Lard & dripping

I am a lard eater! Yes, I know… sounds strange right?
Until now I have always used a liquid vegetable oil for cooking thinking it was better for me.
Now I am not so sure. But health benefits aside, it is the plastic element of oil that bothers me.
Pre-packed oils always have a plastic element – if it comes in bottles it will have a plastic lined cap and probably a plastic pouring widget in the bottle top. Buy it in cans and there will be more plastic caps plus the cans are plastic lined. Some places will do refills but they are few, far between and very expensive.
And apart from rapeseed oil, most oils are imported. Product miles and plastic!

Read more about vegetable oils here. And here is something on product miles….

Dripping

It started with dripping – that’s the gateway fat! I saw some beef dripping, in a paper wrapper, on the shelves in Tesco’s. I didn’t know beef dripping still existed.
And it was made in the U.K. ….. but I felt uncomfortable with the idea! We have been told for so long that animal fats are bad for us. Even now, when it turns out that hydrogenated vegetable fats are probably worse and soya is something of an environmental disaster, the prejudice still holds. I could not shake the idea that cooking with lard would lead to an instant hardening of the arteries but it was cheap which always sways me.
So I bought it and cooked my way though a block of dripping using it where I would have cooked with oil.
I thought it might be heavy and greasy but it wasn’t. And it fried really well. So I went to buy some more. They had run out. All they had was lard.

Lard?

LARD!!! now that has to be piggy… (it is of course made from pigs), and oily and.. well, lardy?!
It wasn’t. It was fine, better than fine it was really easy and made great roasties.
I have cooked with it for months now – but in secret. Then the other day I got caught and the kitchen rang with squeals of horror. But, quickly forgetting my own early misgivings,I leapt to lards defence.
I told them if we eat meat so we eat the rest of the animal including the fat, we hardly ever shallow fry, never deep fry and for weeks no one noticed.
It’s really cheap, plastic-free, made in the U.K. Plus it may even be better for you.
So now we eat lard and dripping. And we are happy!

Buy

You can get lard from Tesco’s and the Co-op and everywhere else I bet. It comes in what is (possibly), plastic-free, greaseproof paper. It’s really hard to tell! Read more about that, here.

N.B foil is definitely plastic lined!

Lots more plastic-free food here.
What are oils, waxes and butters?

Look out for these other sneaky plastics

Fatty Acids – Oils, Butters & Waxes

21 June 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.6 Good to know, More Information Tagged 4 raw materials, 5 Content Veiw

Welcome to the slippery pole

Fatty Acids Or Fossil Fuel?

Fossil fuel oil is slippery is very versatile. As well being the base for most plastics and driving our cars it can be found in less obvious places. It is sold as a moisturizer (think Vaseline and even E45), petroleum-derived, synthetic fragrances are added to many commercial cosmetic products and hexane (another petroleum derivative), is used to extract some vegetable oils.

While I don’t mind oil on my pistons I draw the line at rubbing it on my skin or using it to fry my eggs.

So what to use instead? Renewable Fatty Acids of course

What Are Fatty Acids?

So let’s talk fatty acids. For the purposes of this post, fatty acids are the oily greasy stuff you use to cook with, cut off your bacon, burn in your beeswax candles or rub on as your Shea Butter Body Moisturiser.

They are the oil that is formed in a plant or the fat stored by an animal. There is of course a lot more to them then that and Meanwhile here is a beginners guide.

Fatty acids are fatty, oily, greasy or buttery. They can be harvested from plants and animals.
Vegetable Derived These are obtained from the seeds, nuts and even flesh of plants.There are many kinds of vegetable oils, butters and waxes. Mains uses are cooking & cosmetics.
Animal Derived This is the fat stored by an animal. These are mostly solid ranging from hard and waxy like lard to the softer butterExamples would be butter & lard

Essential Oils Are not an oil at all as they don’t contain any fatty acids.

Uses
Main uses of fatty acids are cooking, cosmetics, lubricating and soap making.
Some like Jojoba should only be used for cosmetic purposes. Coconut oil on the other hand can be used for just about everything.

Find out about using oils to make creams and cosmetics here.

Types Of Oil, Wax Or Butter
They come in a variety of forms under the following headings – but it is a rough guide only.
Liquid Oil – never solidifies
Solid Oil – firm when cool but has very low melting point so sometimes it may be counted as an oil i.e. Coconut oil
Butters – a solid oil. Has a high melting point. Rather confusing. Milk butter for example acts more like a solid oil, while Cocoa butter is more like a wax.
Waxes – very hard-of a candle (wax), like consistency. Bees wax for example.

Harvesting
Next you might want to know how your fats and oils they have been obtained and processed – especially if you plan to eat your oil.
Animal fats are collected after slaughter. Concerns here are rather about how the animal was treated before it was slaughtered.
Extracting vegetable oils and processing them is a more complex process. Most commercially produced oils are solvent extracted. This involves a chemical solvent like the petroleum-derived hexane. This technique is used for most of the “newer” oils such as soybean and canola oils.
Mechanical methods where the oil is squeezed or pressed out of the vegetable matter in a variety of ways involves less in the way of petroleum derivatives but depending on the method used can affect the oil. Cold pressed oil is considered the least invasive method of extraction though it also less efficient.
Read more abouts oil extraction here.

