post

Ecoforce -recycled cleaning products

by Posted in 3.6 Businesses & social enterprises Tagged

Increasing the use of recycled plastic products
EcoForce’s mission is to replace products made from ‘virgin’ raw materials with those made from recycled plastic and is committed to bringing affordable, practical recycled items to the general public.

We live in a world of finite resources and this is not going to change. Making recycled plastic uses 70% less energy than making virgin plastic, reduces landfill and conserves precious resources. It makes plain common sense to use recycled products for everyday tasks, especially if these produts work just as well, if not better, than alternatives made from raw materials. EcoForce is determined to help you run a greener home without it costing the earth.

Links / featured posts
www.ecoforce.co.uk

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 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.

 

post

Mandy Barker photographer

by Posted in 3.5 Plastic Free People, Projects & Campaigns Tagged ,

Mandy Barker Photographer – Fine Art

My work aims to engage with and stimulate an emotional response in the viewer by combining a contradiction between initial aesthetic attraction and the subsequent message of awareness. All plastics photographed have existed in the sea and have been collected from beaches around the world.

Collect/clean plastic debris from beaches. Photograph collected debris for images to provide awareness to a wider audience about issue of marine plastic debris.

Recent project image, ‘Tide Time’ to promote the Environmental Social Responsibility programme for The Schofield Watch Company. (see link)

Find me
website; www.mandy-barker.com

Follow me posting a piece of marine plastic debris EVERYDAY
blog; mandy-barker.blogspot.co.uk
twitter; @plasticpieces

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

post

Milk & Milkmen

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , , 15 Comments

British consumers got through nine billion pints of milk last year. 90% of that milk was bought in a plastic container. That’s a lot of plastic trash only a percentage of which gets recycled. See some recycling stats here.

Here are some ways to buy plastic free milk

get a milkman – see below

find a milk vending machine. more common n the continent but popping up here.

buy direct from the farmer
Buying milk straight from the farm is one way to make sure crisis-hit dairy producers get a fair deal.
Farmers Weekly has created a map of British farmers selling direct to the public – cutting out the supermarket or middleman.
Some produce pasteurised milk, others sell raw or unpasteurised and a few have a wider dairy range to try.

See the map here

Milk Delivery
Glass milk bottles can be re-used up to 20 times. By my calculations that means that 1 bottle lasts 20 days that equals 18 bottles a year as oppose to 364 plastic bottles a year.So I got myself a milk man with real glass bottles.

Do you want one? Course you do!
Are they expensive? I pay £1.70 for 2 pints of organic semi skimmed delivered to my door.

This his website can  help  Find Me A Milkman does exactly what it says on the tin. Type in your postcode to find who is delivering in your area. N.B. Not all deliveries are in glass – you will have to check

Milk and More Dairycrest  also deliver nationally. However they were looking to phase out glass bottle and replace them with plastic. You can read more here

Local & Glass

These companies are smaller and usually local businesses. When last checked, the delivered milk in glass bottles – BUT DO DOUBLE CHECK

In The North

Darlington

Darlington Acorn Dairy, do doorstep delivery in glass bottles. They deliver to Darlington,South Durham and the Dales/North Yorkshire.

Huddersfield

Ian on 0795 829 0246 delivers.

Lancaster
This is thanks to the students of Landcaster who gave up plastic for Lent. May be out of date but worth a try.In case anyone is looking for a Lancaster Milkman, here is a useful list compiled by Emily! Milkmen in Lancaster (April 2009)
Raymond McDougall tel: 01524 36158 – covers Fairfield and the Marsh.
Hey & Sons tel: 01524 770343 – covers Primrose, Greaves, Scotforth, Piccadilly and Lancaster University.
Martin Edwards tel: 07739 486357 – covers Hala.
Colin Johnson tel: 01524 36222 – covers Aldcliffe, Ashton Road, Torrington Road.

Leeds
Mc Queens Diaries  deliver to Headingly Leeds and perhaps other places too

Manchester
Cream Online is a great doorstep delivery service that does milk in glass bottles. But also juice! And it delivers a veg box which when I asked they told was very much plastic reduced. I didn’t actually use the veg box service so you might want to double check.It also delivers all kinds of other essentials. Not plastic free stuff but not from a chain either. Rather it is a local, family run company.

Midlands

Moofresh – loads of different milk in glass bottles. They deliver round Birmingham and Tamworth – you can find a full list of places here on their website

The Cotteswold Dairy serve:
Tewkesbury
Cheltenham
Shrewsbury
Colony Bay
More info here 

Kirby & West  https://www.kirbyandwest.co.uk/

Family run dairy business delivering milk and other products to doorsteps around Leicester, Market Harborough and Lutterworth.

South

London

Parker Dairies is a small independant dairy situated in Walthamstow, supplying milk and other goods all over east london and the city. parkerdairies.co.uk

Suffolk

£1 for 1L bottle £1 to fill it from a vending machine.

North Oxfordshire

North Aston Dairy

  • North Aston
    Somerton
    Upper Heyford
    Lower Heyford
    Steeple Aston
    Middle Aston
    Duns Tew
    Deddington
    Wolvercote

We deliver the milk late afternoon onto doorsteps in glass litre bottles. It is pasteurised but unhomogenized so has a lovely layer of cream on top. We also attend East Oxford farmers market every Saturday. Follow us on twitter @northastondairy Enquiries – northastondairy@phonecoop.coop

Ongar Dairy

Epping
Loughton
Chigwell

@ongardairy

Milk delivery across Epping Loughton and Chigwell. Our product range includes local and organic produce delivered by 7am ongardairy@gmail.com

Essex

Essex Dairys @essexdairys Twitter Says YES they deliver in glass!

