Bristol Water Refill

“Refill Bristol is a practical campaign to make Bristol a city in which refilling your water bottle becomes a cultural norm.”

But how you ask?

“Participating cafes, bars, restaurants, banks, galleries, museums and other businesses will simply put a sticker in their window – alerting passers-by to the fact they’re welcome to come on in and fill up their bottle – for free!”

By the end of the year they hope to have signed up 100 businesses and have an app telling you where they are. For now you can to find them on this map.

Another great water refill scheme to look out for is Give Me Tap

And lets not forget Selfridges who have banned the sale of bottled water in their shops and installed a water refill bar.

 

 

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Scotland Our Green Journey Blog

Hi, my name is Charlotte Todd

It is my mission to try and find ‘green’ alternatives for our family and others, for everyday living essentials. By green, I mean things which are biodegradable, recyclable, re-usable, sustainable products that have little or no air mileage, support the local (or failing that, national) economy and generally make the world a better place to live in. The overriding thing that I look for when choosing products to help life happen, is to what extent they are plastic free.

I am an individual who is blogging to help our family and others pursue green alternatives.
To combat plastic overuse, I choose products that are plastic free, blog about viable alternatives for others to read, and make it my mission in life through social media and everyday encounters to help others realise the problems that plastic has and is causing to our beautiful planet, and what can be done about it. I have created the ‘ultimate list’ on my blog for a quick-reference guide for others to see, without having to go trawling through internet forums/social media/ web pages to find such a handy reference guide.

I live in Scotland (United Kingdom) and have an amazing husband and two wonderful small people. Apart from being chief caregiver, activities coordinator, cook, cleaner and counsellor, I teach primary aged kids and have a keen interest in living in a way that has a positive impact on the environment.

Links – http://www.ourgreenjourney.uk/

D

A bit more…

This post was written by the contributor. It is a PfU.K. Directory submission.

And the Pf U.K. Directory is…?

…a directory of UK-based groups, organisations businesses and individuals who are responding to the problems presented by the misuse of plastic. That does not mean  anti-plastic necessarily but certainly plastic-problem aware.

The DIRECTORY is to promote their fantastic work. Read more here…

Got a project?
It is very easy to get a project featured. Each contributor submits a short synopsis of their project, focussing on the plastic aware element and I post it. You can read the submission guidelines here.

Sing a song of plastic….

A sea bird full of Bics…

Our plastic trash is often eaten by animals by mistake. This can lead to distressing injuries and in the saddest instances  a long, drawn out and painful death. Natalie Fee ( also featured in the Plastic Free U.K. Directory)  is working hard to raise awareness of this issue. Here is here her moving song and thoughtful video.

Official video for BURDEN, the new UK single, out now.

You can watch the music video for Burden here: www.tinyurl.com/BurdenVideo

And you can download Natalie’s song, Burden, from iTunes here www.tinyurl.com/songfortheocean (15% to Surfers Against Sewage Marine Litter Team) or pay what you want from www.nataliefee.bandcamp.com (100% to Surfers Against Sewage Marine Litter Team)

Download on iTunes http://apple.co/1dgAcuf 15% of downloads go to Surfers Against Sewage (Marine Litter Team). More info + links below.

City to Sea: Addressing Marine Litter, Bristol Fashion

Last month we were pleased to feature Natlie Fee in the Plastic Free U.K. Directory. Here is some more of her work

A recent report by Dr Jenna Jambeck, one of the researchers from the University of Georgia in the US claims that 8 million tonnes of litter is dumped in the oceans each year. So Natalie Fee, Singer-Songwriter, TV presenter, and plastics campaigner used 8th June, World Oceans Day to ask a panel of experts and a live audience, “How do we address this plastic marine litter problem, City to Sea: Bristol Fashion?”

World Oceans Day is a significant date for Natalie Fee as it was this day last year that started her on a journey, which was initially about crowdfunding a music video but has culminated in bringing together experts in the field to ask serious questions and look for practical actions at a city-level to make changes.

Having had a fear of the sea, Natalie admits she was out of touch with the growing problem of plastic pollution. But after seeing the the film ‘Midway’, where young Albatross living in the middle of the Pacific are dying on a diet of plastic bottle tops, she was moved to do something more. During the course of the crowdfunding campaign, Natalie learnt to surf, met a great number of people working on this issue in their respective fields, all within the Bristol area and identified an opportunity to bring everyone together.

