Everybody fails, sometimes…

My plastic collection so far is modest, not bad at all I’d say. But every now and again I will admit I do fall upon the odd failure.
My biggest fail to date occurred at an impromptu feasting session. Myself and a friend were invited to fill spaces at a food tasting event…on a boat…on Sydney harbor…with free wine! How could we refuse?!

Unfortunately the food cruise dream quickly descended into a plastic nightmare! Most samples came served in tiny plastic cups and as friendly sales people loomed over me , long arms stretching towards me brandishing plastic spoons and bowls and cups of delicious looking fayre, I shied away as if they had offered me baby vomit or nuclear waste. The sales people were visibly confused by my reaction and dejectedly sniffed at their offerings checking for off meat or hairs dangling out.

(This is a slightly dramatised version of reality, in truth I ate everything I could get my greedy paws on as long as it wasn’t served in plastic. I caved in to a free sample of exotic spices on the way out. It tasted great and I was dazzled by the marketing, what can I say? I’m weak, sometimes!)

 

THE OFFENDING ITEMS;

Not so bad, most of it is merely the remnant of a former life; old razor cartridges, cleaning product bottles which broke before I could reuse and the wrappers from dishwasher tablets which we are STILL getting through!
New items include the packet which contained 50 envelopes, I had to post wedding invitations home and couldn’t find then loose. The wrapper from a jar of Jalepenos, wrapper on a jar?! What madness! The offending spice packaging which was actually bags within bags…NAUGHTY.

What the hell is a micro bead?!

This week I ran out of body scrub AND shower gel, damn it! I LOVE a good scrub and obviously I need to stay clean but like most other beauty products they both come packaged in plastic. But were you also aware that the friendly scrubby ‘Micro Beads’ in exfoliator are plastic too?! Inside and out, throwaway plastics have infiltrated our lives in such epic style that it seems hard to avoid.

Micro beads have been around for years, they are present in exfoliators and used as abrasives in cleaning products. For the entirety of their existence we have been pouring them down the drain without a thought. Because they are so minuscule it is virtually impossible to filter them through our drainage systems and this means that most will sadly end up in our oceans.
This is terribly bad news for the Zooplankton, the fishes who dine on them and in turn humans as our fishy food fascination continues unabated. In light of this, today’s mission is all about scrubbing, naturally!

HONEY, SUGAR & OLIVE OIL SCRUB

Ingredients;

• Honey 2 tbsp
• Raw sugar 1/2 jar
• Extra virgin Olive Oil 3 tbsp
• 1 Glass Jar

The method is simple; first add the olive oil to the jar, this will stop everything else from sticking. Next add the sugar and honey. Mix well.

I use this a couple of times a week, the sugar is just hard enough for a good scrub but then dissolves in the hot water nicely, the olive oil leaves your skin SO soft. No need to moisturise afterwards.

( Extra virgin olive oil, all by itself, is one of natures best beauty secrets. In addition to being a natural, hypoallergenic way to moisturize skin, extra virgin olive oil has the added advantage of providing strong antioxidants, like Vitamins A and E that help repair and renew skin that has been damaged from overexposure to sun, air pollution, and other modern-day environmental hazards – like cigarette smoke and fast food. These antioxidants have the natural ability to stimulate cells and return skin to a firmer, smoother, and healthier state…it is AMAZING!)

COFFEE GRIND YOUR BODY!

Recently I have been popping into the cafe and asking for the left over coffee grinds, once again I look like a lunatic BUT they do make for an amazing, invigorating AND plastic free scrub! The caffeine is great for your skins circulation and some even say that if used regularly it can greatly reduce cellulite. As soon as I mentioned this at work everyone was off home with paper bags full of the stuff! Even my boy loves it!

These two are the only ones I’ve tried so far and I highly recommend both but if you are looking for something a little different here’s a link to Tip Junkie, they have a huge list of simple, cheap and good-enough-to-eat recipes.

And before you go…here’s a little song about micro beads!

