Stuffing

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged , 2 Comments

You can’t have a roast bird without stuffing. I have tried long and hard to find plastic free ready-made but it eludes me so now I make my own… heres how…

First I got the recipes and they all call for breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs what? How? Where do I get plastic free crumbs from?Any smart buggers out there can keep their sarcastic comments to themselves.

Google time later and I can tell you its easy – stale bread + food processor or cheese grater and they can be kept in the freezer so you always have some on hand.

Actually what I did is put some not really stale wholemeal bread buns, plastic free from the bakers, in the oven, dried them out and crumbled them up.

Ok now its time for that really good stuffing.

This is a recipe

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 dollop of olive oil 

Some  fresh sage, finely chopped  – from the garden

80g/3oz fresh white breadcrumbs

salt

pepper

1 egg, beaten – bought in a cardboard box refilled at the cheese stall, Huddersfield Market

 

I had no scales so I guessed the amounts. Fried the onions, used an egg,  some oil and added an egg to bind it all together. Shoved it in the oven at god knows what heat. Served with bird….. and it was really good.

I will never buying stuffing again.

For more  try the plastic free cook book here

 

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Envelopes

by Posted in 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged , ,

One years worth of junk mail for one person in the US equals about 2 feet. Most of these letters are credit card offers says Dan MacFarlane Which leads me on to my mail and the envelopes in particular. It’s those horrid little windows that are the bloody awful icing on the stale cake of junk mail.

In today’s market, four types of window coverings are used

  • 1. Polystyrene: a plastic film designed specifically for the needs of high-speed envelope production;
  • 2. Cellulose based films, such as: glassine and acetate films;
  • 3. PLA: a new film derived from corn; and
  • 4. Other plastic films used for specific, non-standard applications.

But who can tell the difference – not me. And even if they could you know they are not going to be recycled.

Envelopes with windows are no good for Plastic Free Freaks – especially when all they contain is rubbish.

While I might not be able to ban every envelope from my life I can stop a lot coming through my door.

  • I have converted to paperless billing for all my services.
  • On the rare times I have to send a letter I only use windowless envelopes.
  • The war on junk mail is being waged.

Ways To Stop Junk Mail

Thankfully I have this wonderful man with his infinitely detailed website, (listing all the ways you can stop junk mail), to help me. You can read about him below or go straight to his website here

Compostable envelopes

Envelope makers! You could try this for your window envelopes

“Low scratch, compostable film specifically formulated for use in envelope windows. Meets USPS readability standards for window envelope film. Tinted with a light green hue.”

More

Find other plastic free office supplies and electronics, here.

Diary of a Junk Mail Campaigner

My blog (‘Diary of a Junk Mail Campaigner’) deals with anything I feel people should know about junk mail. It explains – usually at length – how people can reduce unsolicited mail and why stamping out junk mail is not as easy as signing up to the Mailing Preference Service. It investigates whether of not self-regulation by the direct marketing industry can make junk mail more sustainable and exposes the endless stream of junk mail research (invariably showing that direct mail is valued and welcomed by 110% of the population) for what it is; junk research. Occasionally there’s something ‘fun’ on the blog – interesting junk mail art, a video, or just a nice story – but in general the blog is dead boring. As a source for information about junk mail it’s unrivalled though…”

The same description could apply to the website (www.stopjunkmail.org.uk). The aim is to provide detailed and independent information about reducing junk mail. Being a web designer I’m very aware that for instance the Guide to Stamping Out Junk Mail is far too long – few people have a long enough attention span to read through it all. But then the aim is not to entertain people and there are already plenty of websites with short (but incomplete) guides to reducing junk mail. In an attempt to provide the information in a more compact format I set up the website www.junkbuster.org.uk a while ago.

It’s build around the Junk Buster application which people can use to contact up to six opt-out services in one go. I like to describe it as a one-point-stop for reducing junk mail. As for achievements, since the launch of Junk Buster many people have become aware that it’s possible to opt-out of receiving paper directories (people can opt out of the Yellow Pages, Thomson Local Directory and BT Phone Book via the application). None of the directories tell the public that they have this option but after Junk Buster was featured in the Telegraph, Daily Mail and Independent in March things started to change; the Data Publishers Association has now for the first time acknowledged that people can opt out. 192.com is actively campaigning for a central opt-in scheme for directories and I reckon they may achieve their goal.

Another achievement is that Royal Mail is no longer secretive about how many (few!) people register with its Door-to-Door Opt-Out (which stops unaddressed mail delivered by the postman). In 2008 a Royal Mail Manager accidentally told me the figure was less than 0.5% of all UK households. The figure became public knowledge and just a couple of months ago the company publicly confirmed that the figure is currently 0.7%. At the same time the Direct Marketing Association confirmed that only 0.0006% (!!) of households is registered with its Your Choice Scheme. Having these figures out in the open is important because it undermines the industry’s argument that stopping junk mail is easy – if opt-out rates are so negligible something is clearly not working…

Finally, I spent much of my time giving people advice on how to solve their junk mail misery. In a way the campaign is about tackling the junk mail problem, one piece of junk mail at a time. I guess it will keep me occupied for some time to come .