“It also seemed timely as it was Green Capital year. Bristol is such a can-do, forward-thinking City and I was curious to see what solutions or initiatives could materialise if people collaborated.”

Each year numerous volunteer groups conduct litterpicks along the banks of the Avon, Frome and Severn, the regular offending articles are plastic bottles, plastic bottle tops, polystyrene takeaway containers and earbuds (which are flushed down the toilet). And it was the devastating scenes on the riverbanks of the Avon after this Spring’s high tides that spurred Natalie into action.

Natalie Fee shows the downside of the high tide in Bristol today. Swells of plastic heading out to sea.

So just over a month ago over 30 people living in Bristol and working in fields relating to marine and river health attended the first City to Sea meeting, hosted by Natalie and her newly formed ‘City to Sea’ volunteer team. Following break-out groups a number of initiatives were identified and further discussed on 8th June, with the premise of stemming the flow of plastic litter heading into the Bristol Channel.

Bristol residents, businesses and organisations are joined the panel of experts: Chris Sherrington (Eunomia), Thomas Bell (Director, Changes Us) and Jo Ruxton (Plastic Oceans) in a lively debate which will form the basis of a Bristol Plastic Charter.

“If San Francisco can ban the plastic bottle and New York the polystyrene takeaway carton, just imagine what Bristol can do during its year as Green Capital! I’d like us to become an example to the rest of Europe, of how we stopped so much plastic litter flowing out of the Avon!”

Natalie Fee conducts a two minute beach clean on the banks of the River Avon in Bristol, one week after she witnessed the high Spring tides carrying thousands of pieces of plastic litter out to sea.

The night, which started as a launch of a music video, was broadcast by Made in Bristol TV as an hour-long current affairs debate, and was concluded with a lighter look at the issue through four adult, comedy poems that reflect the experience of the marine animals who are the victims of the plastic problem.

 

Press Enquiries: Livvy Drake 07973 369847

Interviews: Natalie Fee 07871 397868

All Enquiries: citytoseabristol@gmail.com

Website: www.citytosea.org.uk

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Bristol & Plastic A Lot Less

Plastivist of the month is Michelle Cassar……

I started Being PALL – Plastic A Lot Less in November 2008. I had a life changing day, literally!

I´d always “recycled” but on this particular day I did my first beach clean on a deserted beach on the West Coast of Portugal where I was living. The beach was covered in plastic,  we removed as much as we could carry back up the steep cliff. We took it to the recycling bins, most I didn´t even know was plastic!  That evening I came across an article in The Surfer´s Path that simple said, “Every piece of plastic that has ever been made still exists and much of it is in our oceans.”  There was a you tube link to; A Tale of Entanglement. Which is a pretty graphic film of animals entangled in plastic. I was upset and looked around the camper… at all our plastics.  The next day I started refusing and researching.

Some people may doubt this statement. As some plastics have been burnt and there is still plenty on land, but no one can deny, our Oceans are choking in plastic.

I´m a photographer and I surf (when the conditions are small enough).  I was shooting surfschools. This meant I was spending a lot of time at the beaches, surfing or shooting.

With the Atlantic swell, it´s hard not to notice the ever-changing plastic washing up on the beach.  Especially when I was shooting, often even in small Summer swells, plastic washed up around my feet.  I was constantly reminded of the presence of plastic pollution, so I couldn´t help but do something positive about it.  Firstly be reducing my own plastic drastically and then helping other people reduce theirs.

Although I´m still coming up upon obstacles all the time, I try my best to over come the challenges as refusing plastics is a way of life for me now.  I don´t claim to be perfect, there´s always more anyone can do, but PALL-ing´s a good place to start.

I am   Photographer, Blogger, Educator on plastic pollution, Consultant to businesses, with regards to reducing their single use plastics.

I refuse single use, and many many other longer use plastics. After 3 years I´d calculated I alone had refused in the region of 10,000 SUP items, and that number has continued to grow over the years that have followed.

