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Handwash

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

I know a lot of people like a liquid hand wash. Personally I prefer soap but whatever. So this hand wash comes in soluble pods that you drop in water and refill the (plastic) bottle provided. When done you buy more via. The website. It is posted to you in plastic free packaging,  (NB according to some reviews they come with some plastic).

Now I think you are meant to buy the bottle as part of the starter kit but I see no reason why you couldn’t just buy the refills and use your own plastic free soap dispenser?

It comes from a company called

Splosh

This is an online refill service. A new way to buy your home cleaning, laundry and health & beauty essentials.
You buy the starter pack which includes a range of bottles and concentrate product. You water down the product and fill the bottles. Thereafter you buy more concentrate on line and refill your bottles as needed.

Some products come in soluble pods which you drop into water; others in plastic pouches which can be sent back to be refilled or recycled. While the refillable plastic pouches obviously are plastic (duh) the soluble pods sound useful.

They supply a wide range of products. But  “currently the surface cleaners and hand washes come in water soluble sachets and the rest come in pouches.”

Splosh also claim that the postal packaging for the starter kit and refills is also plastic free. Though according to some reviews they come with some plastic.

Here’s their mission statement. “Plastic waste is an environmental disaster and we’re committed to reducing it to zero. For each product we’ve designed a refilling system that takes plastic out of the waste stream. For example our pouches can be sent back for refilling and, at the end of their life, we manage their reprocessing into other products”

You can read more about how it works and order products here HERE
If anyone out there has used this product please let me know.

More

Want to know what soap is? How it works? Is there animal fat in there?
Read all our soap posts HERE

Why This Post Is ….

A little bit rubbish. You are reading a work in progress. Here’s how the blog is written and why we post half cocked.

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Cup to Compost – National trust, Boscastle

by Posted in 3.1 Composting, 3.5 Plastic Free People, Projects & Campaigns, 3.7 Other Solutions Tagged 4 Comments

Our tour in the plastivan took us through Boscastle, a lovely old harbour and coastline maintained by the fantastic National Trust. In addition to keeping footpaths open and other essential maritime maintenance, they operate a cafe shop and visitor center (with immaculate toilets), down by the harbour. So far so good!

Not so good was that the cafe was using disposable paper cups! Eeek! As you know, most paper cups are in fact plastic lined and so not very disposable. Bah! Was just about to turn round and leave when I noticed that these cups were from Vegware. Vegware dont line their cardboard cups with the usual conventional non biodegradable plastic but a certified compostable lining. You can read more here.

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Now I wanted to take photos! And ask lots of questions! Which Jon kindly answered.  As he says”… when the cafe first opened in 2009, there wasn’t a modern conventional sewage system in Boscastle, and all the waste that would normally go for treatment went straight into the sea. Because of this, we were reluctant to have a commercial dish washer in the cafe that would have just contributed to this waste, and so looked for viable alternatives. Finding a fully compostable solution in the cups, cup sleeves, plates and wooden cutlery was part of the solution to this problem, but without making sure that they were composted afterwards it wouldn’t have been such a positive environmental statement from what is, after all, a conservation charity…. we collect the cups, cup holders, plates and the untreated wooden cutlery that we use, and they are taken to a local farmer who shreds them. He then mixes them with his green waste and composts them into a peat free mulch substitute. This mulch is hen taken to the National Trust plant nurseries at Lanhydrock House near Bodmin, who grow, amongst all the other plant, the plants that are sold in the National Trust shop that adjoins the cafe in Boscastle. By doing it this way, we not only successfully recycle the disposables from the national Trust Cafe in Boscastle, but we contribute to saving the limited resources of peat bogs.”

Well done you!

Pan Scrubs – Coconut

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

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 a metal it is excellent for mid range cleaning. I have been using mine for a while now and it is still nice and wiry unlike the luffa which tends to soften up with use. I have used it in a wide range of circumstances and I am pleased with the results. I think they compare well with synthetics  and can be used as an alternative.

It comes simply packaged in a cardboard sleeve so no rubbish there.

You can get them on-line from savesomegreen.co.uk

This online shop are very aware of problematic plastic misuse and have a great packaging policy. Tell them you want no plastic packaging and you will be heard.

They also do a good-looking range of bamboo products including crochet hooks and pegs.

