GOING PLASTIC FREE & Saying NO to PLASTIC!

Here's a topic inspired by @sjarvie5 : )

A few years ago after my health started to really decline our household started cleaning up our living environment, not just what we were eating and how we were eating but that is probably where it all started. I think once you take that leap, when you start to learn and start to read it becomes a bit of a snowball effect. You read one thing and that leads you to something else and so it begins.

Plastic bags was one of our first missions. The stories, the documentaries and then the science on what plastic bags are doing to our environment, it's frighting! We have always being interested in these stories. Stopping the use of plastic bags wasn't a big change for us. We don't shop at supermarkets, not the conventional "supermarket giants" anyway. We are very pro farmer and believe they are always given a raw deal by the supermarket chains so it was for this reason we made the choice to no longer shop there. Due to my health and food allergies, it wasn't hard for us to change, we were already shopping at a range of different places to get food that I wasn't going to react to. One of those places is 'The Source', it's a bulk food chain here in Australia where I can get a lot of the dry ingredients I need. The staff at 'The Source' are fabulous and they started giving us their store bags for free when we shopped there. I have quite a collection now but we use them all the time for lots of different things.

Their bags are the best I have seen but there are a heap of re-usable bags out there, some better than others. These bags are strong and tough, I can pack an easy 20kgs of goods in these bags and they're perfectly fine. If they get dirty (which mine can) they just go through a wash cycle and came out as good as new! Using them is as easy as keeping them in your car, taking them shopping with you, packing them, unpacking them and then put them back in the car. Mine live in my boot. My husbands live on his back seat, he finds he remembers them more if they're there. But I don't just use them for groceries, I use them for everything!

While we're on shopping bags I might as well talk about produce bags! Everyone seems to love these bags, I love these bags!! If people see me using these they want to know where I got them, they're always a talking point, which can only be a good thing! If you're clever enough you could easily make your own, it would be really inexpensive to do. I bought mine from a company called Norwex, I think they're a global company, you get 3 bags for about $18 which is a little pricey but they're a forever item. They're light weight so there's really very little added weight on the scales. The heaviest part is the cord which I have seen some people cut shorter but shop assistants usually drop the cord off the scales so it's nothing really. Washing wise I put them through the wash when ever needed but it isn't often. I keep them in one of my Source bags, so again I always have them with me and they too stay in my car.

Lets more onto lunch containers/bottles etc.

Drink bottles was the very first thing we did and here's why. There are so many different types of plastic, some are said to be safe, others are not yet still unsafe plastic is still being used for food storage. The chemicals from within the plastic can leach out into what they're holding, usually once they're reached a certain temperate. But it's an easy thing to do! If you leave it in the car, in a school bag that is left to sit in the sun and so on... it's very possible for all of us to put ourselves at risk. So it was out with plastic and in with metal. I think metal drinking containers have come a lot way from the very first that I can remember being released. The quality is so much better and now they're all insulated and are able to be used for hot or cold. We have several in all different sizes. My car has drink holders in each of the doors so we have ones that are for the car only, the kids have ones for school, my husband takes one to work and then we have a missive one for traveling.

Lunch boxes, we have done the same... we have collected a large range of metal containers that I use for various items. We use thermos contains a lot too.

Then there is the pouches, I only have one of these but it is so handy, I often use it for dried fruits for my daughter but it's uses are endless. This one is made from fabric on the outside with a nylon type fabric on the inside that easily wipes clean. If it gets really dirty though, I just pop it in the wash.

One of my favorite items in the Honey Bee Wax Wraps. I bought mine, again they can be a little costly but you get heaps of use out of them. I have just replaced the kids school lunch wraps after using them for 2 years. If I think about the cost of what plastic wrap would be for that time, I'm easily saving money and looking after my children's health and the environment. In saying that... I have recently found a video showing you how to make your own!! Yes!! :D I'll add the link... this is just one that I found but there is a heap out there now. I've not tried this myself yet but I would like to. They tie theirs with string and I'm not really sure why as when you fold them they kind of stick to themselves and hold down so I don't think that is necessary. But essentially is it just fabric coasted in bees wax : ) If I'm placing something with a little heat inside, if it is something from under the grill lets say, I just wrap a little grease proof around it first.

While I'm talking about the Honey Bee Wraps... I'll also show you what else I use them for. You'll know once they're getting old, they become a little sticky and they're not as rigid but you don't need to throw them out as this is when they're the best to use in the fridge to cover food on glass, bowls, jugs, plates etc. They work better than plastic wrap, they seriously do!

Well lets stay in the fridge and I'll show you what else I use in there...

We moved all our fridge storage containers over to Pyrex. It's a great brand and we love it. The only down side is that they have plastic lids... however the food is rarely touching the lid anyway. We haven't found a better option than this but we're happy with using them.

The other thing we use in the fridge a lot is paper bags. Use re-use and recycle our paper bags that we buy our bulk food items in from The Source. Not all can be saved, depending on what was in them but most can. We use them to wrap our cheese in, we put our bread into a larger paper bag and any other items we want to keep the air directly off. They work really well. We also use paper bags in the lunch boxes at times too.

Now to the pantry... I use to be the Tupperware queen... I had thousands of dollars worth and it is all almost gone. We have kept a small quantity for camping only. The rest has gone and we have moved to glass jars. I started seeing reports about Tupperware not being BPA free prior to a certain year. I had a lot of older Tupperware as well as newer Tupperware, so some of mine would have contained BPA. That was it then... I wanted out! It was the owner at The Source who inspired me to change to glass jars. She was in the middle of changing hers over also, she had been doing it gradually over a 12 month period. I asked how she was finding it? If her food was staying fresh? If she was having any trouble with any nasty little bugs/critters (no one wants to be dealing with those!) and she said it was going really well. She said she still had a few things in Tupperware but had mostly converted over. That was enough for me and I started.

I no longer have anything in plastic in my cupboard. Everything is in glass, it has been 2 years since I swapped over and I have never had a problem. In fact I find it better. The food is always fresh, I've never had an issue with anything other than slithered almonds but that was an easy fix... they now live in the fridge in a glass jar and not the cupboard and I've never had a problem since. That smell your food can get by being stored in plastic... you never get that with jars! And there is a jar for everything... the largest jars I have hold 2lts but you can buy 3lt jars! <3 I would like to get some of them one day. But they're not just great for the cupboard they're also great for the fridge! And cost wise... they're so cheap! I think the 2lt jars were maybe $5 with the smaller jars starting from a dollar something. Very, very affordable and in my option way better than plastic! Sorry Tupperware, no longer a fan!

There's a few other things I forgot while photographing... re-usable tea/coffee cups! So many coffee shops are using your own cups now which is awesome!!! We usually make our own and take it with us, along with a thermos for more later ; )

And one of our newest additions is metal straws. Oh my goodness, I can't tell you enough how good these are!! They're pretty costly I think at about $5 each but totally worth it after using them. They feel really nice to drink from, if you're drinking something cold they help keep your drink cold, they're so easy to clean and it's nothing to keep one in the drawer, in your handbag or where ever you would need one. If you look at the damage straws alone are causing, it's madness. Some places are starting to bad straws so we are certainly moving in the right direction.

And finally... body products. With my allergies I can only use very natural products. There are a lot of products out there though with mircobeads in them. Microbeads are tiny pieces of plastic which end up in our waterways. The quantity of microbeads found inside marine animals is really quite alarming. So if you're wanting to reduce your plastic use, this is also another area to be very conscious about.

Hope this was helpful. : )
If you're doing something that I'm not I'd love to hear!