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My Share Of Fabric

I try to ration my fabric use to 3.8 kg of natural fabric /fibre products. That is for everything from towels to dishcloths.Just so you know a kingsize double duvet cover from Ikea weighs in at 991 grams and a Marks & Spencer short-sleeved tee-shirt is 156 grams.

Why? Because I feel the plastic-free wardrobe, bedroom and spa should only contain natural fabrics in sustainable amounts. But what is sustainable. How much is that in real terms? And how do you decide?

Heres what fibres and fabrics are currently used in the U.K.

  • 3.25 million tonnes of clothing and textiles flow through the UK each year – approximately 55kg per person.
  • Consumers in the UK spend about £780 per head per year, purchasing around 2.15 million tonnes (35kg per person)

Heres how many textile fibres are produced annually:

So let’s do some sums. Rough calculations would suggest that the average amount of fibres per annum, for every person in the world, works out at 11.74 kg per person This is for everything – clothes, bedding, fabrics used in manufacturing, furnishings, businesses. All our fabric needs.

We in the UK are using 55kg of fabric per person and 35kg of that is on clothes. We are obviously taking more than our share of fabrics produced.

Here’s how the figures are worked…. There are 7,304,489,285 people in the world right now Current World Population http://www.worldometers.info These are the fabrics produced (see here for sources and more info)

source Fibre Metric tonnes Amount per person
1 Cotton 25000000 3.43 kg
1 Wool- Sheep 2100000 29g
1 Wool – Other 40000 1g
1 Silk 150000 2g
1 Linen 147000 2g
Total 3.8kg
2 Total Fibers (natural & synthetic) 85500000 11.74

Increased Consumption

We are taking more than our fair share. So what about those who have less than their fair share? Well the second-hand clothing market is huge. Tonnes of second-hand clothing each year are exported overseas (including many of the clothes donated to charity) ending up in third world street markets.

Result! The poorer countries can always have our cast offs. In fact we are doing them a favor by giving it away. But suppose the saucy poor want new clothes? And in the amounts we have them? To maintain our level of consumption, and give use all 35kg of clothes each year, production would have to triple.

Fabric production like everything has an environmental impact and carbon footprint, a rather large one actually. And then there’s the waste created by this massive amount of clothing. I would argue that it is not sustainable for us all to have 35kg of new clothes each year.

Responsible Consumption

So if we cannot produce more, we have to consume less.  This is how the equation works for me

  • We cannot exceed current levels of production
  • We cannot expect others to want less than we have.
  • Therefore we have to consume our global share

Fair sharing of resources or 11.74kg of fabric per person.

Plastic free consumption

I prefer to use only natural and, (ideally), organic fibres. There are many good reasons why (and here they are) However I do not think an increase in production is justified. For 11 kg of natural fibres per person we would need to grow tonnes more cotton, farm lots more sheep and millions of silkworms would have to die. This would put a huge pressure on land water and other natural resources. So I am going to use my share of natural fibres, 3.8kg of new fabrics a year for clothing, bedding and towels. I will use a few synthetic fibres for specialist clothing and tents.

Conclusions

This is a rough working figure. I am not claiming that current levels of production are sustainable. Nor that 11.74 kg per person is absolute. My world plan needs some work. Children for example might be given less, hospitals, nursing homes and other such places might need an allowance for more. Maybe you would have to pay part of your hotel bill with clothing coupons to contribute to sheet cost. There are all kinds of glitches that need working on but I have to start somewhere and this is it.

Benefits 9254be68c30f305028fb54a68f5198b4

Can it be done? I don’t know! But lets look at the benefits of the fair share fabric scheme. The first would be it would make clothes valuable and so valued again and the unsustainable consumption of clothing would be halted.

  • Clothes would be better made as they would have to last longer.
  • Rather than having hundreds of trashy items we would have fewer well made fantastic pieces.
  • We would all look like this
  • Quality fabrics like Harris tweed would be back in fashion.
  • People would adapt their clothes to suit new trends and not buy new
  • Swapping clothes would be the norm.

