS Healthcare Clear Safesip Drinks Glass a… £5.99	4 Straight Metal Drinking Straw Stainless S… £5.49	4 Metal Drinking Straw Stainless Steel Reus… £5.49

6 Metal Drinking Straw Stainless Steel Reus… £7.49	Kitchen Craft Stainless Steel Two-in-One Dr… £4.75	Stainless Steel Zack Vitis Straw Spoon Set/4 £12.00

Sustainable Bamboo Drinking Straws – 12 Pack £6.00

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. That’s not why we do it.

Menstrual internal protection reusable

3 January 2010 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Personal Tagged 00 working, 3.1 Backpack, 3.1.2 reusables, 5 Content Veiw 3 Comments

Products to deal with menstruation are plastic heavy ( see some stats). They are made from plastic, come wrapped in plastic, block drains and dirty the sea shore. You really don’t want that kind of rubbish inside you, your bin or your environment. The way to cut your trash is to get a menstrual cup.

Menstrual Cup

This is little cup that you use internally. It collects the flow and is then emptied washed and reused. Before you squeal and scream read this series of posts by one of the best environemental writers around.

Really, try them, they are easy peasy and the slight inconvenience is more than compensated for by the increased comfort factor. They are far more pleasant then other internal protection.

Some of the many advantages include

Never run out of protection
No need to take your bag to the loo with you
Great for travelling in wild and rugged places
No need to put of dirty, plastic sanitary items in the bin next to the loo.
Much more comfortable
Saves you loads of money
Don’t see your pantyliner out on the beach

Choose

I like Moon cups – made from silicone check out the site for more info. You can buy Mooncups in shops including

Boot’s. If you want to get them on line try Ethical Superstore or Amazon

Rubber

Natural rubber cups are available from Australia.They are called, rather dungeons and dragon like, The Keeper. It’s the same principle as the Mooncup but made of natural rubber rather than silicone. They will ship, see their website

Other Options

For those of you who cant face the thought of fiddling around, there are lots of alternatives here

Cutlery – disposable & compostable

29 May 2008 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged 00 compostable plastic, 1.3 PLA Plastic Products, 3.1.2 disposables, 3.2.5 composting & compostables

Though it’s not the greenest option there are times when disposable partyware is the only choice. For our last big bash, some years ago now, we bought disposable cutlery made from PLA compostable plastic. It is just like normal plastic cutlery, tough and hard wearing. So much so it can be washed and reused – at least we do… and are still doing so.

The cutlery is really useful for picnics and outdoor parties. We always leave stuff behind and we don’t feel too bad about loosing this.

We got ours from Denny’s. They also do compostable straws, plates and glasses. In fact everything you need for entertaining.

Since we bought, a lot more companies have started to offer compostable party ware and new products are appearing all the time. It would be worth looking around.

Composting
There are those who say you cannot compost PLA plastic in home composters. We did. The knives did biodegrade. It took some time but it happened. However we do have a Green Joanna, the queen of compost bins.

Renting
We rented the extra stuff we needed for the party from a catering company . We probably could have hired cutlery too but we were curious to try the cornstarch stuff.

Carrier Bags reusable

20 May 2008 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 General & Homemade Tagged 3.1 Backpack, 3.1.2 reusables, 3.1.4 bags & packaging, 3.2.4 make, 5 Content Veiw 1 Comment

Cotton string bags are fantastic. These are my best bags and I use them most of the time. They have many virtues including:

When empty, they fold up really small, but they can carry a ludicrous amount of shopping.

Their soft handles do not cut into my fingers.

They are fully biodegradable.

They are organic & fair-trade

Long lasting

I bought mine from Organic Ally”

She sells bags with either long or short handles.
The short handles are great for supermarket runs, the long handled bags can be hung off your shoulder for more leisurely shopping – I don’t like them as much as the short.

Bought in bulk i.e. numbers of 5 they are cheap – from around £4.00 a bag inc vat and shipping. You can mix and match bulk orders so you have a combination of short and long handled bags.

Make Your Own?
Or you could be uber-green and knit your own string bag – lovely bare foot person has posted a pattern for cotton yarn and a knitting machine.

Fold Up Bags
The only downside to string bags is that they are full of holes which means that they are see through and they do not fold up up as small as the opaque nylon fold up bags

I like Onya bags …..BUT they are made from a synthetic fibre RPET
WHAT IS RPET?
Post consumer bottles are collected from recycling plants and spun into yarn. From this yarn comes the fabric that makes Onya Bags.
So, you might think, plastic bad…. but recycling good. Confusing
Well yes – but I have bought them anyway. In fact I have other nylon fold up bags that are not made from bottles. They are very convenient if not quite as ideologically pure as the string bag!

Why do I use them?
Well man-made fabric is not only slightly more waterproof and opaque, it folds up really small. When packed up, these bags are the size of a golf ball, much lighter and come with a clip so they can be attached to your handbag or husband.
I haven’t found a natural fibre bag that is as good at folding, weighs so little or dries as quickly.
They can be carried round at all the times making them an ideal just- in -case bag for impulse purchases.
Moreover because they dry so fast they don’t get mouldy. This makes them perfect for taking on holidays and backpacking trips where laundry facilities are not of the best and space is limited.
Onyabags (UK)

Onyabags also do, amongst other things, a messenger bag, a really handy fold up rucksack and mesh produce bags.

If you live in the USA, Chico bags do a similar thing.

Find more bags and packaging HERE

PLA Starch Bags – compostable plastic bags.

24 April 2008 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged 00 compostable plastic, 1.3 PLA Plastic Products, 1.3.2 bioplastic, 3.1.2 disposables, 3.1.4 bags & packaging, 3.2.5 composting & compostables 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

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.

Pots – PLA compostable

7 April 2008 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged 00 compostable plastic, 1.3 PLA Plastic Products, 1.3.2 bioplastic, 3.1.2 disposables, 3.1.3 Deli, 3.2.5 composting & compostables

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.

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?

Composting PLA Plastic At Home

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.

Pen Ink refillable

4 February 2008 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged 3.1.2 refill, 3.1.6 Office, 3.1.6 pens & pencils, 4 plastic2cut plastic, 4.1 plastic we use, 5 Content Veiw 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!

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 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…..

Produce Bags

5 January 2008 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged 3.1 Backpack, 3.1.2 reusables, 3.1.4 bags & packaging, 5 Content Veiw 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.

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.

plasticisrubbish

Category Archives: 3.1 Disposables & Reusables