Dot points

Day 31

The 31st of July has arrived and I have managed to increase my awareness of the amount of plastic I use everyday.  It’s been a good exercise.  I know it will be almost impossible for me to give up plastic entirely.  I’m not one of the people that finds plastic detrimental to their health, so I am happy to use plastic if there is no simple alternative.   During July I have

·      Reduced the amount of plastic I use;

·      Reused plastic items that I would previously have just recycled, so that I don’t have to buy any new food containers or plastic bags;

·      Recycled as much as possible.

 I am going to continue, and hopefully improve over time.

Our garbage bin, emptied every week by roadside collection, now only contains two or three (reused) small plastic bags of garbage each week.  Hopefully by next year, I’ll have reduced it to one bag.

 Signing off for Plastic Free July 2015.  

Day 30

In this penultimate blog for Plastic Free July I’m including some photos of wasted plastic!   Its the box that holds a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin.  The box is made of cardboard - that’s good and the gin is good of course, but when I press the box it lights up!  I tried to take a video of it lighting up but I couldn’t work out how to add a video to tumblr.  In the bottom of the box is a lot of plastic and electronics to make the lights work.

Its very pretty - but sooooo over the top!!  Thank goodness the tonic comes in a glass bottle.

Just to remind me that its all for the wildlife

Day 29

After a few weeks of trying to be plastic free, it has become a habit for me to notice packaging.   I intend keep this up, as I attempt to shift away from unnecessary plastic in my life.    One thing that is still hard is making sure that I ask first when I am buying things.   I learnt when buying bread that you have to be quick or the efficient staff have already put your purchases in plastic!   I had a lemon, lime and bitters drink with friends and fortunately did remember to say ‘no straw please’ before I ordered.  

  Of course, with a tongue like this, who needs a straw?

Day 28

My new glasses, I have two pairs, one for distance, one for close, each pair accompanied by a plastic card saying ‘Nikon certificate of authenticity’ and each plastic card inside a plastic envelope!   What is the point of that ?  

I didn’t know my glasses had Nikon lenses, and all I can say is ‘no wonder they cost and arm and a leg!’

Another plastic worry was raised by my husband as he watched me carefully laminate two A4 sheets of paper to put up signs at the local shops for our clean up weekend.   ‘Why are you doing that?’ he asked.  ‘To protect them if it rains’ I answered.  Obvious I thought, then he pointed out that the laminate sheets were definitely single use plastic.  Oh dear!

A feel good picture to end the day with - the Australian Alps in the spring.

Day 27.

I nearly had a disaster this morning.  I was on my way to a meeting, but as I was a bit early, I popped into the nearest coffee shop for a take-away flat white.  The guy at the counter asked if I wanted large or regular, pointing to the plastic cups in two sizes.  Horror!   I had forgotten my reusable cup!  ‘Do you have any reusable cups for sale’ I asked, thinking that I could do with a spare one to keep in my bag.  He looked at me strangely, ‘No’ he said, ‘only these’, pointing to the take-away cups again.  ‘But i’ve signed up for plastic free July’ I wailed.  He looked at me as though I was mad so I quickly said, ‘I’ve changed my mind, I’ll have one here as long as I can have it in a proper cup.’  And so he made me a coffee and I just managed not to be late for my meeting.

I don’t have a photo of a panda, but this meercat looks like he’ happy for a chat.

Day 26

Did you know it was National Tree Day today? 

I can’t help wondering if the positive thing about having an environmentally un-friendly government is that seems to encourage local  communities to look after the environment themselves. 

Even though it was a cold day, the Hobsons Bay communities joined in the tree planting with lots of enthusiasm.  There was a great turn out, lots of people, lots of plants put in the ground, lots of friends and neighbours getting together.  A good time was had by all.

We still use plastic tree guards to protect the young plants from the rabbits.  Unfortunately these tree guards break down and bits of plastic blow along the Creek.  We will have to think of an alternative.

We were working along Lower Kororoit Creek.  Here’s a view of the Creek showing that plants from previous plantings are growing well.  Its hard to believe it’s only a stones throw from an industrial area!