Really, it’s a fantastic idea. Second Hand Clothes Can I buy second hand clothes to supplement my allowance? No. I can buy second-hand but it has to count as part of my allowance.

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2016 Fair Share Fabric & Clothing Rationing

The figures are in … In 2016 I used
Total 3.835 natural fibres
Total 318g synthetic fibres
Total 45g regenerated fibres
My Fair Share Fibre Ration

Why the weighing? I have pledged to use no more than my fair global share of fibres and they have to be sustainably sourced. Whats a global share? 11.74 kg per person of which 3.8 kg is natural fibres. As I don’t like synthetics I try to stick to 3.8 kg of natural fibres. You can check my figures here.

So I am over on natural fibres but way under on synthetics.
However in 2015  I bought 3.15 kg of natural fibre products and 3.2 kg of synthetic fibres. – so I had a 65g surplus of natural fibres to use up

Sustainability

You can read my clothing manifesto here

Circumstances
The clothes you wear are dictated by your lifestyle so here’s what I needed to dress for this year:
Returned home from backpacking the tropics. The days of 2 teeshirts, a mu-mu of modersty and backpackers bloomers were sadly over. I desperately needed some new clothes. The next three weeks saw me busy sewing. The design brief was a little more complex this year. Not only did the clothes have to be sustainable & plastic free, they had to be rather more dressy than I am used to. 

Returned home from backpacking the tropics. The days of 2 teeshirts, a mu-mu of modesty and backpackers bloomers were    sadly over. I desperately needed some new clothes. The next three weeks saw me busy sewing. The design brief was a little more complex this year. Not only did the clothes have to be sustainable & plastic free, they had to be rather more dressy than I am used to because at Easter we were fulfilling a long held dream – to be in Seville for the Santa Semana and the Feria.

Santa Semana is a week of processions elaborately decorated floats are hauled through the streets, by teams of ‘costaleros’ (bearers) followed by hundreds of ‘nazarenos’ (penitents), many in pointy hoods looking very sinister. This is followed a couple of weeks later with a big party The Real de la Feria where people drink, dance and dress up. The “women wear the traditional “traje de gitano”, literally “gypsy outfits” or flamenco dresses, often in bright colors, and accessorized with matching/coordinating flower in hair, comb, jewelry, tasseled scarf/shawl and fan. Apparently the “dresses are pricey, but worth investing in if you’ll be coming back again – nothing makes you feel part of an event like being dressed appropriately”

Bugger! After nearly a year backpacking, preceded by a year living in a van I can truthfully claim that while all my outfits may well be representative of the modern-day gypsy none of them are fit for a party. This nomad wears khaki shorts, sludgy colored T-shirts (murky from repeated mixed washes) and the emergency muumuu for visiting Iran. Absolutely no bright colors or fringed shawls and definitely no frills.

All I have in my hair is twigs and bits of straw. I haven’t accessorized since my Jackie reading days.

But I am not investing in a dress. I can’t afford it and I would feel ridiculous. More importantly I am living within my fair share of fabric allowance so any clothes I get are going to have to last me the year. They have to theatrical enough for Seville yet practical enough for the U.K.
So I needed something dressy, theatrical yet practical, sustainable yet frivolous
Seville Wardrobe

Chiffon Shirt For the Feria the week-long party in Seville, I made a chiffon top. I know – get me…. in chiffon which I wore with the
The Ebay Fabric Jacket
Downton (Yorkshire Wool) Waistcoat
The Bombazine Skirt
I looked flamboyant at least.


Then back to rather less showy Huddersfield for what I thought was going to be a hot summer. There were a couple of hot and steamy weeks I sewed sleeveless frocks and cool skirts. Then the weather turned obvs! so I had to quickly put together some rather warmer shirts. And buy some T shirts to wear under them.
Had hoped to be back on the road by winter but it was not to be so I had to make a thick skirt that I can wear with wooly tights and leggings.

