2018 was the year that I really learned to detach myself from plastic. With a 'tupperware' collection that moved to France with me in 2012, the need to keep purchasing new plastic pots has come to a complete standstill. The plastic movement of last year certainly provided a wake up call for many households, ours included. I was not overly happy that our recycling each week consisted mainly of water bottles. Some serious changes took place last year, which I am rather pleased about.
We started 2018 being avid purchasers of water in plastic bottles. Our water is quite chalky – our kettle was testament to that fact. I was invited to join an Facebook group living in france without plastic which I did. I was keen to see what others were doing, as I was beginning to get a bit peeved at having a bag for life dedicated to plastic bottle use! We ummed and ahhed and in the end we agreed that having a Brita water filter would be a better solution for us. The filters are quite expensive but we shop around and look for good offers. The cost of these is negligible when we look at the massive reduction of plastic water bottle use – a big fat zero!! Hubby now drinks out of a 1.5litre stainless water bottle which gets topped up from the Brita. Our kettle can boil away without squealing because it's too calcified.
We started 2018 being avid purchasers of water in plastic bottles. Our water is quite chalky – our kettle was testament to that fact. I was invited to join an Facebook group living in france without plastic which I did. I was keen to see what others were doing, as I was beginning to get a bit peeved at having a bag for life dedicated to plastic bottle use! We ummed and ahhed and in the end we agreed that having a Brita water filter would be a better solution for us. The filters are quite expensive but we shop around and look for good offers. The cost of these is negligible when we look at the massive reduction of plastic water bottle use – a big fat zero!! Hubby now drinks out of a 1.5litre stainless water bottle which gets topped up from the Brita. Our kettle can boil away without squealing because it's too calcified.
Instead of relying on the 'tupperware' I am now putting excess foods in our bowls and covering them with beeswax wraps or china saucers/tea-plates – not cling film. I even made my own beeswax wraps at a wax workshop just before Christmas and would definitely do this again. Hubby's daily lunch is placed in stainless steel lunch box and if hot food is required the use of his stainless steel flask. All items that we can use when we go to French events that require you to bring your own eating utensils.
One of the best der!! moments came last year when contemplating the merits of a composter, the answer was right on my digital doorstep with Gardening in France another great FB group. For the last couple of years hubby and I had been diligently placing our green waste in a trailer and taking it to the dechetterie. When in fact we could have been mulching it and putting putting green waste on the composter or utilising it in the garden. So by end of 2019 we had built a composter out of the many pallets that hubby gets from electrical deliveries [cable and stuff arrives wrapped on pallets]. My birthday present included a leaf blower and a light duty mulcher. Autumn saw us collecting leaves and mulching branches.
My indoor poubelle awaits all the glorious wastes of the week: vegetable peelings, copious amounts of tea leaves and a whole manner of other stuffs that the composter takes. The way I prepare the waste – cutting up greens in to small chunks – anyone would think I am making a cake!
On reflection we have been quite good at thinking and acting on waste reduction.
Useful FB groups and links
Ark79 where I will be taking ink cartridges to - perhaps there is a local secheme near you.
French site about zero waste
The Bootique des Ateliers du Bocage - reconditioned mobile phones, computers, laptops.
Have you reduced the use of plastic in your working home?
What tips would you share?
My indoor poubelle awaits all the glorious wastes of the week: vegetable peelings, copious amounts of tea leaves and a whole manner of other stuffs that the composter takes. The way I prepare the waste – cutting up greens in to small chunks – anyone would think I am making a cake!
On reflection we have been quite good at thinking and acting on waste reduction.
- Old holey socks get used as dusters.
- Clean brown cardboard, used for the fire or composter
- T-shirts cut up and used as dusters/cleaning rags
- Old towels cut up and used instead of kitchen roll
- Old pillowcases get stuffed with jumpers, t shirts for the dog beds
- Old furniture – reuse/re-purpose [greenhouse – bird table – composter]
- Printed stuff gets chopped up and used as notepads
- Have just sourced a local scheme to take ink cartridges to
Useful FB groups and links
Ark79 where I will be taking ink cartridges to - perhaps there is a local secheme near you.
French site about zero waste
The Bootique des Ateliers du Bocage - reconditioned mobile phones, computers, laptops.
Have you reduced the use of plastic in your working home?
What tips would you share?
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