BEAT THE MICRO BEAD – Plastic Soup Foundation & The North Sea Foundation from PlasticSoupFoundation on Vimeo.

No more plastic teeth

Have you ever wondered what toothpaste really is? What’s the secret ingredient that makes your gnashers shine like stars? What makes that sweet foaming action? And how your breath stays so minty fresh? As my project continues I am discovering more and more about what goes into the products which I use every day and this week my challenge came in plastic tube form; TOOTHPASTE!

Looking at the list of ingredients my mind boggles; what the hell is titanium dioxide?! Or PVM/MA copolymer?! Doing the only thing I know  in these situations, I Googled it!  It turns out that most of these unprenouncables are pretty undesirable too, and most definitely NOT what I want in my gob! The list ranges from white paint to washing detergent (to get that good old frothy feeling) and a gluey type substance to stick it all on your teeth. Yum! Suddenly the good old friendly toothpaste starts to look rather ominous.

In light of these discoveries this week my housemates became (willing) human guinnea pigs! Our bathroom is slowly filling up with an assortment of jars full of curious looking powders, pastes and scrubs and I found a simple recipe for a homemade and natural toothpaste…

HOW TO MAKE COCONUT OIL TOOTHPASTE (enough for a week)

• 3 table spoons of pure cold pressed coconut oil
• 3 table spoons of ordinary Bicarb of soda
• 3/4 drops of essential oil (I chose peppermint for its minty freshness!)

That’s it! It’s so easy!  Just mix the equal parts coconut oil and baking soda in a bowl with the essential oil. I then transferred mine into a old jar (sterilised) and have been using a mini butter knife to scoop it onto my toothbrush.

In all honesty the flavour takes a bit of getting used to, without the froth and the sweetener the vibe is totally different but just knowing that the ingredients are natural and that I beat the plastic tube makes the victory all the sweet that I need! What’s more our teeth are clean and after a week most of the house are converted! No more painty teeth, no more plastic!

Pasta La Vista!

So my first week of plastic free living has proved a lot easier than expected. Having perused my own cupboards and witnessed the overwhelming amount of packaging in the supermarkets I was feeling a looming sense of trepidation, I realised that I had fully committed to this cause and had very little idea what I was getting myself into! But then what is life without a good adventure? I feel alive! I’m on fire! A raging ball of environmental activism is burning within me! I’m ready for action and armed to the teeth with my reusable items and as I set out on my shopping trip I am filled with a real sense of purpose; its not just about choosing dinner now…this means BUSINESS!

My first challenge of the day was the butchers shop, and when I say challenge, this is a wild dramatisation! The staff in the shop were more than happy to help me on my quest; they put my meat into my own reusable tub and even sold me their own stash of grated Parmesan because the regular stuff was vacuum sealed in plastic. It almost seemed too easy! As I babbled my story like a crazed lunatic they listened with friendly intrigue, the fact that I was doing something different was a great conversation starter and I felt like I had passed on my message without even trying. I left the butchers with a deep sense of satisfaction…

Amy 1 – Plastic 0!

The trickiest challenge actually came when I went shopping at the supermarket on the hunt for a pasta dinner. Have you ever tried to find a bag of pasta which isn’t made of plastic? It’s virtually impossible! In the end I decided to bite the bullet and make my own, like momma used to make! So here’s my incredibly complex recipe;
2 cups of flour and 2 eggs. Boom.
Method; Mix the flour and eggs together until doughy…

Knead the dough until it feels elastic, leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes wrapped in a damp cloth, roll out the dough and slice into something which resembles Linguini! Some people like to use a rolling pin or pasta maker,  call me crazy but I used a wine bottle.

The fact that I was making my own pasta had inspired me so much that I also made my own pesto and the fact that I was doing all this creating compelled my house mate Deb to purchase a beautiful bottle of wine! It was like a circle of tasty joy was forming! The final product may have looked a little lumpy but it tasted delicious, and as we sat stuffed and rosy cheeked from the wine I felt that happy feeling of satisfaction creeping back in. Another sweet (and tasty) victory for Amy.