Natural Fibres

Socks, Vests & Tees
2 pairs of socks from Debenhams 45g each

1 wool homemade 73g
Black vest gifted 144g
Bought In Mostly Natural Fibres (label etc might not be)
White vest gifted 105g
New spotty top – Marks & Sparks 160g
2 no 3/4 sleeve T 156g each
grey vest 105g Marks & Sparks

Trousers
Denim Long Shorts 316g
Linen Pants 414g

Skirts
Wrap Skirt 249g
stripy cotton skirt gifted 231g
The Bombazine Skirt 541g
Corduroy Skirt 300g

Tunics & Tops
Wrap Shirt Lawn Chiffon
Wrap shirt 108g
Offset Tunic 157g
Tabbard Frock 149g
Choir Boy 132g
Liberty Lawn Shirt 96g
Vogue lawn top 110g
Woolen Tunic 288g
Jackets & Other stuff
Yorkshire Wool Waistcoat 178g
Ebay Woolen jacket 180g

Total 3.835

Regenerated Fibres

Bamboo is a regenerated fibre and falls somewhere between natural and synthetcic. Some biodegradae some do not. Bamboo is a form of regenerated fibre. Personally I dont like it but the socks were a gift. Read more here 

1 ankle socks bamboo skull & crossbones 45g

Synthetic Fibres
Huge circular skirt 243g
New Swim Top 75g

Total 318g

Terms
By gifted I mean something that people have passed on to me because they no longer want it. Second hand but not purchased.
When I say cotton/ natural fibres that doesn’t include buttons and other such stuff which will almost certainly be synthetic. As might be the thread used to sew the fabric.
Unless you are talking about my own homemade clothes where I can tell you exactly what plastic has been used.

Sewing
I can’t afford to buy eco clothing but I can afford to make it. I have been stiching like a demon and this year most of my new clothes have been handmade. Sadly my sewing skills are not so great. There are ome rather strange outfits in there. You can read my plastic free sewing tips here…

You can read more about my home made clothes here

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Hot water bottle cover

Sorry this post is a bit late – been knitting like the wind and sewing up ties for tops….

Today’s action is to ‘fix it’. So much of our stuff gets thrown away as soon as it is damaged or isn’t working. But with a little TLC much of this stuff could live to see another day.

So while these things are not exactly broken they do often get thrown away. Odds and ends of wool and old duvet covers are here transformed into this wooly hot water bottle cover with a tie top. Attractive and practical.

Bramble Jelly

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAToday’s action is to ‘share it’. 80% of people in a Cooperatives UK survey said that sharing makes them happy. By sharing our skills, time and stuff, we can improve our wellbeing and reduce demand for limited resources.

So I thought I would share the free food I foraged  and took a jar a bramble/port jelly to a ham based dinner party!
Free food, plastic-free, whats not to love?
And though it was late in the year I managed to get enough blackberries to make a couple of pots of jelly.

It is really easy, but then discovering jam sugar has changed my approach to preserves. Before this I found it a complex process needing tons of fruit and lemons  that resulted in a liquid syrupy gloop. However using this ready mixed sugar and pectin has (so far), been fool proof.
Even better you can use it to make really small amounts.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So while I only got a handful of brambles, I could still preserve them and make this lovely looking, tasty gift!

Heres how…. Equal amounts of blackberries to jam sugar
Boil
Strain
return to boil
add cinnamon nutmeg and lemon to taste
Slosh of port

Take to dinner party – garner compliments!

More


Check out the #plasticfree cookbook here.

 

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Apple Juice & Leeds Urban Harvest

Today’s action is to ‘grow it’. Did you know that being immersed in a natural setting or even viewing greenery from your window can reduce stress levels and improve relaxation? Today we’re asking you to give yourself and nature a helping hand by growing something.

And it is a great way to get plastic free and very tasty food. However when you live in a van that can be a bit tricky. So why not let nature take its course and go foraging instead. Theres loads of food out there to be had for free.

And if you are in Leeds and like apples you can join in the urban harvest. This weekend Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st September 2014 Leeds Urban Harvest will be picking a tree near you.