Hydrogenated Oil
Both animal and vegetable fats can be hydrogenated.
Hydrogenated oil is made by forcing reactive hydrogen gas gas into oil at high pressure in the presence of a palladium catalyst.
Hydrogenated oil is more stable, does not go rancid as quickly
It has a higher melting point, so can be used for frying.
It is used to make liquid oils more solid. Margarine is an example of a hydrogenated oil.
Oils have been hydrogenated since the 1930s.
Concerns
Hydrogenating oil modifies the chemistry significantly.
The fatty acids in oils are unsaturated fats. They are unstable.
Hydrogenating oil turns these unstable fatty acids into new more stable fats known as trans fats acids.
There are concerns that trans fatty acids may increase LDL, or bad cholesterol, and decrease HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol.
Because they are not natural the digestive system does not know what to do with them. They may actually bioaccumulate in the body.
Read more here

Here

Storage

Most oils and waxes last for ages. Some like butter will go off.

Oils Butters & Fatty Acids I Use
For Cosmetics
You can use a lot of waxes and oils neat to moisturise and cleanse or as as ingredients in creams. Here are the oils we use to make creams and cosmetics

Cosmetics & Eating
I love a multi tasking product and you cant do better than a moisturiser you cook chips in.
Rapeseed oil – a lighter oil with quite a strong scent but U.K. sourced. Read More
Olive oil – a richer oil can sometimes be bought on tap in the U.K. Used for cooking and cosmetics.read more
Rice Bran Oil less “oily” than olive oil and rapeseed oil and not as malodorous as the latter. I used it to make suntan lotion and mosquito repellent.

Only Eating
While I love to get my monies worth I draw the line at lard as a beauty regime.
Butter – eating only. Read more
Lard – a plastic free substitute for cooking oil.

Read about the fatty acids we eat here

More
Find out more basic information about ingredients and alternative products here
Using oils to make creams and cosmetics
Read about the fatty acids we eat here

Essential Oils Are not an oil at all as they don’t contain any fatty acids.

Oils I try To avoid
Palm Oil because it is often badly farmed read more here
Margarine because it is a hydrogenated oil.
And oils derived from petrol. Don’t want to eat them donut want to moisturise with them

Chewing Gum

4 June 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 3.0 sneaky plastic, 3.1.3 Sweets snacks & nibbles, 5 Content Veiw 1 Comment

I don’t do chewing gum because not only does it come packed in plastic, it is actually made from plastic. Yes, while there are a few natural gums on the market most chewing gums are actually synthetic…. plastic in fact.

As I am sure you know, chewing gum is a non-nutritive, non-digestible, water-insoluble substance that can be chewed, (duh!), without disintegrating, for a long period of time.

And that it consists of an elastomer, a chewy base, with added sweeteners and flavours to make the experience more pleasant.

Up until WWII, the chewing gum base was usually made from chicle a latex sap that comes from the sapodilla tree – a natural rubber. This has since been replaced with synthetic rubber, a plastic.

Which Elastomer

Elastomers in gum are what give it the chew.

These used to be and occasionally still are natural latexes such as couma macrocarpa (also called leche caspi or serve), loquat (also called nispero),tunu, elution and the most popular, chicle.

These days most elastomers are synthetic rubbers such as butyl rubber

The raw materials for making butyl rubber are isobutylene and isoprene. Isoprene is a byproduct of naphtha or oil, and as a side product in the production of ethylene.

Other Stuff

Other ingredients according to Wikipedia may include the following:

Resins: provide a cohesive body or strength, and are most often glycerol esters of gum, terpene resins, and/or polyvinyl acetate ( more about the latter below).
Waxes: act as softening agents and are most usually paraffin or microcrystalline wax.
Fats: behave as plasticizers and mainly come from hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Emulsifiers: help to hydrate, the most common being lecithin or glycerol monostearate.
Fillers: impart texture and the most commonly used are calcium carbonate or talc.
Antioxidants: protect from oxidation and extend shelf-life; the most common type is BHT.

The Gum Association says

Gum base ” is made of a combination of food-grade polymers, waxes and softeners that give gum the texture desired by consumers and enable it to effectively deliver sweetness, flavor and various other benefits, including dental benefits.

What are polymers?

A polymer is a string of molecules (monomers) that usually contain carbon and hydrogen. Polymers are found naturally in the human body, animals, plants, and minerals. For example, DNA is a polymer, as are the proteins and starches in the foods we eat.

Man-made polymers can be identical in structure to those found in the natural environment, but in many cases, these polymers provide guaranteed consistency, quality and purity that are not always found in some natural materials. This quality is particularly important for food-grade polymers used as ingredients.

What are food-grade polymers?

Food-grade polymers have been rigorously tested and have been determined to be safe for use in food. In chewing gum, polymers are what provide gum with its basic elastic properties. All polymers used in gum are food-grade and are legally permitted for use by international/national regulatory agencies, including those in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

You can read more about synthetic polymers here.

Safe To Chew?

So are these food grade plastics gums with their paraffin and yummy vinyl acetate additive are safe? Well plastic and paraffin certainly don’t sound appetising and vinyl acetate was once classified by the Canadian Government as a “potentially high hazard substance.” This was later overturned (2010) under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). The decision was based on information received during the public comment period, and from the risk assessment conducted by the European Union.

Environmental Hazard?

YES!!! Because it is plastic, gum doesn’t biodegrade – which means it has to be carefully disposed of – either landfilled or incinerated. If it ends up on the street as much of it does, it sticks like mad to the pavement and looks really ugly. It needs to be specially removed – which costs a lot. “The LGA (Local Government Authority points out that the average piece of gum costs about 3p to buy – but 50 times that to clean up (£1.50). Most chewing gum never biodegrades and once it is trodden into the pavement this requires specialised equipment to remove. “

Natural Gums

If you cant give up gum there are some natural gums out there. I have not tried these so please let me know how they taste. And I guess they come plastic packed. Again do let me know.