 

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Trimmings & Fixings

by Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade Tagged 1 Comment

Zips & Fastenings

Metal trouser hooks and eyes can be bought loose from trimmings shops on Leeds Kirkgate Market, Covered Market City Center
Huge press studs on cardboard backing Leeds Kirkgate Market, Covered Market City Center.

Ribbons Lace

You can get organic 100 % cotton lace here

And more here https://jamestailoring.co.uk/product-category/haberdashery/lace/

FINE FRENCH COTTON LACE BORDER

ID: 12244Fine French Cotton Lace Border. Width 60mm. 90% Cotton/10% Polyamide. https://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/p/12244/cotton-lace-trims/mw/fine-french-cotton-lace-border

And lace like this  guipure style lace trim  100% certified organic cotton https://www.embroidered-lace.com/sale-10515379-embroidered-guipure-venice-lace-trims-organic-cotton-lace-trimming-for-chemises.html

Lancaster & Cornish Ribbons like this…. This bias cut feather weight habotai silk is super soft and drapy.  The silk is dyed with natural plant dyes in our Cornwall studio.

Or real silk ribbons hand hand died in Scotland using natural dies made from plants grown in the garden WANT SOME!!!!!! Not bought any myself but I bet you could get them in plastic free packaging if you asked. They seems a very nice business.

A bit from the website

I have started to produce hand dyed ribbon using the plants and flowers grown at Mill Pond Flower Farm. We are very fortunate in having a wide variety of mostly native trees and plants with the addition of flowers grown for sale. This gives a great store of material that can be used in dying fabrics and can give a range of colours. The effect of using natural dyes is to give a softness and depth of colour that changes with the light, blending effortlessly with other fabrics and hues.

Buy here

On Amazon – you can see a selection here

More

Find lots more plastic free sewing aids and fabrics HERE

See The clothes I have made here

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Hankerchiefs

by Posted in 3.1 Personal Tagged , 3 Comments

Snot rags! Ughhh….. Remember the old days when you had a hanky tucked up your sleeve or even in the hem of your knickers, your home-made knitted knickers that is?  Long gone are the clammy times of snot rags, hurrah for the disposable tissue….

Unless of course you care for trees, don’t like waste and won’t use plastic.

I fall into all of those categories so I don’t buy plastic packed throwaway paper hankies but I must admit the idea of using cloth made me squirm. Still needs must and I bought a whole load of  reusable fabric, washable handkerchiefs from  Huddersfield Market

and then some more from Organic Alley.
She  sells organic, fair trade cotton hankies. She also  has a whole load of info on why you are a  better person for using reusables and how  cotton hankies are not at all nasty….really.
I have been using mine for ages and they are a lot more comfortable than paper – not so scratchy on the nose. lighter on the environment and really useful for all sorts of other things too. Try them you will be amazed.

Which Hankie

Handkerchiefs come in all different weights of cotton and sizes.
Heavy cotton are good for big blows with lots of snot but harder to wash. And of course they are bulkier.
Light weight cotton hankies are good for day to day sniffles and wiping and are easier to carry, wash and dry.
Men’s handkerchiefs are usually bigger than ladies.
Small handkerchiefs are good for one or two blows. Big ones can see more service.
Patterned handkerchiefs don’t show up the stains.

Using Your Hankies
Get lots of small hankies, use them for a couple of blows then in the laundry. Use like a papper tissue rather than keeping them in your knicker leg for ages. It also depends (and I don’t want to get to specific here) on the quality of the mucas. Thick and green and its back to disposables!

Other Uses
Handkerchiefs can be used as little bags
As a headscarf (get a larger size!)
neckerchief
And a dust mask.

Disposable Tissues
NB Do be careful when you buy a box of tissues. They often come with a plastic collar. You can find plastic free boxes here. Or you could just use loo roll in compostable packaging.

