Vote between elections…

There was some information about junk mail here but it has been merged with another post here.

Talking of mail, while in the process of setting up a postal vote and I came across this government organised website called Vote England. It is a secure online voting platform where registered voters can make their opinions known.

They also have Vote…erm other places in the U.K. like, you know, the small place full of sheep…. or those with the sporrans….

You register to vote with them, (you need to be on the electoral roll), and then you get busy telling the government what you think.

Obviously, unlike a vote in a ballot box, these are not private votes. You could see this as a problem. You are telling the man every thing about yourself and leaving a data trail of your political opinions. Or you could look at it as your chance to be an online politician standing by your beliefs.

In your role as baby politico you can also propose an issue to be voted on.

If that seems too far too fast how about signing a petition?

There’s this asking Dairycrest to keep delivering milk in glass bottles

Dental Floss

I have just found a new dental floss as sold by Anything But Plastic
Dental Lace
Price£6.00
What you didn’t know you’ve been waiting for, plastic free dental floss! For those of you whose dental hygiene has been suffering because you realised that dental floss is plastic wrapped in plastic, this is one for you.

Not only will your friends thank you for removing that little bit of lettuce you’ve had stuck in your teeth for months, but you will look stylish doing so with the delightfully designed container. You even get a refill spool of floss thrown in as well. Sweet.

If for some reason that is not available you could try this.
I think that the floss dispenser itself might be plastic though the floss is biodegradable silk. Any one know?

1 x Radius Floss, handspun Silk Floss Waxed…
£6.98

Online from Amazon as above or Big Green Smile

This is the blurb from the website…

“Radius Biodegradable Silk Floss is made from all natural, pure silk coated in candelilla wax.
This is not a vegan product.
Radius Silk Floss is the only certified organic fully bio-degradable floss. It is made from 100% pure silk farmed by a Columbian Fair Trade Co-op.
Radius Silk Floss is completely compostable.

I have never used it so I don’t know how plastic free the whole product actually is – is the box plastic wrapped? I would assume so. What is the silk wrapped around? But the floss itself is plastic free. Two steps forward, one back I would guess.

Any input gratefully received.

See all our posts on plasticfree dental care, HERE

Hydrocarbons

19 November 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.6 Good to know, More Information Tagged 1.6 Definitions 1 Comment

Hydrocarbon is a molecule that only contains hydrogen and carbon atoms, joined together by covalent bonds. Remember that a covalent bond is a shared pair of electrons.

These compounds may be simple with only a few atoms or more complex with more.

The compounds come in different forms. Methane the smallest hydrocarbon is a gas lighter than air while tar, a much larger compound, is thick and gloopy.

The ability of carbon atoms to bond strongly to each other allows them to form an almost unlimited variety of chains, rings, and other structures that form the backbones of organic molecules. Since each atom can form four bonds, these backbones include other elements, such as hydrogen. The compounds are flammable, since the two elements they contain will combine easily with oxygen in the air, releasing energy. Fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas, are naturally occurring mixtures of hydrocarbons; coal also contains some, although it is mostly just carbon.

In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is categorised as an organic compound. {Organic compounds are the complex compounds of carbon. Because carbon atoms bond to one another easily, the basis of most organic compounds is comprised of carbon chains that vary in length and shape. Hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms are the most common atoms that are generally attached to the carbon atoms.}

Hydrocarbons contain a lot of energy.

Hydrocarbons like crude oil and natural gas are harvested for their high energy content.

Crude oil can be distilled to separate different hydrocarbons including petrol.

Carbon is great at bonding and so can easily forms polymers. A polymer is a large molecule that is made up of many smaller, repeating molecules, called monomers, which are joined together by covalent bonds.

Hydrocarbon chains can be broken and rearranged in different ways. According to B.P. “the hydrocarbon compound is the most versatile on the chemical charts. It can make an estimated 2.5 million possible combinations. Longer, heavier molecules can be transformed into lighter ones and vice versa.”

And so they can be used to make new and different products such as plastic, a wholly synthetic product made from a natural resource.

Hydrocarbons are often used to make polymers.

Many hydrocarbons occur in nature. In addition to making up fossil fuels, they are present in trees and plants,

Disclaimer

I suppose I must have studied chemistry at school. I seem to remember some high jinks with a bunsen burner but nothing else. I now realize that you can understand nothing about the practical world without some basic knowledge of how it works. So I am trying to teach myself chemistry via Google. I know I get it wrong sometimes. Do bear that in mind when you read these fumbling explanations that I am learning as I go. Any help gratefully received.

