Let's Get Drastic on Plastic

15th February Pretty much any shop bought pizza is off the menu when you play by the plastic free rules. So on those days you really fancy one you are left with a couple of options: 1) Order from a takeaway - though these are often overpriced and not actually that enjoyable 2) Visit a restaurant - however it is cold outside and it is not a Tuesday (special offer night at the local pizzeria) 3) Make your own - which is exactly what we did! Homemade pizzas and freshly picked salad The salad isn't even from a shop. With the aid of a poly-tunnel at work we are able to grow salad pretty much all year round, and you can do pretty much the same using a normal greenhouse. 16th February Just come back from an evening trip out to buy a birthday card. About 15 minutes after leaving the shop I have a sudden realisation - the card was wrapped in plastic. Doh! Having spent the last couple of weeks meticulously avoiding all plastic wrapping I cannot  believe that I didn't even...

8th February Craving a veggie burger and chips for this evening. The chips are no problem as we have potatoes grown in our garden stored from the autumn that we prep and pop in the oven. While Vicky works on the potatoes I walk to the local supermarket, as it has a pick and mix bread roll counter where I can snap up a couple of rolls with no packaging (Note: You are supposed to put the rolls in a little plastic bag to take them to the checkout, but I secretly do enjoy the confused look on the cashiers face whenever I get to the till with loose produce that they would rather I contain somehow!). Tonight however I will have to get my kicks in some other way... The last of several "packs" of "loose" bread rolls As you can see from the picture, the supermarket has very conveniently packed the remaining loose rolls into bags and reduced their price to make sure none are left over at the end of the day. While the side of me that wants to reduce food waste takes ...

1st and 2nd February A nice easy start to the experiment. 2 days at work, no need to go shopping and therefore no danger of buying anything plastic. The main pitfall successfully avoided was a craving for a bag of crisps around 8pm this evening, with me having to pretend the shop at the end of the road didn't exist! 3rd February Alas the hope of a clean sweep is already over 😔 With the need to purchase some waterproof spray for our shoes we are greeted with a choice of plastic, plastic or plastic. The alternative to the spray is an entire new pair of shoes, and at this point that is not a realistic option. A plastic purchase on day 3... but maybe it is not as bad as it seems Despite feeling sullen that it has taken less than 72 hours for the plastic free record to fall, there is a positive that can be taken from the situation. The next best option for the plastic that you can't reduce your use of is to then reuse it. Once this spray bottle is empty (it has already ...

Plastic. If there was one material that could be chosen to represent mankind over the last 50 years plastic would almost certainly be it. Once heralded as the solution to many problems of decades gone by, we now understand that our relentless use of plastic has presented us with a wealth of new problems to be solved in the modern day. I love this little image, and it's message will be important to the experiment as you will see later. Let's face it, in many ways plastic is pretty impressive. As a light material (in comparison to say glass) it helped to revolutionise packaging, lightening the load of many a plane, boat and lorry and thereby helping to reduce carbon emissions and transport costs. As a flexible and durable material it also helped to ensure that breakages and spillages of those same loads were also greatly reduced. It's ability to repel water make it an ideal choice for a whole host of different applications from our clothing, to the bags we carry...