What is Leeds Urban Harvest? The following was taken from the website…

Leeds Urban Harvest is a voluntary run project that collects and distributes soft fruits that grow unharvested around our city on trees and bushes in both public and private spaces.
Fruits are distributed to groups, volunteers and the local community.  Damaged fruits are turned into juice, preserves, jams and chutneys.  Any money raised is put back into the project to help with running costs.
As part of the project we aim to raise awareness of the great abundance of local tasty and healthy food that is available for everyone and for free!
To be affordable to anyone, we decided to sell our juice at £1 minimum donation and if you bring back your bottle, we give you back 50p. We also collect the tops of the bottles as the Scrap Creative Reuse Art Project in Kirstall can re-use them in their projects.
Leeds Urban Harvest have teamed up with All Hallows Church in Burley and we now have a great kitchen for juicing, space for sharing and lots of friendly faces too.

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Tomato ketchup

Today’s action is to ‘borrow it’. How many things do you own which you hardly ever use? We’re asking people to be resourceful by borrowing rather than buying. Whether it’s joining your local library, signing up to a neighbourhood borrowing scheme or even borrowing a dog (yes, that’s right, there are websites that allow you to do this), borrowing is a great way to access what you need and meet others in the process.

So here goes…. borrow it ketchup using yesterdays puree
Got the ketchup recipes from the internet. I used them more as a guide because I was using what I had in and what I could borrow!
So it said apple vinegar but I only have balsamic vinegar and white vinegar. White seemed a bit harsh so I went with WLLM FOOD8balsamic.
I used white instead of brown sugar as I cannot source plastic free brown sugar.
I borrowed the spices and they did have plastic lids BUT I can get them plastic free. I didn’t because  I am on holiday living in a van. To buy a load of spices to make some experimental sauce seemed daft. So…I used those listed below because they were the ones I could borrow.

Here is my ketchup recipe

Splash of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped medium
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup tomato purée – hand made yesterday!
1/5 cup sugar
25 ml balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon all spice
Salt and pepper

Fried the onions added the spices cooked it up and blended it.
WLLM FOOD12I would be the first to admit that this not quite tomato ketchup. Its the wrong colour for a start! Thats the balsamic vinegar for you.
The texture isnt quite silky enough either.
But it is sauce and it tastes really good! I can’t quite believe it! It is tomatoey and vinegary and sweet.
It will last a month in the fridge apparently but if I was doing it at home I would freeze it in small batches.

So impressed with my homemaking skills.

Find more recipes in the plastic free cookbook

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2014 Waste less live more week

For sure I have already cut a lot of tins and jars as part of my plastic boycott – tins are plastic lined and the as are the metal caps and lid of glass jars. So I cut them too – well most of them…..

When I started my boycott I realized an immediate ban on all plastics would lead to a severely reduced diet, greasy hair, rotten teeth, possibly rickets and certainly severe marital stress. So I decided to cut some products each month giving me time to source an alternative. Some things I just never got round to giving up. They are tricky to replace and I don’t want to do without them up so they linger sneakily at the back of my cupboard.
They include

    • Tomato ketchup
    • Mango Chutney
    • Sweetcorn relish
    • mayonnaise
    • Pickled Gherkins
    • Coconut milk
    • Baked beans
    • Tomato puree
    • and more

This year, for Waste Less Live More Week (22 – 28 September 2014) I thought I would tackle some of them……

Monday – Make it – so I made tomato puree
Tuesday – Borrow it – borrowed the spices to put in my homemade ketchup
Wednesday – Value it – seasonal unpackaged veg – in this case sweetcorn which I used to make sweetcorn relish
Thursday – Grow It and if you haven’t got a garden get out with the Leeds Urban Harvest and pick some one else’s.
Friday – Share It – bramble jelly made from foraged berries. A great gift for and Autumn dinner party
Saturday – Repair It – odds & sods hot water bottle cover
Sunday – Discover It- Thug kitchen – bit rude but doesn’t mince words

Press Release

In a time where we are consuming more resources than ever, organisers Keep Britain Tidy, decided to make this year’s theme ‘Be Resourceful’, to help highlight the vast amount of resources going to landfill each year.

Each year the UK alone is putting over £3.8 billion worth of resources into landfill and evidence suggests that increasing rates of consumption and material possession are not necessarily leading to healthier societies and may in fact be damaging to our happiness and wellbeing.