Smoked Salmon

9 November 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 3.1.3 Meat & Fish

How I love it! It has been up there on guilty pleasures list (the plastic wrapped food I can’t give up!). The sad thing is it doesn’t need to come like that. Up in Scotland I found 2 places that smoked their own salmon and were happy to sell it to me in my own containers

Wester Ross Fisheries Ullapool http://www.wrs.co.uk

The Loch Torridon Smokehouse http://www.lochtorridonsmokehouse.co.uk

OMG it was fantastic. But it is rather far to go – so I am going to try this….

“Tim Hayward visits London’s Billingsgate fish market, a builder’s merchant, sources some electrical equipment on eBay … then shows us how to combine his unusual purchases to produce the finest home-smoked salmon ”

… and it looks really easy!

Find more plastic free food here

Car Wash & Screen Clean

5 November 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up Tagged 5 Content Veiw

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 Home Or Work

They do cleaning products for kitchen and bathroom cleaners both for the domestic and businesses market.

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.

They do
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. I am contacting the manufacturers for more info. But in the meantime here’s what I got. Anyone out there used them?

Visit the website here http://wolfformulations.com/car-care/

Downcycling

28 October 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.6 Good to know, 4.9 Useful to know, More Information 5 Comments

A comment often made about plastic recycling in, (I would suggest), a rather disparaging tone, is that it is not recycling but downcycling.

Which seems dismissive of the recycling program and is wrong as it does not apply to all forms of plastic recycling

So what is downcycling?

The term down-cycling is applied to a recycled product that is not as structurally strong as the original product as made from virgin materials.

This downcycled material can

only be used to make a different product
or has to be mixed with virgin materials before it can be reused to remake the original product

Paper for example; the fibres in paper degrade as they are recycled so it goes from writing paper to loo roll, by way of newspapers. Cotton too. The recycled fiber is of shorter and harder to spin so it needs to mixed with virgin cotton fibers to improve yarn strengths before it can be reused.

This is true of plastic that is is mechanically recycled. The plastic gets weaker. One example of plastic down-cycling chain is as follows

virgin PET bottle to fleece or carpet
fleece or carpet fibers to plastic lumber
plastic lumber to landfill though manufacturers claim that plastic lumber can be recycled again..

But why call it downcycling?

You may think I am being picky but I think that the name has negative connotations. Down-cycling suggests that the products created by recycling are moving down some kind of linear scale. And if this is so, then toilet paper has a lesser value then writing paper. I beg to differ. Try wiping your bum with Basildon Bond.

Applying the term downcycling to the process of plastic recycling as outlined above, seems even more counterintuitive. If you consider that a bottle has a lifespan of months, a fleece has a life span of years, a carpet decades and plastic lumber hundreds of years, it seems more like upcycling to me. The base material may not be as strong, it may may even need to be mixed with virgin plastic, but it is being used far more sensibly.

Using the term downcycling to describe this process diminishes an essential and valuable practice that results in products with proven use whether it’s toilet paper or carpets. Or have I got it all wrong?

The New Recycling

Just to remind you, not all recycled plastic is “down cycled” and closed loop plastic recycling is already being offered by a number of companies. For example “We take discarded soft drinks and water bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and milk bottles made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) and recycle them back into food-grade plastic. The resulting rPET and rHDPE is then used to make new bottles and food packaging.”

Plus some of the new synthetic fibres can be recycled as the same fabric with no loss of quality almost indefinitely. Patagonia is promoting one such closed loop fabric recycling scheme.

Then there are the associated technologies that turn plastic waste back into oil. While you might argue that is not recycling, you would be hard pushed to call it down cycling.

Find out more about plastics that can be recycled with no loss of quality here

N.B. Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t think recycling is the answer to plastic (over) use and misuse but as part of a system of controlled usage it has a vital part to play.

Petrol in my vegetable oil?

25 October 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.6 Good to know, 4.9 Useful to know, More Information 6 Comments

Did you know that petroleum-derived hexane may be used to harvest your vegetable oil? No me neither but here’s how.

Extraction

Vegetable oil comes from plant components, nuts, seeds, or fruits, but typically seeds.
Oil from plants is can be obtained either chemically with the use of solvents or mechanically (often calledcrushing” or “pressing).

Solvent extraction
Most commercially produced oils are solvent extracted. This involves a chemical solvent like the petroleum-derived hexane and heat up to 500 degrees. Once the oil is dissolved, the solvent is removed by distillation.
This technique is used for most of the “newer” oils such as soybean and cannola oils. Many of these products do not give up their oil easily, it has to be forced from them.
Hexane is a colorless flammable liquid, C6H14, derived from the fractional distillation of petroleum.
It is classified as an air pollutant by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and as a neurotoxin by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It’s unclear how much hexane remains in the food after processing

Testing by Swiss scientists found no detectable levels but independent testing commissioned by the nonprofit Cornucopia Institute found hexane residues in soy oil.

