Old bottles new houses

 

Use those old plastic bottles (and some sand)  to build a house 

Or these recycled specially designed bottle bricks

 
If only all plastic bottles could be this useful.

metal toothpaste tubes

 These tooth pastes come in metal tubes according to the blurb and various write ups. I cant verify these claims as I make my own tooth powder – recipie to follow.

Euthymol

and

metal tubed toothpaste

This comes in a metal tube and be bought from Twenga

Marvis Classic Strong Mint Toothpaste

By: Marvis Pack: 75-ml Product Code: MRV0002 Price: £4.88 Description Marvis is a classic toothpaste from Italy created using traditional methods to guarantees a rich, creamy paste. What makes Marvis unique is the range of exotic flavours – enticing and addictive tastes that produce a whirlwind of sensations. Marvis search the world to bring you irresistible new and original flavours that turn the simple act of teeth brushing into a daily pleasure of discovery and taste. Marvis Classic Strong Mint Toothpaste has a uniquely fresh peppermint taste, especially recommended for smokers. Marvis toothpastes combine a  peppermint base with interesting flavours to give a long lasting pleasurable taste sensation. The formula containing Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay, fights tartar and plaque and keeps breath fresh all day long. And not only does Marvis clean and protect teeth and taste terrific but it even looks great in its luxuriously colourful tube with elegantly sculpted cap.

make your own safe water

Now its easy to give up bottled water in England but what of when yo are abroad in countries where the water is not so reliable. India for example. It is not always possible to refill you water bottle with sterilized water. as in Leh, the Hemis trek or Arambol.

Most parts of India just don’t do that and will want to sell you water in those vile plastic bottles that are now such an ugly part of the Indian landscape.

The steri pen is my solution to that particular problem. Stick the sticky bit in a liter of water – switch on and 90 seconds later the water is safe to drink. Weighs next to nothing and is tiny.

For more information visit the following sites.

steriPEN and for

great reviews of the product here and here

what it kills

good converter here

I bought mine on E bay.

Trekking Snacks

Biscuit wrapper in a mountain stream – plastic of course!

Though the food at the home stays does the job it is sometimes basic and often repetitive. Though they will make you a packed lunch the less said about them the better. You may feel the need to take some additional provisions with you.

The purchase of plastic free, light weight snacks is difficult I know but here are a couple of options.

Dried fruit can be bought loose in the market on the main street of Leh or in paper bags from Dzosmos. (where you can also refill your water bottle with filtered water while you are in Leh)

If you or the trekking party you are with do buy plastic wrapped snacks please do ensure that they are disposed of properly even if that means taking your plastic wrappers back to Leh with you. There is no guarantee that they will be properly disposed of there but at least it will keep the hills cleaner for longer.

Plastic Free Trekking

Organized by the Snow leopard Conservancy, these treks allow you access to some of the amazing scenery around Leh. You stay in villagers homes – I say village but sometimes it is a single farmstead- and have to walk from place to place. There are no roads. Everything that goes into the mountains has to be carried there on the backs of donkeys. needless to say there is no rubbish collection everything that goes into the mountains stays in the mountains.

For hundreds of years the ecological balance has been maintained. Rubbish is composted or burnt or eaten by other less fussy animals. Even now this landscape is wonderfully clean and rubbish free. But all that is changing with the advent of plastic. Plastic is of course difficult to burn, doesn’t biodegrade, and kills those animals who eat it. Once it is in the landscape it is there for decades looking horrible and causing trouble.

Thankfully there are people like the Snow leopard Conservancy who are are trying to preserve snow leopards and the environment in which they and the farmers live. They have several amazing projects including the home stay treks. As well as board and bed, your host host will provide you with boiled filtered water. All you have to do is take your own refillable water bottle for plastic free hydration.

What a great scheme.

NB  Don’t rely on there being bottled water for sale – there isn’t any. Ha!

For more details go to

www.himalayan-homestays.com

www.markha-valley.info

The Flat Breads Of My Youth

Originally uploaded by plastic is rubbish

Last year I gave up plastic wrapped bread – which was pretty easy for English bread at least. However for middle eastern breads its a different story – pitta breads, lavoche and other types of flat bread are not to be bought in anything other than plastic wrappings. The husband hails from far off lands and often gets a yearning for the flat breads of his youth.

It seemed a little unfair to deny him the pleasure of a properly wrapped keebab and so it seemed that special dispensation would have to be made for foreign bread.

But no more thanks to the arrival of Maryam Bakery on Blacker Road Huddersfield. They do four nan breads for a pound. They call them nans but they are in fact more of a Kurdish style flat bread. They are freshly baked and as good as plastic wrapped pitta and better than the rather dusty dry lavoche.

And they come wrapped in paper.

plastic free india

Those of you traveling to Arambol in India this year might be interested to know that you don’t have to buy endless plastic bottles of  water. Go to Double Dutch Restaurant and get your water bottle refilled with safe, clean filtered water for a fraction of the cost -  saving money and the environment.

I know I don’t have to tell you why this is good idea. Instead, here’s a picture of a cow eating plastic on on one of the (many) Arambol rubbish dumps.

Clean Up Leh Day

Talking of dirty plastic rubbish you might be interested in the Ladhk Ecological Groups clean up Leh day. Its on June 5th 2009. Call 09906 995 464 or 09419 343 436 for details.

plastic free Indian water

Those of you who find yourselves in Leh, that’s Leh, Lahdahk, India, might want to know about Dzomsa. This shop refills your water bottle with boiled filtered water there by cutting out the plastic nasties. And if ever a place was cursed with plastic rubbish its Leh.

They have shops on Old Fort Road and Main Street and maybe one more (though they are not all open out of season).Refills cost 7 rupees so its a bargain.

They also do dried apricots in paper bags.