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Air Miles & Buying British

One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the shops seeing what you can source. Better still if they are independant shops rather than supermarkets. But it’s not just about local shops, buying local produce is extremely important to me for a number of reasons, one of which is product miles.

What are product miles?

The distance a product has to travel from growth or production to the place of consumption. is called product miles.
It follows in the better known tradition of
Air-miles – how far a product had to fly
Food miles – the distance from farm to fork
I am sure there are others I don’t know about. Container miles maybe? Ship miles? But I prefer product miles as it covers them all.

Why Count Them
I am always concerned by how far a purchase has to travel to reach me. If it was grown or made next door it will, obviously, have to be transported a shorter distance than one made in China.
I want to cut the carbon cost of everything I use and product miles have an attached carbon cost. The longer the distance a product travels, the more petrol needs to be burnt resulting in more emissions, more trucks are needed on more roads… basically it means more of everything. And a lot of them things I don’t much like including global warming.

Seasonal & Local

Buying closer to home doesn’t always mean that product was produced more ethically. Peppers grown in cold Holland in artificially heated greenhouses may have a higher carbon cost then peppers imported from hot Spain even though it is further away. Out of season U.K. strawberries will have a higher carbon cost (again from heating greenhouses) than ones grown in season.

Buying native fruit and veg in season is the greenest way to buy. But does limit my choice. If I need to buy imported often because there is no unpackaged, local veg my general rule of thumb is seasonal, native from the country of origin. So I will buy imported melons from Spain but only if they are naturally grown in Spain and in season.

Ideally No further away than  Europe – bananas being the exception.

Case Study The Product Miles Of A U.K. Made Plastic Bowl
Even then it is not always easy….
Salmon Luke make plastic bowls here in the U.K. This is from their website:
“Here are the product miles for our bowl and cutlery.
One Salmon Luke bowl 1,972 miles
One spoon and fork set 2,164 miles”
But be aware that “the raw ingredient for plastic is obviously oil, but it’s nigh on impossible to find out where ‘our’ oil was extracted. So, for the purposes of our study, we calculated the product miles from the petrochemical company which produced the finished polymer. ”

Shopping British Owned

So we don’t just buy #plasticfree, we try to support our local shops when ever possible and buy British made. Failing that if we have to enter those hellish portals, we try to buy from a U.K. owned chain store. check out our buyers guide 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

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Swimwear Recycled

Well my Decathlon, unsustainable boy shorts have finally fallen apart and it is time to source some new, more ethical swim wear. Given my …. lets call it chunky…. form,  this is an area where I feel I might have to go with lycra. Yes it’s plastic but I need it to keep my pants on. So I am looking at recycled, recyclable stretch swim wear as the way to go. Until I learn how to make my own, this is the best I can do and the only realistic option for those who can’t sew.

Davy Jones

This is a very nice project…Davy Jones have just launched a ranges of swimwear made from ” 100% regenerated nylon yarn from waste including spent and ghost fishing nets. And are designed to last longer, fighting the trend of throwaway fashion and creating something that can keep up with you in all conditions.
WE are looking to build a closed-loop resource system within the brand. While OUR SUITS ARE BUILT TO LAST, when THEY DO eventually reach the end of THEIR life, we want you to be able to return them to us and we will recycle or regenerate the resource content. The target will be to achieve 60% closed loop recycling by 2020.”

They are also made in the U.K. 

Visit the website here 

Rizboard Shorts
If I was younger, slimmer and richer I would go for a pair of these…..Rizboard Shorts for surfers – ladies and gents….
These are designed in London, made in Portugal, from recycled fabric and they have a recyswim wear recycle postcling program to take back old shorts.  Nice designs too.  Some blurb for the website…

“Riz Smith, the founder and creative director, is a London-based designer and surfer. After years of designing swim and beachwear for various global brands, he became acutely aware of the need for something better. With this in mind he set out to build a small, honest brand shaped around the aspiration of creating ‘The most beautiful and sustainable swim shorts in the world’.WE DON’T WANT OUR SHORTS LITTERING LANDFILLS OR OCEANS. SO, IN AN EFFORT TO DO OUR PART WE’VE SET UP THE RIZCYCLING PROGRAMME.