Peppersmith U.K. do a natural based gum.

It contains Xylitol (wood sugar), Natural chicle gum base, Peppermint oil, Calcium carbonate, Gum arabic (thickner), Rapeseed lecithin (emulsifier), Vegetable glycerol (humectant), Carnauba wax (glazing agent).Suitable for vegetarians.

You can buy it at Holland & Barrett, other stores and of course on line.

Here is a review of 8 of the healthier chews available in the U.S.

Sneaky Plastics

Here are some more products that surprisingly contain plastic.

Polymers & Polymerisation

30 May 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.6 Good to know Tagged 1.6 Definitions

Polymers

A monomer is a molecule that can join with other molecules to form a chain of molecules. A chain of monomers (or molecules) is called a polymer.

Chains of polymers then bond or stick together to form stuff like cellulose, the woody stuff in plants.

Natural polymers are created as part of ongoing biological processes.

Read more about monomers and polymers here.

Polymerisation

However polymers can be made, by wo/men in labs, chemists. Here they create synthetic polymers and stick them together to create a huge range of products.

Some may copy the polymers found in nature but others, like plastic, are completely new – they have no natural equivalent.

The process of making polymers is called polymerisation.

Most synthetic polymers that we use today are made from hydrocarbons derived from oil.

However as oil becomes more scarce and more expensive, synthetic polymers are being derived from all manner of substances including corn, potatoes and even chicken feathers.

Fun Quote

“nature has been knitting polymers since the beginning of life. Every living organism contains these molecular daisy chains. The cellulose that makes up the cell walls in plants is a polymer. So are the proteins that make up our muscles and our skin and the long spiraling ladders that hold our genetic destiny, DNA. Whether a polymer is natural or synthetic, chances are its backbone is composed of carbon, a strong, stable, glad-handing atom that is ideally suited to forming molecular bonds. Other elements—typically oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen—frequently join that carbon spine, and the choice and arrangement of those atoms produces specific varieties of polymers. Bring chlorine into that molecular conga line, and you can get polyvinyl chloride, otherwise known as vinyl; tag on fluorine, and you can wind up with that slick nonstick material Teflon.”

An excerpt from Susan Freinkel‘s book, Plastic: A Toxic Love Story.

Watch – wooden

28 April 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1.7 Wo/M/animals Tagged 00 working

Who wouldn’t want a wooden time piece to mark the hours ? Buy one from WeWood in Australia and they will also plant tree for you. So sweet! You can get them from Ethical Superstore.

Want something cheaper There are more wooden watches on Amazon and you can sponsor a tree plant via the national forest scheme.


Thyvogue Men’s Red Round Red Dial Wooden Wa…

Cleaning Up Index

27 April 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up Tagged 00 2016, 3.2 house, 3.2.3 Buy On Line

The astronomical spring (Northern Hemisphere) 2016 began on Sunday, March 20. It will end on Sunday, June 1. We celebrate by building a big wicker man and ….. no those days are over. Just a few charred photographs left to remind me. All we do now is have a jolly good spring clean. And here’s how to do it plastic free….

For cleaning products I use a combination of bought and what I have in the cupboard in conjunction with a bloody good scrub… i.e. both chemical and manual cleaning

Chemical Cleaning
Uses the power of chemicals in a solution to remove soils. Soils in this case refers to stains. You can read how alkaline dissolve fat and why vinegar works here.

Places to buy and tips on how to make cleaning products here

Mechanical Cleaners
These are the tools used to loosen, collect and wipe up up dirt such as brushes mops and scouring pads. Often used in conjunction with chemical cleaners of course.

All Posts

Antiseptics & Disinfectants

This post talks about Microbes Antiseptics Disinfectants Alcohol Bicarbonate Of Soda Vinegar Hydrogen peroxide Soap Essential oils This is an area where you want to do your own research and decide what level ...
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Buckets – metal

Unlike cheaper plastic models, metal, industrial strength, hardworking galvanised products will give you years of service. We work in the building & landscaping trade and use these in preference to anything else ...
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Car Wash & Screen Clean

New Product - Cleaning Products - for home, business and car A reduction rather than a plastic free solution, this company offer concentrated product in a capsule form that you then dilute ...
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Cleaning Liquid Refills

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 CLEANERLAUNDRY LIQUID,FABRIC SOFTENER,MULTISURFACE ...
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Cleaning Products – Chemical – Buy or make

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Cleaning products – refill system

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 ...
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Dirt, pH balance and chemical cleaning

In this post you cad read about Soils (Dirt) Alkaline Acid Cleaning Dirt, stains and even rusts are all known as soils in the cleaning world. That is as in soiled rather than ...
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How to wash the pots plastic free…..

