Eco things this week

Not a huge amount to write about this week.  Some failures, some success and a few other bits.

• We went camping in the Peak District.   We made our own lunches and we managed to find enough reused bags that were lurking in my rucksack to house everyone's lunch- they included a cellophane Easter egg bag I was given, a Lidl paper bread bag, a sandwich bag and a paper bag from a bakery last week.  Small things but they made me happy.
• Made sure to buy loose veg and porridge in paper for our camping supplies. Our friends were more willing to buy things in packaging. Wish I had remembered to take some more containers with us so we could have got sausages in my own container instead of buying bacon in packaging...

• At the campsite, we were washing up our pans in the communal sinks and another lady was using another one with her plates and cups and pans from her party of 13 people.  As I'd finished mine and my water was still fairly clean, I used my water to wash off the initial grease from her 3 pans with all their fried food grease. It made my water completely gross so I am glad that I was able to help her by doing that rather than her having to run a fresh lot of water to get them completely clean.

• This is a bit silly but I went to someone's birthday party and she only had disposable plastic cups to use so I ended up not having a drink whilst we were there apart from sneakily downing a glass of water borrowing a cup I saw drying on the draining board. I usually keep my own insulated cup in my bag but I had taken it out to give it a wash- better next time to come prepared!
• I've decided to email companies every time I use a product with unnecessary plastic packaging and so I've written to Higgedy about their Quiche packaging asking them to think about replacing the plastic tray and plastic insert with aluminium and recycled cardboard.  I've included my email in case you also want to send them a message. 

Dear Higgedy, I have just eaten your delicious Spinach, Red Pepper and Goat's Cheese quiche which I thoroughly enjoyed.  However, I must write to you because I wish to address your packaging.  I noticed that your quiche is served in a plastic tray whereas generally, I am used to quiches being served ready made in a aluminium tray which is readily and easily recycled without any detrimental effect on the environment through plastic pollution.  I wish to ask you why you must use plastic packaging when metal is perfectly acceptable and is recyclable?  It will not affect the quality, freshness or the shape of your quiche.  In addition, whilst it is lovely to see your beautiful quiche through the plastic window- honestly, I would buy the quiche if it just had a picture rather than showing me the actual quiche. Thus, you could avoid any plastic packaging altogether.  In times such as this where the effects us humans are having on our environment, I would like to ask you to address your packing and see what you could do to improve your impact on the environment. Have you considered using recycled card throughout? I write because I am starting to phase out products from my shopping list which use unnecessary packaging and whilst I really enjoy your products, they are not currently cutting the muster in terms of eco-friendly packaging.

I got a fairly standard response:

It’s lovely to hear that you enjoyed one of our quiches, however, I’m sorry to hear that you’re disappointed with our use of packaging.

The trays that we currently use to package our pies and quiches are made of recycled PET plastic and these trays can be recycled in certain areas, alongside plastic bottles, but we appreciate that recycling guidelines can vary between different areas and local councils. We do believe that it has a purpose of keeping our recipes secure on their journey from our kitchen to people’s homes.

Our plastic windows are a PE film which can be recycled at carrier bag drop off points at supermarkets once removed from the cardboard packs and wiped clean. Our boxes are made from cardboard that can also be recycled, this can go in with paper and card waste.

Sustainability is high on our agenda for 2019 and we’re already exploring ways in which we can develop our packaging to remove unnecessary materials, including our plastic acetate tray.

Currently, we are trialling an alternative FSC certified cardboard tray in some of our packs. Providing this works well, we’ll then look to roll this out across all of our recipes, removing a significant amount of plastic from within the business. Please keep an eye on our website for updates (www.higgidy.co.uk).

Thank you for your feedback, it’s always really helpful to get an idea of how our consumers feel so that we can have important discussions to make sure that we respond to these things. So I will definitely bring this up next time we discuss packaging.

Kindest regards,

• I also wrote to Cadbury's after being rather disgusted about how their Miniature Heroes chocolates are now not in a cardboard box but a plastic metallic pouch.  I've also included my email in case anyone else wants to contact them too. You have to do it through their website annoyingly.

