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Real Nappies Rock

30th April 2018 / PrishaHill / 0 Comments

Yep, this month we’re talking nappies! Well you couldn’t expect me to let Real Nappy Week go by without comment now could you?! Obviously I’m all for real nappies, also known as cloth nappies, but I’ve found that a lot of people are very critical of my decision, telling me I should just stick with disposables – no, those people have never read this blog. What I’ve noticed is that people under the age of about 50 seem to be largely supportive (to varying degrees) and will often already know someone who uses cloth nappies and raves about them. People over that age seem to be the ones trying to persuade me to use disposables because they’re still remembering the old terry squares that you would have to fold and carefully pin in place – you can still get those but most cloth nappies today are shaped just like disposables and have velcro tabs at the top so there’s no need for the dreaded safety pin.

I can see how disposables became popular in the first place: from having to fold up a piece of cloth and gently pin it in place while contending with a very wriggly baby can’t have been much fun. Then there’s the cleaning side… before disposable nappies came onto the market it was quite rare for people to have their own washing machine in the home. Instead they were likely to have to go to a laundrette everyday with a bag full of nappies and loose change (not very practical) or, more likely, they would have to wash all the nappies by hand. Given those circumstances I think even I might have opted for disposables back then too. Thankfully, things aren’t like that any more – most people do have a washing machine at home and cloth nappies are just as easy to put on as a disposable now.

There are loads of different terms that get thrown around when it comes to cloth nappies. I have purchased 2 types – some all-in-ones (AIOs) and some fitted nappies, so I’ll mostly be talking about these types. The others you can get include pocket, prefold and all-in-two. If you want to give real nappies a go then it’s worth doing a little research as to which type would be most suitable for you – just because your best friend raves about prefolds doesn’t mean they’re going to be the best fit for your lifestyle. A good place to start is your local nappy library (you should be able to find details through your local council’s website). The nappy library will explain all the different options to you and allow you to try each type out – you can then continue using the library or you can purchase your own set. You can also try out a local laundry service where they’ll take away the dirty nappies and leave you with a fresh set. Obviously I can’t try out any kind of nappy just yet so I had to make an educated guess as to what would be best for our family. Actually, another point to note on your local council’s website is what kind of incentive they offer for using real nappies. Here in Central Bedfordshire we’re able to apply for £25 cashback upon spending £50 or more. I know residents of some London boroughs though can apply for vouchers to spend on real nappies, so it’s worth seeing what is on offer before spending any money.

Ahhh money… so a lot of people are put off cloth nappies because of the up-front cost. I’m not going to lie, it is expensive, especially as my local council will only offer up to £25 towards the cost. Just to give you an idea, I bought a set of 40 nappies plus 12 wraps (from the Cloth Nappy Shop) for £225. I also got a few AIO nappies while they were on introductory offer at the supermarket for £10, although the price has now gone up to £16 each. The set of 40 that I got (20 in size 1 and 20 in size 2) will last from birth to potty and in theory I shouldn’t need any more than that. I did however get the AIOs as well because the size can be adjusted and it meant I’d have a few back-ups in case of an especially upset tummy.

I’ve probably confused a few of you there. So the 40 nappies I got from Cloth Nappy Shop are fitted nappies. They are shaped just like disposables but are made from bamboo fibres (you can also get cotton and microfibre ones as well, however bamboo is SUPER absorbent) and have velcro tabs at the top, like the sticky tabs you get on disposables. The nappy itself is highly absorbent (whatever fibre type you choose) but not waterproof, therefore an additional waterproof layer (a wrap) is required on top of the nappy. Most of the time the urine doesn’t soak all the way through to the wrap so the same wrap can be reused when a nappy is changed, unless of course there was a bit of a ‘leaky’ episode – although I’m told that’s quite rare for cloth nappies. Fitted nappies (and their wraps) tend to come in 2 or 3 sizes, although most children are fully toilet trained whilst in size 2, so its unlikely most parents would ever need to purchase size 3, unless they have a large toddler or it is taking little one a bit longer to get the hang of things. The AIO nappies tend to be covered in press studs and may have press stud fixings on the tabs or they may also have velcro. The press studs going down the front are so the size of the nappy can be adjusted to fit from birth up to potty without having to purchase a different set of nappies in the next size up. These nappies are absorbent and have an outer waterproof layer attached. AIOs may not last as long as the fitted nappies as the waterproof layer can start to delaminate over time. The fitted wraps may also delaminate but they don’t require washing as often as an AIO and therefore will probably last a bit longer.

Anyway, back to the financial side of things. So yes, there is a larger up-front cost, but in the long-term real nappies work out to be substantially cheaper. If purchasing cloth nappies for a first child, you’ll have forked out say £300, but then you’ll already have your nappy stash to hand ready for any subsequent children. You may even be able to recoup some of the cost by then selling them on to other parents-to-be once you decide to not have any more children, providing they’re in a decent enough condition, otherwise you can use them as cleaning rags around the house. Disposables on the other hand will only cost you a few £s at a time but from birth to potty you will likely get through around £900 worth of nappies… per child!

And what happens to those nappies once they’re thrown away? They sit in landfill of course. Estimates of how long it takes for a disposable nappy to decompose vary from 400 to 500 years. There are some disposable nappies that claim to be eco-friendly though. Beaming Baby nappies spring to mind here. Their nappies are 50% more bio-degradable than their nearest competitor but that still only makes them 75% bio-degradable. That means that 75% of the nappy will decompose within 5 years whereas the remaining 25% will still be sitting in landfill for up to 500 years. Just to give you a little more perspective, the average baby will get through around 5000 nappies before they’re potty trained.

Another thing that puts some people off using real nappies is having to deal with the poo. Whilst a baby is breastfed the poo laden nappies can go in the wash as normal. Once they start on solids you need to dispose of the poo down the toilet – just like you’re supposed to do with disposables! However, I’m not sure I know anyone who uses disposables that actually does bother to dispose of the poo in the toilet before throwing the nappy away, and I guess that’s why they’re considered so convenient these days. But councils and other authorities will encourage you to dispose of all human waste (that includes baby poo) via the sewage system. Please NEVER flush the nappy down the toilet though!! I used to work at a company that builds new homes and we would often get complaints that the sewers were backing up into people’s homes. We’d send the sewage guys in to investigate and every time (whilst I was working there at least) the blockage was being caused by people flushing either nappies or, more commonly, wipes down the toilet. Yep, even the wipes that are advertised as being flushable (you know the ones from that advert where they’re asking kids and adults how clean they feel?!) still take several years to break down, and so they snag on a nail or something inside the pipe, then more and more wipes get caught and before you know it the poor family at the end of the drain run are getting raw sewage backing up into their house.

While we’re on the subject, let’s quickly discuss baby wipes. They may be gentle on baby’s skin but they’re certainly not gentle on the environment. The zero-waste option is to use fleece wipes that you simply wet, use and then toss in the wash with the nappy. The changing bag I have even came with a wipes dispenser which I can fill with pre-moistened cloth wipes (I can fit about 8 in at a time). The general rule of thumb is you need to use 1 cloth wipe for every 2-3 disposable wipes. If true then 8 wipes is likely to be more than sufficient while out and about, although I’ll probably still pack a bunch of dry ones in the bag as well.

Back to the poo disposal. The easiest way of getting it into the toilet is to give the nappy a gentle shake – providing its a solid one. If it’s quite runny then you can either grab some toilet paper and wipe the worst of it off into the toilet or if you’re like me and don’t want to be getting that close to the stuff then you can very easily install a handheld bidet to your toilet and simply spray the poo off with water. My father-in-law will be installing our one and he says it’ll be a quick 5 minute job – can’t remember how much the bidet cost me, about £20 I think.

You can also get liners to go within your cloth nappy. There are fleece ones that add extra absorbency and mean that you don’t have to hold the entire nappy over the toilet, just the liner. You can also get paper liners which you can shake off into the toilet and then dispose of into the bin. Personally I’m not a fan of the paper liners as it’s still creating waste. Some liners will advertise themselves as being flushable but, as with wipes, they should always be discarded in your household waste instead.