By Hand...Sigh Washing up liquid and I use Ecover in a refillable plastic bottle. I know the bottle is plastic but kitchen? glass? This is a case for reusable plastic if ever there ...
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Laundry

Laundry Liquid & Fabric Conditioner ECOVER do a LAUNDRY LIQUID, FABRIC SOFTENER, You can get your plastic bottle refilled. To find where Ecover have a refill station check the postcode search on ...
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mop and bucket

I am something of an old pro when it comes to scrubbing. In my youth I was the cleaner of casinos. I swabbed down the gaming area, restaurant and croupiers changing rooms ...
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Pan Scrub Luffas

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Pan Scrubs – Coconut

There's a new kid on the block – the coconut fibre scouring pad. It is a tangle of strong matted coconut fibre. It is tougher than the luffa not as brutal as ...
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Pot & Bottle Brushes

There I was happily scouring away when I realised it was taking longer than usual to shift the burnt remnants at the bottom of the pan. When I checked out my little ...
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Rubber Gloves

There comes a time in every girls life when waterproof hand protection is necessary (just don't ask), and I found myself searching for plastic-free rubber gloves in a hurry. At first I ...
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Scour, Scrub & Wipe

Although I use natural cleaning products like soap, bicarbonate of soda and occasionally Ecover cleaning products, I prefer not to. Cold water and elbow grease clears most things. I know I sound ...
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Scrubbing away

In my opinion you can use natural products most of the time but occasionally synthetics come into their own. This is especially true if you are cleaning tiles. Here steel scourers can ...
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Soap

Making Soap Basic soap is made from lye, oils or fats (animal or vegetable) and water. Saponification When these three are mixed together a chemical process called saponification takes place. The end ...
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Sponge Cloth Biodegradable

Oh joy - just sourced some plastic free sponge cloths. I love these things. Sponge cloths are extremely porous and great for wiping up water. Plus they dry really quickly. I love my cotton ...
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Sweeping Up

When it comes to sweeping you cant beat a nice wooden brush with natural plant fibres. Why? Natural fibres have less flick than synthetic fibres which means less muck spattering. They collect ...
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Washing Soda

Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the water-soluble sodium salt of carbonic acid. It is alkaline. Pure sodium carbonate is a white, doorless powder with a strongly alkaline taste. Washing Soda or Sodium ...
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Washing Soda, Bicarbonate Of Soda & Borax

When I first went plasticfree I read up on alternative ways to clean online. Lots of people reccomended Bicarbonate of soda, Washing Soda and Borax. So I went out and stocked up ...
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Washing Up Liquid Soap

Soap Flakes I did try to use soap flakes to wash up. I did not find it pleasant. Yes it cleaned the pots but everything was so slippery that it was a ...
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New Product – Cleaning Products – for home, business and car

A reduction rather than a plastic free solution, this company offer concentrated product in a capsule form that you then dilute in water. Both the capsule and the product that is. The capsule itself is water soluable – hooray no plastic.

From the website…
Wolf Formulations Ltd has developed a wide range of innovative green cleaning products which are designed with a practical single dose water soluble eco capsule concept. The super concentrated eco capsules have the cleaning power of the standard ready-to-use cleaning products, whilst reducing waste and minimising cost. Our range of green cleaning products have been developed to offer complete cleaning solutions for household, motor vehicle and professional sectors.

Cleaning At Work

They do cleaning products for kitchen and bathroom cleaners both for the domestic and businesses market.
Of course keen readers of this blog know we have covered those bases already. .
However it could be a useful option for professional cleaners who need to use or distribute a lot of products.
profi-max_floor
PROFI-MAX Floor Cleaner
profi-max_kitchen
PROFI-MAX Kitchen Cleaner
profi-max_glasswindow
PROFI-MAX Glass Cleaner
profi-max_bathroom
PROFI-MAX Bathroom Cleaner

Washing The Car

What caught my eye was the car cleaning products. I always use washing up liquid (refillable) a sponge and whenever available, a boy scout…. but I guess purists out there might prefer something more specialised.
AUTO-MAX Car Screen Wash
Car Wash & Wax Shampoo 3x9ml
AUTO-MAX Car Wash & Wax
Car Window & Mirror Cleaner 4x5ml
AUTO-MAX Window & Mirror Cleaner
Car Screen Wash
AUTO-MAX Gift Sets

Not so green?

Sadly the onward packaging doesn’t look so good. It appears to be a hard plastic case? Recyclable? I don’t know. And it appears to vary depending on the product.

Buy Cleaning Products

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.

If you can’t buy local, please do check the links in the posts. They link 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…

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 these links are for 3rd party sellers, we have always found the Amazon service to be good and their packaging usually compostable. In the absence of anything else we feel we can recommend them.

Mop & Bucket


8 Litre Galvanized Mop Bucket £7.99	3x General Use Mops & Brushes Cotton Mo… £9.34	Lily and Brown Cotton Mop with Handle

BM02 Pure Yarn Cotton Mop 225g with Handle £8.88	Sealey BM05 Pure Yarn Cotton Mop 340g with … £11.68	Silverline 509117 Pure Yarn Socket Mop £3.01

13 Litre Galvanised Bucket £7.06

Dustpan & Brush


Faithfull BRBASS11 Stiff Bassine Hand Brush £1.94	Silverline 794337 11 Inch Stiff Bassine Han… £2.94	HARRIS VICTORY COCO HANDBRUSH -94101-

Harris Victory PA359H 12-inch Coco Broom wi… £3.62	HBC Broom Head – Plain Stock, Filled Natura… £6.29	Harris Victory PA357H 10-inch Bassine Broom… £3.48

Groundsman 13-inch Bassine/ Cane Broom wit… £8.39	Lily and Brown 12-inch Natural Soft Coco Br… £6.98	Faithfull Pine Handle 48In X 15/16In £1.44


Silverline 993059 Broom Handle Bracket Meta… £4.13	Town & Country 48-inch x 15/ 16-inch Th… £4.99	Town & Country 9-inch Medium Head Deck … £7.00

