Ways to cut back on purchasing plastics - advice please!

[~Bec~]

So DF and I have decided to make more of an effort to not buy plastics but it's very difficult when grocery shopping (everything seems to be packaged in plastic).

- How do I buy bread?
- How do I buy cheese?
- Are there such things as biodegradable plastic bags? (we can use in replacement of plastic bags and also for bin liners)

Any other advice or suggestions on minimising plastic purchases is welcome.

Oh, which has less environmental impact, plastic or glass containers?

TIA :)

[Areca]

If you wanted to cut down that much - make your own bread.
I only buy block or grated cheese. Never sliced cheese...it's really not that hard to slice your own cheese!
There are biodegradable garbage bags. We use them. Invest in a bigger garbage bin if yours is only big enough to take a shopping bag size....that way you're also putting more rubbish in to the one bag.
don't buy individually packed items -whatever you buy in snack sizes...buy them in the larger size and then use re-usable containers to make in to snak size portions for when you're going out.

We have reduced the amount of cling wrap we use a ton by investing in tupperware containers. Sandwich keepers are awesome, their snack cups rock, their fridge mates keep your already cut up fruit or vegies super fresh, forget me not's are great for half an onion/tomato or the left over avocado. No need to use cling wrap that way.

I invested in a proper drink bottle. Instead of buying water out I take my own. Saves me money too.

I am currently using disposable nappies but I don't wrap them up in the scented bags (unless it's an unflushable poo). I roll it in on itself, and fold the tabs over the front and they stick to each other and keeps everything contained. I use the biodegradable nappies (which still aren't good but currently I have no choice) and not the bags because apparently the bags means it takes even longer for the nappies to break down.

On the less environmental impact...I don't know for sure but I'm going to guess glass....no real reason for my logic though!

[BornToBe]

Hello :wave:

In our household we have a stack of reusable containers (and I mean a STACK) and rather than using cling we go for them. Still plastic yes, but hard plastic is recyclable and we use them for as long as they last.

We've stopped buying cling wrap and only buy foil - for the unavoidable wrapping needs - as it is also recyclable. I find stores such as Aldi and now Coles do stock biodegradable bags - we use mainly green bags to shop, then when we get low on placcy bags (as bin liners) we'll purposefully leave the greenies at home and stock up.

Other small things are - buy your bread from a bakery that will store it in paper bags. When you get home you can then pop in into a large placcy container into the fridge. Lasts heaps longer than a bag.

Pretty hard to avoid the plastic wrapper on commercial cheese it seems... I guess if you had more dosh, you could buy some nice waxed type...

As for vegies being packed in plastic - ooh how much I hate that - shopping at your local weekend markets will avoid it.

When I buy meat it is generally wrapped in plastic too - even the butcher will use a plastic bag - so I don't have any advice for that one I'm afraid.

That's about it, our house seems generally pretty low on plastic. When I shop, I think plastic really tends to turn me off the product in question, so we naturally end up with more tinned-boxed-foil wrapped stuff.

Best of luck and apologies on the late (and long) post. :)

[BlueSkyGirl]

Big W just had a big sale on Pyrex containers. They come in all sizes nowadays and have lids too. We bought as many as we could afford since our plan is to rid our kitchen of plastics eventually. It's no easy task. We also look for specials on wooden and s/s utensils wherever we go.

[FiveInTheBed]

We use our green bags when grocery shopping, but I have also just invested in some 'greensacks' for my fruit and vege. And also some bamboo toothbrushes.
Try my hardest to make my own bread most of the tiime.
good quality containers for storing food in the fridge.


multix have degradable bin liners if you don't want to use newspaper.

Any plastic containers or trays that we might happen to buy get reused as much as possible - painting/craft etc before being put in the recycle bin.

[A Party of Five]

We have reduced the amount of cling wrap we use a ton by investing in Tupperware containers. Sandwich Keepers are awesome, their snack cups rock, their fridge mates keep your already cut up fruit or vegies super fresh, forget me not's are great for half an onion/tomato or the left over avocado. No need to use cling wrap that way.

Same here love Tupperware so much that now I'm a Tupperware demonstrator :yes:

[WorkingClassMum]

I buy our cheese and bread direct from the Vic Market or the bakery.

I take a plastic container for the cheese, and a two breadkeeper containers for the bread for MOTH and myself (I then pop the bread straight into the freezer in the bread containers) I bought the containers from safeways and they have clips on the lid to clip to the containers

The kids bread comes in plastic as I buy 10 loaves at a time and cannot avoid the bags :no:

I buy all our fruit n vegies loose as well, and take containers for the nuts n dried fruit.

[Happy2be3]

Hello :wave:

We've stopped buying cling wrap and only buy foil - for the unavoidable wrapping needs - as it is also recyclable. :)

You can recycle USED foil? In the recycling bins? I so didnt know that!

[Bellini]

I buy a big block of cheese and grate it myself as needed. I purchase bread from the bakery, and they place it in a paper bag which I recycle. I would love to start making my own bread though :yes:

And yes, there are biodegradable bags. These ones come in different sizes, and decompose ---> click (http://www.ecoshop.com.au/asp/product.asp?recorprod=1&product=372&cat=87&ph=&keywords=&recor=1&SearchFor=&PT_ID=1)

I often don't use a bin liner at all - all scraps/egg shells/tea bags/vacuum cleaner dust etc go into our worm farm, so our bin never gets particularly smelly or gross, and hence a liner isn't needed. For groceries, I use those eco sacs. They are more convenient than green bags, and hold a lot too. My cleaning products come in a glass bottle and a cardboard box (vinegar & bicarb soda), and we buy milk in paper cartons, not the big plastic ones. I don't buy plastic toys, only wooden.

Oh and glass containers have less environmental impact :)

[Happy2be3]

I often don't use a bin liner at all - all scraps/egg shells/tea bags/vacuum cleaner dust etc go into our worm farm, so our bin never gets particularly smelly or gross, and hence a liner isn't needed.


This really interests me :idea: But can I just ask a question.. what do you do with things like meat packaging? We put it in the freezer till its time to put the bins out to save it getting gross in the bin.. and does the coucil mind that your rubbish isnt in a bag.. cause when they tip the bin into the truck doesnt the rubbish fly everywhere? I think its a great idea using no liner, dont get me wrong.. I just thought we HAVE to use one based on stipulations by the Council??

[Bellini]

This really interests me :idea: But can I just ask a question.. what do you do with things like meat packaging? We put it in the freezer till its time to put the bins out to save it getting gross in the bin.. and does the coucil mind that your rubbish isnt in a bag.. cause when they tip the bin into the truck doesnt the rubbish fly everywhere? I think its a great idea using no liner, dont get me wrong.. I just thought we HAVE to use one based on stipulations by the Council??

I have contacted them about this before, because my dad once said the same thing. My local council doesn't stipulate that it goes into a liner, although they 'prefer' it. Because we're in a unit complex, all of our waste goes into a big industrial sized bin, and people often throw things in their willy nilly. I haven't seen rubbish fly out during collection yet - it might be more prone to do that with wheelie bins, i'm not sure. Although I know a few people in other cities who do it too - they line their kitchen bins with newspaper to soak up the bin juice, and then the rubbish goes directly into the wheelie bin, and the juicy newspaper goes onto the compost. I have also heard before that biodegradable bags will degrade in compost etc but not in landfill, as they need to be close to the surface to degrade? Does anyone know if this is true?

And in regards to meat packaging, it's usually wrapped in paper (from the butcher) so we just roll it up into a tight ball, it doesn't leak or anything. That's when we do buy meat.