Pot Cleaning

You can find more pot scouring options here

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Earphones plastic reduced and greener plastic

by Posted in 3.1 House, Office & Garden Tagged

Part wood earphones and a earphone recycling scheme made by Thinksound

thinksound headphones are designed with features to reduce its overall environmental impact:

  • Wood from renewable sources
  • PVC-free cables
  • Packaging is made from recycled and bleach-free materials
  • Smaller packaging size = cuts waste
  • Elimination of plastic bubble insert
  • Cotton carrying pouch is sewn from bleach-free and renewable sources

Buy them here

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Seed Compost

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

Want to make your own plastic-free compost for growing seeds in? Using only this years fallen leaves?
OK its not a quick process, you are planning 2 years ahead here, but it is free – cash free as well as plastic free. Well if you use a metal bin.

Gather up the  fallen leaves
Keep them dark and dry for a while

I use a bin with a tight fitting lid and leave them for 2 years. If I was a real purist I would use a metal bin. However I actually use a plastic bin because that is what I have got.
You can also use a plastic bag. Gasp.

The result is a fine crumbly mould that can be used for your seedlings. Really it’s as simple as that – but for those of you who like know more there are detailed instructions here and here

More

We love composting. You can see all our composting posts HERE
And all our gardening posts HERE

you can buy galvanised bins like these from Amazon and  eBay

 

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Laundry

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 House, Office & Garden, 3.2 How To...plastic-free Tagged , , , 7 Comments

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 their site

If you cant get to a Ecover refill station try getting a refill by post….

Splosh

This is an online refill service.
Some products come in soluble pods which you drop into water; others in plastic pouches which can be sent back to be refilled or recycled.
Splosh also claim that the postal packaging for the starter kit and refills are plastic free. Though according to some reviews they come with some plastic.

Read more about cleaning product refills here e http://plasticisrubbish.com/2014/12/14/u-k-europe/

Hanging Out

Pegs, Peg Baskets and Washing Lines

N.B. I got sent some Ecoforce stuff to review. They supply a range of household cleaning and laundry products made from recycled plastic.
I agreed because while I dont think recycling is the answer it can be part of the solution and one way to deal with all the waste plastic we have created, most of their stuff is made in the UK making it even a better recycling option and the disposable product packaging is pretty good.
And I think with damp damp laundry sometimes plastic products may be preferable so they might as well be ethical plastic options. And it gave me the opportunity to compare and contrast options.

Pegs

Wooden

I use wooden pegs. I bought them ages ago. They came in plastic packaging. Obviously my wooden and steel pegs represent a pressure on natural resources. And there is no denying they get a bit mucky and fall apart quite easily. I don’t know where they are made, or from what kind of wood.

The plus point about my wooden pegs is that when they do fall apart and they end up lost in the garden they will naturally biodegrade. Plastic pegs of course don’t.

Plastic

If you really want plastic pegs you can try these by Ecoforce. I like that they are 93% recycled plastic and (so far) very sturdy. They don’t use steel which I like. I worry about how much steel we use. They are made in the UK which is nice and local. On the down side they do come in a plastic bag. The bag is clearly marked with a plastic code which is good, but made of a type of plastic rarely recycled in the UK – not so good.

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I would feel much happier about this product if the throwaway part the packaging was compostable.

Peg Baskets

Metal

I keep my pegs in a peg basket which hangs on the line. Mine is an enamel bucket with holes in the bottom. I bought it from one of those gimcrackery shops that sell arty gubbins. I dont think the quality is of the best as it is getting a bit rusty.

Plastic

Apart from the rust, I cant really think of any reason why you would prefer a plastic peg basket but if you do the Ecofriendly peg basket is a good choice.

As with the pegs it contains 93% recycled plastic, seems sturdy and made in the Uk. Also, whoop, whoop, it is packaged in cardboard and better still the display hanger is made of cardboard.
It bugs me so much when I see cardboard packaging with a plastic hook attached to hang the item – one of those tiny unmarked pieces of plastic that are so hard to dispose of.
The basket is clearly marked with a recycle code so it can be recycled again.

Eco friendly clothes line »
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I don’t have a drier and when I do have to use one, in the depths of winter say, I go the launderette. For environmental reasons I choose to mostly air dry my washing line. Our business means I do a lot of drying. My washing line is an important bit of kit and sad to say I have found a plastic washing line to be the best for the job. It gets very wet where we live and natural lines soak up the water, never dry out, then start to grow mould. A plastic line can be quickly wiped dry and doesn’t get slimy.