Milk, eggs, cheese, yogurts and much more delivered to offices, restaurants and homes across Essex and guaranteed by 7am!! Contact us at essexdairys@gmail.com

Felsted, England

U.K. Wide

And this website can  help  Find Me A Milkman does exactly what it says on the tin. Type in your postcode to find who is delivering in your area.
N.B. Not all deliveries are in glass – you will have to check

Milk and More Dairycrest deliver nationally. keep the glass featuredDairycrest is a big company that deliver nationwide. However they were looking to phase out glass bottle and replace them with plastic. You can read more here 

Milk Dispensers

If you can’t find a local milk man why not petition your supermarket to set up a milk dispenser where you can refill your own bottles. 

SaveSave

post

Greencane Tissues/ Paper Productsd

by Posted in 3.6 Businesses & social enterprises Tagged , , 11 Comments

A while ago a company called Greencane sent me some tissues through the post. Not just tissues but toilet paper and kitchen roll too. A great big cardboard box full.  Since then I have been busy mopping, wiping and sneezing.  I now feel qualified to comment.
To conclude, the tissue was as soft and absorbent as any I have used.
But it was the packaging that thrilled.

I received a Mixed Box
Neatly packed in a box, a cardboard box, were
32 Rolls of Toilet Paper
(8 packs of 4 rolls)
6 Rolls of Paper Towels
(3 packs of 2 rolls)
3 Boxes Facial Tissues

The products were individually wrapped packs.
All the packaging was paper, card and or cellophone.
The cellophane is certified  as commercially compostable.

Anyone trying to live a plastic free life will know what good news this is!

About

Tissues 

Personally I prefer  reusable handkerchiefs or loo roll but there are times when a box of tissues come in handy and then there are problems. Buy what you think is a cardboard box of paper tissues and  you may find the hole, the one you pull the tissue through, has been reinforced with a plastic collar.
Well these are cardboard all the way. Yay!

Find out more abut plastic free tissues here.

Kitchen Roll

I don’t use kitchen roll. I have cotton dishcloths that can be used to wipe up spills, loo roll for sticky fingers and cotton napkins for fine dining… but if this is your thing you can now get it plastic free.
THIRSTY & STRONG!
Our 100% biodegradable paper towels comes in a convenient 2 roll pack with each roll having 80 sheets.

Toilet Rolls

You can buy  loo rolls in PLA compostable plastic packaging but buy in bulk and the packs come packed in normal plastic!?!
These guys will deliver,  in a cardboard box a
total of 48 rolls thats 12 packs of 4 rolls.
Each roll 300 sheets, 2 ply.
UK £23.80 per carton

Read more about going to the toilet plastic free, here.

More Details

There is a sticky label which peels off at the packet and looks just like plastic but I have been assured that this too is compostable cellophane. I quote: “This is a biodegrable water based coating to protect the core paper of the sticker but over the last few shipments has got thicker and thicker to the stage , I agree ,it seems like plastic.plus is proving hard to compost. So over the last 3 months have been working hard on minimizing this coating.But proved too hard so have made the decision to do away with coating altogether and next week i get first shipment with new label.”

The Paper

From the website: “Up to 70% of our paper is made from a mix of recycled sugarcane and bamboo fibre (bagasse), a byproduct of the sugar refining process. (Bagasse supplies are virtually unlimited worldwide). To obtain both strength and softness we need to then add 30% certified wood pulp = Sustainable.”

In a letter:

Real United Nations thing with our sourcing.
Timber from Canada.
Sugarcane from Thailand .
Bamboo from China.
Bags are supplied by Australia Company.not sure exactly where made .
Then all made in a very modern factory in Southern China.
All these suppliers carry environmental accreditation .
Including no GMO and Bpa.
I have over the years done a lot of work with our supply chain and with over 200 plus organic type stores we have had a lot of questions asked of us.

Delivery

They offer a home delivery service for the UK from their Brighton warehouse which is proving increasingly popular.

Buy

For lots more info and to order products  visit the website

Composting Plastic At Home
While most agree that some  plastics are indeed 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.
AND I have been composting my PLA plastic for years. We have used and composted a number PLA plastic 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.

Biodegradable, Compostable Plastics

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.

Read more about compostable plastics here

More Info

And you might like these other health & hygiene posts

post

Modbury – The Plastic Bag Free Town.

by Posted in 3.5 Plastic Free People, Projects & Campaigns Tagged

Thanks to the efforts of Rebecca Hosking and the local traders Modbury became the first plastic bag free town in the UK in May 2007. You can find out more about the damage plastic bags do to the environment by looking at the plastic free website. Which sadly appears to be empty. A visit is in order?

But there is this from the Daily Mail written in 2015

Film-maker Rebecca Hosking screened a documentary – Message in the Waves – about the devastating impact of plastic waste in a marine environment to 50 local shop owners.The retailers were stunned into silence by the film and instantly pledged to stop handing out plastic bags. Modest Rebecca, 42, said all the credit for the change in the law should lie with those in the audience that evening.

Rebecca, a wildlife camerawoman, said: “I have really stepped away from it now – so the credit to this must go to the Modbury traders association.”They are the ones that have done it, and have been doing it for almost 10 years by themselves with little publicity or credit.”They are the ones that deserve the praise and I would rather leave it to them to comment about today’s changes.” Daily Mail

And I can confirm that at one of them is very praiseworthy indeed. Back at the beginning of my #plasticfree campaign, when I was looking for something to buy meat in, I spoke to the butcher in Modbury and he took the time to tell me all  about the compostable plastic bags he used. 

Rebecca Hoskings is now farming eco sheep. Love it.