Disposables do have an advantage over cloth in that you can discard of them straight away. With cloth you will have to put a soiled nappy into a wet/dry bag (which tend to be great at containing smells in case you’re wondering) until you get home. I do think there’s a time and a place for disposables and for me that’s in my hospital bag. Some of you already know that I’d prefer to birth at home, but circumstances may crop that mean I have to birth at hospital instead, in which case I’ll have a bag packed and ready to go long before my due date. Now if I’m only birthing at the hospital then we’re fine to stick with cloth nappies. If there’s something a little more serious going on and we have to stay in for a few nights then sending a very stressed Paul to and from the hospital each day with a load of nappies just isn’t going to be practical. So I’ll be packing some disposables (probably just the free sample packs companies keep throwing at me at the moment) into my bag just in case, but all the while I’ll be praying I don’t need to use them and can instead pass them all on to the next person I know who is expecting.

I know some other real nappy advocates (not naming anyone in particular here) would also be pointing out all the different chemicals that are used in disposable nappies, but I don’t think it’s fair to be pointing out that a particular chemical was banned from it’s use in tampons – tampons are worn internally whereas nappies remain external to the body. So yes, it was right to ban the chemical from being used in tampons but to my knowledge it has not been linked with any form of illness when used in a nappy.

The only other thing to mention is that you should never use fabric conditioner when using cloth nappies, or cloth menstrual pads for that matter, as it inhibits the absorbency.

There are always special offers popping up online for real nappies and as I said before, most areas will have a nappy library service, so I strongly urge everyone with a little one to give them a go. You may love them or you may still prefer disposables, there’s only one way to find out.

Next month I’ll be starting to prepare for my postpartum bleed by making some cloth menstrual pads, and will be showing you how to make some too. Get those sewing machines ready everyone, you can always make some for charity if you don’t need any for yourself!

Soap (box) Time

26th March 2018 / PrishaHill / 0 Comments

This month I was going to give you a nice and easy homemade soap recipe but then I came across a couple of things that made me really want to get on my soap box and scream – so I decided to do both!

Let’s start with the rant: I have just seen a post by a woman on Facebook proudly stating that she has just got back from Tesco and left all the packaging from her fruit and veg at the checkout and that next time she’s going to take some boxes so she can also unpack the meat and take it home with her that way, because at least then all that packaging won’t end up in her bin. Now I know some of you will be thinking I would be proud of this woman for taking a stance against packaging, but instead all I can think is what a f***ing tw*t!! She has not helped the situation at all there, all she has done is create a scene, delay the checkout process and pat herself on the back for it! It’s nothing more greenwashing on a personal rather than corporate level. The supermarket does not care at all that she has left the packaging there, she has still paid slightly more for the packaging in the first place and at the end of the day their profit margin is all they care about, not how much plastic packaging they’re sending to landfill. She included a photo of the fruit and veg she had just purchased and all of it could have been purchased loose, without any packaging in the first place. She already plans to take her own boxes to put meat in next time and again leave the packaging at the store – how about taking those boxes to a butchers instead? That way the meat was never packed in a bunch of plastic in the first place and therefore the packaging never needs to go into her’s or anyone else’s bin. The only way to get through to the big supermarkets is to vote with your feet – they will regularly review stock levels and if they notice an upsurge in the sales of loose fruit and vegetables while the more expensive pre-packaged stuff is being left on the shelves to rot, do you really think they’re going to keep restocking the pre-packaged stuff, or is it more likely they’ll respond by giving the consumers what they want which is even more loose fruit and veg?

The other thing that irritated me recently was listening to a show on Radio 4 all about lists. I have said previously about making a shopping list to in an attempt to reduce food waste, but I probably should have specified that I meant for you to make a list on your phone. I get that people of a certain age don’t like to carry their mobile phones with them and will only turn it on if they need to make a call, in which case I understand why they would prefer to use pen and paper to make a list – in fact, Jenny Eclair (who presented the radio show) admitted to still using a Filofax to organise her life. There are multiple apps available, but I prefer to just use a plain and simple notepad app that comes pre-installed on the phone. It’s nice and simple, with me at all times and when I’m done I can just delete it and nothing ends up in the bin. I know, there’s just something about hunting around in your bag for a slip of paper, poking a hole through the list as you try to cross an item off at the supermarket and then having the satisfaction of screwing it up and throwing it away once you’re done, but go on, give your phone a go for at least a month and see if you don’t find it easier.

Alright, rant over. So, now that I’ve stepped down from the soap box, I’d like to tell you how to make actual soap… I started making my own soap not just because I wanted to cut down on packaging but also because I got sick of seeing so many ingredients I couldn’t pronounce on the back of said packaging. So here is my super easy soap recipe. It’s so easy, you can even get the kids involved (should help keep them quiet for a bit). You probably have most of what you need in the house already, and if not you can either substitute for something else or you can pick it up from a local shop.

Here’s what you’ll need:

135g Shea Butter
180g Coconut Oil
360g Olive Oil
135g Almond Oil
90g Castor Oil
200ml Water
123.2g Lye (caustic soda)
97g Coconut Milk
Few drops of essential oil (optional)
Mixing Bowl
Spoon
Stick Blender
Slow Cooker or Saucepan
Soap Mould
Towel

First of all pour your water into a bowl and then in a well ventilated place (I like to wait for a sunny day and do this bit outside) add the Lye to the water (never ever the other way around, and you may want to wear some protective gear for this bit – a pair of marigolds for example) and give it a little stir until it has all dissolved. I would advise letting little ones watch but perhaps don’t allow them to do this bit (depending on their age). Adding Lye to water will generate an exothermic reaction which will remain warm to the touch for a little while – you also don’t want to inhale too deeply over the bowl, just stir at an arms length away. Once you’re done gently stirring, you can set it aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Start with the coconut oil as that takes the longest time to melt in my experience. You can either melt it in a slow cooker, on the stove or in the microwave – all good options, there’s no right or wrong here. Personally I use a slow cooker (it’s the only time I do use it) and just add everything into the pot to as soon as I’ve measured it out, so next I would add the shea butter to start melting. Then add the other oils – you should have just the lye water, coconut milk and the essential oils not in your pot at this point.

By the time the coconut oil has fully melted in the slow cooker, the lye water should have stopped reacting and should now be cool enough to handle. Carefully add it to the melted oils, taking care to not splash any on yourself… I’m told it can cause a burning sensation.

Grab the stick blender and give it all a good whiz. When you get a thin trace, i.e. it starts to look a little bit like Vaseline, add the coconut milk. Mix it all in and wait for it to get a little thicker, then add a few drops of essential oil (if using) and mix well.

Transfer into your soap mould. If you have any cling film then you can put a bit over your soap – I don’t have any so I just skip this step. With the soap in the mould, cover with a nice thick towel (or a few if they’re quite thin) and leave for about 24 hours.

After about 24 hours you can turn it out the mould. If you’re using a block mould like me then now is the time to cut the soap before it gets too hard. If you have a tray of individual soap moulds then you can just turn them out. The soap then needs to be left to cure for about a month, being turned every couple of days. The curing is just giving it a chance to harden, the soap is technically ready so if you’re really desperate then you can use it right away.

I know it sounds like a lot, but the actual amount of time you’ll spend making the soap is less than an hour. Here in Biggleswade we have quite hard water so I tend to make just body soap. If you’re lucky enough to have soft water then you can try making a body and shampoo bar in one – you just need 935.5g coconut oil, 355ml water, 154.22g lye and a few drops of essential oil (if desired), the method for creating the bars is the same.

You can always experiment with the recipe, try different oils, add some flower petals or even add some mica powder to create different colours – happy experimenting!