This means working with our customers, you, to create a perpetual loop that transforms waste and old swimwear into beautiful new products.

Today all our shorts are made from 100% recycled and recyclable fabrics. By offering a 25% discount on a new pair of shorts, we encourage you to donate your old unwanted surf shorts for us to reuse or rehome.

Speedos
Here’s another scheme I came across. For those of you who like a sustainable banana hammock….and who wouldn’t. Best of all worlds surely?

Aquafil & Speedo

Aquafil today announced it has partnered up with with Speedo USA. Aquafil, specializes in the production of a synthetic fabric called Econly Nylon 6. It is, according to Sustainable Brands, made from upcycled fishing nets, old carpets and other nylon products that have reached the end of their product life. Better still it is endlessly recyclable.

Speedo specialize in the manufacture of swimwear known for those very skimpy trunks known as budgie smugglers. The ones that make you avert your watering eyes.

Aquafil will be taking Speedo’s left over fabric scraps and turning it back into nylon fibre. This will be used to make PowerFLEX Eco fabric which will turned into more swimwear.

Powerflex consists is78 percent ECONYL nylon the rest is Extra Life LYCRA®.

An article in Sustainable Brands quotes Speedo as saying “the resulting fabric retains its shape up to 10 times longer than traditional swimwear fabrics, is resistant to chlorine, sagging and bagging and is offered in styles designed for both performance and fitness swimmers.”

The article claims that “ECONYL offers the same quality and performance as traditionally manufactured nylon and can be recycled an infinite number of times without any loss in quality.”

What it doesn’t say is how or indeed if you can recycle your trunks.However that should be a possibility. Patagonia uses a similar sort of fabric and runs a return and recycle scheme.

Outerknown

This fabric is also used in  surfer Kelly Slater ‘s new men’s apparel line,Outerknown,

Read more about similar types of synthetic fabric.

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Clothes – Shop Bought

I have started making my own clothes but some things are beyond me. Tee shirts, underwear and Jeans / trousers are all way too difficult as yet. Socks, tights and leggings also fall into this category. Though I am learning to knit socks!!!

So some stuff I have to buy. I have strict rules ( surprise) applied to buying of clothes. I mostly buy natural fibres Read about how I buy and why I prefer natural fabrics over synthetics here.

Buying Plastic Free

You might be buying woolen trousers but you still get some plastic. The cotton to sew them will be plastic, as will the buttons and other fixings. Even the labels. and those beastly coat hangers. Its a minefield I tell you.
Read more about plastic Involved when buying  ready made clothes

Clothes I have sourced

  • Cycling and UV resistant clothing- work in progress
  • Swimwear
  • Knickers
  • Tee shirts Marks & Spencer’s see below
  • Jeans and trousers Marks & Spencer’s see below

I only feel comfortable buying sustainable clothes. I mean clothes made from cloth woven from fair-trade, ideally organically-grown, natural fibres, by people paid a proper wage. The articles then need to be sewn up in safe and healthy environments by adults who can live off what they earn. Problem is I can’t afford those kinds of clothes on what I earn.

So I shop at M&S. one of the more sustainable high street stores and pretty good value. They also do reasonably good quality cotton basics. They sell a lot of stuff unhung and they actually reuse their plastic hangers. But….. much as I like M&S I have to admit that they can be a little… erm…. stodgy? And some of the above plastic related issues still apply,

Making Your Own Plasticfree Sustainable Clothes

Seems to me the only way to get completely compostable clothes that are, sustainable, affordable and plastic-free as possible is to make them yourself. So I dragged out my sewing machine and started stitching my own sustainable duds in sustainable amounts.

