Plastic battle

A quandry

Trying not to use plastic is difficult. Here's what we've found in general as we decrease our plastic use...

Hair care: We have found a good shampoo bar, thanks to Lush, but I am not as crazy about their conditioner. I'll keep trying.

Laundry detergent: Using powder but the powder came in a plastic bag. The box has more washes in it, though and the plastic is more like a baggie. Stupidly I didn't buy any Saturday when I was in front of the bio store where it is sold.

Dish detergent: But what about when I wash dishes at the sink? I haven't found a bottled one yet. As for the dishwasher, we used the cubes. The last time I bought it, they were wrapped in paper not plastic individually, but I don't understand why they need to be wrapped at all.

Cleaners: I never thought I needed 100 different cleaners, despite the adverts to the contrary, but could use the liquid dish soap, a toilet bowl cleaner, Javel (Clorox) and that's all. I prefer powder to liquid sink cleaners, and sometimes they come in a paper container, but usually it too is plastic.

Hand soap: I don't need a dispenser. Bars work. I still like Dove.

Sponges: I've gone to rags mostly. I keep one or two sponges for special products. Fortunately,  flannel PJs just wore out giving me a good supply.

Juice: Buying it in bottles. We also find that the juices are often bio, but maybe more expensive.

Foods: Pre-made things like hummus come in plastic containers. I know I should be making my own, but than the tahini is in plastic too. I need to find it in a jar. Cream cheese is in a plastic container. Best to buy other cheeses, freshly sliced from our cheese vendor.

Cling film: Never liked it. Never bought it. In my nest, my saucers fitted over my bowls. In the Warren we use mason jars. We have beeswax wrap. Hope we never buy it.

Aluminum: I wash and reuse. It is not plastic, I know, but one use of a resource is wasteful. As a kid we had an aluminum ball that we turned in to help the war effort.

Paper towels: My husband uses them for almost every thing. I used to take a couple of years or more to go through a roll. Never found anything that worked as well on bacon. I cringe every time he grabs a lot to wipe up something that a rag would do. Same for washing windows, although a squeegee works better than either. Stay tuned for a resolution. I would like to go back to using paper towels only for bacon.

Plastic containers: I never used them. I didn't want plastic touching my food. I don't know what poisons are in them. Take out comes in plastic containers. https://www.uncommongoods.com/our-story has much that is environmentally friendly.

Veggies: This is more of a problem in Switzerland supermarkets that wrap things that nature has already packed. In France the marché and green grocers don't do this. Unfortunately, the farmers markets tend to  be much more expensive in Switzerland. In weigh our own, I put everything in one plastic bag and after weighing put the price tags on that bag for the checkout person. I've been tempted to strip all the plastic off at the checkout but that wouldn't be fair to the poor cashier. We still need to work this out.

Plastic bags at the supermarket: We take our own to pack our groceries. For years I only needed one for everything, a rainbow straw one. Sherlock ate holes in the first one, but my lovely husband found a second.

Seems we have accumulated a whole bunch of the reusable ones with pretty pictures. I'd like to get it down to one for each of us, but then again, he uses it to store papers and I have to admit I use one to keep the clothes that need ironing. Maybe two for each of us.

Considering the amount of plastic in the ocean and around the world, I doubt our lack of contribution will make a difference but there's the satisfaction we are not adding to the problem. And in talking with people, I find they, too, are trying to use less plastic and we can exchange ideas.