Over the six years I have also helped many other reduce theirs. Some things are simple but add up to incredible amounts. For example, a Surf School I worked with back in 2008 swopped single use bottled water for a water cooler and filter. Over the years they have gone on to refuse 12,000 SUP bottles and the plastic wrapping. They have also saved themselves over €1,500 and countless hours moving water bottles around.

http://being-pall.com/

https://www.facebook.com/beingpall

https://twitter.com/beingpall

A bit more…

This post was written by the contributor. It is a PfU.K. Directory submission.

And the Pf U.K. Directory is…?

…a directory of UK-based groups, organisations businesses and individuals who are responding to the problems presented by the misuse of plastic. That does not mean  anti-plastic necessarily but certainly plastic-problem aware.

The DIRECTORY is to promote their fantastic work. Read more here…

Got a project?
It is very easy to get a project featured. Each contributor submits a short synopsis of their project, focussing on the plastic aware element and I post it. You can read the submission guidelines here.

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2015 Plastic free July Mongolia

…..is hard. Here’s an update. So far we are totally about  4o items that contain some plastic and 4 plastic wrappers each.

It has been pouring down here (with a light dusting of snow – sigh!), so we have been sitting in a lot of cafes in an effort to keep warm and sometimes try to log on to what they advertise as wifi but is in fact an exercise in optimism. Something I am rapidly running out of.

When we sit we have to buy a drink. Here they serve milk tea. A confusing name because it contains no tea at all. It is a dash of milk a lot of hot water, a dollop of grease (butter?) and enough salt to make your lips twist. It tastes…..another sigh! I’ve tried, I really have – but I don’t like hot milk at the best of times. And these are most definitely not the best of times!

So we have been drinking a lot of plastic related beverages. Never a beverage from a plastic bottle! I’ll never sink that low but glass bottles with plastic lined lids, plastic lined cans and the occasional tea bag (which of course contains plastic).  You can find out more about these sneaky plastics here.

This adds up to around 2 items a day each.

When we have access to hot water we are making our own tea with loose leaves we bought in China.

For water we are using our Steripen to sterilize tap water.

But we have been trekking and camping in yurts so have had to buy some of our food. Outside of Ulan Batur the choice is poor. There are markets but they sell mostly pre packed processed food – plastic packed sweets, plastic wrapped processed sausages, instant noodles and packet soup. The only fresh food is weird buttery cheesy stuff that looks like grimy wax and tastes mildly yet unpleasantly of rancid butter. There are a few shriveled fruit and veg that are extremely expensive and meat. And lots and lots of meat. All around sheep are being skinned or carved up into bloody chunks. Furry feet are discarded on the floor, and once a sheep head staring up from the park bench where it had been absently left.

But we have had to eat something while huddled in our yurt and so we have bought 3 plastic wrapped loaves of bread and 3 packets of biscuits. Rather then leave them out in the national park rubbish bins I burnt the wrappers on the fire. There were simple polythene and so (it is claimed) safe to burn.

Back in Ulan Batur and our hotel gave us a sandwich for breakfast. It was included in the price and made as we thought in house. Today they served it in a plastic box. I ate it anyway. And I bought another packet of real coffee. Plastic packed of course.

Litter 

With all this plastic packaging hardly surprising then that there is quite a lot of plastic trash. Everyday we litter picked in the national park collecting huge amounts of bottles.

Waste disposal methods in the city also leave a lot to be desired. Plastic bags are dumped in the street to to be collected by truck at some point. Stray animals scrabble through it looking for food. Then bin men go through the garbage first looking for cans. Inevitably some plastic rubbish escapes in the process.

Check out our FB album for updated photos.

CAMFORR Keep It Real Keep It Clean

So for Plastic Free July I am begging everyone to join in campaigning for real rubbish. You can read about it here.

Keep Our Glass

And asking folks to sign the petition asking Dairy crest to keep their refillable glass milk bottles.

In the pack

Rummage in our plastic free backpack here

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Selfridges Water Refill

Selfridges are setting out to tackle plastic pollution in the ocean by “removing all single-use plastic water bottles from our Foodhalls and restaurants, amounting to approximately 400,000 bottles a year.”  Selfridges website.

I was a little confused by the wording. Single use? Surely all plastic bottles when used as packaging  are single use.  I wondered if perhaps they meant single serving water bottle. I have been caught out like this before. Got all giddy about a water bottle ban only to find that it was restricted to those tiny bottles that contain a small glassful each. Yes a start, but hardly a ban.

