8 easy ways to prevent 501 pieces of plastic waste per year
You know you need to reduce how much plastic you throw away but do any of the following statements sound familiar?
I don’t have time to research less plastic products and to shop around
There is not a zero-waste or bulk-buy shop near me
Plastic-free or sustainable products are too expensive
I simply don’t know where to start
These are just some of the barriers to buying our products without plastic and they are all completely valid. You can be forgiven for perceiving a plastic-free lifestyle can only be attained by beautiful Instagrammers who flaunt their bamboo sporks or fit their entire annual plastic waste into a jam jar.
Well, let’s dispose of the phrase ‘plastic-free’ because it’s hard to be plastic-free. In fact, it’s almost impossible in our society. What we advocate here at Everyday Plastic is a ‘less-plastic’ lifestyle. Something that all of us can achieve no matter where you are, what your budget is and how much time you have.
Are you ready for some numbers?
After 179 households took part in The Everyday Plastic Survey between April and July 2020, we determined that on average, each household throws away at least 9.6 preventable pieces of plastic waste per week. Scaling that up to a year means each household could save 501 pieces of plastic from being thrown away. If we apply these figures to the population of the country, that’s 268 million pieces per week or just under 14 billion pieces a year. Let’s say that just a quarter of the population strictly followed our tips – we’d still be able to stop 3.4 billion pieces entering the waste system or environment.
The impact is huge and you don’t need to make any wholesale changes. All you need to do is apply our tips to just 8 of the most common product categories we use at home or on-the-go:
Reduce by 100%
Water bottles: Buy a reusable water bottle and refill at home or on-the-go. It only takes a few refills before you’ve saved yourself from buying single-use plastic bottle and broken even. Most cafes, bars, shops, petrol stations will allow you to refill your water.
Shower gel bottles: I am a big advocate of bars of soaps. You can find brands that have no plastic packaging and I find they last much longer than bottles of shower gel. In case you’re wondering, bars of soap kill COVID-19 just as well as any other detergent.
Carrier bags: ALWAYS take reusable bags for big supermarket trips or put your shopping in your rucksack for quicks stops. If you’ve ordered an online delivery from a supermarket, ask for no bags, or for the driver to take them away.
Reduce by 75%
Milk bottles: You can order milk to be delivered in glass bottles from Milk&More or find your local milk delivery at findmeamilkman.net. They deliver all over the UK. Alternatively, buy bigger bottles and decant the milk into smaller bottles and freeze them.
Reduce by 50%
Wet wipes: Use reusable cloths to wipe kitchen or bathroom surfaces and wash regularly. Look to phase out make-up, cleansing or baby wipes over time too.
Reduce by 25%
Fruit and veg: Try buying a quarter of your fruit and veg loose. Start with the low-hanging fruit (pun intended). Most larger supermarket stores offer a wide range of loose produce including potatoes, carrot, broccoli, onion, courgette, apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, garlic etc.
Meat & Fish: Ask at the counter of your supermarket, butcher’s or fishmongers to serve your items into a reusable container. Most of them will be happy to oblige. Money Saving Expert did some research into prices of fresh counter and aisle products and found that you could be saving money gram on gram.
Reduce by 10%
Snacks: Reduce your weekly intake by just 10%
Now this is pretty lenient! Can you cut out one of every 10 your pre-packaged snacks per week? Try making your own flapjacks, ask the cafe for no packaging when you buy that brownie or buy a big packet of crisps instead of a multipack.