Buying Elsewhere

If you cant get then locally, you could try these from Amazon. Please do read our disclaimer for more info about buying from Amazon

12 Pack Ladies 100% Cotton Plain White Handkerchiefs With Satin Stripe Border Samuel Windsor Luxury 100% Cotton Handkerchiefs - 12 Pack. Samuel Windsor Luxury 100% Cotton Handkerchiefs Check Stripe - 12 Pack.
12 Pack Ladies 100% Cotton Plain White Hand…
£10.49		 Samuel Windsor Luxury 100% Cotton Handkerch…
£15.00		 Samuel Windsor Luxury 100% Cotton Handkerch…
£10.00
Samuel Windsor Luxury 100% Cotton Handkerchiefs - 12 Pack. 12 Pack Of Womens/Ladies 100% Cotton Dyed Handkerchiefs With A Satin Border, Assorted Colours
Samuel Windsor Luxury 100% Cotton Handkerch…
£10.00		 12 Pack Of Womens/Ladies 100% Cotton Dyed H…
£7.99
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Watering Cans for young and old (and rich)

by Posted in 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged 2 Comments

Take a look at this beauty – my  galvanised watering can with removable brass rose. Looks good and lasts forever. Comes with absolutely no plastic bits and no packaging at all. It holds 9 litres – 2 gallons which is big enough to matter but light enough to carry when filled with water.

Rose

The brass rose can be unscrewed and this is a very important feature. Put the rose on and water can be sprinkled over seedlings or delicate plants a necessary but slow process. Take the rose off and water can be poured in a stream which is great for soaking plants at the roots. A removable rose means it can be cleaned when bits of soil and residue block the holes. Without this feature your can will eventually clog up.

Finally the rose can be replaced when knackered. Interchangeable roses can also be bought resulting in ever finer sprays.

Haws Cans

Haws also do a metal watering. It is the Rolls Royce of metal watering cans with a price tag to match. These too have interchangeable roses

Kiddies Cans £5.25  

Made by Garden Angels these cans are as classy as you would expect from these guys. They are metal watering can with enamelled finish and will last much longer than plastic counterparts. They don’t have removable roses but in all fairness they are more for fun then real work. They come in pink or blue – I don’t know why. Plastic and packaging free they

Sadly they have plastic handles and come wrapped in a plastic bag.

Buy

All the above can be bought on line or from local hard wear shops and some B&Q stores.

If you have trouble finding them,  you can get them here (along with a lot of other plastic free garden supplies), from  Amazon  You can read our Amazon policy here.

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Fruit dried

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged

Tricky but not impossible.

The Nut Shop Leeds Market offers a wide range of nuts and dried fruit, even loose sprinkles for cakes. By weight. Details HERE

Loose Food

If you cannot get to Leeds you can try
Wholefood Market a supermarket chain
Or see if there is a loose food shop near you. As the plastic movement grows more shops are selling naked food; stuff that that normally comes plastic packaged ie rice, Some sell dried fruit. Heres a list of towns with shops selling loose food.

Buy Online

But loose food shops are still few and far between, Don’t despair. It is possible to buy food online loose and plasticfree. You can even use your own cotton produce bags for some things. READ MORE HERE.

More

find other fruit here.

Supermarkets & Chainstores
Because sometimes we have to shop there and yes you can get plastic free and zero waste stuff. Read  our supermarket reviews here.

If you want to buy loose, you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.

Feel guilty buying plastic packed food? So do we but sometimes you have to so we apply the special treats rule. read more about the three levels of plastic free food

See all our food posts via the food index

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.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

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Plant Labels

by Posted in 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged

Busy digging over the garden and planting up next years crop in the allotment and I find myself:

  • Turning over a new seed bed to find ugly plastic markers polluting the soil:
  • Uncovering plastic plant markers relating to some kind of plant but all the text has disappeared:
  • Hoeing away and cut through another perennial;
  • Plant up some lettuces in lovely rustic pot which I don’t want to sully with nasty looking plastic plant markers
  • Planting up rows of seedlings and not wanting to use plastic markers because of – well -all of the above:

So I have bought some wooden monster-size, lolly-pop stick. NB The normal size lolly pop sticks are too small. I tried them but couldn’t read them.  Actually I couldn’t even see them and so another peony died.
These big boys come in at 150mm length x 19mm width x 1.8mm giving me plenty of room to write on and if I use a permanent writer, the writing lasts as long as the marker.

I can also use pencil which doesnt last as long but is plastic free.

If they get dug into the soil no problem they will biodegrade and feed next years spuds.

They look much nicer in my pots and allotment.

Where to get them?

You can buy these from craft stores on-line but they often come in little plastic bags. To ensure I got these plastic free I had to buy in bulk so they came in a box rather than a bag. I searched for medical spatulas on ebay.

If you have trouble finding them,  you can get them here (along with a lot of other plastic free garden supplies), from  Amazon.  

One of the real joys of buying #plasticfree is sourcing the stuff in local shops. However sometime you have to buy on line and if I don’t know of anywhere else I tend to end up recommending Amazon. I know and I don’t like what they do either but t I have always found Amazons service to be good, the recommendations are for second party sellers and the packaging usually compostable.

