With plastic usage nearing crisis point, we need to reduce our consumption of it. And fast. But how?

OK, so I kind of knew that plastic was not good. And that using bag after bag after bag was not good. But I still moaned when the compulsory charging for plastic bags came in. And, to be honest, I’m not sure that having to fork out for bags has really changed my life. Or my consumption of plastic.

I often forget to take my bags for life to the supermarket and end up having to buy more. I am now the owner of a very fine collection of bags for life. Which is great for me. But not for the planet.

Every three weeks or so, I have a big supermarket delivery from Waitrose, and that all comes packed in those cheap, thin plastic bags. And they are no good for re-use. In fact, they’re bloody useless. So I also have a collection of crappy cheap plastic bags. And I don’t always remember to give those back to the delivery guy to recycle.

So why do we need to reduce our consumption of plastic now?

I guess one of the reasons we are approaching crisis point right now is that China has imposed a ban on importing our plastic rubbish. And we have been exporting up to 500,000 tonnes of the stuff a year there for recycling.

So, put simply, we have a big mountain of plastic shit that we can’t palm off on another country.

Of course, we can ship it all off to other countries and wash our hands of it. Or build huge incinerators here to get rid of our plastic detritus.

But that won’t stop plastic polluting our seas and killing animals. To get an idea of how much plastic pollution there is in the sea, take a look at this video here. I guarantee you’ll be shocked.

But it’s not about recycling plastic. Or not just about recycling plastic.

We need to wise up and use less plastic. Really reduce our consumption of plastic. And we need to do it now.

And this was really all brought home by my kids after they talked about it at school. Big Boy is really concerned about animals ingesting plastic. And about how not one single piece of plastic made has biodegraded yet. Not one.

Now, luckily, my son and his friend are going to be inventors when they grow up. And they seem to have plans for both superhero robots and materials that biodegrade and don’t hurt animals. Which is great, but they’re only 6, so while we’re waiting, I’m going to take steps to reduce our consumption of plastic.

So what can one family do now? What can the Empty Nest Family SWAP OR STOP to reduce our use of plastic?

How we’re going to Reduce our Consumption of Plastic

1 Carrier Bags

We’re going to have to be more organised. By ‘we’, I do of course mean ‘me’ as I do the shopping.

Each time I go shopping, I’m going to take a couple of jute bags and some already bought bags-for-life.

2 Veg Bags

I’m going to get a stack of brown paper bags and take those to the shops in my jute bag. This will cut out using those single-use plastic veg bags.

….let’s just hope that the supermarket cashier is happy not to be able to see what’s in the bags!

3 Food in Unnecessary Packaging

I’m not going to buy fruit and veg in moulded plastic cartons and boxes. I’m going to make a big effort to be more conscious with what I buy. And I’m going to avoid buying smaller items in lots of plastic.

I’m also going to make more use of vegetable markets, small vegetable shops and farm-to-door food delivery services.

I’ve used Farm Drop a few times before and have been amazed by the quality of their fresh and tasty fruit and veg. And by their minimal use of packaging.

4 Write to Shops

Big Boy & Littlest Angel are very passionate about the environment and animals, and are shocked by all the plastic we use and pollute the world with.

…and they love writing letters to people.

So, we’re going to write to shops and supermarkets to ask them why they use so much packaging. And what their plans are to help the planet.

We’ll start with Next. Why do they use so much plastic packaging for home delivery? One top arrived in a plastic cover, on a plastic hanger and in a full-length plastic envelope. One single top.

Then we’ll move on to Waitrose, where I’ve never seen such over-packaging. Granted, their pears must be very snug and happy nestled in their (non-recyclable) moulded plastic tray, then encased in another layer of plastic. But is it necessary?

5 Kids Magazines

And don’t get me started on kids magazines!

Most of these come wrapped in a plastic sleeve. I guess this protects them.  And keeps the mountain of utter plastic crap they contain in one place.

So the kids and I have decided that we don’t need any more one-use plastic rubbish toys from magazines. Hell, nobody needs all that amount of plastic tat!

So we are voting with our feet. We are not buying those magazines again. We’ll stick with Match of the Day and JW magazine, neither of which have rubbish plastic toys.

JW generally has a small book, a notebook and a pencil as it’s geared towards kids who love reading and writing.

And Match of the Day has a pack of Match Attax cards with each issue.

That’ll do us nicely, thanks!

6 Takeaway coffees

2.5 billion recyclable cups are thrown away each year.

Shocking, eh?

You see, they are recyclable. Well, technically, they are recyclable.

But it’s really complicated and expensive to recycle them as they have a kind of plastic inner. (For more info, take a look here.)

So most get dumped instead.

Still fancy a takeaway coffee?

Not me. I’m going to reduce my consumption of takeaway coffees. I’ll have my coffee at home, in a washable mug. Or take a bit of extra time and sit in the coffee shop.

7 Yoghurt

My fave breakfast is granola, yoghurt and fruit/nuts. We get through 3 big tubs of natural yoghurt a week. And of course that’s all plastic.

But I don’t want to give up my lovely breakfast.

Instead, I’m going to buy a yoghurt maker and make my own.

8 Party Bags

We’re just planning a Pirate Party for Littlest Angel’s 5th birthday. And we’re not going to use plastic party bags.  And the contents will not be crappy old plastic.

Instead, we’re buying paper party bags that we’ll jazz up with stickers. And put in homemade ‘Make Your Own Treasure Maps’ with parchment paper and crayons.

One family changing their shopping choices to reduce plastic consumption won’t change the world.

But lots of families doing it will. Would your family like to join us?

Could your family reduce their consumption of plastic? Let us know in the Comments what you plan to do.

And please SHARE THIS ARTICLE to encourage other families to consider how they can reduce their plastic consumption.