Waste less, Live more Week is a week-long event that celebrates and demonstrates how to we can move to a more resourceful society, in order to create benefits for us as individuals, for our communities and our planet. Throughout the week the public will be able to take part in a Be Resourceful challenge, in partnership with the fix-all material sugru – an invention by young designer in the UK which helps make fixing easy and enjoyable.

The week is supported by TV presenter, Keep Britain Tidy ambassador and keen ‘crafter’ Kirstie Allsopp: ‘Waste less, Live more Week is a great initiative. The Be Resourceful Challenge is a 21st-century interpretation of ‘make do and mend’ – it’s about learning new skills, meeting other people and having fun at the same time as being respectful of the stuff we buy, use and eventually throw away.’

Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive Phil Barton said: ‘Waste less, live more is an approach that reflects how environmental and social issues are linked and how tackling these issues together is a far more effective solution. It’s all about recognising that what is good for the environment is good for us and working towards a future where people understand and actively care for one another and the environment.’

More

This was the first year I partnered up with Waste Less Live More Week. You can see my other years here

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Gallery

The places we been – the rubbish we seen. Check out our dirty pictures taken world wide

Planet Trash on Facebook is a visual map of world pollution and a directory of hundreds of plastic aware groups the world over. You want to see some really dirty pictures this is the group for you! Planet trash began work on Facebook on the 16 September 2010. It’s aims were:
To provide a visual map of world pollution i.e. lots of photos of plastic trash destroying our world.

Instagram – a new project

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How the photos are taken…

These photos are taken as I travel, worldwide, mostly on public transport. Of course I can’t ask the bus to stop so I have missed some horrendous shots and many snaps taken while speeding along have not come out

I do not deal in rubbish and do not visit dumps as part of my job. And, (despite what you might think), it isn’t my hobby. The photographs I take are the trash I come across in daily life and are never staged for effect. What is shown is what I have seen.

I do not choose to visit a specific locations deliberately to take rubbish photos but snap what I see on the way. As a result, my  photographs often don’t show the worst examples.

Even so, they are pretty grim!

Facebook Albums By Country

General dead animals 1 photo
General Cow Killers 7 photos
General thats a lot of plastic 16 photos
General 7 Days5 photos
General Animals Eat Plastic 6 photos
General Tiny Thai Pollution 4 photos

Listed By Country

India 
Chokin Cochin 8 photos
India 
Cochin revisited 8 photos
India 
Gokarna Town 10 photos
India 
The Prom, Kochi 9 photos
India Andamans – trouble in paradise
24 photos
India Arambol the nasty stuff 36 photos
India Beach Clean Up Andamans 17 photos
India Everyday Streets 16 photos
India Fort Cochin Beach8 photos
India Gokarna Beach India 2012 7 photos
India Kannar Beach7 photos
India Kudle Beach,8 photos
India Ladahk – Plastic protest and why 13 photos
India Land of Kings 11 photos
India Village life 8 photos
India Walk to Om Beach8 photos

Indonesia Bali 12 photos

Iran 
Plastic in the desert 7 photo
Iran The Persian Gulf 11 photos
Iran Water & Iran8 photos

Laos A Typical Village in Laos 12 photos
Laos After the fair 4 photos
Laos Hongsa Dump Loas 6 photos
Loas Loas, Luang Prabang 7 photos

Malasia our bit of beach 12 photos
Malasia Perhentians 11 photos
Malasia Tioman Island 11 photos
Malaysia Perhentians 13 photos

Mongolia Mongolia 7 photos

Myanmar Inle Lake Myanmar 6 photos
Myanmar Kingpin – bridge over the river 6 photos
Myanmar Kinpin Burma 9 photos
Myanmar Myanmar 11 photos
Myanmar Take Me To The River…11 photos
Myanmar Woodland Bottles 2 photos

Nepal Khatmandu 13 photos
Nepal Nepalese journey 10 photos
Nepal Pokara Holy Lake 4 photos
Nepal Pondicherry17 photos

Philippines El Nido 10 photos
Phillippines Sequillor Philippines 5 photos

Spain Spain 5 photos
Spain Spain Loose Food 27 photos

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 11 photos

Thailand A day at the races 6 photos
Thailand dirty streets dirty rivers 9 photos

