Banish Plastic

[Flo]

Running out of sand

And another

And a third on how we are

Interesting thought - keep all your plastic containers and such as they could be come valuable.

[dave45]

Just by the by... in Bulgaria, just about every village house has a cellar full of bottled fruit and veggies. Home preserving is a way of life, and plastic free.

[Flo]

Yep when we lived on the farm when I was young there were cellars used to stock preserved veg - those kilner jars were hand me downs and essential to the way of life as were the long low benches for storing apples in straw. Nowadays we all live in smaller houses without the storage space or cellars so freezer all our produce in ............ plastic. It wouldn't be worth me having allotments if I needed cellar space - a one bedroom bungalow doesn't have that sort of facility.

[barbarajohnson]

Interesting thought - keep all your plastic containers and such as they could be come valuable.

I yoghurt pots to use as planters in the garden. It's great at first but comes a point where you are still eating yoghurt but have no need for any more planters

[Green Aura]

It's great at first but comes a point where you are still eating yoghurt but have no need for any more planters

That's the point where you start making your own!

[barbarajohnson]

That's the point where you start making your own!

Ooh, make my own yoghurt? I feel silly - I didn't know you could do that!

[dave45]

Yogurt-making

ISTR you just heat fresh milk to around 35C, bung it in an insulated container, and add some "live" plain yogurt and leave it wrapped up warm overnight. In the morning you have more yogurt. Maybe not quite as thick as the commercial stuff in my experience. Then add fruit puree, jam etc for flavour.

I used to do this as an antidote to the "munch bunch" style mini plastic yogurts marketed at my kids. Tasted nicer too, but not as thick. Good use for jam that turns out too runny.

[Green Aura]

Try adding a little double cream to your recipe - it'll thicken up a treat. Oh, and I boil the milk and then cool it before adding the starter - just to make sure there are no sneaky bacteria I may not want.

Also, it might be worth buying the more expensive yoghurts in glass jars - just until you have enough for a week's supply of yoghurt. They'll last for ever if you're careful and no plastics!

[ina]

I have been using jam jars for bottling fruit - just place 4 (all that fit) in my largest pot, fill with water and boil for half an hour or so. No need for freezer, or plastic - works great for gluts of berries. Oh, and no sugar, either; I use apple juice instead of sugar syrup as some recipes tell you.

[Weedo]

I just read a brief article in the Wageningen University alumni magazine (no I'm not). A researcher investigating plastics and barriers to recycling suggests the major barrier is the types of plastics we use; much simply cannot be effectively and economically recovered and re-used. (recyclable but not able to be recycled?) The writer suggests one solution (apart from education) is to actually increase the use of recoverable plastics and remove the non-recoverable types

The work also included looking as other materials such as glass and metals as alternatives to plastic but could not propose an effective way to remove plastics altogether or even to reduce the amounts used.

[Green Aura]

much simply cannot be effectively and economically recovered and re-used. (recyclable but not able to be recycled?)

That is definitely one of our problems. We have a domestic recycling bin, collected fortnightly, which gives very specific instructions as to which plastics can be included (as well as tins, cardboard etc). We got a warning from the bin men, who refused to empty our bin because we'd put a plastic carrier bag full of prepped tins in the bin without emptying it in! The carrier, apparently not recyclable, made the contents unusable. It drives me nuts but we comply, of course.

The other aspect though, which is much worse in my opinion, is the increasing use of non-recyclable plastic in totally unnecessary places - plastic-wrapped whole coconuts, cucumbers or peeled and boxed oranges, anyone?

[ina]

Some supermarkets have already stopped using black plastic trays for their meat, as that seemingly can't be recycled. Or rather, the sensors can't recognise black plastic - it could be recycled if that worked... Nice little changes everywhere - just too slow for my liking!

[barbarajohnson]

The fruit and veggie aisle in the supermarket really gets to me - so many unnecessary plastic bags that can't be recycled! My local supermarket actually went backwards at one point, the spring onions which are usually simply bunched with an elastic band, were one day in plastic bags! I stopped buying them, and they must have received complaints as they have since gone back to just using an elastic band.

It is very annoying though as I have found it is cheaper to buy the plastic wrapped packs of fruit/veg than it is to buy the same number of items individually. Very sad that they are putting a price barrier on these things, making it harder for people to go plastic free

[Odsox]

I'm caught in the middle about this.
I have 2 polytunnels which are obviously made of ..um, polythene. Roughly 250 square metres of the stuff.
I'm virtually self sufficient in all vegetables because of the tunnels as there is no way I could produce even half without them. About 3 weeks ago we had a brief storm (Hannah) with gusts of 150 kph which would have destroyed all my plants and left me with no veg for at least 3 months, had they been in an open but sheltered garden.
So is it better that I have all that polythene and not buy any plastic packaged supermarket veg, including transport from maybe half the world away, or give up and vegetate instead?
Of course my 3 greenhouses are only marginally better as Flo tells us that sand is now running short, so no concrete blocks, mortar or glass.

[Green Aura]

I don't find a problem with plastic per se, when it's got a long life and can be recycled. It's the widespread indiscriminate appearance of single use, non recyclable plastic that really wins me up. I don't know if any research has been done but my guess is that if all communities had a few polytunnels, and allotments, and could produce a goodly portion of their fruit and veg the total amount of plastic, and food miles obviously, would drop enormously.
I think polythene can be recycled - whether there's the will to provide the facilities is a different matter.