Things Have Slipped

As expected, things have taken a bit of a hit recently. I’ve just returned from a trip to Sydney and travelling seems to be a Zero Wasters worst nightmare. A long haul flight with three catered meals, all heavy in single use plastics! I’ve started a new job which poses a whole list of new challenges and we are also planning to move in the New Year, all this at Christmas time!

I’m still reading The Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson and continue to do my research. I’m constantly land-marking places where I can buy zero waste food and finding unique solutions to problems I wouldn’t have even foresaw. For instance, I already know the best place to buy loose potatoes (Tesco), sour dough bread (Lidl) Avocado (Lidl again, although normally need some ripening) and I’ve began to notice a reduction in the times I take the bin out (my job in our household). I’m also starting to think that, contrary to popular belief, this lifestyle is going to be cheaper when we get settled with it.

But I’m not too dis-heartened by it all. I just bumped into two friends in the supermarket and they were asking how things were going and I surprisingly had answers to, most, if not all of their questions. I was also happy that I’d run into them with loose Sweet Potato, Vine Tomatoes and a Lemon in my basket. All zero waste from Tesco.

I think my next real step should be to conduct a supermarket audit of sorts. So I know exactly what I can get from where at short notice. The other thing that’s going to make a real difference is to plan our meals in advance and plan things more rigorously. I also want to explore buying collective options where products like toilet roll are bought in bulk from the awesome guys at Who Gives A Crap and shared out fairly therefore benefiting from a cheaper unit price.

So, not quite Zero Waste yet but taking steps in the right direction. I hope!

Room One – The Bathroom

So a couple of days have passed since my last post and things have slipped slightly. So tonight I’ve taken it as my mission to research all things Bathroom.

So i figured that my basic bathroom needs boil down to: shampoo, shower gel, a toothbrush, toothpaste, hair product, deodorant, a razor and of course toilet roll (I’ll get to the cleaning of the bathroom in a separate post).

So for Shampoo and Soap Recently I’ve settled on the guys at Primal Suds their soap is pretty reasonable, I do the ‘Boxed Off’ deal where you get five soaps for £20 plus £2.95 for postage. Their packaging is 100% compostable and you get a good-sized wedge for a fiver. I’d say I have to order a box of five soaps every six to eight weeks. The guys at Primal Suds also do a ‘No Bo’ bar, which would solve my deodorant problem (I’m currently using a Body Shop roll-on). I’ll give it a try next time I order and let you know how I get on.

I recently went to Eight Day Cafe in Manchester and bought a bamboo toothbrush. I think this was about £3-£4 and again the packaging is 100% compostable along with the brush when you’re done with it. I’ve read online that it’s recommended that you replace your toothbrush every three months, don’t quote me on that but £16 a year doesn’t seem that much. Toothpaste I’m going to follow this recipe from Trash Is For Tossers when we run out of our last tube.

Hair product, I’m currently using the Dirty range from Lush. This range is as good as any other hair wax I’ve bought and when you’ve finished wih it you can take the tub back to the store to be recycled. I’m starting to consider a more drastic approach though in shaving all my hair off. Saving the need for a shampoo bar or hair product completely. I have a friend and clippers already lined up.

Speaking of shaving, I’ve researched a few options and it seems like a safety razor like this one is going to be the best option. For shaving foam/gel I’ve just taken to lathering up soap as I tried a few other options and they didn’t really work.

So that leaves the grim task of finding a toilet paper alternative. I don’t think we’re willing to go 100% zero waste with this one to be completely honest and I’ve read/watched a few other zero wasters who opt for recycled toilet paper like this one a Waitrose (which annoyingly comes in plastic packaging) or the awesome guys at Who Gives A Crap where the packaging is 100% biodegradable. A little bit more expensive but if bought in bulk doesn’t seem like too drastic of a price increase.

So that’s the bathroom plan sorted (sort of), next stop is the kitchen.

POA

So yesterday I went into Manchester city centre to scout out some shops and supermarkets to see what they could offer in terms of zero waste.

I came home with some re-usable shopping bags and a biodegradable charcoal toothbrush from Eighth Day Cafe, a jumbo sized jar of coconut oil from Holland and Barrett (which I intend to use as a mason jar afterwards) and a load of veggies from McColl’s market stand. As an aside, I realised how much McColl’s and the adjoining market stand have to offer and will probably do a separate post on this at a later date.

I think it’s painfully aware I need a plan of how to tackle this challenge. It’s not as cut and dry as stopping all waste immediately and collecting odd things on a random shopping trip isn’t really going to work. I think the best plan going forwards is to look at things room by room.

Firstly stop then, the Bathroom.