poop bags

This is something I really hate …. plastic bags of dog @*%! hanging from the bushes. I can see what the dog owners are  trying to do and thanks for that but why put 100% biodegradable dog waste into plastic bags that takes more than 100 years to degrade? And then throw it into the bushes…or is this just a Huddersfield thing??

Be responsible and environmental; use the biodegradable BioBag dog bags that returns to soil along with their contents within a couple of months.

Or try these from www.topak.co.uk

2 rolls of bags (100) cost £1.65 = vat = packing = £5.90
6p a bag

The joys of composting

The best way to achieve plastic free bins is to take up composting. No wet squidgy stuff in your bins means no need for bin liners – Ive been doing it for years now.

ALSO no wet squidgy stuff in landfill means no methane. Biodegradable matter put into landfill doesnt rot down properly and instead gives off methane gas an even more dangerous greenhouse gas.

So composting means cutting down on your plastic rubbish creation and reducing your carbon footprint – seems a no brainer to me.

Find more plastic free products compostable with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

New Zealands New Bin Rules

When New zealanders give up their bin bags this is what they write ….

couldnt agree more – click here for British composting and giving up bin liners

The wonder of bicarb

Bicarbonate of soda – something of a wonder product. This one product can replace hundreds of plastic bottles on your shelves.

You can use it to

Clean a microwave oven

Remove tarnish from silver

Clean a stainless steel sink

Boost the strength of liquid laundry detergent

Clean a fibreglass bathtub or shower.

Clean bathroom tile

Maintain your septic tank

Deodorize cloth diapers

Clean a refrigerator

Deodorize a dishwasher

Boost the strength of dishwashing liquid

Remove burnt-on food from cookware

Clean and deodorize a cutting board

Deodorize food containers

Clean coffee and teapots

Deodorize kitchen garbage

Deodorize carpet

Deodorize a cat litter box

Soothe poison ivy rash or insect bites

Soothe sunburn, windburn, and prickly heat

Take a refreshing bath

Brush your teeth

Wash your mouth

Neutralize vomit odour

Soothe tired feet

Use as a deodorant

Clean dirt, grime, and scuffmarks from doors, stoves, laminated tabletops, linoleum floors, and tile.

Remove coffee or tea stains from china

Minimize the smell of dirty laundry

Deodorize a closet

Deodorize garment storage bags

Deodorize shoes or training shoes

Remove crayon marks from walls or wallpaper

Clean dirt and grime from hands

Remove conditioner and styling gel build-up from hair

Refresh stuffed animals

Clean high chairs, car seats, strollers, and plastic mattress protectors

Clean baby bottles, nipples, and bottle brushes

Whiten socks and dirty clothes

Clean chrome bumpers and hubcaps

Remove dead insects from a car or truck windshield

Deodorize carpeting in a car

De-grease and clean barbecue grills

For more on the above go to cleaning tips from the virtuowl.

Over in New Zealand they are using it to wash their hair and clean their teeth and here are some more bicarb beauty tips

For the plastic free afficiando it really is a must.

Bicarb is available from Wing Yip Chinese Super Store in Manchester and it comes in paper bags.

Find other plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

plastic free sweep

In the beginning, before plastic, there was a natural fibre for every job – from painting to sweeping you could grow it or hunt it. If you dont know your bassine from gumati you might want to check out these websites

The most extensive information about natural fibres is to be found here

Other information can be found here and here

All natural fibre brush with steel and wooden dust pan as found on Huddersfield market and all good old fashioned stores

Find other plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

mop and bucket

Last month was a bit sad what with having to accept that sometimes I am going to have to buy plastic wrapped products so this month we are going right back into the world of plastic free.

Seeing as it is spring I thought we might do a bit of cleaning. I am something of an old pro when it comes to scrubbing. In my youth I was the cleaner of casinos. I swabbed down the gaming area, restaurant and croupiers changing rooms. What with the slopped drinks, overflowing urinals, greasy kitchens and industrial strength makeup  spills, theres not a thing I don’t know about  mopping up.

I can tell you that a cotton mop and galvanized mop bucket  are the only things that can take the strain. Plastic tubs and sponge heads are crap (that is a technical term used by cleaners). Only the strength of galvanized steel allows you to get a good squeeze on your mop essential for good scrubbing action.

Cotton mop heads are also replaceable. The old ones can be safely burnt on the bonfire or used to make Guy Fawkes hair – it makes him look really rascally. If you think Guy had the right idea and you don’t want to burn an effigy of him,  put the old mop head on the compost heap. The wooden mop handles last for ever, but should they ever break they too can be burnt or composted.