UK Carnewas and Bodruthan steps 7 photos
UK Colne Valley Yorkshire England 14 photos
UK Green unpleasant land 10 photos
UK Loch Eriboll 12 photos
UK my childhood beach8 photos
UK winter wonderland 10 photos
UK Worthing Pier 13 photos
UK Tesco Garage Plastic Glove Pollution5 photos

Vietnam Halong Bay 2011 5 photos
Vietnam Market Vietnam 4 photos
Vietnam SihanoukVille Port -Plastic Sea 5 photos

 

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2014 Zero Waste Week in a van

From the 1-7th of September I took part in zerowaste week. The general aim of this week is to send nothing to landfill however I am nothing if not pedantic. Zerowaste means just that! So I sent nothing to be recycled either!

What is Zero Waste Week

Zero Waste Week is an opportunity to reduce landfill waste & save money.

It is in its seventh year and runs from the 1st to the 7th of September

here’s a link to the zero waste website

My pledge

This year the theme is “One More Thing” My “one more thing” is the recycle bin! I will only create compostable rubbish.

Which means I will put put nothing in my black bin or my green bin. I will send nothing to landfill AND nothing to be recycled. That means no plastic, no tins, no glass and no paper.

I only want to make waste that I can dispose of myself. The two methods of waste manageent available to me are composting and burning.

But I will not compost or burn anything that could be recycled.

The rubbish I will create will be  compostable  and food related- potato peelings and the like and that’s not waste but plant food!

The Others 

Of course its not just me  doing it- there are loads of bloggers doing all kinds of stuff. You can find them herded together in one easy to access place here: http://www.netvibes.com/myzerowaste#Ambassadors

and listen to them wittering – sorry twittering – on on the twitter hashtag #zerowasteweek
If you want to join in you can make a pledge here on the zero waste website. If you decide to blog about it you can decorate your blog or  post with various buttons, if you don’t you can print off posters for your living walls (easy tiger!) with these links posters and pdfs http://www.zerowasteweek.co.uk/tools/

2014

My goal was to create only compostable waste. I DID IT!

For one week, I didn’t put any rubbish in the landfill bin NOR in the recycling bin.

The only waste created was vegetable peelings. We used one ready packaged item, flour for the chapattis. All other food we bought loose in reusable packaging – either plastic tubs or cloths produce bags.

It wasn’t a week of bread and water either. We had everything from smoked salmon to bacon, chocolate to fresh ground coffee.

You can see our daily menu here and our packaging free food options here

We went without milk, cheese and yogurt. If we had been at home we could have had milk in a glass bottle from out milk man, made our own yoghurt and bought cheese unwrapped from the market. You can check out our Dairy options here.

Because we are traveling in a van we have been unable to do this.

Tins were out so we had to cook without tinned tomatos. I didnt actually think this was possible but it is.

We also went without glass jars and bottles. No mayo, mustard, ketchup or honey. We had some van made van jam which was easy to do. I think my next challenge will be to learn how to make sauce.

We also went without wine – bottles of that is. There are some wine refill places in the UK but none where we were – sigh!

We have bought most of the stuff from small local shops so we don’t even have many till receipts! And we managed to avoid the horrid stickers on fruit but I admit we choose carefully and picked off the  unmarked bananas. Which leads me to ask – is it only supermarkets that sticker up fruit?

As for toothpaste, suntan lotion, moisturizer and the like, we make our own. You can find out how we stay so pretty plastic free here.

Ahhh the delights of Ullapool. Stocked up with lovely food all bought loose and in reusable packaging. Check out the treats…..

Day 3
Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Croissants and melon from Tesco
  • Coffee

Lunch

Smoked salmon and avocado sandwiches  served with cucumber followed by flap jack pudding

Dinner

  • bangers and mash

You might be wondering what I do for toothpaste and the like? Well I make my own and have stocked up for the holiday. I store it in reusable jars.