One of the trees got itself into a bit of a knot.

Day 25

I’ve spent most of the day writing up the report for our litter project at Wader Beach.  More than anything else, working on this beach has shown me how serious  the litter problem is around Port Phillip Bay.  The plastic we use, often called ‘biodegradable’, just breaks up into smaller pieces, bite sized for the tiny creatures at the bottom of the food chain.  We just need to reduce our plastic use in the home!

Small pellets of plastic called ‘nurdles’ are used to produce many of the plastics we use around the house.  Spills of nurdles at manufacturing plants get into the stormwater drains and are washed down to the beach.

In some areas of our beach, just picking up a handful of washed up seagrass reveals half a dozen or more nurdles.  They are just a few millimetres across and will wash into the water with the tide.

Here is a photo of an eleven-armed seastar that lives in our marine sanctuary.  Hope it hasn’t  digested any nurdles.

On the bright side, its still a great pleasure to go out into our state parks and meet the locals.  Lets keep the parks plastic free too!

Day 24

One more week to go! 

I will continue on after the 31st with my plastic avoidance because I think it is necessary for the planet, but don’t worry, there will be no more blog!  I think my family will be relieved as I nag them into reading it.    I think I will also start to move from plastic containers for food to glass jars, although glass jars don’t fit so well in the freezer.  I’ll have to think about this some more.

Lesson for the day -

if you are wondering how to decide if the silvery wrap is real foil or ‘plastic’ foil just scrunch it up in your hand.  If it stays scrunched it’s just foil, if it bounces back, its plastic.

The shiny stuff on the left is real foil and the one on the right is plastic.

Here’s something lovely from planet Earth found in a park near me.

Day 23

Another great working day down at the Natural History Centre in Werribee Park.  If you don’t know who we are, check us out at https://www.facebook.com/groups/849086631798394/?fref=ts

Being there reminds me of how important it is to continue with Plastic Free July long after the month has ended.  Ok I know I’m not very good yet, but I will gradually reduce my use of plastic as time goes on.  It takes a while to change, so if you’d like to join us, take it slow and gradually change.  A single piece of plastic not used is a step forward.

I’ve also been making preparations for our forthcoming clean up weekend at Wader Beach.  There are tonnes of plastic litter on the beach so I had to call up a few waste bin providers to book a skip for our collected litter.  It is expensive, as the disposal costs at landfills (where our litter has to go) are high.  I can’t grumble about that as we want every one to minimise their wastes so that we need less landfills.  Sadly some ignorant people just dump their waste down by the beach to avoid tip fees.  

Day 22

Best day so far, my husband found some chocolate in the old fashioned wrapping - tinfoil and cardboard!  So much for my diet!

I’ve been asked for my string bag pattern, its very easy.

Use 4ply wool or cotton yarn with 5mm to 6mm needles, depending on how big you would like the holes.  I have used  rainbow coloured cotton.  Several bags can be made from one ball.

cast on 60 stitches, knit two rows   This will become the open end of your bag.

note that there will always be 60 stitches on each row as for every stitch you decrease (K2together) you will make another one (yarn over needle, in other words, bring the yarn to the front, put over the needle before knitting the next stitch.)

Row 3:      K1, (K2together, yarn over needle) to last stitch, K1. 

Row 4:      Knit  

Row 5:      K1, (yarn over needle, K2together) to last stitch, K1.

Row 6:      Knit

Repeat row 3 to row 6  8 times, cast off.

Fold work in half and sew up along cast off edge and the side edges together to make a bag.   Plait together 6 strands of wool or cotton and thread through the top row at the bag opening to form a tie.  Knot the end of the tie together.

And for those of you that don’t knit, here’s something woolly.

Day 21

One thing that has worried me about going plastic free is plastic coated paper.  I suspected that plastic coated paper couldn’t be recycled.  If it can’t be recycled then it’s as bad as single-use plastic and I need to avoid it if I can.