Fibres to fabrics 

Clothes

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Shea Butter Leeds

This is a quick introduction to Shea Butter

Semi soft buttery oil. Read more about butter oils and waxes here.
Imported usually from Africa.
Has a soft velvety texture.
Can be used neat as a very rich moisturiser.
Mix with coconut oil to make a lighter body butter. Recipe here.
I love it added to home made creams and lotions.

Which Shea Butter?

Unrefined shea butter is going beige or ivory or ‘off white’
Bright white refined shea butter
Pale yellow may be shea from Nilotica (Viterallia Nilotica) and it’s natural
Deep yellow Shea Butter has been dyed originally with a natural dye from the Borututu tree or more likely now a synthetic dye.

Raw Shea Butter
In it’s natural form.
Unrefined Shea Butter
Some filtering allowed so remove larger particles.
Refined Shea Butter
Some form of processing which also removes its smell.

Read more about shea butter in Wikipedia

Buy

It can of course be bought online but here in Yorkshire we have a local supplier. Maya’s stall in Leeds Market. They specialise in black hair and beauty so if you don’t live near Leeds check to see if there is a similar store or even hairdressers near you.It does come in a plastic tub though.

PLASTIC SPOILER
Wether bought on line or locally there will be some plastic packaging either a bag or a tub. As I get huge amounts of product from one tub or bag I consider it a worthwhile compromise as it still represents a huge decrease in plastic consumption.

We Made

Body butter

More

See a full range of homemade #plasticfree personal care products here 

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Citric Acid

Can be bought in a cardboard box without a plastic liner from Wilcos.

Find more plastic free stuff as stocked in Wilcos, and Wilcos the store,here.

Supermarkets & Chainstores

Sometimes supermarkets can surprise you – check out the plastic-free and reduced packaging products here.

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Lush plastic free products

lush are one of the more forward thinking British companies. They are ethical in all kinds of ways and  sell a lot of their beauty products unwrapped. Good if you are trying to live plastic free and not hurt the bunnies. Read more About ethical Lush here

They do plastic free

unwrapped soap
solid shampoo  read my review here
solid conditioner read my review here
unpacked henna
Unpacked bath bombs

Most other products are in recyclable pots – return to store for free product

And these new products
The following is from the UK business insider review.
Lush just released “naked” — or packaging-free — versions of shower gels, body lotions, and body conditioners.
The naked body lotion and body conditioner are surprisingly great, and work slightly better than their packaged counterparts.
The naked shower gel is unique, but isn’t quite as moisturizing as the original formula.

Read more.

I don’t use them much as the shops smell way to strong. I can’t go in without sneezing. But there are plenty who do who. Here is a great series of reviews by Minimalist Exposure

And they support stuff like this:

One of four Pop Ups being staged to support the Lush 2017 Creative Showcase event in London next month, Naked House is part gallery exhibition and part immersive experience curated by the brand team at Lush to show just how easy it is to make the switch to Naked (as in living with less packaging).
Read more here.

More

Find other plastic free personal care products here…

Making Other Personal Care Products 

Its quicker then  trying to choose between a hundred different shampoos and it’s really simple, fun to do, so much cheaper  and  I get to control what goes on my  body, where it comes from and what environmental impact it has.

Lots more info here on making your own personal care products

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Wilkos

Did you know you can buy loose screw and other fixings at Wilcos – as many or as few as you need and you can mix and match. You will need to take your own plastic free bag.

Loose screws

You can find a photo gallery of the #plasticfree products we have sourced, here

Plus these which we didn’t take photos of

Bicarbonate of Soda, large crystals – Cardboard
Borax Substitute – Cardboard
Citric acid

Find A Store – store locator here

More

Wilko Retail Ltd. is a British high-street chain which sells homewares and household goods. Founded in 1930 as Wilkinson Cash Stores by James Kemsey Wilkinson in Leicester, the company has remained largely in the hands of the founding family. Wikipedia

Supermarkets & Chainstores

Sometimes supermarkets can surprise you – check out the plastic-free and reduced packaging products here.