Dear Cadbury's,
I have always really enjoyed your products but I wish to point out something to do with your packaging.  Not so long ago, all Cadbury's chocolate products would have been easily recyclable- a foil wrapper with a paper sleeve around it.  Both of these are easily recyclable and have no plastic in them.  Nowadays, when I see your packaging in shops, it is all plasticized metallic packaging.
As you know, we, as a nation are reaching a crisis-point with plastics and waste management, to such an extent that we are killing our Earth and the wildlife.  I am extremely concerned about this and have been making drastic steps to reduce my own consumption of excessively packaged products and ensuring that everything I use will reach the correct method of recycling.  However, your plasticized metal wrappers cannot be fully recycled. I know such schemes as Terracycle are doing some valuable work to try and recycle wrapping in some places and some communities can access this service. BUT I am concerned that we need to reduce plastic packaging being actually produced in the first place rather than being pointed in the direction of places that recycle plastic (since plastic can actually only be recycled a certain number of times before it degrades into microplastics which are so devastating to wildlife and our environment).
Would you, Cadbury's, who have always been such a responsible company, consider making a bold move and leading the way forward with discontinuing plastic wrapping?
There are many initial ways that you could drastically reduce the plastic wrapping.
For instance, in multipacks, does the outer wrapper, e.g. a 6 pack of Fudges, actually have to be plastic or could it be some sort of biodegradable or recyclable (made from recycled paper also) packet?
A colleague of mine brought in a packet of the new 'Sweet shop' style Miniature Heroes into school. My heart sank, as Miniature heroes have always come in a cardboard box and yet these were in that foil plasticized metallic wrapping- an excessively large pouch of it which I know cannot be recycled. I can't help but feel this new packaging is totally unnecessary- what is wrong with a cardboard box?
I look forward to hearing your response.  Please do think carefully about how your company can pioneer the way forward for saying no to excessive packaging, particularly plastic.  It's not too late.  As time continues, I will be phasing out products from my shopping, that use the plastic wrapping- it is a sacrifice I consider worth making for the sake of our planet and the future of our young people, but  I would prefer not to have to do it.
With all good wishes,

Their response was ambiguous:

Thank you for getting in touch. We're pleased to share our global packaging commitments with you:Mondelēz International commits to making all packaging recyclable by 2025, and
 

• All paper-based packaging will be sustainably sourced by 2020

• 65 million kg of packaging material worldwide will be eliminated by 2020

• Recycling information will be provided in markets around the world by 2025

 More information can be found on our website : https://www.mondelezinternational.com/newsroom/our-stories/Recycling_2025I hope this is helpful; thanks again for your inquiry.  Kind regards,

Hmmmm....

I watched the video in the link:

What does Recycle ready mean?  I'm sceptical!

 Elsewhere on the web:

Wow, look how an old spool and found rope on beaches and coastal path have been combined!?

View this post on Instagram

Woah!!!!! @nickylinzey found this wooden cable spool on the coast path. She wheeled it home and painted it then using some of her beach clean rope finds.... SHE MADE A TABLE!!!! 😮 Isn’t that lush!

Look at this video about Plastic bottles

Vix shared yet another brilliant post where she talked about what she's doing to help the environment.  She shared details of a website https://andkeep.com  which has some great non-plastic products.

What about you? Any successes or failures this week?

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara in Hide

Hello there,

TARDIS Tuesday today is a costume I wore last April (in fact, Easter Sunday!).

It is from one of Series 7 worn by Clara in her more girly chintzy stage.

It consists of a blue floral and dotty dress from Urban Outfitters with a navy blazer.  Over the top she wears a Barbour Linen jacket with contrast-coloured lining.  Her accessories are a red satchel and some black suede lace-up wedge shoes.

My image from the Doctor Who exhibition

Image borrowed from this Pinterest but ultimately belongs to the BBC

IMage borrowed from ClaraOswaldCosplay.comhttps://claraoswaldcosplay.com

Today, I haven't changed from last time except the addition of a jacket...

None of my items are the same as the screen versions but they are pretty similar. 

I've added a Barbour jacket to it.  Mine was purchased second-hand (as usual) but is a lighter colour though a similar material with a contrast lining.  This outfit for me is one I wore lots of in my teenage years in the 90's and a floral dress will for me, always be ubiquitous in my wardrobe!

