A blog by The Dean and Mrs Waine (Stephen and Lizzie) who are trying to live without single-use plastic at the Deanery during Lent.
25th March - Day 39
Almost all the plastic ever produced is still here somewhere on the planet in one form or another, and will remain here for centuries to come, possibly thousands of years - HRH Prince of Wales
Compost from Earthcycle
As the snow recedes and its officially the start of the summer time, our thoughts have turned towards The Deanery garden and the work needed in developing various areas. Compost – the only way to buy it from garden centre is in plastic packaging. So, before you head out, look at Earthcycle - www.earthcycle.co.uk. They’re based in Oving, Chichester and encompass a 1500-acre organic dairy and arable farm along with three licenced waste recycling sites processing green waste and soils. They sell peat free composts and soil conditioning products which they will deliver in re-usable bags (great for storing logs in). So even if you don’t need 1000 litres what about sharing a load with neighbours? We can highly recommend their products.
Sun Screen
The other big difference you can make is to re-use items from the house to grow seedlings in – you will recall we’ve started our sweet peas off in loo-roll tubes and other seeds in cardboard egg cartons. The compostable cups we now use in the Cathedral are also ideal, so take a handful of used ones after coffee on Sunday. You could also use burlap (jute) sacking, make cones with newspaper or buy biodegradable coir seed pots– so get planting without plastic! Maybe start to buy plants in bamboo, rice husks and straw pots rather than traditional plastic pots which are a bulky by-product of most garden projects (many garden centres around Chichester now have them).
And don’t forget the sunblock – we’ve just ordered some all-natural sun block from ‘Not the Norm’ its SPF25, suitable for sensitive skin and comes in a lovely tin!
We’ve read a report by The Telegraph that “seafood eaters ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic each year”. Prince Charles commented that the report is “sobering”. The study carried out by the University of Ghent in Belgium is the first comprehensive risk assessment of its kind and established that these particles could be causing inflammation or doing other harms to our bodies – for example chemical leaching and causing toxicity. In an earlier blog we commented on the amount of microplastic in our oceans – equivalent of one rubbish truckload of plastic waste being added to the sea every minute – by 2050 that will increase to four trucks every minute – all taking decades to break down. Future generations will have good cause to say we left them with a rotting plastic legacy unless we all act fast – remember, the best way to lower impacts from packaging waste is to reduce the amount of packaging you buy and where possible buy products packaged in recycled materials. Small changes can make a big difference.
We’ve been looking at various forms of packaging this week and it seems to be a common misconception that degradable or biodegradable bags are a suitable alternative to plastic bags, they’re great in theory but potentially environmentally destructive. A recent Australian study found that a degradable bag option is equally as bad for the environment as regular plastic bags. ‘Whilst consumers might feel they are doing the right thing by choosing biodegradable or degradable plastic, these products simply disintegrate into smaller and smaller pieces to become microplastic’. It’s a minefield – click here to see what we’ve found out.
Have you ever wondered why bananas and avocados come in a plastic bag when they have their own packaging….?
Greater Manchester announced this week that it is aiming to become the first UK city region to ditch single use plastics. Gary Neville, ex-footballer, launched the Plastic-Free Greater Manchester campaign to encourage businesses and members of the public to switch to alternatives by 2020. Maybe the recent report stating that a Manchester river has the worst level of microplastic pollution ever recorded anywhere in the world has shocked the industrial city to act.
Greenbelt Bottles
More fighting talk comes from Greenbelt - they’re banning single-use plastic bottles. You won’t be able to buy any bottled water at Greenbelt this summer. They will provide onsite refill water stations instead, along with food being served in fully compostable packaging. Greenbelt – 24 – 27th August 2018, Boughton House, Northamptonshire – take your metal bottle or buy a Greenbelt one.
Don’t forget this week when searching for Easter gifts/eggs – look for the eggs without plastic – there are many out there which are not suffocated in plastic liners, shells and wrappings. Maybe go for those adorable bunnies in foil. Or look for an alternative non-choc present; the female members of the Deanery household have ditched the plastic bottled Lancôme Crème Mousse and have fallen in love with www.friendlysoap.co.uk - the cocoa butter facial cleansing bar, its - SLS free, paraben free, palm oil free, plastic free – so many boxes ticked, and if you give a bar, they won’t be complaining of putting on weight over Easter!
If you’re entertaining over Easter and are starting to shop for canned drinks – don’t buy the ones held together in plastic yokes. Maybe invest in a good old 1970’s soda stream!
Good reading Links:
https://newplasticseconomy.org/ - great website on bringing together stakeholders to workout the future of packaging.
https://resource-recycling.com/ - an American website but some interesting news from around the world, especially the news on China.