Plastic (not so) Fantastic

9th March 2018 / PrishaHill / 2 Comments

Okay the time has finally come for me to explain my position on plastic. A lot of people I talk to tend to fall into one of two categories: they either think I am totally anti-plastic or they think I’m over-reacting because plastic can be recycled… the truth actually lies somewhere in between these two extremes. I’ll err towards other materials over plastic, but sometimes it is unavoidable, and that’s okay – I’m not expecting everyone to suddenly remove all plastic from their lives, but I would like people to reduce their dependence on plastic items when more eco-friendly alternatives are available (and often cheaper).

There are so many different angles to discuss when it comes to plastic, so I’m going to start at the beginning of the manufacturing process and go all the way through to why I consider BPA-free plastics to be a load of BS!

So plastic begins life as a nurdle – tiny little pellets that look kind of like fish eggs, and unfortunately there has been an occasion where giant sacks full of nurdles have broken open in the ocean and, despite a massive clean-up effort, some of the nurdles have been consumed by marine life. These nurdles are the raw material from which manufacturers then go on to make the plastic items we come into contact with each day.

Other substances will be added to the nurdles during the manufacturing process in order to achieve a desired finish – as in how hard or flexible the plastic should be, how opaque should it be, will the plastic be on it’s own or will it be used to coat another substance etc? This leads to there being different types of plastic – and not all can be recycled! So, here’s how to know which plastics can be recycled: Somewhere on the item or the packaging the item came in there will be a triangle with a single number inside, ranging from 1-7, and some letters below the triangle. The number will tell what ‘family’ the plastic belongs to and will also indicate whether the item can be recycled; the letters underneath will tell you which specific type of plastic you are dealing with.

1 – PETE – usually clear and commonly used to form bottles. Will usually be recycled into carpeting and clothing fibres… in fact the plastic microfibres in clothes are being lost in the washing machine and ending up in the oceans, affecting marine life – if you have any fabrics containing plastic microfibres (and I pretty much guarantee you have!) then I highly recommend purchasing a super fine mesh laundry bag (such as a Guppy Friend) which will catch all the plastic particles in the was and prevent them from entering our waterways.

2 – HDPE – usually used for items such as milk bottles (come join me in having the milkman deliver glass milk bottles) and toiletries containers. Widely recycled and will typically wind up as pens or may be turned into fencing panels. This type of plastic is one of three types of plastic considered to be safe and has less chance of leaching chemicals into the product it contains (i.e. the milk).

3 – V or PVC – think food wrap, cooking oil bottles, even some shampoo bottles. It is unlikely your local recycling centre (or roadside collection) will accept this type of plastic. If you do live in an area that will accept it, your items will likely end up as flooring. Many of these types of plastic contain phthalates which have been linked to numerous health issues, and many will also contain DEHA which has also been linked to health issues as well as being considered carcinogenic with long-term exposure. NEVER burn these types of plastics! If you can’t live without wrapping your sandwiches in cling film then relax – there’s an eco-friendly alternative that I’ll be talking about in a later post.

4 – LDPE – Squeezy bottles, shopping bags (when you forget to take your cotton ones to the supermarket) and even the bag the bread comes in. Check with your local recycling centre as to whether they will accept this type or not – if they do, your old items will likely end up as a bin liner or postage bag. Number 4 plastics are also in the ‘safe’ category.

5 – PP – Usually found in yoghurt pots and medicine bottles. Is often recycled into car ice scrapers and bins. Also considered to be a safe plastic.

6 – PS – Polystyrene, or Styrofoam, which you will most likely come across in a package to protect the contents from being damaged in transit. You may also find it in CDs and disposable partyware. PS usually cannot be recycled but where possible may find its way to becoming insulation.

7 – Other, Misc – this is basically all other types of plastics that fall into any of the other 6 categories. Common items in this category include sunglasses, consumer electronics cases and nylon materials. Again, check with local recycling centres for specific items.

So yes, most plastics can be recycled but that’s definitely not the answer to our problems. The recycling process still requires a large amount of energy and water, albeit slightly less than producing plastics from raw materials making it the better option, but certainly not the best option.

I’ve said before that all the plastic ever produced is still in existence in one form or another, whether they’re recycled into something else or are sent to landfill. When you throw plastic away it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces – and has been found to have entered the food chain… the small pieces (sometimes whole pieces) of plastic are ingested by animals which are then consumed by us.

For some species this consumption of plastic is filling up their stomachs and preventing them from being able to consume their regular diet, resulting in starvation. As mentioned earlier some plastics can contain carcinogenic links and some are also known to have hormone disrupting properties, such as being able to mimic the effects of oestrogen in the body. When our food eats these plastics, so do we! Sometimes our consumption of these chemicals from plastics doesn’t come from the animals we eat but directly from the packaging the food comes in from the supermarket… Some plastics are sensitive to, and leach into our food as a result of, extreme heat (when put in the oven or microwave) and cold (when placed in the freezer, plus there are those that require no extremes at all, for instance the BPA found in the lining of some cans.

Ahhh the great BPA debate! So BPA has been found to leach from the container into the food/drink item contained within. In laboratory tests on animals BPA has been found to be carcinogenic and hormone disrupting, so everyone jumped on the ‘stay away from BPA’ bandwagon. In most cases BPA was replaced with BPS but when tested under the same conditions, BPS was found to be just as bad as BPA, yet no one seems to be trying to avoid BPS – I have seen hundreds of plastic items advertising themselves as BPA-free but only a couple also advertising themselves as being BPA & BPS free. So, in theory BPA and BPS are bad and should be avoided, right? Well, not so fast… like I said, these tests took place on laboratory animals and the levels of BPA/BPS administered was extremely high. I recall reading a study in which the levels of BPA being being passed in human urine was measured but to this day no one yet knows how much exposure is considered dangerous to humans. The bottom line: lets try to reduce our plastic usage in general, then whatever essential plastic remains in our lives, whether it contains BPA or not, is unlikely to have an impact our health. It will always have an impact on the environment and wildlife though… so please consider the true cost of an item before purchasing and decide if you really need it.

Earlier I mentioned the nurdles that have made their way into our oceans and consumed by marine life. I’ve also talked about the plastic microfibres that are being released from our clothes, but there is also another area that causes plastic to enter our waterways: toiletries. From toothpaste to exfoliating body wash – you’ll likely find tiny microbeads that will be washed away through your sewers and, because they’re so small, will find their way into the ocean… and I think you can already guess what is likely to happen to them then.

So this is obviously not the most comprehensive guide on plastics out there, and I’ll no doubt revisit the subject another time, but I hope it’s a good starting point for you to begin reducing your reliance on plastic. If you have any questions about plastics, just let me know and I’ll do my best to either answer myself or point you in the right direction.

New Year Resolutions – still going strong?

26th January 2018 / PrishaHill / 0 Comments

As January draws to a close I can’t help but reflect on the previous year, and of course now is around the time of year that a lot of resolutions start to go out of the window. In general I don’t make resolutions besides just trying to live a more zero waste lifestyle… and that’s where I need to make a confession: I intentionally purchased some single-use plastic.

Let me back up to the start here and explain the events that led up to my purchase. Back in August my Grandad was diagnosed with a brain tumour and the doctors decided that treatment would be more detrimental in this instance so me, Paul and Grue packed up some stuff and moved back home for a bit to help take care of my Grandad until the end. My Grandad passed away peacefully at his home on the 17th November 2017. According to Hindu tradition the funeral should take place within 12 days, so we held the funeral on the 25th November. More people came to the house in the morning to pay their respects than we had anticipated and when we arrived at the crematorium not only were all the seats full but there were about as many people again standing up – it was nice to see that my Grandad had touched so many people! It was also one of those days where we experienced all seasons in one day: it was very foggy and cold to begin with, there was then a quick flurry of snow. On the drive to the crematorium the sunlight was almost blinding but nice and warm and then later on there was heavy rain and strong winds. Grandad used to love those days!