What do you think?

x

Eltham Palace

Back on the first day of the Easter Holidays, CBC and I went over to my Dad's as we wanted to visit Eltham Palace with our English Heritage.  They'd sent us a Guest Pass so we wanted to take my little sister out with us for the day to make use of it.

The usual admission price is £17.50 so this was a brilliant offer for them to send us.

As it was overcast, the car park wasn't full so we were easily able to park.

Our first place to visit was the actual Palace itself.  It is an interesting building with historical importance as being one of the finest examples of a Medieval palace, one of the homes of the Tudor Monarchs as well as a 1930's mansion!

We approached through gardens to cross an attractive bridge.

Approaching the palace, we were ethralled by the interesting features on the building and the mixture of styles.

I loved noticing lots of details and it was interesting to go there with an Architecture graduate.

We were asked to put plastic shoe protectors on as we entered the palace (which made me cross as you can imagine, particularly as mine couldn't be used again as it made a hole)

Inside, I was absolutely smitten and struck by the sight of this entrance hall oozing with Art-deco opulence.  The ceiling was a wonder to behold.

Although these items are replicas of the originals from the time of the Courthard family who bought and did so much to the palace, they were painstakingly based on the originals.

The wooden panelling was so beautifully made.

The two staircases that extended off the main reception area were one of my favourite views of the entire day.

Here was a cabinet of beauties - a fine collection of Maiolica Pottery in the Italain drawing room.

Here in the Italian drawing room, we saw beautiful wrought Iron work and a calm open space for entertaining.

One door in the Entrance hall led to some back passages and we found the ladder that was especially constructed for Mah-Jong: the beloved pet lemur of Stephen and Virginia Courthald.  This ladder allowed him to ascend to his own specially central-heated quarters on the upper floor.  

The central heating system was really clever- it operated like a large hoover.

One of the rooms I was most excited to see was the Dining room which absolutely screamed its Art-deco credentials.

Clever lighting in the ceiling, inlaid mother of pearl clocks in the walls...

and these beautiful inlaid mother-of pearl lacquer doors.

We headed into the basement which was a new section of the palace to be refurbished which showed how Eltham was used by the Army Corps during WW2. Although the Courthalds were still resident, they grew tired of the bombing and eventually left, giving the house over to the army.

Here in the basement, I was delighted to see the first of the dressing up opportunities for the day.  It took the opportunity to try on a Navy jacket and hat, an Air-raid Warden's hat and a 40's hat and coat which all agreed suited me (I agree!) The last picture I will tell you about later...

The basement was interesting but soon we headed up stairs where we picked up the excellent EH Audio guides which give you a lot of information about the rooms and items within them.  

 Upstairs, it was interesting to spy the different architectural eras represented in the Tudor beams, the 1930's glass dome and the Medieval tower.

Upstairs, one of my favourite rooms was Virginia Courthald's beautifully opulent bathroom.

It was so spacious and beautiful in every way.

Here is a view of her beautiful round bedroom, again with cleverly hidden lighting.

Then we discovered Virginia Courthald's dressing room!
Alas, the two cupboards behind were locked but to the right, there was a whole set of dressing up items to try on including hats, dresses, coats,stoles, necklaces...

This was my favourite look. Alas, CBC took a couple of pictures of me in a red ball gown and fake fur but he couldn't seem to send them to me!

We moved along to see the other bedrooms of the family and visitors. I liked Stephen Courthald's bathroom too!

At the very end of that floor was the Minstrel's gallery which allowed you to see the Great Hall.  This is where balls and masques of the Tudor kings and queens would happen.

The timber ceiling was super impressive.

There are lots of other interesting rooms and features but one other of interest to me was the Map Room where the Courthaulds planned their next trip.

In another post,  I will share some gems from the gardens but I can thoroughly recommend visiting Eltham Palace.

The cafe was excellent with interesting and reasonable choices!

Have you been?

x

Green Fritters

Last Sunday, CBC and I went over to my Mum's and she cooked us some Corn and Courgette fritters.  They were delicious and it reminded me of when CBC and I made my Mum Full of Greens fritters last Summer.  I couldn't believe I had not made Courgette fritters since then and realised that I was very remiss in not doing so as they were tasty!

Today, I had no school as it was a Polling Day at my school so I decided to make some Courgette Fritters.