Day $

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Omlette – very egg based diet this is turning out to be
  • Coffee

Got  lucky today bought a lovely cauliflower naked and unwrapped, an avocado and that rarest of veges, an unwrapped cucumber. Plus a decent loaf of bread.
Lunch

  • Cucumber and tomato salad with lemon juice
  • Mashed avacado salad

Open sandwiches

Dinner

  • Vege sauce (from day 1) with mashed spuds

You can a recipe for zero waste salad dressing here

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Eggy bread – eggs from the roadside bread rolls bought loose from the Spar.
  • Coffee

Lunch

  • Van soup made from a medly of veg – carrots leeks parsnips potatoes thickened with lentils.

Dinner

  • Vege stew

I managed to get all of the above loose and unpackaged and I used in my reusable bags when I bought them.

Landfill/ Recyclable Waste Created  None

A Zero Waste Week

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • porridge
  • coffee
  • Chocolate beans

Lunch

van soup – anything that is looking a bit sad and needs eating up thickened with lentils and bulked up with potatoes.

Dinner

Finally got to use my cauliflower. With some trepidation I made a curry. I was nervous because I had very few spices – fresh garlic ginger and chilies and some powdered turmeric. Still I bunged them all in and actually it wasn’t half bad. We had it with homemade chapatis

The flour for the chapattis was the only product we bought ready packed in a paper bag.

I managed to get all of the above loose and unpackaged and I used  my reusable bags when I bought them.

Landfill/ Recyclable Waste Created  None

Getting close to the end now – good job as we are running out of powdered milk!

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  •  bread, butter and van jam
  • Coffee

Normally I spread honey on my bread but I have given up glass jars with metal (plastic lined lids) for plastic-free July. So now what? Van jam!

Travelling through the verdant countryside we have come across many PYO fruit farms. We have had a surfeit of strawberries a brace of black currants and more raspberries than you can shake a stick at.

However it seems soft fruit doesn’t last well in the clammy warmth of the van ( our current home)  and by day three it is going mushy. Can’t bear waste, can’t bear mushy fruit, got no honey – time to start preserving.

 

 

I bought some jam sugar and a lemon.

Added equal weight of jam to fruit. Boiled it up in an enamel bowl (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME it was rather scary and next time I will make more and use the pan.)

Waited till it went thick.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Put it in a kilner jar. Ta da!

Was so impressed with myself I made peach jam the next day.

Lunch

  • melon and tangerines

Dinner

  • Pork, apple sauce and mash.

I buy my butter in what I hope is greaseproof paper. The jam we made in the van.

Day 5

Zerowaste breakfast

Lunch

  • Omlette
  • Croissant with melon

Dinner

  • Bolognaise sauce from yesterday transformed into chile and served with rice

I bought my rice loose but if you can’t to that you can buy white rice from Lidles in a cardboard box.

Back in the hills but well stocked with food from Ullapool!

Day 4

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

Lunch

Smoked fish and avocado

Dinner

Spaghetti bolonaise

I bought the oats loose from Wholefood Market but if you don’t have one near you, you can buy them in cardboard or paper packaging.

Day 3

Ahhh the delights of Ullapool. Stocked up with lovely food all bought loose and in reusable packaging. Check out the treats…..

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Croissants and melon from Tesco
  • Coffee

Lunch

Smoked salmon and avocado sandwiches  served with cucumber followed by flap jack pudding

Dinner

  • bangers and mash

You might be wondering what I do for toothpaste and the like? Well I make my own and have stocked up for the holiday. I store it in reusable jars.

Day $

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Omlette – very egg based diet this is turning out to be
  • Coffee

Got  lucky today bought a lovely cauliflower naked and unwrapped, an avocado and that rarest of veges, an unwrapped cucumber. Plus a decent loaf of bread.
Lunch

  • Cucumber and tomato salad with lemon juice
  • Mashed avacado salad

Open sandwiches

Dinner

  • Vege sauce (from day 1) with mashed spuds

You can a recipe for zero waste salad dressing here

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Eggy bread – eggs from the roadside bread rolls bought loose from the Spar.
  • Coffee

Lunch

  • Van soup made from a medly of veg – carrots leeks parsnips potatoes thickened with lentils.