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Who owns what

This infographic is from reddit  and I have no idea if it is true or not! But there is no doubt that very few companies own an awful lot of stuff.

 

Boycotting plastic means buying unwrapped which often means buying local – from the butcher, the green grocer and the baker.

Which takes back some control and keeps money in the community.

Just another reason we do it

Who owns your daily news……
With thanks to Left foot forward
Newspaper(s)
Combined print and online readership
(In brackets print alone)
Effective owner/s
Information about effective owner/s
Political orientation of newspaper/s
% of combined print and online (Print alone)
The Sun/The Sun on Sunday
13,674,000
(12,765,000)
Rupert Murdoch
Billionaire. Lives in US.
Alleged tax avoider.
Supported Tories in 2010
18.6%
(20.7%)
The Mail/ Mail on Sunday
12,188,000
(9,534,000)
Lord Rothermere
Billionaire. Lives in France.
Non-domiciled for UK tax
Supported Tories in 2010
16.5%
(15.5%)
Metro
7,986,000
(7,597,000)
Lord Rothermere
Billionaire. Lives in France.
Non-domiciled for UK tax
Supported Tories in 2010
10.8%
(12.3%)
Mirror/Sunday Mirror/ People
7,874,000
(7,063,000)
Trinity Mirror plc
Public Limited Company
Supported Labour in 2010
10.7%
(11.4%)
The Guardian/The Observer
5,342,000
(2,898,000)
Scott Trust Ltd
A company with purpose “to secure Guardian’s independence”
Supported Lib Dems in 2010
7.3%
(4.7%)
Telegraph/ Sunday Telegraph
4,998,000
(3,128,000)
David and Frederick Barclay
Billionaires. Live on private island near Sark.
Alleged tax avoiders.
Supported Tories in 2010
6.8%
(5.1%)
The Times/ Sunday Times
4,608,000
(4,418,000)
Rupert Murdoch
Billionaire. Lives in US.
Alleged tax avoider.
Supported Tories in 2010
6.3%
(7.2%)
The Independent/ i/Independent on Sunday
4,002,000
(2,770,000)
Alexander (father)and Evgeny (son) Lebedev
Alexander is a billionaire, ex-KGB and lives in Russia. Evgeny lives in the UK
Supported anti-Tory tactical voting in 2010
5.4%
(4.5%)
London Evening Standard
3,850,000
(3,443,000)
Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev
Alexander is billionaire, ex-KGB and lives in Russia. Evgeny lives in UK
Supported Tories in 2010
5.2%
(5.6%)
Daily Express/Sunday Express
3,118,000
(2,756,000)
Richard Desmond
Billionaire pornographer.
Alleged tax avoider.
Supported Tories in 2010
4.2%
(4.5%)
Daily Star/Daily Star Sunday
2,972,000
(2,873,000)
Richard Desmond
Billionaire pornographer.
Alleged tax avoider.
Supported Tories in 2010
4.0%
(4.7%)
Daily Record/ Sunday Mail
1,719,000
(1,527,000)
Trinity Mirror plc
Public limited company
Supported Labour in 2010
2.3%
(2.5%)
Financial Times
1,339,000
(928,000)
Pearson plc
Public limited company
Supported Tories in 2010
1.8%
(1.5%)
TOTALS
73,670,000
(61,700,000)
Readership of UK press (for papers over 1 million) in March 2013 by effective owners
Effective owner(s)
% of combined print and online (print alone)
Lord Rothermere
27.3 (27.8)
Rupert Murdoch
24.9 (27.9)
Trinity Mirror plc
13.0 (13.9)
Alexander and Evgeny Lebedev
10.6 (10.1)
Richard Desmond
8.2 (9.2)
Scott Trust
7.3 (4.7)
David and Frederick Barclay
6.8 (5.1)
Pearson plc
1.8 (1.5)
Over a quarter (27.3 per cent) of the press is owned by Lord Rothermere and 24.9 per cent by Rupert Murdoch – between them these two men have over 50 per cent of the printed press.