I knew I had a Courgette and I had 4 eggs (rather than the 5 the recipe needs) which went out of date about 15 days ago but I did the Float Test and they were still good.

I didn't have any Feta to use so I decided to make use of what I had.

I decided to just wing it with the quantities and what I put in so this time, I put some frozen sweetcorn (about a small bowl full) in a bowl with hot water and then I grabbed about 100g of Swiss Chard (which I had from Mum's garden rather than Spinach) and grated extra Parmesan plus extra garlic.  I also grabbed a load of Lemon Zest from my Freezer stash

Conclusion:  They were delicious!  Swiss chard goes beautifully in  the fritters and the corn is a welcome addition.  I didn't miss the extra egg either.

It was very tasty served with grated carrot (these carrots have been in the fridge for at least 5-6 weeks!) and cubed cucumber with a dressing made out of Olive Oil, Balsamic and Lemon juice.

The resulting dinner was fresh, tasty and healthy!

And we still have 10 fritters left in the fridge!

I recommend the original recipe thoroughly but you don't need the feta so don't fret if you don't have any!

If I wish to write a blog post about my new teapot, I shall...

Welcome to a self-indulgent blog post!

I went to town on Saturday as CBC had a physio appointment.  I planned to go to the Refill room and have a look about the shops.  What I didn't know was that the lovely independent bookshop (with cafe) was closing down. I felt really sad about this but apparently, the owners are retiring (such a loss to that town though!). I'd obviously missed the boat as nearly all the stock had gone but I did actually strike gold!

I've been drinking a lot of loose leaf tea, trying to avoid unnecessary packaging and plastic and also have been bought outrageous amounts of loose-leaf tea as presents.  Plus, it is getting to Mint tea season.  Oh, and did I mention that I've managed to smash the lids on both my long-term teapots?

Well, I was pleased to see on a shelf, that they were selling off the cafe crockery and suchlike and I found the perfect (now used secondhand) glass teapot with easily removable tea-strainer to buy.  It's the perfect size- I can fill it, easily take the tea leaves out (I struggled to get my hand inside both of my other teapots) and see how much tea I've made or if I've forgotten to empty it and mouldering tea detritus is inside (yes, this happens).

I'm happy to report, after several days of usage, sampling Earl Grey, Peach Green tea and mint leaves, that it works very well!

You can see from the picture, I also bought 3 books as well. The books were pretty slim-pickings but I was utterly incredulous because I'd been reading someone's Instagram post where they were talking about The Royal Book of Oz which is one of the spin-off Oz books by other lady, not L Frank Baum, the author of the original 14 books. I've always wanted to try one of these spin-offs so I was amazed to see it a week after someone mentioned it. In another curious coincidence, the night before purchasing these, I received a lovely message from the lovely @shamrockpups on Instagram (hello there my lovely!) who has been, unbeknownst to me, a secret long-term reader of my blog through the time I met my blog friend Lauren from America. She sent me a lovely message and mentioned that she though I might like a book series about Nicholas Flamel. And what did I find in the bookshop out of the 20 children's books that were there?  One of the books in that series!! How funny!

The third book just looked interesting and the books were £3 or 3 for £5 so it was a no-brainer!

Having just finished a book called, "The diary of a bookseller" by Shaun Bythell, the fate of independent book shops is very much on my mind so it seemed again, a strange coincidence that I should happen upon a closing bookshop!

And that is the tale of my tea pot!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Robots of Sherwood Clara

Hello there!

I thought I'd share a cosplay here that I have done before but that has had a little upgrade thanks to Ang!

Here's Clara at the very beginning of Robots of Sherwood, a Robin Hood adventure.

She's wearing a very high street outfit with a teal jumper with leather collar from Oasis and a purple and green skort (mix between skirt and shorts)

Image borrowed from Wornontv.net

Image borrowed from www.claraoswaldcosplay.com

I last wore a version of this outfit here but with a different jumper.

And here it is this time...

I bought a very similar jumper from Oasis second-hand but that had a floral collar and a floral shirt attachment at the bottom.  Ang kindly removed the bit at the bottom for me so it looks very similar to the original.  I have the same shorts as Clara but even though I have the tall version of them, as I am indeed taller, they look rather shorter on me...

What do you think? I like the skort- it's a fun idea!

x

Embroidered blue dreams

Hello to you!

