Plastic free update

Its been six months since I made a vow to go plastic free and I thought I'd update about my plastic free journey... I must admit and accept that its not going to plan.

Its A LOT harder than I first thought it would be. Simple things like finding a non plastic packaging alternative to buying milk. I know what you're thinking.. "MamaKoo, haven't you heard?! Milk comes in cartons!" but did you know, cartons are made from cardboard lined with a polyethylene plastic? What happened to the days of old, where milk was delivered to your door in glass bottles?

I think although I haven't been able to make the full transition, trying to go plastic free has made me rethink the things I would have purchased in the past, try to find alternatives and in doing so has made me find different and wonderful places to shop. Its made me slow down and live life more simply, appreciate the things I have access to and forced me to start making things I normally would buy (which I enjoy doing!).

Hopefully down the track we can become an almost plastic free family, I really think that at this time in history becoming COMPLETELY plastic free is a near impossibility. We can always try, can't we?

Biodegradable Seed Starter

Its spring! And that means its time to get my vegetable seeds ready. I've been saving extra large egg cartons from Rosie's Free Range Eggs for the past few months so I can use them as seedling trays.

Because the cartons are biodegradable when its time to plant I plan on cutting them into individual pots and plant them as is.

Yay for kale!

When the weather becomes warmer and a bit more predictable I'm going to use You Grow Girl's method of using toilet paper rolls to plant seeds that require a bit more depth in the soil. There are loads of newspaper seed starters online too, but I think I'd become a bit impatient at folding all those little boxes!

For your information; I'm using organic veggie and herb seeds from Green Harvest which is an organic garden supplier based in Queensland. I'm yet to find anything similar with such variety closer to South Australia. They provide such a variety of heirloom plants, permaculture resources, organic gardening resources, natural pest control.. the list really does go on.

What veggies are you growing this season?


MamaKoo

A World of Plastic

My latest post is a bit depressing but I encourage you to turn your mind set and use it as a powerful tool to encourage you to make a difference in the way you live.

Take a moment to think about the popular saying "think globally, act locally". A large proportion of people have trouble thinking globally. They only think about the effect of their actions in a certain vicinity. They don't think about the consequences of their waste thrown out of a car window will most likely aid in the death of a sea creature or end up in our oceans adding to the indescribable amount of waste, with no way of degrading in our lifetime or their grandchild's lifetime. Out of sight, out of mind.

chrisjordan.com

With my recent research into chemicals plastic are made out of, plastic pollution and how little of our plastic is actually recycled, I've become somewhat scarred. I think its a good thing, its a motivation to do something about it, to act locally (my family) but think globally! Looking around my house at the moment, although I consider myself to be more 'eco' than others, our cupboards and fridge are overloaded with plastics, not to mention the massive amount of plastic packaging from the food we buy. I try to buy products with the least amount of packaging, but I've never really gone out of my way to search for alternatives, only whats avaliable at my local Foodland or markets.

After being inspired by Gina's, A Plastic Free Year, I also want to take this vowel on October 1st and try to be virgin plastic free for a year and hopefully there after.

A Plastic Free Year Guidelines

REFUSE, RE-USE, & LET NO PLASTIC TO ENTER WASTE STREAM.

• Do not purchase or be gifted virgin plastic.

• Where a plastic free alternative to a product can not be found, plastic re-used or recycled item of that product can be purchased or borrowed.

•  If any plastic is (unwillingly) purchased or gifted during 2011, it can NOT enter the waste stream - it must be kept by me. The accumulated plastic will be weighed at the end of 2011 to measure what my annual plastic footprint is, and will be turned into plastic 'art'.

Please post me any suggestions you have on how I can survive My Plastic Free Year - I need all the assistance I can get! And feel free to join me - the less demand created for virgin plastic, the better for all of us!

Thanks for your support ;-)

 I'll post updates every now and then including thoughts, the amount of plastic accumulated and products I've found helpful. I encourage you to join me in this journey, if not to re-think your plastic situation and review the links on this post. Everyone is accountable!

MamaKoo

Also, if you have any ideas to help reduce plastic consumption to share them with me... this is going to be a hard task ahead!