Anyway, the following morning, on the 26th November my Fitbit battery was low so I put it on to charge and then realised it had been a while since I last let it sync with the app, so I opened up the app and let it do its thing. After a little Sunday morning Snooze I had a quick look at my Fitbit stats and noticed that my resting heart rate had risen dramatically. Normally there are some daily fluctuations but my heart rate seems to have climbed and for just over a week had been fluctuating around the new much higher levels. I suddenly remembered an article I had read in which a man had asked for help in solving why his wife’s Fitbit stats had also done the same thing. Remembering the answer I went to the shop and purchased a home pregnancy test. Actually, I got 2 as there was only 1 type available: a Waitrose own brand twin pack.

The result was positive! Baby Hill is due 3rd August 2018. It’s been a crazy time mourning the loss of my Grandad but then also looking forward to welcoming a new life – still feeling a little torn at times to be honest.

There are a lot of things that will forever be out of my control from now on, but I will certainly do my absolute best to raise this baby with the least amount of environmental impact possible. Standby for future posts about cloth nappies and why we won’t be using plastic baby bottles. On that note, I should say that I will be aiming to post monthly rather than weekly from now on.

On the whole I know 2 little bits of plastic aren’t the end of the world but then I think about all the waste going to landfill and I can’t help but feel guilty. I was so happy when China announced it would no longer take the UK’s plastic waste, I thought it would finally force us, as a nation, to face up to our disposable plastic addiction and make a change for the better. Paul then pointed out that we’re far more likely to find some other developing nation to take our plastic instead… and I’m back to feeling pants about what we’re doing to our planet.

I wish you the very best of luck if you’re still hanging in there with your resolution(s) but I would also like to ask you to make 1 more, right now: please pick at least 1 thing to change towards a more eco-friendly lifestyle – reusable water bottle instead of disposable plastic ones? Can you go the rest of the year home cooking all meals to avoid takeaway/ready meal containers? Can you walk/cycle more? Even take your own reusable coffee cup? There are so many things we can change and over the coming months I’ll be attempting to bring you more ideas for easy changes. I just need you to commit to changing something. Right now we in Britain throw away enough waste to be able to fill the Royal Albert Hall in just 2 hours! That is simply not sustainable, but we can all work together to change that – it all starts with just 1 little change at a time. Lets not bully some small extremely impoverished nation into becoming our dumping ground. Lets not force someone else’s child have to scavenge through our litter to earn a living instead of going to school. Lets take responsibility for our own s**t for once. Lets make it so that the odd bit of disposable plastic (such as a pregnancy test) isn’t one day going to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Lets save the effing planet!

Zero Waste Gift Guide

4th December 2017 / PrishaHill / 0 Comments

With Christmas just around the corner, there are so many wonderful gifts on the shelves of every shop you walk into. Unfortunately you can pretty much guarantee that those gifts will come in far too much packaging! Sadly, I don’t have the answers on this one – I’ve been at this a year now and I am still struggling with finding zero waste gift options. Ideally, we would spend all year lovingly making the perfect gift for everyone on our list, and they in turn would absolutely love and cherish it for all of time. The reality is that most handmade items are likely to be shoved to the back of the cupboard for all of time instead – we seem to place more value on the generic store-bought items we asked for than we do the items that a loved one has spent months preparing as a surprise for us. That’s not the case in the Hill household, but it definitely rings true for other members of the wider family, and it’s definitely something I’ve been guilty of in the past.

So, if you know someone who will appreciate a homemade product, then fantastic! There’s still plenty of time to whip up a little something for them. For everyone else on your list, here’s a quick (almost) zero waste gift guide:

First up is the ecoffee cup – a reusable coffee cup with a difference! You don’t have to be a coffee fiend to enjoy these cups, in fact I’ll often be found at a coffee shop getting mine filled with hot chocolate this time of year. Every year 100 BILLION single-use coffee cups get sent to landfill. Carrying around a reusable not only cuts down on the waste going to landfill but most coffee shops will give you a discount for taking in your own cup. There are so many different types out there: metal, ceramic and sadly plastic, but what makes the ecoffee cup different is that it is made from bamboo with a silicon lid and sleeve, this means that should anything happen to the cup and it needs to be replaced then the lid and sleeve can be recycled (where facilities exist) and the cup itself can be composted. These cups are also available in so many amazing colours and designs – mine is purple but I’m so loving the new wooden effect designs and the William Morris collection is just gorgeous! A truly wonderful gift that will get a smile, help the planet and is easy on the wallet.

By now you’ve probably heard about the plastic microfibres being released from our clothes in the wash and ending up in our oceans, destroying marine life. For a lot of items it’s easy enough to switch over to purely natural fibres, but workout clothing is something I’ve been struggling to find… until now! Enter BAM, a bamboo clothing store with collections for men and women. Normally when I look at fitness clothes using natural fibres, they’re all intended for yoga and don’t really stand up to a HIIT session. Now for some this wouldn’t be considered a perfect gift, more of an insult, but for any fitness fanatic you’ll be golden! Potentially pricey but e-vouchers are available if you’d like to send someone a contribution towards a new outfit rather than paying for the whole thing. They do have regular clothes available as well as sportswear, but I was just so thrilled at seeing a natural fibre designed to withstand a hardcore workout!!

How about a magazine subscription? In fact, a number of magazines are now available as a digital subscription so you don’t have to worry about all those sheets of paper going into the recycling. Of course, the person you’re buying the subscription for will need to have a suitable device to view the content on, but these days I think most of us already do. It’s not just magazines, you could also gift an e-book to someone

Something every zero-waster always needs more of: glass jars! Whether its going to be for jam, chutney, a fresh batch of body lotion, these jars are an absolute must in our house, yet there’s never enough! Okay, so it’s not the sexiest gift in the world, but it is an immensely useful gift that will keep on giving for decades to come. If the recipient is a zero waster then a few empty jars will be an absolutely fine gift, if they’re not then you’ll need to fill them first otherwise you’ll look like a total d**k come Christmas morning!

The least zero waste option, but one of my favourites – BoroughBox is an absolute life-saver when it comes to gifts! There’s literally something for everyone, from cheese-making kits (that I was eyeing up for myself) to vegan picnic hampers, you’re bound to find the perfect gift for someone here. This wonderful site has actually saved me from having to buy a certain someone socks again this year! The Christmas pudding pic at the top was also from BoroughBox, click on the link to be taken to the product page.

Still need inspiration? See what little gems you’re able to unearth at your local charity shops – we’ve got quite a few here in Biggleswade, and some of the stuff for sale is actually brand new (in case the recipient is likely to turn their nose up at a charity shop gift). If you know someone who is an avid reader, you’ll most likely be able to find some pre-loved editions of books in a charity shop. We always get Paul’s grandparents an Oxfam unwrapped gift – you know, where you pay for a goat to go to a random African villiage – however, my only gripe with that is they send a card and things in the post, I’d much rather just put the money in the collection tin and then tell his grandparents which charity we gave the money to. I know they wouldn’t care if we did that, yet every year we end up still going with the unwrapped option – I’m determined to make this the year we break the habit!

There’s just one more, rather important, area that I haven’t mentioned yet – presents for little ones! Often the parents will be able to give you an idea of what they want/need. It’s almost impossible to get anything for them that will be zero waste. Best of luck finding something suitable for the miniature human(s) in your life! Just remember: most plastics that claim to be BPA-free instead contain BPS which has been shown to be just as bad, so do your research before hitting the shops, but always take your cue from the parents – if they’re happy to give their child any type of plastic then that’s fine, the last thing they want is a lecture about plastic, but if the parents prefer for their children to play with wooden toys then stick with that, even if you do think you’ve found a suitably safe plastic. If the parents haven’t given you any cues and they also haven’t come up with any suggestions for you, then the number 1 rule you MUST apply to buying a child a gift is to make sure you buy them something you secretly want to play with yourself!