As I slowly use up the plastic products which were purchased prior to my mission, I will find new ways to live, minus the plastic wrapping.  I feel like my eyes are open and there’s no turning back. This new challenge has my blood pumping and it feels great!

*Last weeks plastic waste; 1 x plastic bag!! I KNOW! EPIC FAIL! was so busy feeling amazed at a sale price that I momentarily forgot my mission! 1 Blueberry box, 2 x cosmetic containers (purchased prior to mission) 2 x dishwasher tablet packets, 1 juice lid (Tommie) 1 x Chai tea packet. Not bad for the first week! There is hope yet!

My life – less plastic

Have you ever tried to live your life without plastic? Me neither, but I’m about to have a good crack! Inspired by American writer and activist Beth Terry I am taking the issue of problematic throwaway plastics into my own hands, beginning with ME!

The challenge reads like this: I will not purchase any new plastics for a month.  This means single use throw-away plastics including shopping bags, food wrappers, coffee cup lids, straws, water bottles, etc.

Our lives are so entangled in the stuff that the prospect of a plastic-free lifestyle seems daunting. Just looking around my own home and counting up the products packaged in it is a real shocker!

Before this year I will admit that I had never thought about where my rubbish was going after the rubbish men took it away. I recycled religiously and anything extra just got whisked away and ‘disappeared’, out of sight, out of mind. Having been awakened to the fact that this plastic isn’t going anywhere (for the next 500 years anyway) I have started to look at the way I live my life in a whole new light, hence this project.

Knowing that every piece of plastic rubbish that I have ever thrown away is still lurking around somewhere means that I now have to take personal responsibility for the waste I create. This means changing habits and finding alternatives, of which there are plenty.

Throughout the month I will retain any plastic that I use. This includes anything which I have purchased myself and any plastic I have been involved in the use of. For example, if my husband comes home with a tub of ice cream and I just cant control myself, I will assume responsibility for the plastic tub.

I’m not going to beat myself up over it, as its inevitable that I will encounter some setbacks. This project is not about feeling guilty and frustrated. Rather it is about finding solutions and having fun trying to beat this plastic addiction.

For more info on my project, including an art and design comp checkout: http://www.miab.net.au

Inhospitable hospitality…

Hospitality is exhausting at times; you represent the sunny face of the cafe/bar/restaurant. You are agony aunt, coffee fix, five minute friend and uphold a certain duty and responsibility to the public. You are a rock of solidarity and cannot falter or grumble. When asked ‘howya going mate?’ the answer must always be positive and chipper.

Upholding this unspoken responsibility is all well and good in the beginning. In fact it doesn’t bear any weight at all; your job is new and exciting. New faces and new challenges absorb you, being the new kid is fun. Life is good! However…at some point far down the track the joy may begin to dwindle. Things that had previously gone unnoticed now become heinously irritating in your increasingly jaded eyes.
You may sadly notice that you have begun to hate other humans; this is the first sign. You may feel guilt as you snap impatiently at the sweet old lady who comes in for the same thing everyday, yet takes half an hour to decide. Silly questions seem more irritating than usual and the ridiculous demands of the ‘yummy mummy’ lunchtime brigade become almost unbearable… “is that gluten, dairy, sugar, lactose, fun free? Is that egg organic? Are those flowers organic? Does that mean I can eat them?!” But the real hair in your soup is the empty greeting. ”How are you?”, usually followed up with a nonchalant, generic reply such as ‘that’s the way’. You could have told him your entire family were eaten by cannibal pygmies whilst holidaying in the Maldives, and they wouldn’t even notice. Knowing that your answer is unimportant, that the perpetrator isn’t really listening and couldn’t give two hoots how you are feeling, that’s what cuts the deepest! You are becoming more bitter than a bad coffee and nobody likes a bad coffee.  When you can say yes to all of the above you know its time for a holiday, one far away from the general public!

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