Ecoforce Plastic line is 89% recycled plastic and like that it is made in the EC so fairly close to home.
But I HATE that the plastic line is wrapped in unidentified plastic wrap. Why? It’s a plastic line. And unidentified plastic at that. Booo.

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Dog poop disposal

by Posted in 3.1 Composting, 3.1 House, Office & Garden, 3.1.7 Wo/M/animals Tagged , , , 3 Comments

This is something I really hate …. plastic bags of dog @*%! hanging from the bushes.

But then plastic bags of dog poop anywhere are a bad idea and a big problem!

According to PFMA (Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association) the dog population of the U.K., in 2014, stood at 9 million. The average dog according to Streetkleen produces 340g of fecal matter per day x 9,000,000 dog population = 3,060 tonnes of poo per day x 365 days per year =1,111,900 tonnes of dog poo annually.

Why Not Landfill?

Putting plastic bags of poop in landfill is problematic for the following reasons

  • Biodegradable waste does not do well in the unnatural conditions of landfill. It bubbles away producing methane another more potent greenhouse gas.
  • The non biodegradable waste, plastic, is there for ever.
  • As of April 2016 Landfill Tax is £84.40 per tonne . At over a million tons that poop costs a lot.
  • we are running out of holes

What to do?

But how do you dispose of dog poop  responsibly and environmentally?
Seems there are two options:
Flushing:
Composting.

Flushing

Here’s what the United States Environmental Protection Agency has to say about cleaning up pet waste.

“Pet waste can be a major source of bacteria and excess nutrients in local waters. . . Flushing pet waste is the best disposal method. Leaving pet waste on the ground increases public health risks by allowing harmful bacteria and nutrients to wash into the storm drain and eventually into local waterbodies.”

If you don’t fancy using your own toilet you can get an attachment for your outside drain. The doggybog.

The Doggybog™ unit fits onto your existing outdoor soil pipe and can be DIY fitted in less than 30 minutes. Simple removal of the cap means that you can throw the dog waste down the pipe, then with the cap replaced you can flush it away. Your dog poo goes into the sewage system never to be seen or smelled again.

Read more HERE.

There are flushable bags out there on the market like these
“Fsh Puppies™ doodie bags are Certified Compostable in industrial compost facilities that accept pet waste, where they will disintegrate and biodegrade swiftly.* (Sorry, home composters, they’re not suitable for backyard composting!)

Flush Puppies™ are flushable, too. Yes, really… flushable. Made from Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) – a water soluble alternative to regular plastic – Flush Puppies™ are specifically made to be flushed down the toilet along with your pet’s waste. (It’s science – not voodoo!) Unlike regular plastic bags or other so-called “biodegradable” poop bags, Flush Puppies™ actually break down in water.”
Read more HERE.

You can buy them from Amazon U.K.

Pet poop composter

Use compostable plastic bags such as  BioBag dog bags and get a pet poop composter. You can read more about compostable plastics here and you can find cheaper than Biobags by Googling.

Use them in conjunction with a pet poop composter. I believe that composting is the future. A household that can turn its own waste into food for the plants is truly sustainable and delightfully green. And who wouldn’t want to be any of those?  I have a number of compost bins BUT I don’t have a pet so cannot try this. I thought of getting a puppy but apparently  they are for life, not just for composting.

How they work…
A pet waste composter is a bin set in the ground. Chuck the pop in and nature will deal with it naturally. It will compost away. Just to reiterate, the resulting material is left in place. It is not meant to be used as compost, rather that the composting process is used to naturally dispose of dog poop!

Have a look at these ready made dog waste composters. You bury it in the back garden and drop in the poop.

Here is an Australian product called Yard Art in action

Here is a home made one

And an  article,  you can read on the subject.
Using the Compost…nooooooooo

MATT SULLIVAN writes a thoughtful and informative piece about the joys and perils of pet poop composting. As he says “several writers discourage pet owners from the practice at all. Others gave specific warnings of not using the final composted product in any edible gardens. A handful wrote that the compost from domestic animals was safe and could be used in vegetable crops.”