Whatever gifts you end up giving, please don’t bother giving someone a store gift-card. You’re handing over a single-use plastic card and they’re unlikely to find something for the exact amount on the card so will have to add some of their own money towards any purchases, which has to be within a time-limit set by the store – and that’s all assuming you’ve got them a giftcard for somewhere they would normally like to shop. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into shops for the first time only to spend a giftcard I’ve been given, ending up with stuff I didn’t need. Even if someone has said they want to save for X, from a particular shop, still just give them the money instead of getting the giftcard – it’s better for the planet, saves you trekking over to the shop and gives the recipient some leeway to change their mind. If you’re thinking of getting someone a giftcard because you don’t really know them/what they like that well, then the best present you can get them is a coffee – take them out to a coffee shop, or anywhere for that matter, and just spend some time with them, get to know them. Time spent together is so much more precious than handing over a bit of plastic.

Countdown to Christmas

20th November 2017 / PrishaHill / 0 Comments

Oh I do so love the festive season, it really is the most wonderful time of the year! From opening my advent calendar each day to hanging up my stocking for Santa (well, Paul) to fill with goodies… but, how do you maintain your favourite Christmas traditions when you’re zero waste?

Lets start with advent calendars. There are the traditional picture ones that every kid hates to get – you know the ones; they’re flat and you open each door and get just a nice picture – don’t even bother! Next up are the the chocolate ones that you’ll find in almost every shop you walk into at the moment – you get about as much chocolate in the whole thing as you do in a single bar and then you’re left with a large plastic tray encased in cardboard. Recently there has been an increase in alternative advent calendars – last year I had a makeup one… but again LOADS of plastic and cardboard.

There are some absolutely gorgeous reusable advent calendar options out there: On the years we have Christmas at our house I tend to put some chocolates into cotton drawstring pouches which I then hang on the tree… every day Paul and I then take a pouch each. It also means I don’t need to buy chocolate wrapped in foil to hang on the tree. You could also get some fabric paint to put little numbers on each pouch so you’re looking for a specific pouch rather than reaching for a random one. You could also do the numbers in different colours so each person is hunting for their own pouch on the correct day. On alternate years we’re with Paul’s family on Christmas day so we don’t usually bother putting a tree up… on those years we have a portable wooden advent calendar (bought for me by former colleagues), each drawer gets filled with chocolate, or sometimes something a little more special. The one I was given was already nicely decorated , although you can get plain ones that you can decorate yourself – great little project to keep kids (and big kids) busy on a rainy day! Hobbycraft have a range of plain wooden advent calendars available for under £20. Of course there are loads of pre-decorated ones available, ready for you to fill – prices vary considerably but a quick Google search will give you an idea of what you can get for your price range.

You can fill the advent calendar with absolutely anything – jewellery happens to fit inside very well (I should be so lucky!), although chocolate is somewhat traditional, small and inexpensive. The main issue with chocolate though is the individual foil wrapping it comes in. My all-time favourite chocolate shop, Montezuma’s, has chocolates available in glass clip-top jars (as loved by zero-wasters the world over!!), you can take the chocolate from the jar, put them into your advent calendar(s) and then reuse the jar for some Christmassy chutney or something. If you’re anything like my husband though, you’ll not want to bother with the advent calendar part and would rather just eat the chocolate straight from the jar! Alternatively, you could make your own chocolate very easily (again, fun little project to do with the kids). How about making up a batch of fudge as well so you’re not having chocolate everyday? The Snaffling Pig Co. has a great range of pork crackling in different flavours, which are also available in clip-top jars (albeit plastic ones). They also do a crackling and beer gift set which I know would go down well with quite a few guys I know.

Every year I get tempted to buy Paul a beer advent calendar but then I see the price and quickly back away. It would be pretty easy to make one though for a lot less. I’d first take a large box that would otherwise be going in the recycling (I tend to buy a lot of Christmas presents online), next cut bottle sized holes in the lid, place a bottle in each hole (maybe do the odd decoy one with chocolate or something instead of beer) and then I’d stick sheets of newspaper to the box to cover the holes (the free newspaper that gets put through the door every week). So this one isn’t really a zero waste option but it is reusing 2 items (box and newspaper) that would normally go straight into the recycling bin.

Instead of having a physical item, how about doing a WhatsApp advent scavenger hunt? Everyone in the group gets sent a list of 12 items (snowman, reindeer, OTT house lights etc) and each time they come across one of the items whilst out and about they take a pic and send it to the rest of the group – whoever gets all 12 first wins a little prize perhaps? Or maybe you could have a prize for each category and decide amongst yourselves who took the best pic in that category.

Alright, so there you have a few ideas for ways you can do a mostly zero waste advent calendar. So, what about the stocking?

First of all, how about making your own from old, worn out clothes? If you’re a knitter or crocheter you could always use up your scrap yarn to make an amazing, totally unique (and probably multi-coloured) stocking. The image above is a free stocking knitting pattern available on the Hobbycraft website. Failing that you can always buy one (just make sure you use the same one each year), and you can find ways of decorating and personalising it if you like. You could even go super old-school and use an actual sock!

Then comes the age-old question of what to put in it… Paul struggles with this even without us trying to avoid waste! Stocking filler gifts don’t have to be big, expensive things – save that for under the tree. So fruit is apparently traditional – the closest I ever got from my Mum was a Terry’s chocolate orange, but Paul’s Mum actually used to put a real satsuma in his stocking. Hankies are always useful for a zero waster, so I would suggest wrapping each thing in a hanky – perhaps a handful of nuts or any left-over chocolates, fudge or pork stratchings from the advent calendar? Bath bits like soap and bath bombs will always go down well, as will candles. If that’s a bit too girly, deodorant, pants and socks are always a staple in Paul’s stocking each year… I have no idea where they all keep disappearing to! Maybe this will be the last year I put those in his stocking, now that we’re trying to live zero waste. Anyway, to use a hanky as gift wrap just place the item in the middle of the hanky, tie the opposite corners together and then pop inside the stocking.

Of course you can put whatever you want inside a stocking or advent calendar, but please try to keep the 5 R’s in mind as you’re deciding what items to buy. I strongly recommend hitting local charity shops first and seeing what awesome bargains you can find before hitting the high street or online shops. The image at the very top is a photo of my dog posing with a little bone toy… someone I know had bought it for her daughter’s dog, but she didn’t like it at all, so rather than throw it away (which was her frst thought), she asked if she could give it to Grue, and he absolutely loved it! Yes, it was plastic so eventually has to be thrown away, but it is being thoroughly enjoyed first.

Best of luck with your own zero waste countdown to Christmas – please do let me know what you’re up to as you get ready for the big day!

Ways to go zero waste in the bathroom

14th November 2017 / PrishaHill / 0 Comments

Before making the switch to going zero waste in the bathroom, I first let all the empty soap, shampoo and conditioner bottles pile up. I also left the toothpaste tubes, disposable razors and loo roll tubes in that pile too. Why did I let all our bathroom waste pile up? Well I wanted to get a gauge on just how much waste we were both actually creating in this one room of the house… was it really going to be worth the effort of going zero waste? The answer was a big fat YES!!! That pile was so disgusting to look at I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo of it. I just had to get rid of it as quickly as possible. In fact I had planned to let the pile build up for a year, but 3 months was all my sanity could take. I am truly sickened by how much rubbish was being created and thrown out by just the 2 of us in such a short space of time.

Now I should point out that my bathroom is not yet completely zero waste, but I have significantly reduced the amount of waste we produce. Here’s how:

The very first thing I did was buy an old school razor, shaving soap and brush. I remember watching my Grandad shave as a child and I’ve always secretly wanted a set like his, but I bought into the marketing… ladies’ razors were specially designed to fit the contours of the legs, never mind that it looks identical to the men’s razors, they are very different, honest! Look, it even as a soft feminine name like ’embrace’… The truth is that the razors ARE the same, they change the names and the colours but that’s about it. The whole razor is made from plastic, minus the actual blades, which are encased in a plastic housing requiring the whole head to be replaced regularly. I’m not even going to get started on the cans of shaving cream! So, the alternative to shaving with disposables is to go old school! I got my set from The English Shaving Company. There is only a single blade that needs to be replaced rather than the whole head. The brush I went for is synthetic, although there are natural options available – at the time of purchase I was more concerned about it being a reusable item, not so much about it being natural. The soap I chose comes in a natural wooden bowl and refills are available (if you don’t fancy making your own). A little while later Paul (my husband) decided to join me in using a reusable razor – he opted for a shavette razor, which is like the old cut-throat razors but instead of being sharpened, it uses the same sort of blade that my safety razor uses… we share the shaving soap and brush.

