1st July 2021…Plastic Free July…Be the Change…

Who is going to join me for Plastic Free July…? (Sign up for the challenge here)

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”
—Jane Goodall

I have my produce bags ready ….lots of glass jars I save them all and am getting more choosy on the shape of the jar when I purchase something in a glass container ..wide-necked and straight no shoulders.

I am increasingly aware that I myself need to step up and do more but am choosing my battles wisely…something you have to do when you live in a household with others as you all need to be on board…

Therefore by reducing our households contribution by eliminating plastic/paper I feel I am making a contribution to the overall waste generated by this household.

I already drink loose leaved tea and have done so for a number of years…Hubbies t/bags are going and he will be drinking loose leafed tea…Those Tea Bags contain plastic…microplastics as do many of the products we buy…microplastics... most of which are even smaller than those pictured.

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”
—Gaylord Nelson

Yoghurt pots are not recyclable …Homemade yoghurt is easy to do and I am now ready to move on to making sour cream which will be one less unrecyclable pot…I will be sharing how soon…

Canned foods...some cans are lined with BPA are you confused I know I was so many different grades of plastics…I have addressed that by not buying canned tomatoes I have reduced the tinned goods I buy gradually and in fact, the only cans I buy now are canned sardines for hubby…he loves them on toast.

Confused about plastics…I hope this helps..x

I do hope you join me for Plastic Free July…Sign up for the challenge here.

The challenge for Plastic Free July is about how much you can do it is your choice but please remember the words of George Bernard Shaw…

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
-George Bernard Shaw

That’s all for today…Be well, take care and laugh(a lot) as laughter is the best medicine and best of all its FREE

51 thoughts on “1st July 2021…Plastic Free July…Be the Change…”

  1. Pingback: Saturday Snippets…The world of Plastic… | Retired? No one told me!

  2. Pingback: CarolCooks2 weekly roundup…June 27th-3rd July 2021…#Plastic Free July, Whimsy, Music,#Monstera Fruit… | Retired? No one told me!

  3. koolkosherkitchen

    I don’t usually do challenges, dear Carol; I quietly challenge myself, step by step. Perhaps it is easier for me as I grew up in a country with almost no plastics. I still have square enamel containers with lids to refrigerate leftovers, so I never got to buy plastic containers. Same for canned foods – I make my own from scratch and refrigerate or freeze them, if I have leftovers. Plastics are suffocating our ocean!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Sounds good to me, dear Dolly… I’m pretty much the same unfortunately for those who have grown up in a plastic world a challenge is the way forward it focuses the mind as yes the world is drowning in plastic.. Enjoy your weekend xx

      Liked by 1 person

  4. V.M.Sang

    With the Covid pandemic, I’m afraid I’ve been only buying fruit and veg that are wrapped. Having seen someone leave the toilets without washing her hands, then later seeing her picking up tomatoes and putting them down, I decided to only buy wrapped fruit and veg until this is over. But I always put the recyclables in the recycling bin, and use reusable containers.
    I do use loose tea, though, and get my meat from a bucher, not prepacked meat. Similarly with fish. I take the eggboxes back so the shop can refill them.
    And I also bake a lot of my own bread, too.
    I use reusable, washable masks.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Thats a good point, Viv you would think people would learn hand washing should be a given… It sounds to me that you are playing your part it is all about what you can do and that differs from household to household. Have a lovely weekend, Viv xx

      Like

  7. V.M.Sang

    Yoghurt pots, along with cream pots etc, CAN be recycled. I checked with my local council, and then looked it up on the net. They are made from PET, the same plastic drinks bottles are made from.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Thats interesting and good to hear Viv unfortunately thats not the case here they don’t recycle yoghurt pots.. Water bottles are PET 1 and can be recyled they need to catch up here as much of what I could recycle in the the UK isn’t here sadly.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Sowmya

    Great post and great initiative Carol. I make my own yoghurt at home. When we go out for vacations I take my stainless steel bottles and fill up water from home.
    I take cloth bags from home for grocery shopping. We buy some of the nonperishable items in bulk to avoid packaging materials. These are some of the few things we do here. Your posts are a great inspiration to be much more mindful in preserving the environment.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Well done, Sowmya for sharing what you do to help preserve the environment every little helps.. Yoghurt is next on my list to avoid those non recycable pots.. Keep up the good work x

      you ar

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life.

    Reblogged this on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine and commented:
    Carol Taylor urges us to ditch the use of plastic wherever we can. So many containers we have in our larder or fridge are not recyclable and even when they are not all waste disposal organisations are efficient or comply with the government guidelines.. We can all do our bit and every little helps.. Head over to check the post out and see where you might be able to cut back on plastic.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. beetleypete

    Julie drinks tea, and I have been in email contact with Yorkshire Tea about plastic in tea bags. They claim to be providing alternatives soon. Otherwise, we don’t use much plastic, except for her large bottles of flavoured water, which I am assured are fully recyclable.
    Best wishes, Pete. x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      These claims have been ongoing unfortunately, Pete there are some lovely loose leaved teas to be had much nicer all you need is a tea pot and a strainer …Yes , we have been assured the same as we buy bottled water the tap water here is not drinkable…I am still looking into that as recycling is not great here x

      Like

  14. Sarah

    Great post! I have signed up for Plastic Free July the last few years and again this year. But this year is crunch year. We have the green grocer, a zero waste shop and the farmers market but I really need to try this year to find alternatives to the plastic wrapped products. It is so convenient just popping to the supermarket and always buying the brands you always get but now I must start to look for alternative products and brands this year with alternative packaging. I suspect this will be harder to do!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      It probably will , Sarah but I take produce bags and leave any plastic bags behind let the shop deal with it…I just wish I had bulk buy shops here..rice yes and flour anything else no…but I suppose pasta and stuff isn’t a priority here…we all do the best we can don’t we?