10″ Heavy duty bassine bristle hard yard br… £7.49	Town & Country 12-inch Soft Broom Head £6.99 screw head	Metal Hooded Dustpan £10.95

2x Metal Hand Shovels Large size Hand &… £8.45	Harris Victory Metal Dustpan £9.00	Metal dustpan and handbroom with natural br…


Metal Long Handled Dustpan and Brush Strong… £34.99	Rolson 60690 300mm Metal Dust Pan £7.50

DISCLAIMER

The information in this blog is for guidance only. None of the recipes or tips in this blog have not been tested on anyone other than me and some fearless chums. I strongly advise you do your own research and proceed very carefully. Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who

a) doesn’t have any training in this field

b) most of what they know comes from Google,

That’s me I mean.

Also posts may be incomplete, out of date and possibly wrong! Please read on to find out why…

Essential Oils

8 April 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade, 4 About The Alternatives Tagged 3.1 general, 4 raw materials, 5 Content Veiw 2 Comments

Essential oils have gone from being an obscure aspect of botany to an all round marketing ‘good thing’. Almost every product you buy from washing powder to shampoo trumpets that they contain essential oils. So much better, so much greener. As such they have been embraced by the environmental movement as the fragrance for your home made products, a staple in your medicine chest and the relaxant in your bath.

I have been using them for years thinkin that they are a so eco friendly. But are they really? And are they even oils?

What Are Essential Oils?

They are not actually oils because they do not contain fatty acids.
They are in fact terpenes
Terpenes organic compounds produced by plants (and occasionally insects).
Terpenes are made up of isoprene units, each consisting of five carbon atoms attached to eight hydrogen atoms (C5H8)
They are often strong-smelling.
So essential oils are the strong smelling terepenes found in plants and insects.

Terpenes

Terepenes (along with phenolics nitrogen-containing compounds ) are called secondary metabolites.
Secondary metabolites are chemicals produced by plants for which no role has yet been found in growth, photosynthesis, reproduction, or other “primary” functions. These chemicals are extremely diverse; many thousands have been identified in several major classes. Each plant family, genus, and species produces a characteristic mix of these chemicals, and they can sometimes be used as taxonomic characters in classifying plants. Humans use some of these compounds as medicines, flavorings, or recreational drugs.

Just so you know – search for terepenes and you get a lot of information about marijuana

They are often characteristic of particular species, are sometimes only produced under particular environmental conditions and for different reasons. The lemon tree for examples produces a pungent oil to repel insects while the rose creates pungent oil to attract them.

N.B. Fragrance oil and essential oil are NOT the same thing. Fragrance” or “fragrance oil” or “perfume” often refers to synthetic scents.

Medical Qualities

Some essential oils appear to have antibacterial and antifungal properties. Others may help speed up healing. However while many claims are made about the potency of essentail oils there is not enough scientific evidence to back them up. Generally it seems to be accepted that they do some limited good though should not be relied on to cure any serious complaints or used to swab down an operating theatre.

While they might not be hugely effective they dont do much harm either. Secondary metabolites are broken down relatively easily so are unlikely to accumulate in large quantities in the environment.

Growing the Oil

Though figures vary you can safely say it takes a lot of plants to produce a small amount of oil..

For one pound of essential oil you will need
50-60 pounds of eucalyptus
200 -250 lbs of lavender Sources include Bulgaria, England, France, USSR, Yugoslavia, Australia, USA, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania, Italy and Spain2 2,000 lbs of cypress
5,000 to 10,000 pounds of rose blossoms to produce one pound of essential oil. Primary cultivation sites for one company include: France, Tasmania, Spain, Italy, England, and China.

Extracting the Oil

Terpenes are usually extracted from plants by steam distillation or chemical extraction.

Environmental Concerns

No matter how they are grown essential oils take up a lot of agricultural land
Growing single species for harvest results in a monoculture style of farming.
Plus all the other demands of farming, – water, fuel, fertilisers organic or not.
It is a lot of input for a very small harvest of what is basically a luxury product.
Add to that the fuel needed to extract the oils “If steam distillation is used temperatures above two hundred degrees applied anywhere from 2-24 hours to extract various oils. ”
If chemical solvents are used which are more effective and so require less plant material, but in turn pose issues of toxicity for people and the environment.
Some oils are harvested from the wild from threatened species.
Cropwatch, a non-profit that keeps tabs on the natural aromatics industry, maintains a list of wild species threatened including rosewood, sandalwood, amyris, thyme, cedarwood, jatamansi, gentian, wormwood and cinnamon,

Should You Use Them…

Personally all of which makes me wary of using essentail oils. I do love the smell but I don’t like the idea that so many resources go into making one tiny bottle of luxury scent.
If you are going to use essentail oils please use them sparingly and buy from a company that is clear about how they grow and harvest their oils.

Take a look at Pravera or Yorkshire Lavender

How To Use Them…

Read more about the oils we use and what for, HERE.

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

Ingredients

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

Oils Used In Natural Varnish

5 April 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged 4 plastivan

Drying oil is a vegetable oil that dry to a hard finish at normal room temperature. Such oils are used as the basis of oil paints, and in other paint and wood finishing applications.
they include linseed oil.