You can read our full policy here

Tongue Depressor, 6-inch, 11/16 No Splinter, Birch, NonSterile (Pack of 100) Karter Scientific 212T2 Paper Pot Maker & Accessories Gift Set - Great Gardeners Gift Giant Paper Potter
Tongue Depressor, 6-inch, 11/16 No Splinter…
£4.99		 Paper Pot Maker & Accessories Gift Set …
£11.99		 Giant Paper Potter
£11.00

 

 

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Nail Brush

by Posted in 3.1 Personal

Check out these wooden and natural bristle nail brushes from Wilkinsons – a bargain at 59p.

If they don’t do them any more you can buy a pricier version from Ethical Superstore from Natural Collection

Natural Collection has been supporting sustainable production, ethical innovation and green ideas since 1999. Their range is an ecologically considered collection, which highlights the importance of consumer choice in the belief that we all have huge power and responsibility to change the world according to what we choose to purchase.

The Natural Collection range is produced in harmony with the natural world, harnessing nature’s benefits without exploiting her resources. They believe in responsible manufacture, from the gathering of environmentally friendly organic and recycled materials, right through to considerations of later recyclability and biodegradability.

 

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Frozen Food Loose

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , , 1 Comment

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 – Peas!!!

Fish Cakes

Just some of the frozen stuff sold loose at Emly Moor Farm Shop.

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.

Heres how it works. Using the little scoop you shovel what you want into the bags provided. Of course the bags provided are plastic but take your own bio bags (corn starch bags – made from vegetables they are fully compostable)  and the plastic bag problem is solved. Bio bags are fine to use in the freezer.

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Straws Compostable

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

The picture shows a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose (You can watch the video in full here). Every years hundreds of thousand plastic straws end up polluting the environment. Ecocycle estimate that 500 million straws are used in the US every day alone.

If you must have disposable straws, (and none of these great reusable options suit), then why not try these compostable ones made from cornstarch. They look and act  just like  plastic straws…  but they are made from PLA cornstarch and are certified compostable.

Find out more about compostable plastic here.

You can buy them from Vegware. They do everything from black cocktail (1000 for 10.00)  to jumbo smoothie.

I have seen  paper straws on ebay but (as far as I know), they are not certified compostable and  may be plastic lined. They certainly are plastic packed.

Any one know any more?

Composting

One type of certified compostable plastic is  Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) plastic.

Some say that PLA plastics do not break down in home compost bins. THEY ARE WRONG. We have used and composted a number of  PLA plastic products.

You can see the PLA products we have used here.

More

Or you can try these  reusable stainless steel beauties or glass straws. 

The Range – a chain of home & garden shops

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses, 3.2.3 Supermarkets & Chains Tagged , ,

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. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source.
Sometimes though there is no option but to use

Supermarkets & Chainstores

And yes you can get some plastic free and zero waste stuff there but YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGING. Check out the plastic-free shopping kit here.

The Range

This is new to me. It replaces Homebase on Leeds Rd, Huddersfield HD1 6ND.

It is one of 120 U.K. stores.

It sells  paints, crockery, bedding, art supplies and some garden stuff.

AND……..

Pet food & Bird Seed

It gets my plastic free vote for it’s loose bird seed and pet food. You can see pictures here.

There is

  • bird seed,
  • rabbit,rat and chinchilla feed,
  • dog chews and sweets
  • And other stuff

all sold loose.

Of course they only supply plastic bags for your purchases but you could take your own reusable produce bags. If you have forgotten them, then they sell compostable plastic bags similar to biobags. You can compost these.

There is more animal feed in paper bags.
I don’t have pets so cannot speak from experience how good this is but well done for offering plastic free.

Other Stuff

Includes enamel cups – very pretty!

Get There

Directions to the Huddersfield Store
Phone:01484 534707

Hours:

Wednesday 9am–8pm
Thursday 9am–8pm
Friday 9am–8pm
Saturday 9am–8pm
Sunday 10:30am–4:30pm
Monday 9am–8pm
Tuesday 9am–8pm

Other Stores

Check out the Website

Shopping Tips

If you want to buy loose you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.

For the plastic free freak metal lids to glass jars are of course plastic lined .

Tin and cans including those for cosmetics are also plastic lined

For products that are packaged in plastic choose to buy simple plastics that can easily be recycled

Do remember not all stores stock all products. It might be wise to check ahead if you are making a special visit.

Don’t Like Supermarkets?

Other places to buy unpackaged food are listed here

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Straws – reusable

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

bamboo straw

  • 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 strawsSteel 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…

4 Straight Metal Drinking Straw Stainless Steel Reusable Straws Stylish ref.112.z90/4 4 Metal Drinking Straw Stainless Steel Reusable Straws Stylish ref.112.z89
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 Reusable Straws Stylish ref.112.z89/6 Kitchen Craft Stainless Steel Two-in-One Drinking Straws / Stirrers- set of two Stainless Steel Zack Vitis Straw Spoon Set/4
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
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.