So give up on plastic mop buckets and sqidgy sponges and get down with the old school charlady look. Its really cool, plastic free, biodegradable and lasts for ever.

Mops and buckets can be bought at all good markets and hardware stalls including of course Huddersfield Queensgate market.

Find other plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

plastic loo roll

 

There comes a time in every anti – plastickers life when there really is no alternative – what you want only comes plastic wrapped. Of course there is the truly noble option of doing with out giving it up completely. And for some products this is an option. Crisps for instance – I have given them up. Yes I did love crisp butties –I am from t’north after all– but I will do without for the good of the cause. Besides, I have given up white sliced bread and marge, and you cant make crisp butties without them.

Toilet paper is quite another thing. I know from other plastic free blogs that loo roll can be bought paper wrapped or even in boxes. Well not up here it cant. The only paper wrapped loo paper is Isal Medicated – it is extremely hard more like greaseproof paper with a shiny almost waterproof finish. Obviously this makes it extremely uncomfortable to use in a number of ways.

Still I was prepared to use the beastly stuff till I went to buy in bulk and found the paper wrapped rolls were shrink filmed in plastic. Damned if I am going to suffer scratches if the rolls are not in fact plastic free.

There is the jug of water and washing method and when in India I am quite happy to use this method – however when in England.. well most visitors to my house would fall down and die if called on to wash their bum with their bare hands. Toilet paper is an important indeed essential western bathroom accessory.

There are hardcore greens who use washable poop rags. Yes they are exactly what they sound like. Two problem with this – the first as before screaming visitors the second a screaming me. I can not regard this option with anything other than horror. Washable nappies yes but adult poop urghhhhh. See,  everyone has their sticking point.

So all things considered I will be sticking with the loo roll… even though it is plastic wrapped.

However this is not all bad, there is a compromise. While the rolls come in plastic bags they are polythene bags which can be easily recycled at your local supermarket or even sent in the post to recycling facilities – for details see here.

Now of course the point of the plastic boycott is to try and reduce the amount of plastic packaging there is out there on the streets – packaging which needs to be collected and specially disposed of. Packaging like polythene bags. However toilet rolls are I think essential for successful social gatherings. So while this is not an ideal solution and certainly not a plastic free one, it is the best I can come up with.

The image is called  Microsoft toilet roll Originally uploaded by shitalicious . If you like this , there are other takes on big brands on the flicr site.

Recycling Icelandic beach trash

Icelandic beach trash Originally uploaded by futureatlas.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year I was fulminating about plastic coat hangers – well only yestrday I was ambling round Tesco when I took a detour into the clothes section. there I saw a coat hanger recycling box. For plastic ones of course

I also happened to notice lurking behind the counter in BHS a cardboard box labelled coat hanger recycling.

You could of course offer them to your local charity shop or freecycle them

Want to cut down on your plastic rubbish? – you can find other plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index

plastic plants

This month I will be giving up all  plastic wrapped cut flowers.

Which will be hard – I  loved great vases of flowers and I used to buy huge bunches from Huddersfield Market… fantastic value, great range but all plastic wrapped. 

Now as I proved on valentines day you can buy non plastic wrapped blooms from the florist … but you might have to take your own paper to carry them home in.

However as I cannot afford to buy anything resembling a bunch of flowers from the florist I will  have  to rethink my big bowls of blooms motif….

Still the politics of cut flowers are not that great  – air miles, use of pesticides etc – so maybe its not so bad.

The season of frilly knickers

Photo by funkypancake

December and its that time of year when husbands lurk round the lingerie sections of Marks and Sparks trying desperately to this year get it right.

But where there a re frilly knickers – or party frocks – or indeed all other items of apparel there are horrid plastic coat hangers. You know the kind they give away with well pretty much everything. I hate them. They are rubbish, break easily and are bad for your clothes. And most are pretty much one use display items only – and don’t tell me that any one uses those tiny knicker hangers to rehang their panties cos I just don’t believe you.

In the USA alone they get through 8 billion plastic / wire hangers a year .

Enough to fill the empire states building 4 times over.

Worse still clothes are increasingly being bought ready hung to save the shop owner the bother of hanging them or having to reuse old hangers. Grrrrr the world has gone mad.

So I try to buy unhung clothes and refuse/ return those hangers that are given to me free with my clothes. I also ask what the shops policy is on recycling those hangers. So far I have been met with blank looks.

I don’t have many clothes that need dry cleaning but when I do get that done I return the metal hanger.

I hang my clothes on wooden hangers made from FSC wood.

If you are a shop owner or dry cleaner and you really need a disposable hanger – here’s an interesting web site for eco paper hangers