Drying oils
See also: Drying oil
Drying oils are vegetable oils that dry to a hard finish at normal room temperature. Such oils are used as the basis of oil paints, and in other paint and wood finishing applications. In addition to the oils listed here, walnut, sunflower and safflower oil are also considered to be drying oils.[175]

Dammar oil, from the Canarium strictum, used in paint as an oil drying agent.[176] Can also be used as a lamp oil.[177]
Linseed oil’s properties as a polymer make it highly suitable for wood finishing, for use in oil paints, as a plasticizer and hardener in putty and in making linoleum.[178] When used in food or medicinally, linseed oil is called flaxseed oil.
Poppyseed oil, similar in usage to linseed oil but with better color stability.[175]
Stillingia oil (also called Chinese vegetable tallow oil), obtained by solvent from the seeds of Sapium sebiferum. Used as a drying agent in paints and varnishes.[179][180]
Tung oil, used as an industrial lubricant and highly effective drying agent. Also used as a substitute for linseed oil.[181]
Vernonia oil is produced from the seeds of the Vernonia galamensis. It is composed of 73–80% vernolic acid, which can be used to make epoxies for manufacturing adhesives, varnishes and paints, and industrial coatings.[182]
Wikkipedia.

Linseed oil, extracted from flax seed, is one of the most useful natural oils. It is used as a preservative for wood, concrete, and an ingredient in paints, varnishes, and stains. As if that wasn’t enough, it is also used in soaps, inks, and in the production of linoleum!

Linseed oil is a slow-drying liquid with good preservative properties and water resistance.
Before the advent of modern preservatives and synthetics, it was commonly used as a stand-alone preservative for wood, natural (hemp) rope, and masonry, as a conditioner for natural boar’s hair paint brushes, and as an additive for oil paints. It was also valuable inside as a furniture finish and for wood floors.

Some of the problems with straight linseed oil, boiled or raw, are:

Sometimes linseed oil can take forever to dry… or stays sticky or doesn’t dry at all!! This is a nightmare situation that happens too often when linseed oil is applied either (1) too thickly, (2) onto damp materials or (3) when the temperature is too cold. Thinning linseed oil with turpentine can help somewhat, but even with thinning it is important to apply thin, multiple coats but allow each coat to dry before applying the next!
No UV (ultraviolet) light resistance… UV causes more damage to exposed wood than any other factor, destroying wood fibers and setting it up for attack by mildew, fungus, and insects.
Linseed oil is mildew food… Many vegetable oils are food products for humans… all vegetable oils are food products for mildew! Linseed oil is not completely denatured, so it can encourage rather than discourage mildew growth.
Linseed oil does not harden sufficiently to offer enough resistance to abrasion to be a suitable deck floor preservative… at least by today’s standards. Linseed oil has been used for interior wood floors, but it must be waxed for durability! Waxing an outside deck would be dangerous, even if you hang a “Slippery When Wet” sign!
Difficult to remove from wood… Multiple coats of linseed oil are gummy and difficult to remove fully for refinishing.

Boiled Linseed oil

“Boiled” linseed oil is not boiled. The actual boiling of some oils changes their drying characteristics, true. With linseed oil, though, it is the addition of certain solvents that causes linseed oil to dry more quickly, acting as if it were boiled.

These highlights were taken from this great article

Raw linseed oil can be used as a wood finish but it can take weeks for it to fully cure. It is for this reason that we use a polymerized linseed oil which is somewhat more viscous than raw linseed oil (making it more difficult to spread and apply) but dries considerably more quickly. The polymerization of the oil is accomplished by applying heat to the oil in the absence of oxygen. Be aware that this process produces a final product that is not the same as the “boiled linseed oil” that you might find on the shelves of home improvement and hardware stores. As counter-intuitive as it seems, boiled linseed oil has not been “boiled” or heated at all but instead has had petroleum-based solvents and metal driers added to it so that it supposedly behaves as if it was “boiled”. The most commonly used heavy metal dryer in “boiled linseed oil” is cobalt that is considered toxic. Additionally, a finish generically referred to as “Danish Oil” is produced by large paint manufacturers and contains some linseed oil but the majority of the components may be carcinogenic, petroleum-based ingredients such as Naptha, Mineral Spirits, and Dipropylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether.

Our linseed oil finish is 100% pure polymerized linseed oil that contains NO petroleum distillates, NO volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NO heavy metal driers. The heating methods used to polymerize our linseed oil finish have been adapted from 18th to early 20th century varnish-making techniques while also using current technology and quality control measures to ensure a consistent and natural product. We have taken the approach that a simple, natural finish is safer for us to work with, as well as, provide customers with non-toxic furniture.

from Dapwood furniture site
Can you boil your own linseed oil?

interesting thread here.
Tung Oil

from eBay in a metal can with plastic lid.
Liberon Pure Tung Oil 1 L -014617-
Brand new
5.0 out of 5 stars – Liberon Pure Tung Oil 1 L -014617-2 product ratings
£27.00

Camellia Oil ( Tea Seed Oil )

Camellia oil, also known as tea seed oil is the actual green tea oil. It comes from the seeds of Camellia sinensis, the plant from which all the tea is made. Tea seed oil is a wonderfully healthy in more ways than one. It is great for cooking, and from nutritional point of view. Tea seed oil is used in a number of beauty products. This oil has been used as a cooking for centuries in Southern China and they make many more uses with it.

buy from eBay

Japanese Camellia Oil – 240ml
Rutlands Part No. JP2100
Reviews (1)
Key Features
A well kept Japanese secret
Popular with the Samurai for protecting and cleaning their swords
Its very light, low viscous formula that does not dry or become resinous over time
Blended with paraffin oil it canb be used for lubricating, sharpening and rust protection
Simply spray on and wipe over the blade or tool
Ideal for protecting white or blue paper steel kitchen knives when not in use

Turpentine

turpentine
ˈtəːp(ə)ntʌɪn/Submit
noun
1.
a volatile pungent oil distilled from gum turpentine or pine wood, used in mixing paints and varnishes and in liniment.
2.
any of a number of trees which yield turpentine or a similar resin, in particular:

Turpentine (also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, wood turpentine and colloquially turps^[1]) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from live trees, mainly pines. It is mainly used as a solvent and as a source of materials for organic synthesis.