A few Google searches on paper recycling gave me lots of conflicting information.  It seems it depends, in part, on the ability of the paper mills to take in more complex papers.   Some glossy papers have a clay coating and so the clay clogs up the works in the paper mill unless they know how to deal with it properly.  Don’t ask me what they need to do, you’ll have to visit the industries themselves!

I did eventually find out that there are some papers that really can’t be recycled.  These include plastic coated paper, paper towels, tissues, food wrapping and waxed paper or cardboard.  Plastic coated paper is used for packaging many items these days.   Paper towels and tissues are unhygienic and anyway the paper fibres from these items are too short to recycle.   Food wrappers if not properly cleaned contaminate the pulp and often result in offensive odours leaving the recycling plant.  I know this from personal experience! Waxed materials make it too difficult for the paper fibres to be recovered from the wax.  

 There are plenty of interesting websites about what can and can’t be recycled, and it quickly becomes obvious that recycling is becoming available for a wider range of materials all the time.  Don’t be put off by a webpage saying that you can’t recycle something until you have checked the date and country of origin.  For example, I came across sites saying that soft plastics couldn’t be recycled then saw that it was from 2009.  Now we have RedCycle here in Australia,we can recycle our single use plastic bags!.

Glossy magazines and advertising materials can be recycled but I had to search more websites to find out how to tell the difference between thicker paper and plastic coated paper. It’s easy, if you can rip it up, you can recycle it.  The un-rippable papers are probably plastic coated and at the moment we can’t recycle them.  

End of lesson, so here are a couple of photos of friends I made on holiday.

Day 20

Another day with unnecessary single use plastic.  The first was a door seal to cut out draughts and reduce our energy consumption.  This was in a cardboard box within a moulded plastic cover.  What a waste!

Then more post wrapped in plastic - what happened to the good old paper envelopes?  I guess its not worth bothering about too much as we probably won’t have any snail mail in a few years time!

One good thing was sugar in a glass jar in a cafe when i had coffee this afternoon.  I’ll have to go back there although I don’t actually take sugar in my coffee.

Day 19.

Even though I have managed to avoid the ‘top 4′ single use plastics (water bottles, takeaway coffee cups, straws and plastic shopping bags)  since the beginning of July,  I have managed to collect a whole bag full of single-use plastic from cheese wrappings, meat, postal items and magazine packaging.  I will put all this plastic in the RedCycle bin tomorrow, so that it will be recycled and not find its way into our waterways.  I take it on trust that RedCycle will do the right thing with it!  

The largest pieces of plastic in my collection for RedCycle came from wrapping of non-perishable goods packed within cardboard boxes, although we did manage to buy a new desk lamp that was wrapped entirely in paper and cardboard.

Large pieces of plastic are a problem, but they can be easily picked up by our litter crew.  If they are left to break down into smaller pieces,  they become really dangerous to the wildlife.  

This photo shows some typical sharp pieces of litter that we regularly pick up on our local beach.  Just look at the really tiny bits among the dried up seagrass on the ground!  These pieces are almost impossible for humans to pick up easy pickings for small birds and animals.

Day 18

Unfortunately, although many of my friends know about Plastic Free July, most people don’t so it is really important to stay alert when trying to stay plastic free. I called in at our local bakers today for a bread roll.  I asked for a roll but my attention was taken by someone else in the shop.  I wasn’t looking at the girl behind the counter and when I turned to pay for my roll, she had put it in a plastic bag and tied a knot at the end.  ‘But you have paper bags,’ I said ‘I wanted a paper  bag’.  The girl smiled, ‘oh well, never mind, I’m too quick for you’ she said.    

She wasn’t aware of the problems with plastic and just thought I was a crazy old lady.  Oh well.  

Day 17

Did some shopping today at the supermarket.  I still haven’t made it to the market,  I just haven’t had time to catch the train on market days this week. Still, things weren’t too bad, I took my string bags and managed to avoid a lot of plastic bags.   