Over three quarters (77.8 per cent) of the press is owned by a handful of billionaires. There are only 88 billionaires among the 63 million people in the UK and most of the barons do not even live in the UK.

Yarn Wool

Know Your Fibres

Textiles and ultimately clothing start with fibres

Know Your Fibres
Fibres are short fine hairs that can be twisted or spun into longer thread or yarn. This may be woven or knitted into fabric.
Fibres (and then yarns and ultimately fabrics) can be can be natural, synthetic or chemically produced hybrid called regenerated fibres.

Natural fibres Are derived from plants like cotton or animals like wool and silk,
Synthetic fibres are man-made from chemicals many of which are petroleum derived.
Regenerated Fibres The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources. It is then converted through a chemical process into fibres.

Read more HERE

Guest Post

Thanks to Jen for this introduction to natural yarns…

Knitting and crochet are very popular hobbies these days and you can find yarn in almost every craft shop. The trouble is that, whilst the common term for it is “wool”, a lot of what you will find is actually plastic, often in the form of acrylic (which, incidentally, isn’t made in the UK). Care is, therefore, needed when you go shopping.

Acrylic yarn is cheap and can be washed in the washing machine, in addition it’s available in a huge range of colours, so it’s a very common choice. However, it sheds large numbers of fibres (and all that machine washing does nothing to reduce this) and it doesn’t maintain its look and shape like real wool does. If you want to avoid plastic for your knitting and crochet there are, however, a range of options:

Wool: Probably the most obvious alternative is real wool – you know, the stuff that comes from sheep. Wool is a very accommodating yarn to work with as it has some stretch. Here in the UK it is easy to buy British Wool: check the ball bands and look got 100% wool not a wool/manmade fibre blend. I’m not going to list brands or suppliers, because there are so many, but you can buy wool from a wide range of sources, from large companies through to individual farms. Take a look at Woolsack for a comprehensive list of British wool sources and stockists. You can buy generic or breed-specific wool. Different sheep breeds produce different sorts of wool with different properties, so if you have a specific set of requirements, it’s best to do some research first: soft Blue-faced Leicester, for example, is somewhat different to lustrous Wensleydale. You can find information on-line (here, for example), but it’s best to go to your local yarn shop and feel the wool… and ask questions. Whilst it’s easy enough to buy online, it’s much better to have personal experience rather than relying on a written description. It’s also worth noting that there are those who rave only about Merino wool; however, very little is produced in Britain and there are great local alternatives such as Blue-faced Leicester. If you are looking for machine-washable wool, then you can buy ‘Superwash’ wool, but it is actually plastic-coated (the chemical used is polyamide-epichlorohydrin, known commercially as Hercosett 125). I prefer to wash my woollies in a no-rinse wool wash, such as Eucalan which just requires soaking followed by gentle wringing or pressing between a couple of towels.

Other mammal fibres: It’s possible to produce yarn from a whole range of fluffy critters: goats, rabbits, camels, alpaca, yak and many others. The fibre from each has different characteristics, and, in general, they are relatively expensive. Again, it’s best to get up close to them before you decide which is the yarn for you.

Cotton: There’s plenty of cotton yarn available and there are no issues with plastics here, unless it’s a blend (which is not uncommon). Cotton, however, is a crop that uses huge amounts of water and (unless it is organic) to which huge amounts of pesticides are applied, so whilst you’re avoiding plastic, you might want to consider other environmental issues. Of course, no cotton is grown in the UK, but there are some recycled cotton yarns available. In terms of knitting and crochet, cotton has no stretch to it and it can be rather unforgiving to work with.