I’ve already talked about my switch from tampons to a menstrual cup, which you can read about here. It was that switch that got me started on a zero waste lifestyle… so technically that was the first thing I did before changing up my shaving habits, but the safety razor was the first change I made with the specific goal of living zero waste in mind.

I also started making my own soap. I was buying liquid hand soap and shower gel, both of which have now been replaced by bars of homemade soap… I was spending over £100 a year on liquid soap products, I now make my own for less than £10 a year. I know this one may be a little drastic for some people but there are other options available if you don’t fancy making them yourself. Lush have some utterly amazing soap bars available, packaging free! If liquid rather than bar soap is your thing, then you can also make your own from castille soap, or you can buy a huge bottle and decant some into soap dispenser bottles… not ideal, but it’s still better than buying lots of little plastic bottles.

In my last post I talked about how I bought 5 litre bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Before this I tried using my homemade soap bars to clean my hair. I’d read about going no-poo and knew there would be a transition period where my hair would feel grubby for a little while as the silicone coating from commercial conditioners started to break down, but the grubby feeling continued well beyond the transition period everyone else was reporting. I persevered a while longer, adding more vinegar and lemon juice into an acid rinse, but it didn’t help, I was starting to also get a soapy residue appearing on my hairbrush. I then realised the problem was the water quality in our area. Biggleswade is in quite a hard water area, which means the soap residue wasn’t being fully cleared out of my hair. I have to admit, I was really upset at the thought of having to go back to using shampoo… lathering up with who-knows how many chemicals, sending loads of individual plastic bottles to be recycled, spending sooo much money, leaving a silicone coating on my hair so that it “looks” healthy and of course there’s the harshness of the shampoo stripping all the goodness from the hair and scalp, which causes the body to secrete excess sebum (which makes the hair greasy) to compensate, making us wash our hair more often with the very same product that stripped the goodness away in the first place! I’m still not thrilled about it – can you tell?! I couldn’t carry on using just the soap by itself but Paul and I had agreed we wouldn’t make any big changes to the house, until it needs doing – no new kitchen until the cupboards start falling apart and no water softener until the boiler needs replacing for example. Instead I bought the large bottles of shampoo and conditioner by Faith In Nature. I have to admit, this stuff is expensive but it works a treat – my hair is soft shiny and smells divine! Whenever I stay up in Birmingham (at my in-laws’ house) I get to leave the shampoo and conditioner at home in Biggleswade. The water quality in Birmingham is absolutely brilliant, I can use my homemade soap to clean my hair without any residue being left behind. My Grandad isn’t well at the moment and I’ve been living up in Birmingham for the last few weeks so I can help take care of him – thanks to the Faith In Nature conditioner actually conditioning my hair rather than just coating it, I’ve been able to use just soap and not have any grubby transition period. My hair is soft, shiny and a bit more tangled straight out of the shower, but that only takes a few extra seconds of brushing to sort. In theory not stripping the hair with shampoo means the body will eventually get back to normal and not produce as much sebum, meaning you’ll be able to go longer between washes… as a fitness instructor that doesn’t really work for me – I can sometimes need to wash the sweat from my hair 2 or 3 times a day. I would recommend everyone at least try giving soap/no-poo a go and see how you get on.

I’ve also switched up my dental products. Before I was using a whitening toothpaste on my electric toothbrush and then using a tongue cleaner (which I’ve always done, it’s an Indian thing). The whitening toothpaste I was using also brought out a line of matching mouthwash and said it would enhance results, so of course I gave that a go for a while… To be honest, I changed things up a while ago and neither my dentist nor I can tell the difference. I first decided to try a manual toothbrush made from bamboo, rather than plastic – it can be composted once the bristles are worn, although we’re more likely to throw our ones on the fire as kindling. I’ve got nothing against the electric toothbrush, it just ran out of charge around the same time as I learned bamboo toothbrushes and I just haven’t bothered to charge it up again since. I also started making my own toothpaste. My first attempt at making toothpaste was effing awful, it just tasted revolting and was frankly unusable. I used up one more tube of shop-bought toothpaste and then decided to have another stab at making my own. This time I made a tooth powder and it is awesome! I made enough in one go to last me at least 6 months and it didn’t cost me a penny – I used ingredients I already had in the house. I still use my trusty old tongue cleaner but ditched the mouthwash a long time ago. Once you brush the plaque away from your teeth and gently scrape the plaque from your tongue, mouthwash is entirely superfluous – give it a try, I promise your breath will not smell! And let’s face it, £2 for a tongue cleaner that will last a lifetime versus £4.99 for mouthwash that will last a month – surely that alone is enough to give it a go?! You’ll be able to pick up a tongue cleaner from any Indian housewares store or online. Although you’ll likely end up paying slightly more if you do buy online, it’s not going to break the bank. You may have noticed this part has all been about what I do, not what we do and that’s because Paul isn’t ready to make the switch yet, he’s still buying toothpaste for now, and that’s okay – going zero waste is something we all need to do, but some people are able to make changes quicker than others.

There is just one area left that was a source of a lot of waste – toilet paper! This is an area I’m really struggling with to be honest. There are paperless, reusable options available – you simply use a cloth to wipe then drop it into a bag which you then throw into the wash. In theory this is the ideal zero waste option (until someone can work out how to use the three seashells that is) but I just can’t quite bring myself to do it just yet… I can’t even give you a good reason for not being ready! For the time being then we’re still using traditional loo roll. I opted for Cheeky Panda toilet paper as it’s made from 100% bamboo. Bamboo is such a wonderful thing – it grows in a huge variety of climates and is actually a type of grass, rather than a tree. Bamboo also reaches full height in just 4 months so it’s far far more sustainable than chopping down a tree (even if you are planning on replanting 3). My only complaints are that its slightly more expensive than the stuff you’ll get in the supermarket (although not a massive cost difference) and it does still arrive in a plastic bag. I purchased this toilet paper on a subscription basis so once that’s up I’m going to look into other options – I really like the bamboo and recycled options packed in paper from Who Gives A Crap and will most likely purchase from there in the future instead – if I don’t have the balls to give the reusable cloth option a go by then that is!

I’ve mentioned a couple of things I make myself and I will post the relevant recipes in due course. Next week though, I’m starting my Christmas countdown! There have been soooo many times that I’ve seen something I would like to implement or create, but then its almost always too late for me to give it a go in time for Christmas, so I’m bringing my blog plans forward a bit to give you enough time to try out my ideas for yourself. Over the coming weeks I’ll be going through ways to do Christmas zero waste style, including some awesome gift ideas. First up will be ways to do a zero waste advent calendar… yep, there’s options for big kids too! Subscribe today to make sure you don’t miss out.