As you can see the beans tried to escape, so I need to knit a finer mesh for them.  This will weigh more, so perhaps I won’t.  The beans were relativity expensive at $6.98 per kilo, and with the bag weighing in at 6 grams, I paid 2.7 cents extra for my beans.  The overall cost was $0.71 so I increased the cost by nearly 4%.  The moral of this story is don’t buy beans when they are expensive!

Day 16.

Cooked a curry today but just had to buy some naan (bread) which came in a plastic bag.  Oh well, I can put the bag into the REDcycle bin.   The REDcycle bin in our nearest supermarket entrance is usually nearly full.  Its good to see it being used but I wonder how often it is contaminated by other things.  Visit 

http://redcycle.net.au/redcycle/

to find out more about this service, and visit 

http://www.replas.com.au

to see examples of the outdoor furniture for Aussie primary schools and pre-schools made from these soft plastics.

To find out what to put in the different bins, check out Planet Ark’s page

http://recyclingweek.planetark.org/recycling-info/softplastic.cfm

I’ve been designing a flyer to advertise our forthcoming clean up weekend at Wader Beach (1st and 2nd August, I won’t let you forget!). Over the last year we have been to that secluded beach many times as part of our litter monitoring program and I have taken quite a few photos.  Here’s one that shows just one of the reasons why we care about this beach.

And here is another that shows why we wear boots when we go!  Its a tiger snake, quite common in this part of Melbourne.  Unlike brown snakes, our tiger snakes are not aggressive and will just get out of the way.

Day 15.

Just doing a mid-July audit to see where I am at.

Plastic item (PI): Toothpaste  tube

recyclable/reusable? (R/R) Yes,  Terracycle but need to mail so easy to recycle.

Will I give it up? (Y/N) No.  I like toothpaste as it is.  I’m not resorting to bicarb! 

PI:  Liquid soap

R/R: Yes, can  put refill bottles in the council recycle bin

Y/N: I might if  I find some nice bars of soap.  There  are plenty out there.

PI: Shampoo  and conditioner

R/R: Yes, can  put refill bottles in the council recycle bin

Y/N:Probably  not, I like the stuff I use.

PI: Pills (panadol  etc.)

R/R: Yes, in  the RedCycle bin

Y/N: No, but  hope I don’t need many.

PI: Shopping  bags for groceries and vegetables

R/R: Not really  – they break down to tiny harmful pieces

Y/N: Yes, easy  now with my trolley and string bags.

PI: Take away  coffee cups and lids

R/R: Not really

Y/N: Yes, I  have my own cup.

PI: Drink  bottles

R/R: Yes,  bottles go in the council recycle bin

Y/N: Yes, I  have my own water bottle and wine comes in glass bottles

PI: Straws and  balloons

R/R: Not really

Y/N: Yes, never  used them anyway.

PI: Makeup  containers etc.

R/R: Some are I  think

Y/N: No, because  I only ever use lipstick (one lasts me for years) or lip salve for the sun.

PI: Sun screen  and personal insect repellent

R/R: Yes, can  put refill bottles in the council recycle bin

Y/N: No,  because if I need them, I really need them if you know what I mean.

PI: Deodorant

R/R: Yes, can  put refill bottles in the council recycle bin

Y/N: No,  because I don’t want to lose my friends.

PI: Cheese,   olives, meat and fish in plastic bags

R/R: Not  really, I don’t like to put these in the RedCycle as they will soon smell.

Y/N: No, I’ll  minimise but I’m not giving up these foods.

PI: Plastic  wrapped biscuits, lollies, choc bars

R/R: Yes, in  the RedCycle bin

Y/N: Yes, but I  will eat cakes that I make and those in paper bags from the bakery.

PI: Other  items in plastic bags – cat food, garden items, cat litter, clothes etc.

R/R: Some can  go in RedCycle.

Y/N: No, but I  will, from now on look for the options with no or minimal plastic.

I did try to make the list easier to read by putting it in a table but my tumblr formatting skills are very limited.  As are my tumblr usage skills, so sorry to those people I spoke to today who wanted to make a comment about my blog, i thought you could, I don’t know why you can’t.