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I’m looking at the plastic that is still ending up in our recycling bin and I have a dilemma.
We purposefully buy locally produced milk and orange juice and both come in plastic bottles. We could buy them in tetra pak cartons, but then the food miles is a huge compromise and we are not supporting our local Tasmanian economy. I was surprised to see one carton of juice on the shelf with this labelling.
We need to find a butcher in our new suburb. We have taken the convenient option and been buying prepacked meat from the supermarket. That needs to change.
Another dilemma is soft fruit and cherry tomatoes, that are packed in plastic boxes. Raspberries and blueberries are a favourite with my breakfast cereal or porridge. Small tomatoes are sweet and an easy option with my packed lunch. So far I haven’t given up these favoured healthy foods. I have frozen blueberries in the freezer but they are a “Product of Chile”. So more food miles and still in plastic packaging. I plan to grow tomatoes so that will be a seasonal solution. Perhaps I could plant some raspberry canes too.
This month I have only really tackled our food shopping. Cleaning products and toiletries are a whole different quandary.
#plasticfreejuly is just the beginning ……
Although our council collects recycling rubbish each fortnight, there are concerns where our plastics go when they are out of our vicinity, out of sight. Australia has a big problem. Two years ago, China stopped taking our recycled products. Now, Indonesia is returning several shipping containers of “contaminated waste”.
There are companies here making products from recycled plastic. The reusable produce bags I purchased, street furniture, public benches, bollards. Some councils are resurfacing roads with a plastic by-product. I have pencils and a rain jacket made from recycled plastics. But so much more needs to be done on a national level as well as local and individual scale.
Tasmanian beaches are generally rubbish free, but I have picked up some bottles and the plastic rings from bottle tops. I now purposely cut the plastic rings before I put any in our recycling bin, so they can’t strangle a bird or animal if they end up somewhere unexpected.
RuthsArc 
Thank you for this important issue, Ruth. I’m a seal and bird warden in our national park and it breaks my heart to see what the plastic garbage is doing to the wildlife.
It’s so difficult to go plastic free. When we bring our shopping home, the majority of fruit and vegetables are in plastic containers or bags. I read an interesting article about the enormous waste of fruit and vegetables if they are not packed and transported in those containers. Let’s hope some clever heads will come up with a better solution one day.
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Thanks for your comment Dina. It is difficult but I think there is momentum growing for us all to make small changes to bring about a better solution. Lets hope so.
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You have raised an issue that’s been plaguing me for a long while – those plastic ‘clam shell’ containers with fruit and vegetables. It pains me each time I have to buy my favourite foods that come in these containers. It seems more and more products are ending up in them.
Great idea though about cutting those plastic rings. I hadn’t thought of it and will start doing it immediately.
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Oh Joanne, there is so much plastic to struggle with. Some obviously keeps the produce intact and extends its shelf life. But there must be a better way.
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My husband has been saying for years that the only way true change will occur is when companies are required to take back their packaging thus the onus is on them to find solutions for recycling, repurposing, composting, etc.
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I agree. Here we recycle soft plastics at the supermarkets and that is growing considerably. I wish I could return the clam shell containers to them too. Perhaps I should pay with the bar code on the plastic, then transfer the fruit to my own container and leave the plastic at the check out! ?
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Oooooh – you’re good!! That’s a great idea.
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Growing your own, visiting local markets, butchers and the like are ways we can tackle this problem, but not everyone has access to these. Some companies are using biodegradable plastic for packaging so you can compost it, these still take a long time to break down though, but better than the alternative. I’d like to see it made compulsory for all packaging to be biodegradable – I know we’ll have to pay more, but it has to be worth it in the long run. I am pleased to see the horticulture industry beginning to take a responsibility for the amount of plastic it produces – bamboo pots are now beginning to appear in the garden centres. I just wish they would recycle the black plastic pots as the local recycling centres don’t take those.
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I notice that more companies are using biodegradable packaging. Here it seems that things are changing, slowly. I too would like to see compulsory measures and would be wiling to pay more, but many can’t can’t afford that and don’t have access to butchers, bakers and local produce. It feels overwhelming at times.
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Annoyingly the deli counters in Tesco stores are being closed too, which was one way I could buy cheese, meat and fish that wasn’t wrapped in plastic.
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Oh, that’s bad news. We have made good use of deli counters for years.
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