Since we started our plastic free journey at the beginning of the year we have made progress, but we do keep bumping into new issues which we hadn’t thought of at the start.
To be honest, that’s probably a good thing or we might not have made it as far as we have!
In this final (at least for now) post I wanted to highlight some of solutions we have found to these issues in the hopes that the may be of help to others on their own plastic free journeys.
Plastic Free Journey – Snacking
We were ramping our plastic-free living a notch. It was time to ditch the plastic-wrapped snacks and make our own. Although as soon as you try to tackle one ‘free’ living issue, another comes along. Sugar is a bit one when it comes to kiddie snacks and so it’s not as easy as whipping up some cupcakes and slapping on the icing.
Both of our girls need to take in healthy lunch boxes and that means no sweets, no chocolate and full-on cake is frowned upon. A sugar-laden treat is fine for the weekend but it’s no good for weekday lunch fuel. Add to that that both schools are also a nut-free zone and so nut butters are out too.
We went for banana bread with lower sugar and used agave syrup for sweetness instead. I wrapped both girls up a bit in parchment paper for three days running and then toasted some with cinnamon butter and strawberries for a weekend brunch treat.
All in all – another plastic-free success.
If you would like more ideas for plastic free snacking, you can read our ‘Plastic Free Snacks’ post.
Almond Milk with No Plastic
My favourite new coffee discovery when it comes to using my new keepcup is a delicious almond milk latte. I love the creaminess of the almond milk and our ventures into plastic-free have definitely taken us along the plant-based living route as well.
But of course most almond milks come in a plastic-lined carton. So, now that I can’t live without it, I decided to make my own. It was simply enough and I was chuffed with the result.
In short, you soak your almonds in water for 2-3 days, drain, add fresh water and blend until smooth. The next step is to strain your milky mixture through a clean muslin and enjoy!
I certainly did; I enjoyed almond milk lattes at home and replaced cows milk for almond on my cereal. Definitely something I would highly recommend.
Next stop: cashew milk!
Shop Till You Drop – Recycling Plastic
Hands up; I love shopping. A good rummage in the clothes shop, a restock of the kitchen cupboards or a fancy new rug for the lounge – I love it all.
But I’ve found that going plastic-free largely means cutting down on my guilty consumer habits. Or so I thought, until I discovered that I can still make guilt-free and fun-filled purchases.
I discovered Batoko online and was attracted to their bright and colourful swimsuit designs. When I saw that firstly they were made of recycled plastic and most importantly of all – they come in matching adult and children’s designs, I was hooked. Three cossies were in the basket and purchased in 20 seconds flat!
The story behind the brand is that they create their funky swimwear from post-consumer PET plastic, such as bottles, fishnets and carpet.
Ingenious huh?
The old plastic is shredded and melted and then spun into polyester yarn. There’s roughly 10 plastic bottles per swimsuit and they have used around 106,000 plastic bottles so far.
Now that’s some seriously clever recycling and shows just what can be done with a little bit of thinking outside the (plastic) box.
Guilt-free slurping
Moving through our plastic-free journey has been fascinating. As a family we have learnt so much and taken many steps to get move us towards a plastic-free lifestyle.
For example, if you’d have told me a few months ago that I would be carrying around cups and reusable straws in my bag I might have laughed.
But that’s been my next small step this month – a rather chic golden straw that I now carry in my bag so that I can say no to a plastic straw.
I have to admit that my shopaholic tendencies did come out again and I did buy more than one of these beauties, but just look at my cocktails now…the gold straw is just perfection. Another plastic-free win which has made my life better in more ways that one.
Troublesome takeaways
The jump from straws to cutlery was a small one and so when splashing out on my fancy straws, I also added some take away cutlery too.
We love getting out and about outdoors as a family and so we often have picnics. I have cheerily picked up the plastic cutlery, wrapped in plastic cellophane many times in the past but no more.
My handy metal cutlery set now has permanent place in my handbag so I never need use a surprisingly-snappable plastic knife again.
And it’s just great to feel ahead of the curve on this. I fully expect that the government will take action to ban plastic cutlery in the near future and now that won’t affect me at all. Result.
Plastic Free Journey – Wrap it up
When we go in, we go all in. And so the next step was ditching the cling film and going down the Beeswax wrap route.
We got a starter pack so that we could try them out and get to grips with how they work but they are so simple that I’ve now invested in plenty more.
These foldable, mouldable, wrappable wraps really are the bees knees (see what I did there!) and we’re hooked. Our children want to wrap up every sandwich they eat in them – even when they are just taking them through to the lounge for a lap-supper.
They come in a range of pretty designs which helps. Plus they allow food to breathe while keeping it completely fresh. Every once in a while they just need a bit of a wash to keep them looking fresh but that’s about it.
Plastic Free Journey – Travelling On
For now that’s the end of my posts about our plastic free journey, not because we are stopping the journey but rather simply because the demands of family life have rather taken over.
Why not send us your plastic free story – we’d love to hear form you.
