Plastics I’m not cutting out
Posted by Kake on 31 May 2014Giving up all single-use plastic for a month can seem a bit daunting, so I thought I’d take the time now to work out some boundaries for myself. Here are the things I won’t be giving up during Plastic-Free July.
Plastic linings in cans and jar lids
I’m not going to worry about the plastic lining inside food and drink cans. I’m trying to find out more about what happens to this lining when the cans are recycled — does it get burned up? does it get skimmed off the molten metal and put in landfill? — but for now I’m going to consider this as “advanced-level” plastic-freeness, which (for me at least) is outside the scope of this year’s challenge. I’m also not going to worry about the plastic lining inside the metal lids of glass jars (though I am going to avoid jars with fully-plastic lids).
Medicine packaging
Almost all medicines come in disposable plastic packaging. In the long run, I’d like to help persuade manufacturers to come up with a more sustainable solution; but for now, I won’t be compromising my health (or that of others) by refusing to use medication in plastic packaging.
“Many-use” plastic items
I’m not going to give up plastic items that are intended to be used more than a hundred times before being discarded. This means, for example, that I probably won’t be switching to a bamboo toothbrush. (NHS Guidelines state that toothbrushes should be replaced every three months, which means around 180 uses in total.)
Things I reuse even though I’m not “supposed” to
One “edge case” here is the plastic items that are produced as single-use but that I already own and reuse. For example, instead of buying reusable water bottles, I just use several empty 500ml plastic water bottles that I acquired some time ago.[1] I’ve decided that it’s within the spirit of the challenge to keep using this type of item if (a) I already own it, (b) I expect to get at least a hundred uses out of it, and (c) it’s an exact substitute for spending money on a version that’s produced explicitly to be reusable.
So I’m still going to use my existing collection of takeaway containers as tupperware substitutes, and I’m still going to use my existing collection of “disposable” produce bags instead of buying new reusable ones. But I won’t acquire any more of these things during the month of Plastic-Free July, and I’ll keep an eye on the “damage rate” to see if it truly does make sense to consider them reusable in the long term.
Compostable plastics
Many eco-aware companies have started packaging goods in compostable plastics made from biodegradable sources such as cornstarch.
These aren’t necessarily an ideal solution. Many biodegradable plastics would take years to break down in home compost bins, so it’s important to remember the difference between plastics described as “biodegradable” and those described as “compostable”. Also, setting land aside to grow the raw ingredients for bioplastics means that it can’t be used to grow food for humans or farm animals.
Still, the technology is new, and I believe it’s a useful direction for manufacturers to go in. So I won’t be giving up plastic packaging that’s specifically described as being compostable, and I’ll be composting any such plastic I come across in my own home compost bin.
Comments
Great post and love what you are doing. The plastic lining on tins does apparently get burnt off in the recyling process.
Thanks! I’m in conversation with the Steel Can Recycling Information Bureau about the issue of plastic lining in tins. So far they’ve told me that the lining will “melt away” (their words) during recycling, but I’m still waiting for them to get back to me about whether the plastic gets vaporised into waste gas or whether it’s skimmed off as dross (and if the latter, what happens to it then).
sorry I meant burnt off as in vaporised. However I have been told a lot of rhubarb in the past from people who should know better. Would be very interested in hearing what reply you get.
I'm still waiting for a reply on this one, despite a couple of prods. I keep getting out-of-office autoreplies that don't include a date for the person's return!
If you do decide to use them and some shops demand you use a new, disposable packaging for food such as meat, cornstarch and PLA compostable plastics will biodegrade in a home compost heap. Make sure they are certified - biobags and vegware are http://plasticisrubbish.com...
We have doorstep food waste recycling in Croydon, and so the council has a useful listing of places to buy compostable bags. I get mine from the central library, though sadly they come in a non-compostable plastic bag of their own. I’ll check out the supermarket options soon to see if there are any with non-plastic packaging.
I have seen them in some supermarkets (Tesco and Sainsburys) and strangely enough in Poundland.
Hi, good list, its pretty difficult to cut out all plastic, so you really have to prioritise realistic changes so you can last the month :) I love your "Things I reuse even though I'm not supposed to", I get some funny looks at the supermarket when I reuse the plastic string bags!
Thanks! One of my hopes for this project is that it'll normalise the idea of reusing things. It would be great if taking your own bags became the default practice.
Hi, you're right it's not necessarily about giving up plastic altogether - I like the way the challenge is getting me thinking about what I consume!
You know the plastic water bottle you say you reuse? Well I was doing that and found I went through quite a few (tried to clean one out with hot water..it melted!).. so I bought this nice fruit drink in a glass bottle. Firefly I think..anyway it cleans and reuses better and it's lasted ages - cheaper than the plastic water bottles. Good luck with #pfj, Leanne x
I prefer to avoid the extra weight and potential breakability of glass, but I'm glad you found something that works for you!
I was going to ask you where one would get a bamboo toothbrush if we wanted - but I saw one (in standard plastic packaging though!) in Tiger (Whitgift Centre). Also found out about recycled plastic toothbrushes (Preserve) from Polytheenpam's blog. Sounded like an easy gain to me - but I like your baseline of 100+ uses and a toothbrush is nowhere near "single use disposable" by that metric.
Glad you wouldn't put yourself at risk by giving up medicines! For medicine packaging, and other critical health things - plastic is amazing as it will keep things sterile and dry, but I'd love to come up with a better solution.
Ooh, I missed the post on Preserve and can't seem to find it now — do you have a link?
I was chatting to someone at the Green Fair about the project. She's a lab tech, and she remembered spending hours cleaning out glass pipettes before plastic ones came into use!
I wonder if there would be some traction in the idea of sterilisable, reusable medication containers. I remember seeing pharmacists dispense pills from large bottles into smaller ones when I was little. Does that still happen?
I actually work in a lab at the moment. There's a lot of plastic waste generated but I don't know nearly enough to say whether there are good alternatives - cost probably being one factor, someone's time spent cleaning out glass pipettes is expensive, and cleaning uses energy too - lots if you need to make something sterile.
On medicines - I think it still happens in the USA? Lots of medicines are dispensed into (plastic) containers, but I don't know if people then throw them away or if they have a repeat, get them refilled. (If they don't get a repeat, they probably do just get thrown away?)
I need painkillers once a month, and it would be so excellent if I could just take the container back to the shop every couple of months and get a refill!
I did some googling to see what work (if any) is being done on alternatives to blister packs, but from what I can see the main focus at the moment seems to be on improving the recyclability of these packs (e.g. by eliminating the foil).
Found the toothbrush on the comments: http://plasticisrubbish.com...
then searched the 'net to find UK sellers, I think Sainsburys might not stock them any more though. I didn't see any online or in the Waddon Marsh store. Perhaps demand wasn't high enough?
Ah-ha, thanks, I saw that post but missed the comments for some reason. I've emailed Sainsburys to ask if they still sell them.
I got a reply from Sainsburys, saying: “I can confirm that both medium and soft Preserve toothbrushes have been discontinued from all of our stores. Whilst we currently have no plans to re-stock this product, I have logged your comments so that they can be taken into consideration when we review the range next.”
For those who can get to High St. Kensington, Whole Foods stocks Preserve toothbrushes, tongue scrapers and razors. The kids ones are even in a sort of cardboard packet rather than plastic blister pack.
They also have lots of unpackaged food both organic and non.
Ooh, nice find, thanks! I'll go and take a look next time I'm in the area. I note they also have a branch near Clapham Junction station, so I've emailed them to ask if they have the toothbrushes there.