Is Your New Year's Resolution To Cut Your Plastics Usage?
Posted by The Wares Team on 6th Jan 2020
Whilst Christmas time is full of cheer and goodwill, and a time when we all enjoy giving and receiving thoughtful gifts. The festive season and the days just after Christmas, in particular, can be a time for reflection and to have a cold, hard look at the amount of waste that all that giving of gifts and sending of cards generates.
For some, this is the time to make New Year’s resolutions too, and what better
way to start the new year than by committing to reduce your own personal carbon
footprint by trying to produce less waste and to use less plastic. In today’s
blog post, we go through a few ideas on how to make some simple choices that
will cut down on the plastic that you use, without any hard sacrifices having
to be made.
Start In The Kitchen
One of the easiest ways to tackle your personal plastic consumption is to look
around your kitchen and see where you are actually using plastics, and in
particular, disposable plastics. Is your fridge full of yoghurts, for example,
or is the freezer heavily laden with ready meals? Does your family get through
a huge quantity of biscuits and sweets? Are your shelves and cupboards crammed
with plastic bottles and jars; ketchup, peanut butter, pasta sauce, and so
forth?
If the answer to many of these questions is a resounding yes, then it’s time to
take action. It might seem daunting and you might resent the idea of having to
give up all of those tasty items, but the good news is that with a little
preparation and planning, you won’t need to go without anything and your
plastic-free replacements are likely to taste even better than the shop-bought
ones. Armed with a few glass jars and glass bottles and perhaps some
freezer-safe storage containers, you should be able to make a real dent in your
plastics use in no time at all.
We’ve covered how to make your own tomato ketchup in a previous blog post, so
check back through our archives. All you need is tomatoes, sugar, vinegar and
spices and, of course, some suitable glass bottles to put your ketchup in. Once
you’ve mastered ketchup, you can easily progress to other items such as salad
cream, peanut butter or sweet pouring sauces for desserts.
Another thing that we’ve covered in the past is making your own yoghurt.
Yoghurts are a big culprit when it comes to single-use plastic, so they are a
good target to aim at when reducing your own plastic use. Once you’ve made your
first batch of natural yoghurt, you can use a small amount from that batch to
make the next lot, and so on. Flavour your yoghurt with homemade jams or pureed
fruits for a variety of different flavours. And of course, you can make your
yoghurt in glass jars so that you are entirely plastic-free on this item.
Everyday Living
If you are forever forgetting to take a bag for life to the supermarket, or you
resort to buying sandwiches for lunch every day instead of taking a packed
lunch, then it’s time to start training yourself to think and act differently.
If you are really committed to making a big change, you need to work on these
areas.
Try folding a couple of carriers neatly and packing them in your handbag or
satchel, so that you always have them with you. Add another couple of bags
stowed in the car for emergency shopping stops. Every time you bring shopping home
in those bags, train yourself as part of the unpacking to replace them in your
own bag or the car, ready for reuse.
As for your sandwich for lunch every day, why not consider taking your own
lunch to work? Again, check our archives for exciting salads made in glass
jars. These are perfect as packed lunches and can help you with that other New
Year’s resolution too - the diet!
Get Organised
If you find yourself storing open packs of pasta, rice and other kitchen
staples in their original plastic wrappers and then wasting food because the
packaging splits and spills the contents, then think about storing these items
in glass jars instead. They’ll keep better in an airtight jar and your shelves
will be neater too.
You could even find out whether there is a zero-waste store in your
neighbourhood and start buying rice, flour, cereals and pasta from there, to
get rid of the plastic packaging on these altogether. Simply decant into your
glass jars when you bring your shopping home.
If you are inspired to try to reduce your own plastic usage this year, why not
get organised and check out our range of glass jars and glass bottles, so that
you have everything you need to commit to this properly? If we all do our bit
on plastic usage, we can really make a difference!