So I tweeted them

love that you are removing single use water bottles. Does this mean the single serving small water bottles or all bottled water?

and they replied

disposable water bottles have been replaced with access to water fountains within our store.

Way to go Selfridges.

This  is part of its Project Ocean initiative, a collaborative effort with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Marine Reserves Coalition (MRC).

“Professor Jonathan Baillie, director of conservation programmes at ZSL, said the amount of plastic in the oceans was “staggering” and having a “devastating effect” on marine wildlife.

“No matter where plastic litter originates, once it reaches the ocean it becomes a planetary problem as it is carried by ocean currents,” he said.  Business Green

There is also an exhibition curated by Jane Withers in the Ultralounge on G at Selfridges London featuring work by Studio Swine (one of our favourites – check out their great project here) Andrew Friend, Nick Wood and Alice Dunseath, “which shed light on the plastic problem and propose alternative futures.”  There is also an in store water fountain and water bar to refill your own bottle from.

There is lots more on the website including ways you can cut your plastic footprint.

Needless to say the British Plastics Federation (BPF)  “expressed its “dismay” at Selfridges’ move. Philip Law, the BPF’s director general said: “The availability of water in portable, lightweight bottles promotes good health and can be critical in emergency situations. Plastic products do not litter themselves onto our streets or into our oceans, people do.” Taken from Plastic News.

Does shopping in Selfridges  really count as an emergency situation? When might critical hydration be called for? If you can’t fit into a size 12? They don’t have it in the colour you want?  Situations when only water in a light weight bottle will do.

And of course people shouldn’t litter.  They shouldn’t rob houses either but I am not going to leave my  front door open. There are some anti-social elements who don’t behave as we would like. The challenge is how limit their negative impacts. Plastic litter  doesn’t biodegrade. Once out there it lasts for ever. It only takes few meanies to drop their bottles and you have an expensive case of plastic pollution. The answer is  not to say people should stop dropping trash but to stop making everlasting litter.

Some more info

Why plastic doesn’t biodegrade

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Natalie Fee / City to Sea

So pleased to feature Natalie in the Plastic Free U.K. Directory.

Natalie Fee’s a TV presenter, author, songwriter and campaigner for cleaner seas. She founded City to Sea in Bristol to bring together the individuals and organisations working on plastic pollution to create a City-wide initiative for Bristol during it’s year as European Green Capital.
Plastic Challenge – launching City to Sea: a City-wide initiative to reduce the amount of single-use plastics used in the city, including: earbuds, plastic bottles and polystyrene take-away boxes.

City to Sea: a network of individuals and businesses in Bristol committed to lobbying for change in the way we manufacture and dispose of single-use plastics in the City.
Links –

More

This post was written by the contributor and is  a PfU.K. Directory submission.

The Pf U.K. Directory is…?

…a directory of UK-based groups, organisations businesses and individuals who are responding to the problems presented by the misuse of plastic. That does not mean anti-plastic necessarily but certainly plastic-problem aware.

The DIRECTORY is to promote their work not mine. Read more here…

Got a project?
It is very easy to get a project featured. Each contributor submits a short synopsis of their project, focussing on the plastic aware element and I post it. You can read the submission guidelines here.

Follow us on facebook here

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Index 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, promote projects, look at my bin and join with other people all over the world who are taking this time to rethink their relationship with plastic.

What is Plastic Free July

The aim is to cut your consumption of one use plastic, for one month – July. If that sounds a bit much bear in mind that definitions of one use plastic can vary. And how much you choose to cut is up to  you – read my take.
You can  take this opportunity to tackle one item. Maybe get your self a milkman, buy (or make) some produce bags for loose veges or get a refillable water bottle.
You don’t have to do it all at once!

But whatever and how much you choose to do, he plastic you loose is more important than the plastic you use!

A bit of history

Plastic Free July started in 2011. It is an initiative of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council (WMRC) in Perth, Western Australia and was developed by clever Earth Carers staff. In 2012 Plastic Free July expanded across Perth and in 2013 it went global. They have a great website and are all round good eggs.

My Plastic Free July

I cut all disposable plastics and just to remind you, that includes:
tins & cans:
tetrapaks:
glass jars with plastic/ plastic-lined lids:
Plastic lined cardboard:
Teabags:
Don’t know they had plastic in them? You can read all about sneaky plastics here
Plastic packed personal care and hygiene products. I will as ever be making my own. Sadly the ingredients came plastic wrapped but it can’t be avoided.
Any other plastic goods that I can’t think of right now.