Other plant fibres: Some plants, like flax and nettle, contain fibres that can be removed by a process called retting (basically rotting away the soft bits and leaving the long fibres) and then spinning these. Linen, hemp and nettle HEREyarns are made this way; indeed ‘linen’ is sometimes used as a generic term to describe this sort of fibre. Like cotton, these yarns tend not to be stretchy and so can be more difficult to knit or crochet than wool/mammal fibres.

Silk: Silk comes from insects: most commonly the mulberry silkworm. It’s sometimes available as a pure yarn, but it’s often included in a mix with other fibres to provide lustre and strength. Like the plant fibres, it isn’t stretchy.

© Jan Martin 2018
thesnailofhappiness.com

Please note…

This post was written by the contributor.
Guest Post & Plastic Free Promotions
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Hodmedods – British Grown Beans, Grains & Pulses

Did you now you can get homegrown British beans, lentils (soon) and even Quinoa. Many of them organically grown….

Introducing Hodmedod’s

“We work with British farms to source a range of top quality ingredients and delicious foods. We’re particularly interested in searching out less well-known foods, like the fava bean – grown in Britain since the Iron Age but now almost forgotten – and black badger peas.
THE GREAT BRITISH BEANS PROJECT
We founded Hodmedod following the successful Great British Beans trial project to stimulate and assess demand for indigenous pulses.”

So far so fantastic but it gets better…

Plastic Free Packaging

“Many thanks for your enquiry.

Using recyclable packaging is something we feel very strongly about and we are avoiding plastic where we can. We are aiming for all plastic-free packaging.
So far all our 500g packs of dried pulses and grains are packed in compostable plant based cellophane.
At the moment we are still struggling to find a compostable sticker adhesive, but you can peel off the sticker and pop the rest in the compost.
most bulk bags are paper
our packaging puffs are compostable non-GM maize.

Unfortunately we are unable to offer this for our snack range which are packaged in impermeable packaging and resistant to break down from the oils within them and no biodegradable packaging we are aware of fulfils these stipulations.”

Heres the product range but do check the site as there may be more by now

Pulses & Beans
Yellow Peas split
Green Peas, Split
Fava Bean split and whole
Carlin / Yellow / Blue Peas,
Red Haricot Beans

Lentils coming soon

Quinoa
Wholegrain White Quinoa

Grains
Spelt,
Emmer,
Einkorn,
Naked Oats

Flaked & Puffed Grains
Quinoa Flakes,
Quinoa Puffs,
Naked Barley Flakes

Seeds
Camelina Seed

Buy from the Hodmedod’s website

More

Buy Local, Buy British
Check out other British based stores and products HERE

Other options for loose beans include

Wholefood Market a supermarket chain
Weigh & Save shops a UK franchise
And other loose food outlets as listed below

Loose Food A to Z
Find out if a shop near you sells bulk food loose. This is stuff that that normally comes plastic packaged ie rice, pasta and salt. And yes these shops do exist in the U.K. There’s just not many of them.
Heres alist of towns with shops selling loose food.


Packaging

While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own plastic-free /reusable bags.

More Food

Check out the tasty food index to find lots of plastic-free GRUB yum yum!

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Clothes hangers

Plastic coat hangers? I hate them. They are rubbish, break easily and are bad for your clothes.
They are usually given away with a purchase of clothing..
Even if you refuse the hanger don’t fondly think it is automatically going to be reused. Many clothes now are bought, ready- hung from the manufacturer. They are not hung in store.
Some of the larger coat hangers may be reused at home but there is a limit to how many coat hangers you need.

And if you are talking knickers vests and the like, those hangers are little more than one-use disposables. Unless you have a strange fetish for them, you don’t keep them and the stores certainly don’t reuse them.

The amount of waste created by these disposable hangers in phenomenal. It is claimed the USA alone they get through 8 billion plastic /wire hangers a year . – enough to fill the empire states building 4 times over. You can  find a lot more statistics on hanger abuse here.

And no recycling is not the answer!

