In January 2007, maddened by plastic trash, we began boycotting plastic products and sourcing plastic-free alternatives. A few years on and our plastic footprint is tiny.
BYO Toiletries
We don’t often stay in hotels that supply toiletries but they are common in Iran and you only have to be staying in a cut above grotty, t be offered them in abundance. I recon it’s a combination of the Iranians love of plastic disposable products, and being hospitable….and the better the hotel the more you get. We have been offered everything from sewing kits to shower hats to shampoo.
Poor Village Boy he so loves a freebie and its hard for him to say no – but he loves the planet more so we refuse these complimentary products and use our own stuff.
Yup! The easy way to avoid plastic crap in hotel rooms is to bring a wash bag full of your own products. This works wether you are in Iran or Huddersfield…. we have a set of reusable travel bottles which we fill up with home made products, we leave them in our wash bag along with spare wooden toothbrushes and hey presto, ready to go, anywhere, anytime.
Of course you dont have to make your own stuff you can buy your toiletries in bulk bottles then decant off into smaleer bottles as needed.
You can get sets of plastic bottles from chemists like Superdrug though be warned the cheaper bottles are not very durable.
Muji also do a good range of handy pretty bottles.
Camping shops have some great hard wearing options though they are more expensive.
If you really don’t want to use plastic you can get metal bottles though please note they are not so good for backpacking. They tend to crumple under pressure. You can read about our choice of bottles, and plastic versus metal, here
If you want to make your own plastic free cosmetics have a look at this
For more posts on plastic in Iran read up here
Find lots more pictures of Iranian plastic pollution here at Planet Trash and Flickr Plastic Is Rubbish
Inspired to give up plastic? Check these plastic free products sourced as part of our plastic boycott and listed here the >>>A-Z plastic free index
Want to travel plastic free – check out the plastic free backpack
Chokin Cochin
Another in the collection of the plastic pollution albums featured on the Planet trash Facebook page.
The Chinese Fishing Nets, Cochin
World famous tourist attraction knee deep in plastic crap.
Cochin was the first place to feature in my Planet trash Facebook site of worldwide plastic pollution. I wish I could say the situation has improved since then. It hasnt – the plastic pollution is as bad as ever.
You can see the original series of photos here
Want to see more worldwide sites trashed by plastic – check out the Facebook Photo Index….. or browse through the Flickr Plastic Is Rubbish photo pool.
Boycott Plastic
Inspired to give up plastic? Check these plastic-free products sourced as part of our plastic boycott and listed here in the plastic-free resource index
Want to travel plastic-free – check out the plastic-free backpack.
another post card from the jungle…..
I know I am not supposed to be here and yet, as you may have noticed I have still been mincing around the internet. Truly no where is off-line these days.
While I cannot say access has been fast or reliable, I have been able to keep a sporadic eye on my plastic free chums.
But today I had a proper session, real access - speedy uploads, and I managed to get through my inbox, make some new chums and even tweet.
Sooo… thanks for all the comments, sorry for the delay in answering them and the letters and for any deadlines missed..
Now I am off again, back into the bush, where no doubt I will find the monkeys are texting.
And yes, that is my jungle outfit…safari suits are so last century!
Love to all
Pamx
How much plastic waste do we create?
English: Plastic Tree at Tyland Barn. This tree made from plastic bottles and other waste stands next to the recycling centre in the car park at Tyland Barn Wildlife Centre. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
America
The Americans in the U.S of A that is created
31 million tons of plastic waste in 2010
14 million tons of containers and packaging,
11 million tons as durable goods, such as appliances,
7 million tons as nondurable goods, for example plates and cups.
(ermmm that makes 32million tons?…)
Only 8 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2010 was recovered for recycling.
Only 12% of bags, sacks, and wraps were recycled a
These figures are from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency who go on to note
“The recycling rate for different types of plastic varies greatly, resulting in an overall plastics recycling rate of only 8 percent, or 2.4 million tons in 2010. However, the recycling rate for some plastics is much higher, for example in 2010, 28 percent of HDPE bottles and 29 percent of PET bottles and jars were recycled”.
