Like any 20 something year old I never used to pay much attention to what packaging was going into my shopping basket. A loaf of bread, a packet of noodles, shampoo, another bloody pepper grinder.. the list goes on and unfortunately there will always be plastic that the mere mortal cannot escape. Over the last few years I have built my collection of reusable items and navigated my community for the freshest, local whole-foods produce. These few tricks have dramatically reduced my household waste and save some serious coin.
- Shopping at fresh fruit markets, no apples wrapped in plastic here. Take a bag or box and fill it up
- Using reusable fruit/ veg bags: I can’t begin to think how much plastic I’ve saved using these. I purchased pack from Flora and Fauna and have seen them available at various eco stores
- Using a bread bag when buying fresh bread from bakery’s
- Reusing paper bags and plastic bags for mushrooms and salad mix
- Shopping at the bulk foods shops you can refill just about anything! Rice and pasta varieties, nut-butters, spices and cooking liquids. BYO jars and bottles and go hard. I used to think these stores were out of my budget range but I could not be more wrong! Most of the items I refill are equal value or cheaper than major supermarkets and the quality is markedly better
- Purchasing soap, hair care and scrubs in bar form. Check out Dirty Hippie cosmetics and Lush
What to do with the packaging you can’t seem to avoid? Recycle it! You can recycle soft plastics such as packaging at any Coles, Woolworths or IGA. If you can scrunch it, you can recycle it at those drop off locations, but not in your home recycle bin
We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.
Anne-Marie Bonneau
Fit For Earth 