Dinner

  • Vege stew

I managed to get all of the above loose and unpackaged and I used in my reusable bags when I bought them.

Landfill/ Recyclable Waste Created  None

2017 Plastic Free July

Of course every month is plastic free for me but plastic free July is a time to make a bit of extra effort.

What is Plastic Free July

The aim is to cut your consumption of one use plastic, for one month; how much you choose to cut is up to  you – read my take.

A bit of history

Plastic Free July started in 2011 in Australia  in 2013 it went global. They have a great website and are all round good eggs.

My Plastic Free July
I try to cut all disposable plastics including the lesser known sneaky plastics

Progress Reports

1 straw obviously my mimes were not too good
lots of plastic lined cans of beer because I get so bored of water
plastic bottle of rice oil for making suntan lotion
2 plastic caps from bottles of cordial.
2 plastic seals from larger fillable water bottles

We are on a remote beach on an island. It’s easy. I carry all my own ingredients for tooth powder and suntan lotion. We wash everything with soap we buy in cardboard.

 U.K. Participants

Who is we? Every year UK based bloggers have joined in.
It’s really important to link up with U.K. based plastivists who will be sharing throughout the month. While some solutions like solid shampoo from Lush can be accessed UK wide,  many are local.

First off we have Lisa at www.less-stuff.co.uk

and Sarah at www.facebook.com/rhubarbandrunnerbeans

Pip- squeaking @Pip_Squeaking of   arefugefordaffodils.wordpress.com in her second year now. <

From Bristol it’s the Cheeky Girls of Green:
Author and TV presenter @nataliefee. Read about here in thePlastic Free U.K. Directory:
And Michelle film maker, writer of the great blog Plastic A Lot Less and tweeter @beingpall.
They are the brains behind numerous campaigns, the latest being

Get on the list

If you are tweeting or writing this year go to that post and add your details in the comment box.

You can find a list of bloggers who have contributed in the past, here.

Keeping in Touch

Join in at the Plastic Is Rubbish Support Group where people share plastic free tips. see below.
And Twitter @plasticSrubbish

Hashtags
I encourage UK participants to use the hashtag #pfjuk for British related posts. Mainly because it gets very dispiriting to hear of a fantastic bulk food store only to find it is based in Sydney.

N.B.

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

And before you go…

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

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

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Waste Less Live More Week

So proud to be a partner in the Waste Less Live More Week and be up there with some real waste heroes Check out the list. The week runs from the 22 – 28 September 2014 and has in the years past had a theme.

This great campaign has been organized by Keep Britain Tidy but it goes further than suggesting you put your rubbish in the bin. No, it posits that mindlessly consuming vast and often needless amounts of stuff is not just a reckless squandering of precious finite resources that results in huge amounts of problematic, difficult to dispose of trash…. but it doesn’t even make us happy.

Blimey! Well said you!

2016 and online celebration of local shops 

2015 and I was being resourceful organising a online litter pick.

2014  we had to make it, borrow it value it and so on – see how my week went.

Press Release

Waste less, Live more Week  is Keep Britain Tidy’s annual awareness week which  brings together partner and supporter organisations who together host a week of events and activities around a theme

Plastic is Rubbish is joins up with  charities, businesses and organisations to support this year’s Keep Britain Tidy resource initiative, Waste Less, Live More Week, to inspire new, creative and inventive ways to live better, within our environmental limits.

Keep Britain Tidy is a leading environmental charity. We inspire people to be litter-free, to waste less and to live more. We are run programmes including Eco-Schools, the Green Flag Award for parks and green spaces and the Blue Flag/ Seaside Awards for beaches. To find out more about Keep Britain Tidy, our programmes and campaigns visit www.keepbritaintidy.org.

Press enquiries
Contact the Keep Britain Tidy press office:
Helen Bingham 01942 612617/07918 631682 helen.bingham@keepbritaintidy.org
Keep Britain Tidy Mobile (24 hours, 7 days a week): 07768 880016

Keep Britain Tidy has ISDN radio facilities for interviews
ISDN: 01942 322178
Please contact the press office in advance to make arrangements