Ms Raimes's Week Without Plastic!
Week without plastic!‘This should be easy’, I thought, as I agreed to Mrs Lynn’s challenge, of trying a plastic free week......... Well – it isn’t and it wasn’t! And yes – I failed in quite a few areas , I’m sorry to say. Saturday’s shopping was far harder than I ever imagined; vegetables and fruit from the market – tick! Health food shop ….not so great! I challenge anybody to find toothpaste or any hair products that do not come wrapped in plastic! I felt very pleased with my glass bottle of very expensive lemon deodorant – until back at home I noticed the plastic lid! And the suggestion of brushing my teeth with coconut oil was …. Well, I tried it, and decided not to try it again! My hair has not been washed as I couldn’t find a single product not in plastic bottles.So; what to eat for breakfast…. ? Can’t have milk, (not as organized as Mrs Lynn with her milkman!) and so I went for bread. Fresh bread from the sainsburies bakery ! But no – the paper bag it comes in also has a plastic window! Eventually found some bread in my local Budgens. Tick. Cheese …that should be easy! But no; all the cheese in the supermarket was plastic wrapped….. and yoghurts ? NO to that too! And the Hagen Daz icecream with their plastic lids ……. LAnd then on Monday – having rejected Mrs Walsh’s chocolate at our English meeting, I decided to purchase a little something at Victoria station before going to my Monday night lecture. I wanted something with chocolate in ….. anything! I must have tried 6 little coffee bars and the only thing I could have possibly bought was a rather stodgy looking chocolate muffin ! Every bar of chocolate was plastic wrapped ……..even kitkats ! And forget the nice hot drinks - those wretched plastic lids!So – this week I have eaten mushroom omelettes, spaghetti hoops on toast, salad…. And said yes to an impromptu supper out!This week has been an eyeopener. Next time you go shopping, just see how many products are wrapped or contained in plastic. Suddenly you will start to notice….aisles and aisles of food - all wrapped – mostly unnecessarily in a clear plastic….! Why do we need to wrap vegetables – we all know that they need air to breath ! Acres of plastic….plastic that will be thrown away….. It has really made me think about the quantities we use. And where it all goes when we throw it away after single use. Most of it cannot be recycled. Most of it will end up in landfill …or worse. Thank goodness that wine comes in glass bottles – and hurray for Green and Blacks chocolate! !