The Plastic Crisis & what you can do about it

I’m sure we are all aware of the plastic crisis that we are facing, by which I mean all the plastic that is going into landfill and our oceans. If, however, you are not then you need to catch up! Our world has been dominated by easily and cheaply produced items that give large corporations a big profit. I for one have always loved a bargain and try to spend the littlest amount of money possible. What this means often, is that I end up purchasing items made from a lot of plastic.

The situation is this: plastic is filled with lots of chemicals, that when put in landfill, not only take hundreds of years to decompose, but also leach into the soil. If you want to get caught up follow this link: BBC Drowning in Plastic clips Of course if you watched any of Blue Planet (1 or 2) and BBC’s Blue Planet Live the topic of plastic was covered.

The threat of plastic to wildlife and ecosystems is ridiculously bad. The ironic thing is that the more plastic we throw away, the more animals will be effected (by which I mean die) and this tips the balance in a specific ecosystem. What this means is that that ecosystem will not be able to function to its best potential and as a consequence, us humans will be effected as we lose the benefit of that ecosystem. If you would like a simple definition of ecosystem function and services follow this link

Not only is plastic the cause of many animal deaths through ingestion and entangling, as I mentioned above, if sent to landfill the chemicals leach into the soil. When this occurs these chemical may enter the food chain effecting animals and possibly humans too.

It’s a nasty circle. It is not hopeless however, as we have the ability to choose whether this is our future or not. We can be the change that we want to see. You need to ask yourself if you can make small changes.

Here are some small changes I have made so far in my shopping practice:

1. Using reusable bags for your food shop. This should be standard practice for most of us by now. If I do forget them, supermarkets often have free boxes available – I use these and perhaps I may buy a new bag for life. 8 best bags for life
2. Choosing loose veg. What I realised was, not only is loose veg producing less plastic waste, it is often cheaper. If you don’t do this yet, do yourself a favour and give it a go. You will be happy to be throwing less plastic in the bin and saving yourself some money too. I particularly love loose mushrooms as the supermarkets provide brown paper bags and they are much cheaper!
3. Bananas do not need their own plastic bag. So this is a huge annoyance for me. When I see someone putting their bananas (or other loose veg) in a plastic bag. Grrrr. Why? The bananas have a skin which you are not going to eat. They do not need plastic. Most loose fruit and veg don’t need plastic but if you prefer, take your own reusable bag for veg. Even better still – if you can afford it – get a fruit and veg box delivered to your home.
4. So far these have all been supermarket related so I will continue. Shop consciously. Always look around to see if there is an alternative product that has less plastic or is plastic free. Sometimes, this will save yourself money too. However, often the alternative might cost a bit more. If you can afford it, do it!

Changes I’ve made in the home:

1. We only use cotton buds that are made from cotton and paper.
2. I have a daughter (20 months now) and I did use reusable nappies and wipes for a few months. However, we kept having accidents so I decided to stop as I was so exhausted from breastfeeding on demand. I would like to use reusable nappies when we have another baby. Every bit helps.
3. The most recent changes we have made is replacing our plastic toothbrushes and toothpaste. I visited Acala online and bought BamBaw 4pck of bamboo toothbrushes and Georganics English peppermint natural toothpaste. The toothbrushes are no longer available from Acala but you can get them from BamBaw. You can read my review for both of these.

Obviously this is not an extensive list and there are so many more things I could be doing or want to be doing in the near future to reduce the amount of plastic waste we produce as a family. However, like I said, the changes you make do not have to be drastic. Rather if everyone started making small changes we would see big changes.

Be the change you want to see!

Let me know what changes you have or want to make, and any tips would be amazing!

Bye for now,

Chanel x