Reduce, reuse, recycle - plastic

A resolution I've made for this year is to use less plastic and recycle more.  I'm pretty good at the recycling bit already -  I even take home recycling from work as we don't have recycling facilities on site (which in this day and age is a bit ridiculous, and a very long story I'm not going to go into here).  Most days from work I'll bring home an empty 4pt milk bottle taken from the kitchen and I almost get excited when I get quite a big 'haul'.  I possibly need to get out more.  Anyway, I am doing my bit for the environment.

It has made me realise though just how much plastic we all use - there's a Tesco opposite work and many people have a microwaveable ready meal for lunch.  I can take the card sleeve home and recycle that but the plastic trays can't be recycled.  Same with the pasta salad plastic containers and disposable forks - they just go straight in the bin.  I'm not complaining about the choices people make for lunch, I like a ready meal and honey mustard chicken pasta salad as much as the next person, but it really does add up - and if you take my relatively small department and multiply that across every office in the country, that's a lot of plastic.  Oh, and add in water bottles and smoothie bottles and drinks cans.

So I am making a real effort to use less plastic.  I work at the office four days a week, with one day working from home, so I need to have four packed lunches during the week.  In the past I've been making three and treating myself to a honey mustard chicken pasta salad on the fourth.  But this is such a waste of plastic - in the £3 meal deal I would get a salad, a drink in a plastic bottle and some crisps/chocolate.  The plastic just goes straight in the bin and that's not sustainable.  I'm therefore really thinking about what I take to work, and this has been made easier as the store has stopped stocking the honey mustard chicken pasta, and the other options I don't like as much.

My lunches at the moment are either a salad, or some soup - I have a great microwaveable mug with a vent, so I can put soup in it before work, put on the leak-proof lid (and it is leak-proof, it's been tested well!), store in the fridge at work and then just open the vent and put the mug in the microwave.  Yes, the mug is plastic, but it's reusable and that's better than disposable.  I have a water bottle in my bag, a pint glass of water on my desk and the office has a water cooler so no need to buy water.

I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago, and most conferences I've been to have had ceramic cups and saucers, so obviously they can be reused.  This conference, though, used disposable cups, which can't be recycled and just get thrown away.  (It was annoying to note that all the cafes on the university campus offered a 10% discount if you used your own cup, as part of a big green initiative, whereas the university catering used disposables.)  I had three cups of tea during the day, most people there probably had the same, and there were easily 100 delegates - that's 300 cups thrown away.  I vowed there and then to always have a travel mug with me, especially when I go away to places like this.  I have several insulated mugs, but my favourite travel mug is my Keep Cup.  I bought it maybe five or six years ago and it's still going strong.

This weekend I went to Unravel (a great wool fair in Farnham) and I took my Keep Cup.  I was glad I took it, as I noticed they were using disposable cups and also there were so many people, having a lid on a hot drink was useful anyway!  I stood in line with my mug and when I got to the front I asked the lady to use mine one.  She took it from me, and said it would be a large not a regular size, I said fine.  She then took a disposable cup, filled it with tea and then poured it into my mug (which definitely would have fitted underneath the spout).  She gave me my mug, and the disposable cup was put to one side.  The queue moved quickly, and I moved along to the till, so I didn't see if the cup was used for the next person (who was also ordering tea).

This annoyed me slightly (and let's assume the disposable cup used to measure out my tea was thrown away), I'm making a real effort to use less plastic, but it needs to be a wider cultural shift.  I completely understand why events such as this one use disposable cups, but people like me taking their own should be encouraged.  Not necessarily with money off (although that's always nice) but perhaps not with staff using my mug and a disposable one! If we assume the disposable cup wasn't thrown away, and was reused, that's better, but why did it need to be used in the first place?  Is there a hygiene reason my one couldn't be used?  And if so, how do other places get around that?

I'm going to continue doing my bit to use less plastic, being mindful in what I buy, and also planning ahead.  Yes, it is a bit of a hassle to carry a mug around with me, but then half the stuff I carry around in my bag each day I rarely use and I don't need a mug each day, just when I'm definitely out of the office.  I just need to do my best, and gently try to encourage others to do the same too!

In the meantime, you can find me collecting milk bottles in the kitchen.

Comments

  1. This is something I should really be much better at, so it's a great reminder. I think I struggle with what to take my lunch in, as all my reusable containers are plastic. I also must admit to prefering to wrap sandwiches in cling film as opposed to aluminum foil as I find the noise so off-putting! Definitely something for me to think about, though.

    On a side note, I went to Unravel a few years ago. It was wonderful, but so busy! A Keep Cup is a great idea. What a shame they weren't more receptive to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unravel was good fun, I'd go again! I still take my lunch to work in plastic boxes, as I already own them, I'm just trying to reduce consumption in other places. I know what you mean about foil, I hate the noise it makes!

      Delete
  2. I had no idea that plastic trays can't be recycled. I put everything in our recycle bin assuming it can be. Disposable cups are a real bugbear of mine, that said I rarely frequent places that use them. If I do need to buy a drink whilst I'm out I'll always take the bottle home with me to recycle, and our high street is pretty good and has recycle bins as well as normal bins.
    I ask for my groceries to be delivered without bags, but they always end up coming in them. I use them as bin bags but it still feels wrong. But our council says we have to bag up our rubbish before it goes into the bins.
    I like your idea of carrying a mug.
    It's such a complicated issue when you start thinking about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Should be clearer, I can't recycle the plastic trays in my local area - they may be recyclable elsewhere, though! My local Tesco used to have a place to recycle plastic the council wouldn't take (like the plastic that toilet rolls come in, and cereal bags, and carrier bags) but it's stopped that now, which is annoying. It is complicated the more you think about it!

      Delete
  3. Yes. I have recently bought a new Aladdin bottle for my water and looking out for a new travel mug. I considered keep cup a few years back but didn't take the plunge, might go for it now! My plastic use is comparatively low, helped by not needing to take lunch to work nor go to conferences, but I am still trying to improve where possible - I am guilty of buying a bottle of water or having a take away coffee on occasion...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do love Keep Cups, there were only a few colour options when I bought mine, but now you can design your own, which looks fun!

      Delete
  4. I've been thinking about this a lot recently... I'm also pretty good at recycling, but I think trying to use less in the first place should be my next goal!

    Liz x
    Distract Me Now Please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there is that - we just need to keep doing what we can!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts