What, no plastic? For a month?
(long pause)… Great idea, but
it’s going to be tough. What about shampoo? Or
milk? Come to think of it, most food is wrapped in plastic. Mmm.... Good
luck.
This is a pretty standard response when I tell
people that I’m cutting out buying any new plastic for a month.
Then there is also lots of enthusiasm from
other people (sometimes very unexpected): ‘I’ve been meaning to cut down on the amount
of waste I produce, I’m in!’ Or ‘What a
great excuse to make me eat healthier food – cookies and chocolate are all
wrapped in plastic, aren’t they?’ This
enthusiasm tends to last until they realise there is something essential to
them which is not readily available without some kind of plastic wrapping. Yoghurt in cardboard, anyone? Alternatives to deodorant in plastic containers?
After a week of emails back and forth with the
intrepid folk who have agreed to give up plastic for a month – we’ve had a
shampoo / conditioner / deodorant crisis
(and more or less solved it), decided we’ll need to make our own greek yoghurt
and cookies, and it's been suggested that we need to have a fine box for anyone
breaking the plastic rule out of desperation for something forbidden (£1 each
time you buy something plastic… to be used for a celebration at the end of the
month).
The general consensus is that this is going to
be nigh on impossible.
So I was pretty happy when, walking down Broughton
Street today, I stopped into some shops and nearly ALL of them had some kind of ‘Bring
your Own Container’ system in place for people wanting to avoid packaging. Perhaps this isn’t going to be so difficult
after all? Here’s to hoping!
For those of you who are interested - here are
the highlights:
Artisan
Roast Coffee: 57 Broughton Street
The folks at Artisan Roast will give a 10%
discount to customers who bring their own containers to buy coffee beans. They weigh up your container and then just
add the coffee in there directly. They
will also give customers who come in for a takeaway coffee 10% off the total if
they bring their own cup.
Real
Foods, 37 Broughton Street
This one is undoubtedly the absolute winner
for bringing your own container! They
have every type of muesli that you can imagine (including the crunchy ones),
oat, wheat and flour in bulk bags that you can help yourself to. They will weigh your containers and then you
can load them up with what you want to buy.
Most exciting, they have rice (brown rice, arborio rice, longrain rice,
basmati rice etc) in bulk as well… I was having trouble finding this anywhere
else with no plastic. Along with Earthy
foods – this is also the only place I’ve managed to find toilet roll with a
100% compostable wrapper – so that’s a relief - I’d been imagining a month of having to steal
loo roll to avoid the plastic issue. It's also open until 9pm - which is great for those who pass by here after work (me!).
Broughton
Deli and Cafe, 7 Barony Street
As well as freshly baked bread (not wrapped in
plastic), they also have a ‘serve yourself’ vat of Hellenic Gold Extra Virgin
olive oil.
Crombies
Butcher, 97-101 Broughton Street
Great sausages and meat – and while this place
uses lots of plastic (everything comes in plastic, and then gets wrapped in
another plastic bag when you get to the counter unless you jump in quickly to wrestle
your goods away) – they weigh all the meat on paper, so I imagine if you bring
your own containers there would be no problem going plastic-free here. Yeah!
Also worth a mention is Coco Chocolate (71 Broughton
Street) sells chocolate bars in paper wrappers…
Happy plastic-free shopping!