But, despite doom laden warnings, he goes ahead and uses worms to compost his dog dirt. It’s a success and he concludes that “even if you have no desire to add compost to your garden, I believe it makes sense to be a good steward of your animals. You feel good, help out the environment, and have an excuse to spend time outside.”

Wise words.

English: A worm composting bin. Worms are eati...

A worm composting bin. Worms are eating the newspaper bedding and producing compost. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

More

You can find hundreds of different composting methods here  including links to worm bins and underground composers.

This is an interesting idea – biogas from dog poo. 

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Compostable Plastic Products I Have Composted

by Posted in 3.1 Composting, 3.1 Disposables & Reusables Tagged , , , , 3 Comments

Compostable plastics come in various forms and are made in different ways. You can read all about compostable plastics here

Composting Plastic At Home 
While most agree that some  plastics are indeed biodegradable and compostable, many say that they can only composted in large scale municipal schemes. As we don’t have many large scale municipal schemes this they say is a pointless advantage.I say the days of large scale municipal schemes is fast approaching as governments aim to divert biodegradable rubbish from landfill sites.

But  I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. Including   Biobags , Deli pots  and disposable Cutlery)
I have occasionally composted cellulose.
Both take longer than “natural” materials  and  sometimes I have found shreds in my compost but I dig it into the soil where it quickly disappears.
The thicker the PLA the longer it takes.
PLA Lined paper cups disappear in no time, the cutlery hung around for ages.

What is biodegradable?
Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem. More about biodegrading here
What is compostable? To be classed compostable, items must biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades), and the resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive. For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the European Norm EN13432. You can find out more here.

To be sure you are using a compostable plastic get one that has been certified compostable. Check out the logo.

Read more about compostable plastics here

We have used and composted the following products.

PLA Compostable Plastic Bags

These disposable, water-resistant bags are great for
fish and meat
Frozen foodstuffs and freezer bags.

Deli pots PLA

Waterproof plastic pots with lids are great for all manner of deli delights including
Cream cheese
Olives
Deli counter lovelies
They can also be used to storefood in the freezer.

Took longer than all the above but they did decompose.

Disposable Cutlery  for  our big party PLA

Took forever but eventually they did disappear.

Cellulose

The remains of my cellulose sponge cloths and the PLA wrapper they came in.
Toilet Rolls
Greencane deliver toilet rolls are wrapped in cellophane, a compostable plastic. Which I compost. Find out more about Greencaneproducts here.

How Do I Compost?

I have a Green Joanna compost bin and I  compost up in the North of England

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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Composting Standards

by Posted in 1.4 Additives Fact Sheets, 3.1 Composting, 3.6 Good to know Tagged , , 6 Comments

Composting accelerates the natural process of biodegrading or rotting down organic waste material into a rich soil or compost. Its the only sustainable way to deal with our waste… we love it.

Biodegradable means …..
Biodegradable products break down through a naturally occurring microorganism, such as fungi or bacteria over a period of time.
They must degrade into simple, stable compounds which can be absorbed into the ecosystem.
You can read more about that HERE

Compostable means…..
To be classed compostable, items must
Biodegrade within a certain time (around the rate at which paper biodegrades.)The resulting particles must be very small.
The resulting biomass must be free of toxins, able to sustain plant life and be used as an organic fertilizer or soil additive.

Composting Standards
For a man-made product to be sold as compostable, it has to meet certain standards. One such is the
European Norm EN13432
This is a EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (94/62/EC), EN 13432:2000 – “Packaging: requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation”
It was introduced in 2000.
It has been adopted by the UK and is published as BS EN 13432 by the British Standards Institution.
Comprehensive evidence has to be submitted before a product gets ‘compostable’ certification.

Home Composting V Industrial Composting

HOWEVER compostable in this instance means that these certified products will break down in an industrial composters.
Industrial composting are large scale schemes.
Home composting is a bin in your back yard.
The difference is is that industrial composting is a lot hotter and can work more quickly.
Therefore, while a product might be classed as both biodegradable and compostable, it might not break down in a backyard compost bin.

Home Composting

Vinçotte, a Belgian accredited inspection and certification organisation,  provide a home composting certification service. Products that display the ‘OK Compost Home’ logo, can go in your bin.

The Association for Organics Recycling is working to establish a similar specification for the UK.

