Back in the UK after a year of travel, I am ready to take the lessons I have learnt and apply them to our life here. I have seen Bali’s sea full of plastic, wildlife struggling due to human choices in Sumatra and very basic lifestyles almost everywhere we went. All of which gave me realization that parts of life in Britain needed to change.
It was definitely the plastic that affected me the most. The rivers, seas, verges littered with plastic bags, discarded plastic bottles. Random dumping grounds attempted to be hidden from tourist view. In the places we were travelling there are often no rubbish collections. There are no ways for the locals to get rid of this excess waste which has arrived in their towns. It is not the locals who use plastic; it is the tourists. But it is the locals who are stuck getting rid of it.
They have two choices; burn or bury. Well, or chuck it in the nearest water source. That’s the option most people seem to take. Whether I was watching black smoke fill the air, the waves take buried litter out to sea or walking along disgustingly littered river banks, I was in shock.
And then, like most travelers, came the realization that we need to cut down. This is too much. It is not okay to use unnecessary plastic at such a frivolous speed.
Even worse, I read that the majority of European countries SEND RECYCLING TO ASIA because they cannot afford to do it on home soil. Oh. My. Gosh.
And so my drive for less plastic was born. I will never use a plastic bag again, I vowed! I completely understand it now, and the cliché is true. So many travelers’ posts that I have read in the past say the same thing. It is heartbreaking. Stop it now before it is too late (…which it nearly is).
I’m keen to enforce my lessons learnt and change my plastic lifestyle. This coincided with the British government finally waking up to this need and really ramping up less plastic campaigns and the need to throw away less in general. Excellent.
But now, back in the UK frustration is setting in. I’M TRYING!
I quickly became disheartened. Visiting my friend I saw a crate of plastic water bottles. Me, like a crappy advert: “do you know, you can use one of those and just refill it with tap water?! It’s better for your spending and it’s better for the environment!” Or, shopping with my Mum and she’s telling me to put those bananas in a little plastic bag: “stop. Do we really need this bag? Nature has its’ own packaging!” And these people are nature lovers. Supposed environment-carers. People who do care, but don’t realise or don’t think. People need this highlighted to them in order to change. That was my first lesson.
Second, was that when you are settled in to the busy life of the UK with a full time job, social plans, rushing around: you shop for convenience and price. These are two things which our supermarkets do not currently offer when you are trying to keep the environment in mind.
It’s great that plastic bags are not readily handed out in shops anymore. It’s absolutely fantastic that we have realized we need to get rid of plastic straws and other one-use items, but we have a long way to go with everything else.
I go to the supermarket set on coming home with no surplus packaging. No plastic other than that which is absolutely necessary. But…
Milk. If you want to drink cow’s milk there is no other supermarket alternative to a plastic bottle. I try going back to the old school milk man, but this costs three times as much.
Vegetables. It is easy to opt not to put your loose vegetables in a plastic bag. But hold on, why are these loose vegetables more expensive than the pre-plastic-packaged ones? Why have the supermarkets taken all of the average sized vegetables and packaged them up? The price difference and ease sways us in to thinking that the packaged option is the better choice.
When I read that even teabags have plastic in them now I vowed to go back to loose tea. Once I finally located the box of loose tea amongst all of the boxes of teabags I was astounded at the price difference! Not only are they less convenient, it costs you for this un-user-friendly choice!
I understand that in most cases buying a large amount of a product is better because it equals less packaging, so I pick up the eco-fill packs of liquid hand soap to fill up containers than I already have at home. Once home, I realise this pack is non-recyclable (at least in our county) so surely it’s better to continue buying new bottles of hand soap since those bottles can be recycled?!
All this without even starting to consider which soap brands source their palm oil ethically… Argh, my brain!
After countless visits to the supermarket with this on my mind and a lot of research in to which products and brands are better for the environment, I am still confused. The government and big chain supermarkets need to step up and start helping us with this. Use news and television to provide consumers better information to make educated choices. Provide convenient and financially-minded environmentally friendly products, with clear and honest information.
I cannot wait for a world in which we look at disposable plastic bottles with the same contempt as we look at cigarettes!
The change is not here yet, but it is coming.
A plastic-free world is (slowly) on it’s way.
