Week 4: No Plastic Challenge (2024)

Week 4

Wins!

Love this 5kg pack of rice which comes in a gorgeous cotton bag. It does have a thin plastic liner but I am pretty sure it is made of corn starch as it has that organic feel about it.

Visited the zero waste shop in Exeter to get loose noodles and dried goji berries. Found little refills sachets for floor cleaner. Tiny little box and dissolvable sachet - pop in old container, add water and ready to roll! Realised I also need a chart reminding myself what I can get where - some days wish there was just one shop I could go for everything plastic free…which reminds me wouldn’t it be convenient if supermarkets phased out plastic.

Fails!

I love the zero waste shop in Exeter, but have to admit it is a bit fiddly opening beautiful jars and spooning it into precariously balanced containers or paper bags, whilst remembering to put the spoon in the used pile and pick up a fresh one for a fresh jar. Somehow this experience needs to be beautiful, but also practical and convenient.

Easter Saturday - high street shops not open and a fridge to fill for the weekend. Supermarket shopping trying to dodge plastic is like trying to avoid cracks on a cobbled street. I manage bread, tinned tomatoes, oranges and aubergines…but almost everything else is coated in plastic. The oranges have this funky paper plus cotton packaging which is an exciting use of materials, but I wonder why oranges need to be packaged at all.