The Marine Conservation Society are running a plastic challenge in June to see if we can live without single use plastic for an entire month. I have decided to take up this challenge.
I made this decision on a bit of a whim and have since done quite a bit of reading and researching. Firstly, learning about the different types of plastics. I was clueless! I knew that our local council doesn't recycle coloured plastic, such as those annoying brown plastic tubs supermarkets insist on putting mushrooms in (Why??? Just why? Do mushrooms take offence to clear plastic??!!!) but I didn't really understand the reasons behind it. It turns out that there are several types of plastic, some much worse than others.
Ok. So I am going to focus as much as possible on the bad guys: types 3, 4, 6 and 7. Now I find myself scouring packaging in my home to see what plastic it is!
I currently grocery shop online each week (hitting the supermarket with two kiddies under 4 is not my idea of fun!) and spend between £70 and £100, depending on if I have run out of bigger items, such as laundry powder, stain remover etc, which I buy in the bigger packs as it's cheaper per kg. I'd really like to stay within this budget when I make alternative plastic free purchases. My groveries arrived yesterday, so before putting things away I had a good look at it all and was really quite shocked at how much single use plastic there was!
I have a bit of time before the challenge begins in June to source alternatives for my most common consumable plastic terrors. Just from this week's shop, I already know that I can easily change the following that came wrapped in plastic:
- multipack of baked beans
- apples
- bananas
- nectarines
- potatoes
- brown onions
- mushrooms
- beef mince
- chicken thighs
- chipolata sausages
- fish pie mix
- frozen butternut squash
- frozen green beans
- frozen broccoli
- frozen cauliflower
- frozen parsnips
- mince
- £7.38/kg supermarket (with 12% fat content)
- £7.20/kg butcher (<10% fat)
- chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
- £5.63/kg supermarket
- £4.40/kg butcher (free range)
- chipolatas
- £6.00/kg supermarket
- £7.45/kg butcher (I need to investigate the meat % in this comaprison)
- pork fillet
- £7.00/kg supermarket
- £9.30/kg butcher and was also prepacked in plastic wrap
- mushrooms
- £2.88/kg supermarket
- £0.86/kg greengrocer (really???!!!)
- broccoli
- £1.25/kg supermarket (but no option to get it witout a plastic film around it!!!)
- £2.83/kg greengrocer (why so expensive I wonder???)
- cauliflower
- 95p each supermarket
- 89p each greengrocer
- nectarines
- £2.00/kg supermarket
- 39p each (must get a weighed comparison for these)
- apples
- £1.56/kg supermarket
- £1.87/kg greengrocer
- bananas
- £0.73/kg supermarket
- £1.29/kg greengrocer
- grapes
- £3.60/kg supermarket
- £4.07/kg greengrocer
- carrots
- £1.40/kg supermarket
- £0.86/kg greengrocer
- brown onions
- £0.75/kg supermarket
- £0.86/kg greengrocer
- potatoes
- £0.64/kg supermarket
- £0.64/kg greengrocer (no plastic bag wins for me!)
- kiwi fruit
- 8.5p each supermarket (6 prepacked in a plastic tub and net)
- or 37.5p each ready to eat supermarket (4 on a plastic tray and covered in plastic film)
- 29p each greengrocer