The process recovers 99% of the oil but to get rid of the hexane, the oil is heated to a high temperature.
Also the high temperatures used in this process can and do change the chemical structure of oils. Many argue this reduces or even completely destroys the flavour of many delicate oils.

Mechanical The oi is squeezed or pressed out of the vegetable matter in a variety of ways;

Screw press, a large screw based mechanism in a housing. As it turns it increases the pressure and crushes the oils out of the seeds
Ram press uses a mechanise piston in a cylinder that rams out the oil. Ram presses are generally more efficient than screw presses.

Expeller-pressing
Industrial machines for extracting oil mechanically are call expellers. They squeeze the oil out of the raw materials, under high pressure, in a single step. As the raw material is pressed, friction causes it to heat up and can sometimes exceed temperatures of 120°F (49°C). The amount of heat produced is important as heat can change the chemical structure of the oil. Wikkipedia

Cold Pressed Oils
Cold pressing tries to avoid the problems of heat. In this process the nuts, seeds, or fruits from which the oil is being harvested are ground into an even paste.
This is slowly stirred till the oil to separates from the solids.Then pressure is applied,(either with a machine or in the traditional way, with a stone) forcing the oil out.
N.B The friction caused by the pressure will increase the temperature and manufacturers must keep it within a certain degree range to be able to claim that the oil is cold pressed. This varies the world over
European Union cold pressed oil must never exceeds a certain temperature which varies depending on the source material, but is usually between 80° to 120°F (27° to 49°C).
In the United States, labeling is not as regulated, so consumers generally need to contact companies directly to enquire as to their manufacturing process.
Many people believe that cold pressed oil has a superior flavor.

Next
The extracted oil may now be purified, refined or chemically altered. More of that to come.

Go back to the oil index to find out about the plastic free oils and butters we use

Chocolate – Original Beans

21 October 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink Tagged 3.1.3 Sweets snacks & nibbles 9 Comments

Oh my….. this company is leading the way. Their chocolate has to be the greenest I have yet come across.

Original Beans was founded by Philipp Kaufmann who,has worked for both the the WWF and the UN. He wanted to develop a business that would drive conservation.

So for every bar you buy, Original Beans plants a tree in the rainforest. They help conserve the rainforest and the bean farmers livlihood plus pay them a decent wage.

How

Original Beans helps establish tree nurseries, creates conservation training programs, and helps with planting buffer zones around rainforest reserves. New cacao trees generate income for farmers after three years; the other diverse plantings secure future food and firewood.

“Original Beans obligates itself to pay the farmers more than the sixfold of the official fair-trade premium in exchange for high quality and ecological commitment. This way we can convince smallholder famers to refrain from slash-and-burn pratices – the number one climate killer – and instead convert to a more sustainable semi-wild cultivation of mixed crops.”

They work with international agronomy institutes, such as the CATIE and the CIRA. Full traceability is guaranteed of all cacaos And they encourage the growing of unusual and rare cocoa beans for example they rediscovered and replanted a long forgotten and almost extinct bean , the Piura Porcelana.

The chocolate is organic which means the cacao beans have been grown in pesticide-free fields and free of preservatives.

The finished product does not additives or lecithin, raw cane sugar is used as a sweetener.

Plastic Free Packaging

There is so much more of interest But it is the packaging that really gets us going over here at PIR.

They use bio-compostable carton packaging made from FSC paper and printed with low-migration, natural inks from Lessebo Bruk.

They use “Natureflex foil for the chocolate sector. Made from renewable FSC wood, with a thin metallised layer (0,02%), it guarantees a high barrier to moisture, yet is garden-compostable by EU & US standards.”

And finally “To protect your chocolate, we use FLO-PAK Green packaging chips, made from 100% recycled material. They will be biologically reduced to carbon dioxide, water and humus without any residues within 1–3 years.”

Sadly I havn’t actually got to try any and at up to £4.45 A BAR IT IS NOT CHEAP.

If any one else has tried it, please let me know how it is.

You can find places to purchase here.

And more plastic free sweets & chocolates here

Halloween Outfits

5 October 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade, 3.1 Special days & Parties Tagged 3.1.5 Halloween, 3.2.4 make 2 Comments

Want a halloween costume that doesn’t involve a lot of plastic?

The skull T was found over on Pinterest along with lots more very clever cut out ideas – some with instructions. The rest you might have to work out for yourself. Eek!

Martha Stewart can show you how to make cut out skeleton teeshirts. Which strikes me as rather strange. I didn’t think that was her thing.