Plastic I find myself using but Try not to
Booze. Itbis almost impossible to find plastic free booze to take out and there is usually at least one social occasion that requires a gift of alcohol.
If the morning after visiting said friends painkillers are required then they will be administered. As of course will any other necessary medicines.

Basically it’s what I do all year without the backsliding on the mayonnaise and wine front.

Keeping in Touch
Facebook groupf eatured

Join in at the Plastic Is Rubbish Support Group where people share plastic free tips.
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.

 U.K. Participants

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.

You can find a list of bloggers who have contributed  here.

Follow My Progress

2018  just starting

Past Years

I am proof that you can do this anywhere no matter the constraints.
2014 I did it while travelling  in a van. Here is how I did.
2015 I did it with a backpack  check out Plastic free Mongolia
2016  here
2017  On a desert island. read more  here 

More Resources & Info

Loads of plastic free products here… A to Z of plastic free products

And see all our past plastic free July posts 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 (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

now wash your hands

Perhaps not a completely plasticless project but a plastic reduced because you get more for your rubbish. Any way I just love it and deserves publicising.

Hand washing cuts decease and saves lives in third world countries. The Global Soap Project Process recycles hotel soaps. The following is taken from their website

Handwashing with soap is the most effective way to prevent the leading causes of death for children globally — illnesses that claim more than 2.4 million lives each year.

It all begins with the hotels! Hotel representatives can use the registration form or contact our hotel engagement manager to get started.

Collection Soap is collected from hotels and shipped to our warehouse in Las Vegas.

Sorting Because every brand is distinct, we do not mix soap. Each is sorted into containers for each hotel and brand.
Processing The soap is softened by heat and filtered through an extremely fine-mesh screen to remove dirt and other particulates. It is then molded into finished bars, hand cut, cured, inspected and packaged. Much of this work is performed by volunteers.
Verification GSP commissions third-party laboratory tests to screen for traces of pathogens on a sample from each batch of soap it produces before it ships.
Distribution We work with distribution partners and NGOs to ship, distribute soap and educate recipients on the best way to use it for health and sanitation purposes
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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 an eco winner: To make a bottle of eco2life cleaner, fill a spray bottle about half full of ordinary tap water, simply add one ‘small wonder’ refill to the spray bottle and top up with cold tap water. Replace the trigger, give it a quick shake – you’re all set to go.

There is no lugging of ‘water’ back and forth, requiring less production, less energy, less packaging

Our spray trigger is designed for a long life and our spray bottles are reusable.

Vegetarian Society Approved.

It’s made in the UK and of course it’s made from naturally derived readily biodegradable aquatic safe ingredients with fully recyclable packaging.

Planet Earth eco2life ‘The brilliantly simple refill system’!

Please note

This post was written by the contributor. It is not a Plastic Is Rubbish review, does not represent my personal opinions and I may not have used this product or service. Instead it is a PfU.K. Directory submission.

The Pf U.K. Directory is…?

…a directory of UK-based groups, organisations businesses and individuals who are responding to the problems presented by the misuse of plastic. That does not mean anti-plastic necessarily but certainly plastic-problem aware.

In 2014 I hope to feature 12 UK-based initiatives featuring refuseniks, trash slashers, businesses and the rest.

The DIRECTORY is to promote their work not mine. Read more here…

Got a project?
It is very easy to get a project featured. Each contributor submits a short synopsis of their project, focussing on the plastic aware element and I post it. You can read the submission guidelines here.

Plastic free Northumberland wildlife trust…

This month 3 employees will try to live without plastic…..

In January 2015 we are attempting to go plastic free to help highlight the problems of plastics in our environment.  While this plastic free status is only for the month it should also help us to reduce our use of plastic in the long-term.  Here we hope to highlight some of the problems, the solutions and ways that all of us can help reduce plastics in our environment.

It should be emphasised that we are particularly keen to avoid single use plastic items as it is almost impossible to avoid the use of plastic items that occur everywhere (phones, computers, cars etc.).  By single use we include bottles that claim to be recyclable as opposed to re reuseable.

Follow their progress here on the blog