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  15. Norah

    Such an important post, Carol. We really must reduce our use of plastic as much as we can. I have been using reusable shopping and vegetable bags for years now, but I am still surprised by how much plastic packaging comes into the house. I’m pleased that our local supermarkets collect and recycle most of the packaging that isn’t recycled by the council. Recently I’ve started buying coffee pods in biodegradable pods so I’m a bit happier about that now. I was never happy with pods. They were hub’s choice. My protest was to not make the coffee using them. He had to do it. But I still drank it, so it really wasn’t much of a protest. I love it when I find there are new ways to reduce the use of plastic. Who Gives a Crap (makers of the toilet paper – I know, I read your article last week – and tissues has now eliminated all plastic from their packaging. We can find ethical and sustainable companies when we look, but not for everything yet.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      I believe so, Norah.. I am targeting yoghurt and Sour cream pots making my own.. I have enough glass jars now… I just wish we had a bulk buy place here..😀

      Liked by 1 person

  16. Pingback: 1st July 2021…Plastic Free July…Be the Change… – MobsterTiger

  17. tidalscribe.com

    My local CoOp now do their home deliveries in compostable bags. The toy shop up the road has no plastic packaging and all toys from recycled plastic. Bad news is that COVID has wreaked havoc from the use of plastic in the NHS – needing to discard plastic aprons etc – to the use of cars for drive through testing or keeping isolated for appointments etc. and people avoiding use of public transport.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Yes the Covid-19 has wreaked similar havoc here… Unfortunately.. Good news about the Coop and the toy shop though we get no bags at all with home delivery but I don’t mind that 🙏

      Like

  19. Smorgasbord - Variety is the Spice of Life.

    Great initiative Carol. I buy loose vegetables now rather than in plastic and we only use recyclable cartons for milk and coconut water. We rarely fill our recycle bin more than once a month and very little of it is plastic. It seems like a drop in the ocean… but hopefully every little helps and the more who do it the bigger the impact..I will reblog this evening..♥

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      The same as me, Sally…I am trying to reduce paper use… Alan had been told no more t/bags he can have loose tea like me…My aim is no more yoghurt and sour cream pots as they don’t recycle…I am just conscious that recycling here is not great and a lot of stuff is just land dumped so I’m really trying to cut waste down even more..I wish we could bulk buy a bit more here that would would cut packaging even more…Covid hasn’t
      helped with increase in takeaways as much of packaging isn’t recyclable I was reading about that here the other day…Thank you for the reblog Hugs xx

      Liked by 1 person

  20. marianbeaman

    Reading the comment above, I appreciate your concept of batch cooking. My husband is better than that than I am. Though he rarely cooks, he usually does so in bulk, which certainly saves time though I’m not sure how much it leads to less strain on the environment. Thanks for the reminder of a plastic-free July, Carol! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      I think it is more environmentally friendly as batch cooking takes less time and energy to reheat food that has already been cooked. … It’s also cheaper and much less time-consuming, and can help to reduce food waste if you use up ingredients by cooking larger portions…Are you signing up for a plastic free July? Thank you for dropping and leaving a valued comment , Marian 🙂 x

      Like

  21. petespringerauthor

    Choosing one’s battles wisely is always sound advice in most areas of life. I applied that principle as a teacher.

    Liked by 2 people

  22. popsiclesociety

    I would love to sign up too but unfortunately here all the foods I buy are wrapped in plastic…🤨 I don’t buy processed foods, just normal veggies and fruits and all comes with so much plastic 😕 In my small, I try to avoid waste and plastic as much as possible and so much plastic wrapped around a fruit is really disturbing 😞

    Liked by 2 people

      1. popsiclesociety

        Unfortunately no…that’s the sad part of the city: no farmers…almost everything is imported from the countries around…and the little that’s grown here is all wrapped in plastic.

        Liked by 1 person

  23. robbiesinspiration

    This is a great post, Carol, and you do as you say. One of the difficulties with having an environmental conscience is time. I just don’t have time to make yoghurt and all the other foods we eat although I try and make bread twice a week. With my dad being ill, I have gone through so many non-recyclable NK95 masks I feel terrible; but what is one to do in an emergency?

    Liked by 3 people

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      I understand that totally, Robbie I do hope your father soon improves …good for you making bread..I love bread making and it doesn’t take too much time as you can do something else in between proving..a timer is a great bonus…When I was working and had 8 people to feed I used to batch cook that was the only way I could cope…Its amazing what you can do in a couple of hours of batch cooking and then you have a menu for the week ahead it saved me so much time…Slow cooker on in the morning or the oven timer I was so organised back then…sigh…Take care, Robbie thinking about you and your dad xx

      Liked by 1 person

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