8 tips for zero waste shopping

6th November 2017 / PrishaHill / 1 Comment

Once you make the commitment to reducing the amount of rubbish you produce, you suddenly see packaging EVERYWHERE, as if for the fist time. We’re so used to seeing all this packaging that we almost distrust anything that doesn’t come encased in plastic. I have to admit though, it was only quite recently that I realised the absurdity of buying a bunch of bananas that come in a polythene bag – bananas come naturally bunched together and within their own natural packaging (unless of course you’re one of those people who eats the skin – weirdo!). I would understand if some bananas became seperated from the bunch so the supermarkets wanted to bag up a bunch of singles – personally I’d still prefer to buy a load of stray ones and just skip the bag though, but I can see the appeal there for some people.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand… how do you go shopping and avoid excess packaging? The short answer is: plan ahead! With a little bit of planning before you hit the shops, you’ll be able to reduce your environmental impact and save some pennies while you’re at it. Before we get into it, I just want to say that this is not an exhaustive list and if I’ve missed anything please feel free to get in touch. So here it is, 8 ways to shop zero waste (in no particular order):

Take your own bags! – Yeah, I know, I forget too sometimes… which is why I started to have a couple in the car at all times, one in my handbag and the rest hanging by the front door. Taking your own reusable bags will of course save you 5p per bag.
Only buy what you need – So this is something that goes directly against all supermarket marketing plans because they want you to spend as much money as possible, which is why you need to ignore all those tantalising “deals” and instead make a shopping list (and stick to it). Before drawing up your shopping list, you may find it easier to create a weekly meal plan to then know exactly what ingredients you’ll need to buy. Don’t get me wrong here, there are deals to be had at the supermarket but just remember those deals are there purely to encourage you to spend more money per shop.
Buy loose – You DO NOT NEED A PLASTIC BAG for your veg! You don’t need the pre-packed plastic bag supermarkets like to sell vegetables in (for more than the cost of buying the same items loose) and you also do not need to pull a plastic bag off the roll in order to put a few carrots or whatever into your basket – is it really so bad to have a carrot roll around your basket as you make your way to the checkout? If the answer is ‘yes’ then please invest in some reusable cloth produce bags (or even make your own).
Take your own packaging – I have a set of nesting stainless steel containers with plastic lids which I take everywhere with me. I buy all my meat from Franklins at Throncote – I just hand over each container and say what I would like them to put in it, they then weigh, fill, and stick a barcode on the lid, which I then take to the till and pay – job done! This way I’m buying local, the meat is of amazing quality, I can specify exactly how much I need and I don’t have to take home any single-use plastic packaging! I also take the containers to my Mum’s house to take home yummy left-overs; in fact I’ve also used the containers to take home left-overs from restaurants… when purchasing the containers I made sure to get ones that advertised themselves at leak-proof, which is just as well as I have needed to use them to transport soup before now. I was a little unsure about whipping out my own containers at first, because my husband assured me everyone would think it was weird, but I decided to give it a go anyway and sure enough I discovered absolutely nobody gave a f**k! Hence I started taking them everywhere.
Shop around – This isn’t an option for everyone, but if you can, try to get your veggies from a greengrocer, farm shop or market stall – it’ll be nice and fresh, inexpensive, packaging free and will help local businesses. Here in Biggleswade we’re very lucky to have quite a few farm shops and market traders in the vicinity. This doesn’t just apply to veggies – check out your local butcher, maybe buy your bread from an actual bakery, is there a working mill nearby where you can buy flour? Better yet, can you take and fill your own container with flour? Its not just the supermarkets that have the offers, and there can be huge savings available if you’re willing to spend a little time shopping around… you don’t even have to leave the house. If there’s an item I need to buy from a chain store then I’ll look around online first, and that includes hitting mysupermarket.co.uk which compares all the major UK supermarkets and shows you where to get the best value. If you want, you can even compare items by calorie or sugar content rather than price.
Buy in bulk – For those of you already familiar with the zero waste lifestyle, bulk to you probably means taking your own jars and containers to a shop, getting the tare weight and then filling up those containers with items from big bins full of household essentials. To everyone else, buying in bulk means buying a massive quantity of (usually) items that won’t spoil, like toilet paper for example. If you have a packaging-free bulk shop available in your vicinity then please do shop there as much as possible. For the rest of us, this is simply impossible – I’m not trekking down to London every time I want to fill up a mason jar with shampoo! Instead, I have had to go with the large quantity option (I did try another option first, more on that in the next post)… I have purchased 5 litre bottles of both shampoo and conditioner which I decant into soap dispenser bottles and refill as and when I need them. These 2x 5 litre bottles should last me around 6-8 months assuming my calculations are correct. Now, whilst buying a large quantity of something can equate to large monetary savings, this is simply not something everyone can afford to do, or at least not on their own – if you can, I strongly encourage you to split the cost with someone. It is a significant upfront investment but it will pay off in the long-run. In all honesty, I did resent paying £100 in one go for 2 bottles of haircare products, but I just have to keep reminding myself that in the same time period I would otherwise be spending £250 on smaller ‘normal’ sized bottles, which would overall also require the use of a greater amount of plastic than the 2 big bottles I have. I’m quite tempted to send the big bottles back once they’re empty to see if they can be refilled rather than recycled – I’ll let you know how I get on.
Go old-school – and sign up to have a glass bottle of milk delivered to your door. Sadly, long gone are the days of buying a bottle of milk from the shop and having a 2p refund for returning the empty bottle. Instead, the next best thing is having a milk delivery. It costs me 5p more to have a glass bottle rather than plastic from the supermarket, but unlike plastic, glass can be reused and (if it does break) is infinitely recycleable; and buying from the milkman instead of the supermarket is again helping support a local business. Oh and there’s no refund for leaving the empties on your doorstep to be collected – just the knowledge that each glass bottle represents one less plastic bottle being tossed out. Overall, more expensive, but still less than I’m saving on shampoo and conditioner.
Make your own – From soap to toothpaste and everything in between, you’d be amazed at just how easy it can be to make your own household essentials, for almost no money. And let’s face it, who can resist the awesome smell of bread being taken out of the oven?! Even if you have a gluten-free diet, that smell will still get the mouth watering! I plan to share with you some of my favourite make-yourself zero waste essentials in due course, but if you’re keen to dive in before then there are plenty of recipes/instructions all over the internet – best of luck to you (especially if you’re trying out homemade toothpaste – my first attempt was truly awful!), please let me know what you tried and how it went.

One final thing I just want to say, with regards to shopping around – I understand mobility may be an issue for some people and would therefore encourage you to get in touch with others nearby who will be able to assist – for example, here in Biggleswade we have a Good Neighbours scheme whereby people volunteer their time to help others in the community, be it doing some shopping, ironing, giving someone a lift, DIY jobs around the house, or even just a bit of company etc. If you’re struggling to make it out to market or to a farm shop (or anywhere for that matter) then please do get in touch with the scheme organisers and see if someone is able to give you a hand. Conversely, if you’re out and about with your stash of containers and reusable shopping bags, maybe sign up for the scheme as a volunteer and help your neighbours to live more sustainably.

Next week I’ll be covering ways to go zero waste in the bathroom, including what works for us, what didn’t work for us, and eco-friendly alternative options – could you switch to reusable toilet paper?

Mind your R’s…

30th October 2017 / PrishaHill / 54 Comments

Hopefully you’ve fully mastered your P’s and Q’s by now, so it’s time to move on to your R’s. The 5 R’s of zero waste to be exact. In order, these are:

Refuse
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Rot

Refuse – In my opinion Refuse and Reduce go hand in hand, but the basic premise is to simply refuse anything you don’t need. Stranger thrusting leaflets at you that you’ll barely glance at before throwing them in the recycling bin – “no thanks”; do you really need the shrink wrapped broccoli that costs more than the loose broccoli sitting next to it? If you don’t need it, don’t let it into your home.

Reduce – So you’ve whittled down your shopping basket to items you definitely need, without any excess packaging, but now you need to reduce the items you do need to things you will definitely get through. For example, if you have a recipe that calls for 2 fresh lemons then buy 2 single lemons rather than 6 lemons encased in a plastic net advertising it’s 10% off – you’ll save money (even with the 10% off), won’t have 4 lemons rotting on your kitchen counter and you won’t be sending a plastic net to landfill.

Reuse – We have so much stuff these days it can often feel like our houses are more storage spaces rather than living spaces – how much of that old worn out stuff can you re-purpose? From re-gifting items to using old clothes as dust cloths and even retaining shower water to use on your garden plants (if you’re so inclined) – there are so many things we can do around the home to breathe new life into the stuff we already have instead of spending money on yet more stuff. With this in mind, don’t be afraid to hit the charity shops, like they say, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure – just make sure you’re buying something you definitely need! Better yet, can you borrow an item from someone else?

