Cutting plastic and living compostably
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.
Today’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.
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!
Check out the #plasticfree cookbook here.
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.
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 
balsamic.
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.
I 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
Day one of Wasteless live more and I am tackling tomato puree one of the few plastic wrapped products I use. Of course tins ad metal tubes are plastic lined, as is the metal lids of glass jars. Read about this and other sneaky plastics, here.
So I thought I would try to make tomato puree and guess what? It is really easy.
I finally understand why, tomato puree! Its a way of storing loads of food in a very small space. The idea is to reduce the tomato to its very essense and remove as much as the moisture as possible. The result is a thick flavoursome paste.
So lets get pureeing…
Cut toms in half remove the white bits put in a pan with a bit of water and steam until soft and pulpy and the skins come away easily.
Peel them
Push the pulp through a seive.
Put in a pan and bake in the oven till it thickens
I took it out before it got really thick but it was good enough for me. 10 tomatoes reduced to a small glass.
Cant bear waste tomato soup
Couldnt bear to throw the skins and seeds away so I chucked them in with some lentils and the water I drained off from steaming the tomatos. Cooked and blended.
Ta da!
Check out the plastic free cookbook here
Check out the #plasticfree cookbook here.
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
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
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.’
This was the first year I partnered up with Waste Less Live More Week. You can see my other years here
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.
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.
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