Compostable Plastics

Cellulose derived plastics such as Cellophane. These plant derived plastics are amongst the first examples of the product and do biodegrade. ­
Starch based plastics which are compostable such as PLA plastics. They are certified compostable and do biodegrade.

Composting Compostable Plastic At Home
While most agree that compostable plastic is indeed compostable, many say that it can only composted in industrial composters. As we don’t have many large scale municipal schemes this they say is a pointless advantage.I say the days of large scale municipal schemes is fast approaching as governments aim to divert biodegradable rubbish from landfill sites.
AND I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. We have used and composted a number of products (including Biobags , Deli pots  and disposable Cutlery)
It does take longer than other products and  sometimes I have found shreds of it in my compost but I dig it into the soil where it quickly disappears.

Bioplastics
Most compostable plastics are bioplastics. Bioplastics are made from natural materials such as corn starch. However not all are compostable. For example Ethane based plastics as used Coca-Cola’s PlantBottle which replaces 30 percent of the ethanol in their normal polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottle with 30 percent plant-derived ethanol. This means the bottle is still considered PET and can be recycled but is NOT biodegradable. Find out more here.

To be sure you are getting a compostable plastic get one that has been certified.

More

Check out all our composting posts HERE

Remember, not all bio- plastics can be composted and do not biodegrade – bioplastics dont mean biodegradable. Yup its confusing but try everything you ever wanted to know about plastic.but were too scared to ask, to find out a lot more about plastic.

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Compost Bin basic – cheap but rats!

by Posted in 3.1 Composting Tagged

I’ve had my compost bin for 14 months now and I am very pleased with it. I use it for garden litter which saves on boring trips to the tip, and kitchen waste which it gobbles up by the bucket load. This, rather than compost, is what I bought it for. Biodegradable waste does not do well in the unnatural conditions of a rubbish dump. It bubbles away producing methane which adds to the greenhouse effect. Simply by putting my kitchen waste in a different bin I am reducing my carbon footprint.

It is also a practical investment for the future. The Uk government is committed to reducing the amount of biodegradable waste in landfill by 50%, by the year 2020; I don’t know how they plan to do this – compulsory composting perhaps? Separate waste collections? Investing in herds of municipal swine? Whatever – as 30% of uk domestic waste is organic this is bound to affect us all. Setting up a home composting system seems a sensible precaution.

There are many different ways to compost, from the traditional heap at the bottom of the garden to micro biological systems. Being new to composting I chose the easiest and cheapest option – a plastic bin stood in the garden. I got mine from Kirklees Council in partnership with Recycle Now. Recycle Now offer advice on all things pertaining to compost. They also sell a range of composting bins which, if you are a Kirklees resident, you can buy at a subsidised rate. There are some real bargains to be had.

As a waste disposal unit my compost bin was fantastic and massively reduced the amount going in my black bin.

The the RATS arrived!

Now I had been extremely careful what I put in it. No cooked food or dairy was to be found in there but seems the rats liked salad.

I stopped putting food waste in but the rats stayed. It was like a kind of rat hive in there.

And they ate everything I gave them, even the Leylandii hedge clippings. Now while I admire anything that can eat,and apparently enjoy Leylandii, I cant stand rats.

So I went out and  got myself a Green Johanna   compost bin. It is considered to be the rolls Royce of compost bins, and  is priced appropriately. However it claimed to be rat proof. You can read about it here

The black bin was abandoned till everything in it turned to compost. It was then moved to the allotment where it is happy eating leaves and other gardening detritus.

 

Compost bin in a kitchen cupboard

by Posted in 3.1 Composting Tagged 2 Comments

I am lucky enough to have a garden where I can keep  my compost bin. However if you don’t have the space, you could try one of these and compost in your kitchen.How it works?

composter composter2

Naturemill Automatic Compost Bin.

Two chamber design: So clean and easy, you can even compost indoors. Add food at any time into the  upper  chamber. Heat, mixing, and oxygen help the natural  cultures  break down the food within days – before odors  develop. Push a button to transfer  to the  tray below. It will continue to compost there for another week, while you fill  the upper chamber again. Remove the tray at your convenience.

Here is a Treehugger review

Buy

This company are based in America though the company does list European suppliers

David Tapley might sell them in the UK and possibly this guy on Amazon.

Why

Why compost – well it means no more plastic bin liners, along with numerous other benefits.

More

You can find a whole load of other ways to compost here