I hope you are well!  As feared, from Friday's tonsil doom, I now have a fully-fledged cold which I am quite miserable about but ah well, there are worse things that could afflict one so I will take it!

My film concert last night was very successful.  We played to a packed audience and they were most appreciative.  In addition, CBC and I met our friend N for dinner in a Thai restaurant which was superb.  Thai is my favourite!  

I went to have a little look round the charity-shops in the concert town before the concert. Firstly, because I had promised to take some Bubble wrap to the St Francis Hospice charity shop as they sell a lot of china and glass and always run out of it (annoyingly, I found another batch this afternoon which I missed) and well, it's always nice to look at the chazzers in an affluent town!

I came away with 3 items.

I am becoming a lot more discerning and careful about my clothing choices in charity shops recently. I do own a lot of clothes and so I find  I want to buy less but occasionally, I see an absolute corker of an item.

That item was this dress.

It is an electric blue linen dress which is covered in embroidered flowers.  The detail on the dress is so wonderful, I swooned when I saw it!

It seemed to go perfectly with my electric blue floral Irregular Choice pumps. I didn't need any other accessories for this outfit- the dress is stand-alone!

The other 3 items were these 3.  Can you see the theme?  

CBC and I are going to Tuscany with his family in the Summer holiday and I couldn't resist this Rough Guide for £1.50 and I always like to have a language guide so for 50p and 65p, it seemed a non-brainer to pick these two up as well!

I do hope all is well with you!

Kezzie xx

Life Lately

Here's what I have been up to in the form of verbs:

Watching... Still Neighboours on 5od. I'm a bit obsessed with it and I'm rather fond of Finn Kelly- hope he doesn't turn out evil again!  Gardener's World on BBC iPlayer. Monty Don, thank you for your excellent advice about tomato growing.  Apart from that, I've only been watching Jeeves and Wooster on DVD.

Playing... Orchestrally... in my London orchestra, we've performed Ian Stephens' brilliant new Clarinet Concerto, Beethoven's 4th symphony, CPE Bach's Sinfonia. In my Essex orchestra, playing my viola, I've been playing all manner of film music.  In my flute quartet, been playing an entirely French programme ready for our recital in 2 weeks time!

Arranging... the most incredibly cheesy arrangements of Singin' in the rain and Portsmouth Point for my drumming club and recorder clubs

Singing... er, not so much apart from One bird flying high in year 1 and Singin' in the rain!

Eating...  tonight, as CBC lies conked out on the bed, I have eaten a pouch of Beef Pho soup I found in the cupboard with added sweetcorn.  Lovely and spicy. As well as that, I found a mini Pepperoni pizza in the freezer and stuck it in the oven with a sweet potato cut up into tiny chips with Paprika.
And the rest of the week, Wild Garlic pesto wholemeal pasta with lots of veg (all of this achieved totally plastic free!) and then tinned Veggie spaghetti, veggie Ravioli and left-over wholemeal bagels from Magic Breakfast.

Drinking...As well as lots of Whittards' loose leaf Earl Grey and apple juice from the Milk Man, in a cunning use of the used honey jars that CBC left on the counter, I've been making honey and lemon by filling the empty jars with boiling water and then pouring the honey water into a mug and adding squeezed lemon. Much needed because...

Feeling... like my tonsils are becoming swollen. Hence the soup and above drink.
Wearing... right now, a charity shopped knitted stripy rainbow top, green wide-legged trouser and a rainbow shaker bear brooch. This week, various shirts and tops with trousers.

Laughing.... at the funny incidents I have been...

Reading... in The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

Moaning about.... horrid year 6's

Buying...a second-hand flute book on eBay which is a Boosey and Hawkes compilation of pieces that I borrowed from the Guildhall library at uni and wanted one piece from.  Also buying a vintage black floral playsuit for £5 on eBay and a new Network railcard.

Worrying about... apathy towards recycling and plastic reduction,what on earth Year 6 are going to be like for the next half term,

Disgusted by... utter selfish wazzocks like Nigel Farrage who are responsible for all sorts of horrid things

Delighted by... the beautiful flowering Currants in the garden.

Hoping...that the Green Party get more European seats and that Farrage falls down a rabbit hole.