Turpentine is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene and beta-pinene with lesser amounts of carene, camphene, dipentene, and terpinolene.^[2]

The word turpentine derives (via French and Latin) from the Greek word τερεβινθίνη terebinthine, the name of a species of tree, the terebinth tree.^[3] Mineral turpentine or other petroleum distillates are used to replace turpentine, but they are very different chemically.^{Read more}

Product description

Colour Name:500ml

* Size 500ml. * Pure Gum Turpentine. * May be used to dissolve Beeswax to make a wax polish. * Traditional thinner for alkyds, oils, varnishes, enamels and Artists colours. * Pure Gum Turpentine improves brushing qualities and cleans brushes, rollers, and spray equipment. * It may also be used to remove dirt, wax, and grease from surfaces before painting. * Solvent. * Low flash point. * Evaporates quickly. * Compatibility Can be used as a solvent with most oil based products.

ATLANTIS
ATLANTIS PURE GUM TURPENTINE
1 product review
£6.15
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
We are delighted to have sourced this, the purest from of turpentine. Extracted from Portuguese marine pine trees (Pinus Maritima). Buy here

Driers

A dryer works by catalyzing or accelerating the curing and hardening of oil paint. Often, they are based on metals, and are sometimes called metal soaps or salts. In the process of drying, oil-based paints first absorb oxygen, then they form peroxide which decomposes. Driers accelerate this process

A short summary of drier catalysts:

1) Cobalt – the fastest, most active drier. Can cause wrinkling and color changes in light-colored paints.
2) Manganese – also very fast, but has a dark color which makes it questionable for use.
3) Iron – promotes rapid drying by polymerization. High content of iron in iron oxide colors accounts for their rapid drying time.
4) Rare Earth – useful under conditions of high humidity or low temperatures.
5) Lithium – sometimes added to other driers, most often alkyds.
6) Calcium – Performs well overall, often added during the pigment grinding process as an auxiliary dispersant. Basically marble dust.
7) Zirconium – Used with calcium as a replacement for lead. Has better gloss and color retention than lead, but may not do well under high humidity or low temperature.
8) Aluminum – Great polymerization and yellowing resistance without negatively affecting viscosity. Probably the number one drier in overall usage today in the form of aluminum stearate

Waitrose

1 April 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.2.3 Supermarkets & Chains Tagged 5 Content Veiw

Waitrose are cutting the use of plastic lined disposable cups in their cafes!
“We’re removing all disposable takeaway cups from our shops by the autumn.You can still enjoy a free cup of tea or coffee when you shop with us; remember to bring your own reusable cup and your myWaitrose card with you.#KeepYourCup
This will save more than 52 million cups, 221 tonnes of plastic and more than 665 tonnes of paper a year.
Find out more: HERE

They also have the a range of plastic free products. Find them in our facebook gallery here

Other Products

From Louises database

Bakery, rolls, cakes, fancy cakes and childrens decorated biscuits – Bulk

Borax Substitute, Dri-pac – Cardboard – Larger stores only
Bread Mix, good selection – Paper
Cat Litter, Waitrose wood pellets – Recycled wood and paper packaging
Coconut Oil, Groovy Food, Organic – Glass Metal
Coffee – Free with my Waitrose card – Take own cup
Dishwasher Powder – Cardboard
Fish Fingers, Birds Eye 30 MSC – Big pack to save on packaging – Cardboard
Juice Bar – Could ask for a refill ? – Not available in all stores
Neal’s Yard Products – Glass can be returned to Neal’s Yard shops for refund
Naty Nature Care Nappies – Biodegradable
Oats – Flahavan’s, Mornflake, Quaker – Paper and cardboard
Soap Bars – Including organic – Paper and Cardboard
Toilet Rolls, 9 pack, 100% recycled – Plastic wrap (recycle at Sainsbury’s)
Vinegar, Sarson’s distilled White 568ml – Glass Bottle
YOU cleaner refills – A concentrated eco cleaner refill in plastic

Louises Data Base?
Louise Bayfields “POSTIVE PRODUCTS LIST (UK) a list of High Street and Supermar-ket products that have no packaging or in some way help reduce packaging.”

The List
The original PDF will be updated as Louise shops around so do check back there for updates.
Remember not all stores stock all products. It might be wise to check ahead if you are making a special visit.
Once again thank you Louise for such a fantastic resource!

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.

Sneaky Plastics

The plastic free freak should remember that
metal lids to glass jars are of course plastic lined .
Tin and cans including those for cosmetics are also plastic lined
Paper and foil wraps will be plastic lined.
Find other sneaky plastics here….

Choose Well
If you really can’t do without it and you have a choice a plastic wrapped products, choose to buy the one in simple plastics that can easily be recycled

see all our supermarket info HERE.
Find out more about the individual products here via the food index
Other places to buy unpackaged food are listed 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.

