1. Avoid scrubs with microbeads
Yes, your facial scrub may be filled with tiny pieces of plastic, known as microbeads, which are intended to scour your skin clean.
Of course, when you wash off the scrub, the microbeads go straight down the sink and off to our wastewater systems.
The filters there can’t trap them so they wash on out into rivers and seas.
There are about 330,000 bits of plastic in a tube of scrub, up to as much plastic as is used in the container.
Scientists estimate that more than 8 trillion microbeads enter US waterways each day.
If you think that sounds like a bad idea, that’s because it is.
Microbeads in personal care products (they can also be found in toothpaste, body scrubs and shower gels) have been banned by the US Government from July 2017.
The Canadian Government has listed microbeads as a toxic substance, and plans to ban them too.
Here in New Zealand, we haven’t even had a policy statement from the Government.
Some companies are phasing out microbeads, but when I had a quick look at my local Wanaka supermarket, I found several scrubs for sale containing them.
The only way to tell was to read the list of ingredients on the back.
If you see "polyethylene", you know that the product contains plastic.
In the scrubs I looked at, it was about the fourth ingredient on the list, so it was quite easy to spot.
Another plastic ingredient to watch out for is polypropylene, although it’s used less commonly.
There are many cleansing products on the market that don’t use microbeads, so it’s quite easy to switch to one that doesn’t contain plastic.
And if you’d like our government to ban microbeads here, Greenpeace NZ has a petition to sign on its website.
2. Say no to plastic bags
Using your own reusable bags in the supermarket is easy.
The two things that people tell me they find hard are remembering to take them, and finding something else to line their rubbish bin with.
The easiest way to remember your bags is to put them back in the car when you’ve unpacked your shopping.
Choosing bags you like, that are a good size for you (not too heavy when they’re full), and washing them regularly helps make it a more enjoyable experience.
Not having to feel embarrassed about the state of your bags at the checkout counter makes you more likely to remember them next time.
And if you do end up forgetting your bags, don’t fret. Most supermarkets have cardboard boxes tucked away that they’re happy to pack your groceries into if you ask.
There are alternatives to lining your rubbish bin with plastic bags, but you have to find one that works for you and your rubbish.
If you compost all your food waste and kitchen scraps, then your rubbish will be dry and pretty much odour free.
In that case, why bother lining your bin at all?
Just give it a quick rinse out after emptying, and it’s ready to go.
Another option is using a liner made from newspaper.
There are lots of folding videos online.
Possibly the thing we find hardest about saying no to plastic bags is turning down a freebie.
The UK recently introduced a 5p charge and the number of plastic bags used in six months has dropped 85% from 7 billion to 500,000.
If people have to pay for them, suddenly that thin piece of plastic which might not even make it to your door without ripping looks a lot less attractive.
3. Happy Wrap
Yes it’s so easy to wrap food in it, but plastic wrap isn’t recycled in Otago.
At best it’s going to go to the landfill, at worst it will blow away and end up as litter in our environment.
School lunches are a magnet for plastic wrap.
When our Wanaka Wastebusters enviroschools facilitator Simon Williams works with primary school classes to collect the plastic wrap they use in a week, one class can make a 1.5m-high giant snail.
One child can use 105m in a year.
Think of plastic wrap as an addiction from which you can gradually wean yourself.
Start replacing it in one place you use it (e.g., to store leftovers), then once that becomes a habit, move on to the next place (e.g., school lunches).
Before you know it, you’ll be plastic wrap free.
ALTERNATIVES TO PLASTIC WRAP
• Put a plate over your bowl of leftovers
• Store leftovers in a reusable container with a lid
• Use a teatowel to cover food when transporting it
• Use a lunchbox with compartments
• Use small reusable containers for snacks (look for ones with a recycling triangle on the bottom)
• Use reusable wraps (Ginger Pye and 4 My Earth wraps can be sold as school fundraisers)
• Use beeswax cotton wraps (to make your own, see instructions at www.wanakawastebusters.co.nz)