Recycle – The second to last option, just one step up from sending your rubbish to landfill, yet so many people think that by putting their recycling bin out every fortnight they’re doing their bit for the environment. The truth is recycling still requires a fair amount of energy, granted it’s less than what is required compared to producing items from virgin materials, but it’s not great. There is a wide range of items that can be recycled these days so make sure you check the label on any of the items that you MUST buy. However, a lot of items that get sent for recycling still ends up in a landfill for a number of reasons. There is a lot to be said about the ecological impact of the manufacture, recycling and disposal of plastic materials in particular, which will be the subject of a later post. In fact I’ll cover a whole range of topics illustrating how recycling is not the answer in due course. For now though, the message is simply that we need to address the issue further up the chain. Supermarkets and manufacturers have their role to play, but so do you… try to avoid purchasing items that require recycling or landfill disposal (that includes the packaging the item comes in).

Rot – If an item doesn’t fall into any of the other categories then it will sadly have to go to landfill where it will slowly break down over time, emit noxious gasses as it does and leach potentially harmful chemicals into the soil. As it currently stands, Brits produce enough landfill worthy waste to fill up the Royal Albert Hall in just 2 hours! The current housing shortage in the UK means many houses have been (and are being) built on former landfill sites, yet as the population grows, so too does the amount of waste we produce.

It’s easy to put our waste in the wheelie bin, roll it out to the pavement and then forget all about it once the lorry comes round to take it away, but the truth is there is no such thing as “away”. Do a quick image search for “Smokey Mountain Manila” and just know that we are responsible for that. Those images, in such stark contrast to the image at the top of this post, is what is beneath the feet of most of us – here in the UK we’re lucky enough to have a layer of soil over it, but the contents are the same.

As you can see, our current way of living simply isn’t sustainable. We all need to throw away our disposable lives and make a change towards using what we already have and only buying what we truly need. Yes, I know change is hard – I’ve been at this for almost a year now and still have changes to make, but going zero waste isn’t an overnight all-or-nothing switch, it’s about taking baby-steps in the right direction. I mean, you can take massive strides if you want to, but living a more eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle means making lasting change. The best way to ensure success is change gradually so you barely notice the difference. Make doing the right thing a habit that you keep building on, and one day you’ll look back and be amazed at just how far you’ve come, you’ll be amazed at the way you once lived, and all the waste you threw out, back in 2017.

So there you have it, the 5 R’s of zero waste, and hopefully some food for thought. Next week I’ll cover zero waste shopping in more detail – as much as I love living in Biggleswade it can be really hard to avoid packaging waste, so I’m going to share with you some very simple shopping changes (beyond plastic bags) you can implement wherever you live. I hope you’ll join me then, but if you have any questions or comments in the meantime then please get in touch.

It started with a cup…

7th October 2017 / PrishaHill / 1 Comment

…by which I mean my zero waste journey began with a cup. Still confused? Let me start by giving you a snap-shot of my what my life was like around a year ago…

I would wake up in the morning and take the dog, Grue, for a walk and use a nappy sack to pick up his poo – why a nappy sack? Because they’re a f**k load cheaper than buying doggie poop bags! After the walk I would go about my day, often buying bread knowing we would likely only get through half the loaf before it went mouldy. I would buy plastic bottles of milk, again knowing we probably wouldn’t get through all of it. I would also buy a plastic bag filled with potatoes, some of which were destined to turn green and start sprouting… and yet it didn’t occur to me at the time that I was wasting more money on rotting food than I was saving on poop bags!

So what does this have to do with a cup? Well, one day I was looking to mix up my regular workout a little and thought I might give aqua aerobics a go. The classes were on almost daily and ~~were~~ are extremely popular – The earliest class that had an open space was when I was due to be on day 2 of my next period (yes, this post is all about periods but this paragraph is probably the most graphic so skip ahead if you’re squeamish). Now for a lot of women that’s not a problem, just pop a fresh tampon in before you get in the pool and replace as soon as you get out – unfortunately day 2 tends to be my HEAVY day. I would typically need to use a max size tampon and would have to change it within 4 hours. But, I really really really wanted to give the class a try, so I hit the internet to see if anyone had come up with any alternatives and that’s then I discovered menstrual cups.

Menstrual cups, if you’re not aware, are typically made from medical grade silicone and are worn inside the body like you would a tampon, except instead of absorbing the flow, it gets collected and then emptied. They are reusable, lasting for up to 10 years, so are far kinder to the environment than their disposable counterpart and are generally kinder to the body – there’s no need to include a Toxic Shock Syndrome warning on the label and well, have you ever tried to remove a tampon too soon? You know, when it’s really painful and seems stuck to your insides to the point where the tampon itself appears to be breaking apart as you slowly wrench it out? That’s because the tampon actually IS stuck to your insides and has likely left some fibres behind on it’s way out. You see the tampon is designed to absorb, it’s doused in chemicals to make it even better at absorbing everything. It cannot distinguish between menstrual flow and natural vaginal discharge, which btw is how the body keeps the area clean and free of (certain) infections, so it soaks up everything remotely damp that it comes into contact with. So I decided to buy a cup, but then which one?

When buying a cup, there are sooooo many options – different shapes, sizes, colours. It was a little overwhelming at first. So, I took my time, did some research, stuck with my usual tampons and missed the aqua aerobics class in the meantime, and then I finally made a purchase. Why so many options? Well it’s because everyone is different. A woman’s age and whether or not she has given birth naturally will have an influence on the size/shape, having a high/low cervix will determine the length (or indeed absence) of a stem (which can be trimmed) for example. I may be skipping over quite a bit of important info here, so if you have any questions please leave a comment or drop me an email and I’ll happily respond.

So the cup I went for was the Lumunu Moskito cup which I purchased from Amazon. I went for a small sized one with a stem. This one also came with a carry pouch for when not in use, a bamboo brush to clean it with and a sachet of lubricant. The second day of my next period I had to travel to London for the weekend and was really paranoid about putting the cup in wrong and leaking everywhere, and yes I know I should have stuck with the tampons for yet another cycle, but instead of taking the sane option, I put in the cup and then stuck a pad onto my underpants and off I went to become a Bodycombat instructor.

What I learnt on that first cycle was that I could now go 8 hours on my heaviest day without leaking (that’s double the time I could get from a tampon). I also learnt that removing (and to an extent inserting) a cup requires patience and practice – and you will more than likely make a mess whilst developing the correct technique (I had pretty much mastered it by the end of the second period). I also spent my train journey home working out that by using the cup instead of tampons (based on my average usage) I would save almost £800 over the 10 year period some cups claim to last for. For the record, I did not leak so the pad was thankfully superfluous.

It was also on my way home that I was telling my friend all about my cup-based adventure and she was very curious, especially with regards to the environmental and financial benefits, but confessed to preferring pads over tampons. I figured there must be an eco friendly pad alternative too, so I hit the internet again and discovered cloth pads. It is only a 30-40 minute train journey from central London to Biggleswade so I left it there for the day and continued my search the following day.

Whilst looking into reusable cloth pads I discovered each disposable pad contains as much plastic as 4 carrier bags and are also doused in chemicals aimed at increasing absorbency. I also came across a statistic saying the average woman will get through roughly 17000 sanitary products during her reproductive years (I’ll link to this stat when I find it again).

I was utterly shocked by this and immediately shared the info with my friend and sent her some links to places where she could purchase some cloth pads. Disposable pads are cheaper than tampons and a full set of cloth pads will likely cost as much (or more) than a cup, plus each will only last for 3-5 years, however my friend and I worked out that over 3 years she would still be saving around £250 – not to mention having less waste going to landfill.

It was around this time that I discovered many girls/women around the world are having to miss out on their education/work because they are unable to afford any sanitary protection. I resolved to start making some pads to ship out but I’ll save that for another post. Instead, I’ll leave you with the news that I have since been able to go along to some amazing aqua aerobics classes and my periods are actually shorter, lighter and pain-free now (can’t say for certain if it is because of the cup, just pointing out the correlation); and more importantly, my friend’s pads arrived just as her period finished but she has been unable to use them at all as she’s expecting a baby girl any day now!

Prisha Hill