Worm Bins

24 March 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Composting Tagged 5 Content Veiw

Composting is a great way to dispose of kitchen waste and reduce your carbon footprint, but what if you don’t have room for a compost bin? Worm bins are often touted as the answer. This is as it sounds, a bin full of worms – worms that transform food scraps into compost. It can, so the adverts say, be kept in the kitchen. I always wanted to try worm composting so I sent off for a worm bin from the internet. It consisted of four stackable plastic boxes (the type found in stationers), a bag of worms and some food. It looked basic but it was considerably cheaper than the others.

I decided to keep mine in the garage. I stacked the boxes, tipped the worms in and left the lights on all night as per instructions. All went well till the night the lights were turned off. The stackable boxes did not form a sealed unit and there were numerous gaps through which the worms could escape. While it was bright outside the light sensitive worms stayed put, as soon as it got dark they left their bin and went exploring the garage. Next morning saw me picking up worms with the barbeque tongs while VB complained loudly about the desecration of his drill bits. He threatened to sacrifice the worms on the bird table if a solution wasn’t found.

So I fashioned a worm proof bin from the compost caddy. I installed a drainage tap to drain off the worm tea (a juice created as the food in the bin rots down). I covered the base with a layer of gravel so the worms didn’t drown in the tea and the compost didn’t block the tap outlet. It was rather like the one built here, the first bin, Then I carefully decanted the worms and wished them well in their new home.

Mindful of the bird table threats I moved the into the cellar.

I mollycoddled those worms. I cut the food scraps up into worm size pieces and gave them ripped up newspaper and cardboard – apparently they delight in it. Nothing. Instead of piles of compost all I had was a bin full of festering food. The arrival of the fruit flies was the last straw. Fed up with the ungrateful liggers I capped the bin with soil and cut off food supplies.

A couple of weeks later I went down to get a hammer and found the bin standing in a lake of worm tea. Yay!

This fluid (it is claimed on many site), is a superior plant feed and can be used to cure black spot on roses. There it was dribbling from my poorly fitted tap. It is a sign that the worm bin is working as it should. Indeed a quick rummage in the bin revealed healthy looking worms the size of anacondas. Worm tea was another reason I wanted a worm bin. Hundreds of sites on the internet claimed that this could be used as a fantastic liquid plant food. Plastic free plant food I thought. Turns out I was wrong.

So worm feeding resumed. By bin does not work fast enough to make a meaningful impact on our kitchen waste but it’s a start. Apparently it will increase with time. I don’t think I have the patience – but then I have a perfectly good compost bin in the garden.

And no wI find that worm tea might not be that good either.

“The watery drainage that seeps out of the bottom of a bin is not compost tea as many sites assert. Leaching through yet undigested food waste, this leachate (as it is known) could contain toxic anaerobic microbes that would be harmful to plants.

Not only will there be unmineralized organic compounds, but there is the potential for contamination of pathogen organisms and coliform bacteria that can come from some of the raw materials (another reason to always pre-compost fresh manure) put into worm bin systems.

The best place for this leachate to go is back in the bin. That way, it gets exposed to the worm’s gut to be innoculated with good microbes and is excreted fully sanitised.” Thanks Sierra Worm Compost!

Still fancy trying it? If you decide to buy a worm bin my advice is to spend the extra. The more expensive bins boast such conveniences as worm proof lids – a definite bonus. There are hundreds of internet companies selling bins. Here’s one chosen at random.

If you want to make a bin, there are good instructions here. I recommend the first option, the bin with the tap, rather than the second, the stackable boxes.

This is a good article on worm composting and how to get worms for free. N.B. the home made bin looks rather like the one I bought, the leaky one.

If you want to keep your bin outside you have to protect it from extreme heat and cold. There may be better outdoor options.

Don’t like worms but fancy composting? Read this intro

Spain- loose and unpackaged

14 March 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.2 Outside the U.K. Tagged 3.1.3 Loose Food

There is a lot of loose food available in Spain. Search out small and independent shops and use the fantastic markets.

They sell frozen food including fish fingers. Most town will have a store that does this. Some supermarkets also do it.

There are wine bottle refill shops where you can use your own bottle.

Cheese is sold in rounds, is tasty and suprisingly cheap.

You will have to take your own plastic free packaging.

See photos in the FB gallery

Seville

There are several loose tea and coffee shops in Seville so keep your eyes open.

Just near the Parasol is Asuka. They sell loose herb tea and coffee beans, reusable one cup filters and loose chocolates. Has paper bags and cool staff. Best take your own bags to be on the safe side. Here’s the website.

Read about

Crisps

Do you know how long it is since I had crisps – gorging out on them here because they sell them loose in paper cones. OMG!!!!!

Barcelona

There is a great company based in Barcelona making stylish cloth produce bags for your loose food. Otherwise you will have to import your own.

Crisps sold loose served in a paper cone.

See our other Seville posts here and our plastic free travel notes here.

Check out the other plastic free places we have been – outside the U.K. I mean….

Menstrual Pants

24 February 2016 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Disposables & Reusables, 3.1 Personal, 3.1.7 wear Tagged 3.1.2 reusables 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.

Find out about plasticfree and reusable menstrual products here

Dripping

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Fatty Acids Or Fossil Fuel?

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Most synthetic polymers that we use today are made from hydrocarbons derived from oil.

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What Are Essential Oils?

Terpenes

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Should You Use Them…

How To Use Them…

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Camellia Oil ( Tea Seed Oil )

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