Sussex group shares tips on how to ditch plastic

It’s very hard to eliminate plastic from our day-to-day lives. It’s almost impossible to avoid – from clingfilm to cleaning products, shampoo to conditioner and the supermarkets wrap pretty much everything in it.

But nine million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans every year and the rate we are polluting our seas is doubling every 11 years! The statistics are terrifying, and it can make you feel ‘why bother’? But every little counts and if we all made changes, we could really reduce our reliance on hard to recycle plastic.

Here are the changes I made that might give you some ideas of what changes you might also be able to make:

1. Swapped my plastic milk to glass bottle deliveries.

Plastic bottles are sent to Eastern Europe for recycling (and of course then new ones have to get shipped in) all adding to the carbon footprint. Changing to glass bottles resulted in a saving of 104 x 2 litre plastic bottles a year. Milk deliveries (glass bottles):

Billingshurst Dairies - https://billydairies.com/

Milk&More - https://www.milkandmore.co.uk/

2. Swapped from shop bought soup to making my own. Not only healthier for me, but cheaper and saved 156 soup tubs a year

3. Started making my own yogurt.

Cheaper to make and dead easy to do, saving at least 52 large plastic pots

Lakeland has a great range of yoghurt makers – https://www.lakeland.co.uk/in-the-kitchen/preserving-and-make-your-own/yoghurt-making/

4. Stopped using clingfilm

I use beeswax wraps, silicon stretch caps, storage tubs or simply plates over bowls.

5. Started recycling cat food pouches

I had never heard of Terracycle, but Sussex Green Living enlightened me, so now all my cat food pouches get washed and recycled.

That’s around 1,500 pouches that no longer go to landfill.

Sussex Green Living now has volunteers collecting in 11 different villages/towns and we accept collect 12 different single use plastic waste streams.

6. Refuse and re-use before recycling

As difficult as it is (and more expensive) I try to buy fruit and veg that’s not in plastic. I take them loose/put them into bags I’ve brought with me.

I no longer accept plastic bags when offered. Pre-Covid-19 I took my refillable coffee mug to get take away drinks.

This local company does loads of different plastic free goodies for bathroom, kitchen and home in general https://www.vera-bee.com

For more information and top tips on reducing the use of plastic in your lives – Stop the Old Bags - https://www.facebook.com/Stoptheoldbags

For more information on recycling in Sussex - https://www.sussexgreenliving.co.uk/recycling-zone/