Planting...leek plants, bean plants that are not happy, blueberry plant,

Wishing... that I were less indecisive and that we could make a plan for next weekend!

Looking forward to... Half term; My work colleagues coming to my flute recital; receiving an exciting parcel from Ann in June; reading the latest Katherine Woodfine book that my work colleague's daughter has lent me; the strawberries that are

Grateful for... lovely Year 5's, beautiful music, a lovely home, delightful garden.


What about you?
xxx

Eco things this week #3 successes, fails and moans

I've been a bit busy these past weeks so not really posted about this.
Here's a few successes and fails for the past few weeks in terms of Eco-stuff.

• I've almost finished my supply of Tre Semme hair shampoo and started on the refill room shampoo I bought in my own bottle. I remembered why I don't like natural shampoo- it makes my hair feel not clean! I will persevere with it but CBC flatly refuses to as he says the same and that it looks like "Horse semen" and is using my only supply of other shampoo I still have. Not sure what to do about this one. I wish Mainstream brands would do refill options!
• Similarly, I just wish that the Toothpaste brands would do their toothpaste in a jar or some other recyclable or non-plastic format. I've tried various 'non-plastic' toothpastes and natural ones and like some brands of toothpaste that are mainstream, and the baking soda that is used really aggravates my gums and makes them feel inflamed. Not sure what to do about it!
• Very cross that I forgot to take my old paper bag across to Lidl to get some rolls the other day and worse, they only had plastic ones to get the loose rolls in.  I did NOT want to get one so I found someone else's discarded bakery goods on a random shelf in a paper bag along the aisle so I carefully decanted their unwanted purchases back onto the shelf and stole their bag!

• I feel really guilty because I succumbed to temptation and bought a pair of cheap presumably-plastic shoes from an Everything £5 shop in Nottinghill on Saturday. They were so pretty but I realised these things take 200 years to degrade.  AHRGHGH! WHY did I do it?
• You can now take your own containers to the counters at Sainsbury's meat and fish counters (and I'm hoping also to the other deli counters). I've now discovered. So now that is Waitrose, Sainsbury's AND Morrrison's you can do it at!

• When I went to the Supermarket with my sister, every single vegetable I chose was out of plastic. My sister asked if I was judging her for her fruit purchasing as most of hers was in plastic. I just told her I am doing what I can.What you do is up to you. She is generally very good about recycling.

• Paper bag happily stored in rucksack reused from Waitrose bread to buy rolls in Sainsbury's the other day.
• Forward planning worked so CBC is starting to try and make more effort.  He texted me very happily from Waitrose to say that he used the plastic container I left in the car for him to buy some reduced fish from the Waitrose Counter, he shunned the plastic wrap they offered him, he bought Percol coffee which comes in non-plastic now and he chose as much as possible of the veg and everything else out of plastic!
• 2 Takeaway boxes that were cunningly in my bag used to take the remainder of our pizza from Italian restaurant at concert on Saturday.
• 4 takeaway boxes used to take Chinese takeaway last Friday.  The Chinese lady automatically asked me if I had boxes to put it in even though I've only been in there 2 times before!
• I removed someone else's bottle removed from bin at church and carried home to recycled.

• To protect my Bean plants from the dreaded slugs, I have utilized/recycled 3 old rusty, copper piano strings from my friend Lara who is a piano technician and I have baked the old egg shells in the oven and crushed them.  I have been storing them in one of those Waitrose cardboard food trays.

• Bought a lovely pot for one of the Aloe babies from St Francis Hospice Charity shop.

• 3 cups of Earl Grey tea made for 3 friends from one tea bag at concert.  The lady who sorts out the resources for the tea, coffee and biscuits at my London orchestra has now started bringing along teapots so we use less teabags and to make the process more efficient but I fancied Earl Grey (there are 'other' teabags provided) so I made sure to use it for more than me!  My friend Suzy told me it was an excellent cup of Earl Grey!

