10 top steps away from Single use Plastic
When environmentalists talk about single use plastics it is usually illustrated by a brightly coloured drinking straw, an ear puggler stick or a plastic fork from a fast food outlet.
The thing is, if you stop and think about it, nearly everything we buy from a supermarket is wrapped, contained or encapsulated within plastic which we as individuals will in a very short time throw away.
BBC Science Editor David Shukman has written an article highlighting that “Just 20 firms behind more than half of single-use plastic waste – study”. This is a global statistic.
The article features the findings of a report produced by Minderoo
Of course it is we, the consumers who perpetuate the plastic pollution cycle. The plastic would not leave the shop shelves without humans choosing to buy the products or the products contained within this man made packaging. When it comes to national tables Mr Shukman points out that the UK comes in fourth, after Australia and America with on average more than 40kg of plastic waste generated per person per year in the UK.
For many years the disposal of these single use plastics has been hidden from sight, buried in landfill or more recently shipped away for ‘recycling’ to third world countries where it has been burnt – releasing toxic vapours into the atmosphere or dumped into the sea.
I personally am now on a constructive mission to lobby for my local authority and national government to make amends for past laziness and encourage all Councils by whatever means necessary to actively promote positive environmental waste management practices and award waste disposal contracts to companies with proven green credentials.
However, I recognise that I too need to change my practices and use my personal shopping choices to vote with my shopping basket.
The major suppliers to supermarkets will not change unless we STOP BUYING their PLASTIC encased products.
The bright international suppliers will or in some cases have already taken this on board.
More excitingly, new entrants into the plastic free market are rising with brave new and innovative packaging solutions
My top ten step changes are a mix of both buying ‘Green’ and choosing Eco Suppliers.
Shampoo Bars
I literally had to get my head around this!
If you want to know the 10 Best Shampoo bars then this is a link to The Independent review I read before taking this step change.
In my great grandparents day, many homes did not even have an inside toilet let alone a bath. Having my own shower is my idea of luxury and for many years I have brought the same lovely luxurious plastic bottle of shampoo because, frankly, I am worth it!
In the absence of a plastic free alternative of my usual brand, I chose to embark on the nearest equivalent brand of shampoo bar. Not the cheapest but this is a big personal lifestyle change step.
Now for years I have been pouring way too much shampoo into my hands before lathering far too much suds through my hair and then spending miles too long rinsing the same suds off.
This shampoo bar has changed all this ……… and for the better.
I did rail against the lathering up of the neatly shaped shampoo bar. I do agree with the Independent, the shape of the bar is definitely a user friendly plus.
But after a couple of weeks of washing my hair every other day, I was dreading the faff of hair wetting, shampoo bar lathering in my hands and then spreading the bubbles across my hair.
Then I had a eureka moment. Yes, it was taking a little longer to get the bubbles onto my scalp BUT because I put less bubbles onto my head, it was far, far quicker to rinse them off. This resulted in a quicker shower which saved water and the cost and environmental impact of heating up the hot water.
Not only did the move to a shampoo bar stop another plastic bottle going to landfill or incineration, it saved:-
- heating costs
- water costs
and, importantly to a woman of my age
- TIME!
The Devil is always in the Detail!
My quest to go plastic free in the shower room was going swimmingly until I looked at the ingredients list on the next shampoo bar I had brought from the Independent list. At the time of writing, this product claimed to have 99.5% naturally derived ingredients, provided “Eco Friendly Cleansing”, was made in Britain, Vegan approved and had the PETA white rabbit printed on the front and rear of the box.
In a blatantly honest list the first, second and fourth ingredients were derivatives of Palm Oil. This was a complete anathema to me. How can you have an environmentally product which contains Palm Oil? When an estimated 150,000 Orangutans have been slaughtered in human endeavours to replace virgin rain forest with a globally focussed commercially based monoculture growing the same plants first used to feed humans subjected to the Slave Trade?
The packaging also notes “* made from 100% RSPO certified sustainable Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil”
There is a view that the only sustainable thing about Palm Oil plantations grown over the past 50 years is the loss of habitat for the cute little baby Orangutans whose mothers were murdered and the displacement of the indigenous humans.
So following The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Foundation symbol, I followed the white rabbit down an information hole.
According to Ethical Consumer multinational groups may fess up to including Palm oil in their products. However, we need to have a PHD in Chemistry and be detectives to confidently know what commercial products are really Palm oil free.
The list below, taken from their website shows the variety of terms used to indicate that Palm oil is present in a product:-
Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hydrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol *
The Ethical Consumer website has interesting and well thought through information.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/palm-oil/soap-without-palm-oil
Interestingly, we can never stop checking the ingredient lists. Companies who are ‘green and clean’ today may not be so squeaky tomorrow. However, and conversely, if enough humans vote with their buying choices, businesses – even the multinational global giants – will listen and hopefully change their ingredients. Not because they are ethically driven but because they want your money!
I chose not to use any product containing Palm oil to wash my hair. After all, who wants the blood of 150,000 dead Orangutans on their hands?
So, to end hair washing with shampoo bars on a very positive note, I tested Ethique shampoo and conditioner bars which I received as a gift from Claudia together with a bamboo compostable tray as part of a starter bundle offer.
I opened the cardboard packaging on 26 March 2022. The shampoo bar is used in the same way as most by creating a lather by rubbing the bar in your hands and then transferring the foam to your hair. The conditioning bar, on the contrary is rubbed directly onto wet hair. The results are great and nearly three months later both are still in use after shampooing every other day.
My conclusion is that cheap or expensive gloop in plastic bottles is a thing of the past in my bathroom. Shampoo and hair conditioner bars in cardboard packaging are a practical and viable alternative and are here to stay!
1 Step Change to clean up the planet – Shampoo Bars ✔
Top Ten Steps
- Cheese – Question Everything you think is safe!
- Dish Washer Tablets – And breathe ….
- Laundry Capsules – We can encapsulate liquid without plastic
- Meat – Freshly Cut
- Packaging choices – Traditional or Plastic? It is your choice
- Pizza and Fast Foods – No Need to Knead!
- Recycling – Wish – v – Reality
✔ Shampoo Bars – Time is Precious
- Tommy the Market Veg Man – The Tastiest Garlic Ever!
- Twice Used Bags – Give Plastic a Second life
Claudia Bow 