If you are not so crafty, you might like to go as a head on a box!? Or 50 shades of grey…

More plastic-free Halloween ideas here.

: 50 Shades Of Grey

Kettle

21 September 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged 3.2 house, 3.2.2 Kitchen, 3.2.3 Buy On Line, 5 Content Veiw 3 Comments

People are always asking about plastic free kettles. There is one very easy answer – get a stove top kettle. That’s it. Spend a bit more and you can get one that doesn’t have a plastic handle. Spend a lot more and you get a kettle you will be handing on to your kids. I am saving up for this one.

Shropshire Made Traditional Kettle

Hand spun body and lid with durable hard anodised finish.
Precision cast spout for perfect pouring.
The base of kettle is very thick 1/4 inch (6mm) aluminium, we machine grind this flat to ensure rapid boiling on range hobs.
Hand turned British oak handle & knob.
Lovingly hand made in Britain.

A stove top kettle for use on range stoves, electric, gas, ceramic and halogen hobs. The perfect companion for country cottages, retro conversions, Victorian kitchens, Edwardian homes, glamping and garden cooking (it complements Netherton Foundry garden hob).

Comes in two sizes and the packaging is cardboard.

Cheaper Kettles

The downside is they are over a hundred quid. You might want to look at some of the cheaper options below. The cheaper kettles often have plastic handles. Very cheap kettles often warp with time. You need a good heavy bottom!

Amazon Catalogue

Here are some links to products sold on Amazon. Amazon is a very dirty word at the moment and I thought long and hard before I did it. Heres why I went ahead…..


		Grunwerg Cafe Ole Stainless Steel Stove Top… £11.82

Wesco Classic Line Stainless Steel 2 Litre … £49.99	Garden Trading Enamel Stove Kettle – Flint £31.50	Yoshikawa 1 Litre Stainless Steel Fons Drip… £74.99

Bottle reused as a bum washer

13 September 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.2 Outside the U.K. Tagged 6 Travel Blog 6 Comments

Yes, you might think I am over sharing here but come the zombie apocalypse this information could come in handy. Plus there is a whole world out there who don’t use toilet paper, some of them because they think it is a dirty habit.

I love my husband dearly. We travel together we work together and we share everything. Well almost everything. There is a line I really don’t want to cross. That line is grubby tissues in the bathroom bin. And when I say grubby I mean night soil, poop, fecal matter what ever you want to call it.

Notice, toilet roll, bin…

The plumbing in many parts of China lack strength. While the bathrooms in most hotels are adequate and clean, you cannot put your used toilet paper down the loo. Instead it has to go in a bucket by the side. An open bucket with no lid. Bad at the best of times but when the toilets are squats you are closer to the bucket than you would ever want to be.

So we have bathroom rules. Wash before wiping. Use water and not loo roll to remove any …. erm.. residue. You can then use a (small no waste) piece of paper to dry off.

To this end I have repurposed a plastic bottle as the Acme Portable Bum Washer.

Instructions

Fill the bottle with water
Squirt letting the water trickle over the affected area,
Clean with your hand
Dry

Ooo and don’t forget to wash your hands afterwards, with soap – though I am guessing I didn’t I need to tell you that.

The Acme Portable Bum Washer can be used in anywhere, massively reduces your consumption of tissues and feels far more pleasant that scratchy loo roll

But don’t just take my word for it, here’s a rather more in-depth write-up titled “how to wipe your arse with your left hand” – say it how it is buddy, and this quick overview of toilets and wiping habits the world over.

See other plastic free wiping options here.

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

Halloween Celebrations

13 September 2015 by Plastic Is Rubbish Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade, 3.1 Special days & Parties Tagged hidays 6 Comments

Halloween can be truly a time of plastic madness what with the masks, fake blood and sweets. I beg you to consider just how evil all that plastic is. So here are some plastic free ideas…

Pumpkin Lanterns

Each year finds me busy carving my own biodegradable lantern. It’s easy ; buy your self a vegetable, hollow it out cut out a face (or message) and stick a candle in. You can then make soup out of the innards.

I used to be too tight to buy a pumpkin so used swede instead. I have to admit that swede soup is not as nice. Also pumpkins are easier to carve – its hard work hollowing out swedes.

More plastic free fun…

Get (or make) some fabric trick or treat bags to take out with you – not to my house obvs.
Buy plastic free sweets for when the ghouls come calling.
Use compostable disposable partyware
Make a reusable burlap witches hat .
make your own costumes

plasticisrubbish

Category Archives: 3.0 CUT PLASTIC

Vote between elections…

Dental Floss

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