• Sent CBC off to school with a Bamboo toothbrush and my How to Give Up Plastic book to do an assembly to his teens about Plastic reduction.
• Remembered to take CBC an enamel mug to our orchestra rehearsal yesterday so at least two of us avoided the dreaded polystyrene cups.
• I do really feel I am banging my head against the wall with some people in terms of Eco-things. I know  I am going to come across as judgemental but I am going to say it anyway.  We have recycling bins at work.  All it takes is a little rinse to clean up a plastic container or bottle but I have one colleague who buys two boiled eggs with spinach in a plastic box every day and then just chucks the container straight in the bin. Red Bull cans, milk bottles- they just go in the bin because PEOPLE CAN'T BE BOTHERED!! My mother-in-law chucks metal trays, glass bottles and plastic trays in her bin because the local collections don't take them so I understand her chucking those (although she COULD take the glass to Waitrose carpark to the bottle bank) but when we are actually doing the recycling for people at school, I just don't understand the laziness of one or two people.  These are people who ready buy their lunch in plastic daily- a ready meal every day and it gets chucked in the bin.

• I seem to be eating my colleagues' leftovers now. I've been offered people's unfinished lunch several times now as they know I am sad when they just chuck it half eaten in the bin.  Feels very wasteful!
• I guilted one of the Year 6 teachers at school into recycling the plastic cups they are using for Breakfast for the kids during SATS week. I went into her room and saw the bin full of plastic cups. I'd already spoken to her before about how they should make the kids wash up the cups and I was really disappointed- we are supposed to be setting an example for the kids and today, she washed them all up. I just said to her, "Please, please, please don't just put them in the bin.  Just put them in a pile and I will come and do them myself later." Instead,she did it herself.  This then guilted one of the other Year 6 teachers into planning to do it tomorrow. I do feel a bit guilty if it is extra time for them but we really should be setting an example in school. Otherwise, if I am the only one harping on about it, they won't get a consistent message.
• One big fail I had was a comment on I left on Tesco's Instagram anniversary post. I don't follow them but they popped up in my feed and they had posted that they had reduced the price of 100 products to celebrate their anniversary (all in packaging I might add). I said, "Congratulations.  How about now continuing with the celebrations by reducing the packaging, esp Plastic on 100 products thinking that this might be a nice PR exercise for them and something very important.  What happened but I got some snarky comment from some random person telling me to chill out as this isn't an eco-post (I was polite). I replied saying that I meant my congratulations and that it would be a good PR exercise for them but thanks for his taking the time to tell me to relax (adding that I meant this genuinely and not sarcastically.  Afterwards, I saw some other comment from some random 16-year old with a private profile who told me to "Just kill yourself."  And that, my friends, is why change is so hard.  Because some people don't WANT to change.  They want everyone to ignore the problems so they can have their nice, comfy, plastic-coated life.

Tasks: 

• Write to supermarkets about their packaging individually making suggestions for areas they could improve such multipack crisp and choc packaging- doesn't have to be plastic even if the individual bars are.
• Ask Lidl to have more products out of plastic esp veg.
• Write to Waitrose praising their ready dishes that are in eco-packaging and write to Waitrose and Sainsbury's praising their allowing you to bring your own containers.

Elsewhere on the web etc:

• If you are on Twitter The UK Parliament has declared a Climate Emergency.  Try to promote reducing greenhouse gases, protect our trees and bees, and make sure our precious environment is around for future generations

• I was disgusted to see this post about the plastic bottle mess left by the London Marathon and how it wouldn't be recycled.  If I were there, I would definitely have done my bit by picking up a big bin bag full of water-bottles and taking them home to recycle them.  A year ago, when I took my school choir to the Royal Albert Hall, we were provided with 40 bottles of water for the children and unlike ALL the other schools who just put them into the bin bags, I made sure to collect everyone and take the lot home to put in my home recycling.  Well, actually, they ended up in my Mum's home recycling as we forgot to get them out of her boot when we got back to mine but still...

