Blog 19th February 2018: Lent Without Plastic at the Deanery

Posted
19th Feb 2018
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Blog

A Blog by the Dean & Mrs Waine (Stephen & Lizzie) who are trying to live without single use plastic at the Deanery during Lent.

Monday 19th February 2018:

It was good to hear so many words of encouragement in the Cathedral on Sunday along with some helpful tips on making this a Lent without plastic and more importantly to know that many of you have followed suit in giving up plastic.

It has been busy in the Deanery since Ash Wednesday with a plethora of guests, which brings us to the delicate question of loo rolls.  We were under the impression that you could still buy loo rolls wrapped in paper from supermarkets - no.  Every single brand is now swathed in plastic.  After visiting all the supermarkets in Chichester it was time to shop online before we ran out...

And we found the most amazing company - "Who gives a Cr*p".  A slightly off-the-wall name, but read on as they are doing so much.  This is from their website:

"...we love toilet paper because for us, it's our way of making a difference.  We started Who Gives a Cr*p when we learnt that 2.3 billion people across the world don't have access to a toilet.  That's roughly 40% of the global population and means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation.  That's almost 800 children per day, or one child every two minutes.  We donate 50% of our profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world".

At the weekend we took our first delivery - the loo rolls are made from recycled paper and arrived in a box with not a single bit of plastic anywhere!

Whilst researching about plastics, we read an article on kitchen sponge scourers - the yellow and green ones - they basically disintegrate into microbeads, by-passing water filtration systems and end up in the ocean.  We've changed to some wonder Loofah pads which last for months and can be composted (www.greenbrands.co.uk).  Another small but important change to make our household plastic free.

Food shopping, which you will remember from last week, was a concern.  A very successful trip to the Wednesday Chichester Market became plastic free - the fish stall was very happy to place the fish direct into our own storage containers, all the fruit and veg went straight into our straw basket, cheese and bread came in paper.  Shopping at the Runcton Farm Shop again was easy - beef into a paper bag and everything else loose except for a fresh root of horseradish, it was wrapped in plastic - our first piece of plastic all week.

Since starting Lent, we have found ourselves contemplating items before buying them and scrutinising the packaging.  We've noticed the sheer amount of single-use plastic supermarkets use.  However, in Waitrose the fish, meat and cheese counters were all obliging and used our containers (glass jam jars are great for the olive counter).  Pasta is difficult to purchase but success, the brand Barilla (found in Tesco) comes in a cardboard box.

The whole family has become very rigorous about separating compost, cooked food and recycables so much so that after 5 days the kitchen bin is less than a quarter full.

We've not used plastic bags for shopping for a long time but we were still using 'food storage bags' and cling film, but not anymore - we've found Beeswax Wraps an amazing product for wrapping food that is made entirely from natural cotton and West Sussex beeswax.  It is washable, re-useable, multi-purpose and smells deliciously of beeswax.  Its slightly stiff so you can fold it around your food item or container to store in the fridge.  And even better it's made in Felpham by a lovely lady called Michelle Woodhouse - tel: 07941 984168, or via Facebook Michelles-gorgeous-gifts.  Different sizes and patterns are on offer.

Another find this week - Lush Cosmetics in Portsmouth advertised that they take any HDPE2 plastic bottle tops where they will be turned into something else.  When we go to buy our first shampoo bar, we will investigate whether Chichester Lush will be doing the same.  We've had a good week and our only irritation is WHY DIDN'T WE DO THIS BEFORE!

FACT: The largest market for plastic is packaging, an application whose growth was accelerated by a global shift from reusable to single-use containers.  As of 2015, approximately 6300 million metric tons of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.

Log on Friday 23rd where we will report on our progress.  Stephen and Lizzie.

Posted
19th Feb 2018
News category
Blog