Saying NO to plastic coat hangers

Refuse – I try to buy un-hung clothes when ever possible. That means clothes that are not displayed on hangers.

  1. What To Do With Plastic Hangers

    Reuse – but if you do end up with unwanted hangers you can try giving them away.  Charity shops sometimes need more coat hangers and you can often get rid of them them via  free cycle.

    Return I don’t have many clothes that need dry cleaning, but when I do get that done, I return the hanger.

    Plastic Free Alternatives

    At Home

    Wooden Hangers At home I hang my clothes on wooden hangers. I buy mine from wherever I see them (including Ikea).

    In Shops

    If you are a shop owner or dry cleaner and you really need a disposable hanger – here’s are some addresses for cardboard hangers you can recycle.

    U.K Hangers Of London

    Defenda are made in the U.K.

    If you are questioning your use of plastic or wire coat hangers, due to the environmentally devastating effect their disposal has on landfill each year, you will be delighted to know that an alternative exists.

    DEFENDA Green Hangers Are Environmentally Friendly Corrugated Cardboard Clothes Hangers / Coat Hangers.
    UK Manufactured For Reduced Import Miles

    These Strong ECO-FRIENDLY Corrugated Alternatives To Plastic & Metal Wire Coat Hangers Are Produced From Recycled Corrugated Board & Are 100% Recyclable. They Are Ideal For Commercial Or Domestic Use i.e. Dry Cleaning Companies, Laundrettes, Clothes Shops / Retailers etc

    They Are Also A Safer Option For Organisations Where Safety Is a Concern Such As: HM Prison Services, Mental Health Facilities, Care & Nursing Homes & Many Other Institutions Where Metal Or Plastic Hangers Can Be Used As Weapons Or Allow For Self-Harming Among Patients.

    SUPPLIED TO UK & EUROPEAN COUNTRIES – CALL COVENTRY 02476 422000 FOR INFORMATION

    Or these Normn Hangers

    The Solid Board that the hangers are made from is 100% recycled. The hangers too are 100% recyclable after you are done using them. So when its time for fresh ones, you can just pop the old ones into the paper recycling and they’ll re-surface perhaps as a paper cup, stationary or maybe even into a new, cool sustainable hanger. PLUS our hangers are printed with vegetable-based inks – they do absolutely no harm to nature.

    Sustainability in manufacturing

    All our hangers are produced by our exclusive partner Smurfit Kappa. They are one of the world’s largest integrated manufacturers of paper-based packaging products. They have also won several sustainability awards. We continuously work closely with Smurfit Kappa to research and develop new models of perfectly crafted, sustainable hangers.

    Abroad

    USA 

    This company are promoting a solution; a fibre board biodegradable hanger and a campaign against the plastic hanger . Here is their promotional material