California
Californias governing body have this to say
“In the United States, consumers use 100 billion plastic bags annually, but fewer than 5 percent of plastic bags are recycled, which means they eventually end up in landfills, open spaces, or waterways. Californians use an estimated 12 billion plastic bags annually. That’s almost 400 bags per second. In California, approximately 247 million pounds—that’s 24 billion bags!—end up in landfills every year. California spends approximately $25 million annually to landfill discarded plastic bags. Public agencies in California spend more than $300 million annually for litter abatement.”
25 MILLION???? ON BAGS???
United Kingdom
Over the pond in the UK Waste on line , another government agency, are keen to tell us that we generate 3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually 56% of which is used packaging, three-quarters of which is from households. They estimated that only 7% of total plastic waste is currently being recycled.
Plastics consumption is growing about 4% every year in western Europe.
We produce and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago!
Certainly the developing countries use less plastic than we do, but they still use a lot, and hope to use more.
Polythene Pam
I monitored by own plastic consumption before I began the boycott and the amounts of waste we, a fairly green couple, produced was worrying.
People
This fantastic collection of photos shows what people eat in a week the world over. Humbling? yes…but also check out the packaging! Way to go Japan!
The problem of course is that plastic doesnt biodegrade. To dispose of it it has to be collected up and specially treated. Either burnt or buried or, in very small amounts, recycled. And we are using this product to makeone use throwaway items. The result? Everlasting litter! Thats just dumb.
Yet simply by saying no to uneccessary plastic, you can cut your pile of trash almost completely.
Why not give it a go?
Boycott Plastic
Inspired to give up plastic? Check these plastic-free products sourced as part of our plastic boycott and listed here in the plastic-free resource index
For much more on the problems with plastic, go to WHY WE BOYCOTT PLASTIC
Tip 3 – Take Your Own Snacks
Travelling plastic free in Iran…
Every bus we traveled on in Iran dished out snacks. The better the bus the more snacks you are given. Biscuits cakes water and juice, all of it is offed, all of it is plastic wrapped. A single journey will generate bag loads of non biodegradable trash and so we don’t accept it. Instead we bring our own.
Despite Persia’s love affair with packaging there are still hundreds of places that sell loose.
You can nuts dried fruit and all manner of things by weight from the bazaar.
If you are squeamish about eating unwrapped dried apricots from the dusty bazaar, the bakeries are extremely clean and hygienic. They sell bread, biscuits and cakes loose and by weight. Make mine a kilo of cakes.
Finally there is always peelable fruit.
Fantastic – but still not out of the woods. While some of these places might have paper bags most use plastic so you will need to take your own. We travel with bio bags and reusable cotton produce bags.
For a drink its water in our reusable, refillable bottle treated with a Steripen. So when everyone else is creating rubbish with a life span of forever, we are not.
Smug? You know it!
For more posts on plastic in Iran read up here
For loose food in the UK try the loose foods list
Inspired to give up plastic? Check these plastic free products sourced as part of our plastic boycott and listed here the >>>A-Z plastic free index
Anti-plastic infographics
It doesn’t matter how well you write, sometimes, just sometimes, you need a bloody good graphic to get the case across…..
and there is some fantastic work out there on the internet.
Here are just some of the great campaigns we have featured. To see more visit our fantastic anti-plastic infographic gallery
Prefer Pinterest? – visit our page.
Other Stuff
Find lots of photos of plastic pollution here
Boycott Plastic
Inspired to give up plastic? Check these plastic-free products sourced as part of our plastic boycott and listed here in the plastic-free resource index
Pondicherry, India
Another in the collection of plastic pollution albums featured on the Planet trash Facebook page.
One of the most plastic polluted places in India with a layer of plastic trash almost totally covering areas of land in and around Pondicherry. See for yourself right here Pondicherry
See more Facebook albums here …..
and lots more plastic pollution pictures here
Boycott Plastic
Inspired to give up plastic? Check these plastic-free products sourced as part of our plastic boycott and listed here in the plastic-free resource index
Want to travel plastic-free – check out the plastic-free backpack.