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@aimeetollan cycled 1 mile to the library today. That’s 1 mile, through Greenwich and Lewisham. Look at this mess left behind by the #londonmarathon @londonmarathon She stopped to speak to a road sweeper who told her all the kerbside litter will go into landfill the only recycling was from the drink/water stations. She watched him sweeping mixed litter into bags. Coffee cups etc. Not that you can recycle a @lucozadesport bottle anyway because of that pesky plastic wrap on it. So all of this... 1 mile out of 26... will go into landfill. All @buxtonwater and @lucozadesport bottles. Isn’t that shameful. Why does an event have to be at the detriment of our planet? How quickly they pointed the finger at #extinctionrebellion for a mess they didn’t leave yet this is ok because it’s a yearly sporting event. Makes me sick to my stomach. Why is Sir David and the @bbc banging on about saving the earth when another department in the same building is showing trashing the place. Seriously wrong. Zoom in on the bus lane pic and see how far up the road they go just in this section. Thank you lovely Aimee for your pics and for getting off your bike to find out what’s going on 🙏🏻♥️🌍 #2minutebeachclean

A post shared by Founded By @martindorey (@2minutebeachclean) on Apr 28, 2019 at 8:14am PDT

Oooh, rice in cardboard for those of you who don't have a Refill room to buy your rice in!

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Overexcited by @morrisons cardboard rice packaging. More of this please 👍👍👍 #plasticfree #lesswaste #lessplastic #zerowaste #stoppointlessplastic #morrisons

A post shared by Susie (@secondhandsusie) on May 11, 2019 at 12:21pm PDT

CBC prefers Almond Milk to Cow milk so this is a nice idea for making your own. I wish Milk and More would do doorstep glass bottles of Almond milk! (That said, I've added a weekly bottle of Apple juice to our Milk order so I've kept back one to take to the Refill room to get him some Almond milk sans plastic.

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I recently found this fast and easy way to make whole-food almond milk in a book called How Not To Die Cookbook by Michael Greger, MD. If you're looking to start a plant-based wholefoods diet then I'd highly recommend it. ⁣ ⁣ Ingredients: ⁣ ⁣ 2 tablespoons smooth raw almond butter⁣ 2 cups/500ml water ⁣ ⁣ Method: ⁣ ⁣ Combine the almond butter and water in a blender, (a high speed one works best) and blend until smooth. ⁣ ⁣ Transfer the milk to a glass bottle or glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Chill until ready to serve. Always shake well before use. ⁣ ⁣ What do you think of this recipe? Would you give it a go?⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #greenliving #greenlifestyle #ecofriendly #sustainable #eco #MyEcoJourney #plantbaseddiet #sustainablelifestyle #savetheplanet #wholefoods#reduce #sustainableliving #zerowaste #ecolifestyle #actonclimate #sustainability #green #greenandclean #earth #slowliving #zerowastehome #simpleliving #ecohousehold #climatechange #smallsustainablesteps #zerowastelife #lesswaste #ecotips #almondmilk #Boobalou

A post shared by Boobalou - Zero Waste Shop (@boobalou) on May 4, 2019 at 5:11am PDT

Hurrah for the NHS trying to avoid plastic.

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The NHS have committed to providing free period products for hospital patients to help tackle period poverty 💪 This presents NHS Trusts with a huge opportunity to reduce plastic pollution, empower women and save money in one swoop! We’d like to see NHS trusts providing patients with plastic-free disposables (e.g. @natracare, @totmorganic, @HeyGirlsuk) as well as reusable options (e.g. @PreciousStarsPads, @Mooncupltd). ⠀ ⠀ We're looking for 3 forward-thinking Trusts to adopt a pilot scheme whereby plastic-free products (disposable and reusable) are offered to patients who need them. We have printable and online resources to support hospital staff and patients who are interested in trying new products. If your NHS body would like to take part please email jasmine@citytosea.org.uk 🏨 🌊 🌏 ⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #plasticfreeperiods #plasticfree #zerowaste #sustainablebusiness #business #health #healthcare #nhs #healthprofessionals #doctor #nurse #hospital #hcsm #healthtalk #medicine #medical #nursetalk #medstudent #nursestudent

A post shared by City to Sea (@citytosea_) on May 6, 2019 at 5:13am PDT

 Find out more about Bioplastics here at City to Sea https://www.citytosea.org.uk/reduce-plastic-pollution/

What about an Eco-swap challenge? Try this!

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I'm already behind but I will be joining this #swapaday insta thing. Although we did a swap a month to really get habits changed we have now done nearly all of these so can share! Now to catch up... #sustainableliving #sustainablelivingonabudget #zerowastejourney #goingzerowaste #plasticfree #plasticfreejourney

A post shared by Sustainable living (@sustainablelivingonabudget) on May 2, 2019 at 11:29am PDT

What about you? Any successes or failures this week?