    Plastic hanger facts
    Approximately 85% of plastic retail hangers no reused or recycled
    90% of America’s clothes now imported
    30-40 billion clothes come into the United States on plastic hangers
    85% of 30-40 billion is 25. > 34 billion hangers into landfills every year.
    34 billion landfilled hangers would fill almost 20 Empire State Buildings
    40 billion hangers end to end would stretch 8 million miles, far beyond the orbit of the moon—every year.
    Polystyrene hangers off-gas benzene in clothing and leaches benzene into the ground water.
    Polycarbonate hangers leach bisphenol-a into ground water.
    Plastic hangers take over 1,000 years to break down in an anerobic landfill. All for a one-time use.
    Why so many hangers?
    Growing industry trend of one-use plastic hangers
    Garments on Hangers (GOH) – hangers are put on clothing overseas by clothing manufacturer and shipped to store already on hanger
    Each hanger is one-use and garment replacing sold product has it’s own hanger.
    Hanger is now outsourced to clothing manufacturer who includes the price of the hanger into their Cost of Goods (COG)
    Its cheaper for the clothing retailer to use one-use hangers but plastic is a poor material to make any product that is one-use, especially one with so much plastic in it.
    Companies who use Garment on Hangers are Wal-Mart, Old Navy, C&A, Target, Kmart, Coles and most department stores.
    Aren’t plastic hangers recyclable?
    Cheaper to landfill than to recycle
    Cheaper to make new plastic hangers than recycle
    Multiple materials (metal hook and clips, rubber or vinyl no-slip pads, 7 different types of plastic) make recycling impractical if not impossible.
    Where do plastic hangers go if I don’t take them after I buy clothing? Answer: in a box under the counter then out to the back.
    How much waste per store?
    One clothing company’s flagship store in San Francisco that uses the GOH system said
    They throw away approximately 95% of their plastic hangers every day.
    They replace from 8,000 to 28,000 garments everyday
    That means they throw away from 7,600 to 26,600 hangers every day.
    Why do companies that say they are green use such a wasteful system where up to 19.5 Empire State Buildings of plastic hangers landfilled?
    Because hangers are invisible to the consumer
    The wire hanger was patented in 1890
    The plastic retail hanger was invented in the 60’s
    There’s been no innovation, so the hangers have become invisible
    They are so prevalent that no one sees them anymore
    Hanger companies and retail clothing companies are very quiet about this extreme waste stream
    Hanger companies stay in business
    Retailers save by using one-use GOH plastic hangers

    What’s the solution?
    Tell your local retailer that you do not like plastic hangers in stores that you buy at.
    that up to 34 billion of those plastic retail hangers go into your municipal landfill.
    that they are not green if they use plastic hangers – even recycled plastic hangers.
    Tell them that 85% of all plastic hangers end up in landfills.
    Tell them to use a sustainable material such as paper fiberboard hangers that can be recycled at the store or at consumer curbside pickups
    Join the Anti Plastic Hanger Movement and stop the 36 billion plastic hangers that get thrown into local landfills everyyear to save retail companies money!

    You can see all our posts on clothing, fabrics and the plastic-free wardrobe here.

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Pulses & beans – Index

You can buy beans in a number of ways.
Dried loose or ready packed
Tins
Glass Jars

Lentils and pulses Are usually sold dried, loose or ready packed.

Loose

Dried beans can be bought loose
As befits a hippy supermarket Whole Food Markets do a good range.

Scoop and save shops Usually do red lentils and a limited range of beans.

Check out the loose food index for more loose food shops.

Loose Food A to Z
Find out if a shop near you sells bulk food loose. This is stuff that that normally comes plastic packaged ie rice, pasta and salt. And yes these shops do exist in the U.K. There’s just not many of them.
Heres alist of towns with shops selling loose food.


Packaging

While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own plastic-free /reusable bags.

Online

Did you now you can get homegrown British beans, lentils (soon) and even Quinoa. Many of them organically grown….Introducing Hodmedod’s
“Using recyclable packaging is something we feel very strongly about and we are avoiding plastic where we can. We are aiming for all plastic-free packaging.
So far all our 500g packs of dried pulses and grains are packed in compostable plant based cellophane.”

They sell beans, grains and pulses. See the full list HERE

 

Buying Plastic Wrapped

But if none of these work for you try to buy products that are wrapped in polythene rather than film  as this is an easily recycled plastic unlike film which is not. More details here.

Internet store Goodness can supply you with a whole load of  beans and other dried stuff in polythene bags. Please note, many  of the companies featured on their website DO sell stuff in film BUT the 3kg bulk buy bags in the Goodness range, (their own range), always come in polythene bags.

At least that has been my experience but you should double check..

Their onward packaging is all recyclable or biodegradable.

Goodness Range ( that I have bought – there are lots more 

  • Kidney Beans
  • Black Eye
  • Lentils Yellow
  • Lentils Green

Tins

Many places sell tins of ready cooked beans.

Glass

You can find beans and chickpeas in glass jars in some Asian shops and polish delis.