Two smartphone apps have made it easier to find places to refill your portable water bottle while on the go.
To find your nearest refill point, download the Refill app, or click on this link, which asks you to input your mobile number to receive the link for the Tap app.
We think this petition, about requiring washing machine manufacturers to install filters to stop microplastics going into the sea, is worth signing: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/248269
Ealing Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Support Group is holding its first event this coming Monday, 4 February, a clothes repair and making evening at the Northfields Community Centre in Ealing (details at end of post).
Share a cuppa with organisers Lucy and Mary, and bring any projects and clothes or fabric for inspiration and advice.
Please also bring along some small change (suggested donation of up to £2.50) to cover hire of room and tea and coffee.
Details
Date: Monday, 4 February 2019
Time: 7.30pm to 10pm
Northfields Community Centre, 71a Northcroft Road, Ealing, London W13 9SS
Travel:
Underground: Northfields (Piccadilly line)
Rail: West Ealing
Bus: E3
Almost every tea bag sold in the UK now contains plastic, according to Ethical Consumer magazine.
The population of Britain drinks 165 million cups of tea a day, or two and a half per person. Continue reading
Brentford Recycling Action Group (BRAG) joined Ealing Friends of the Earth (EFoE) at Brentford Market on 29 July to host an anti-plastic-pollution stall at the Festival of Waste organised by local mental-health charity The Cathja Project.
A plastic-bedecked octopus, created by EFoE for a previous event, caused a sensation, and we succeeded in collecting two and a half pages of signatures for Friends of the Earth’s petition asking for urgent government action to reduce manufacturers’ and retailers’ production of plastic waste. Continue reading
Environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet has launched the world’s first ‘plastic free’ Trust Mark, to let shoppers know which food and drink products have been packaged without plastic.
Early adopters of the Trust Mark include UK supermarket giant Iceland, Dutch retailer Ekoplaza and tea brand Teapigs.
For further information, click here.
Supermarket chain Morrisons has announced it will allow customers to use their own containers for meat and fish from the Morrisons’ Market Street Butcher and Fishmonger counters as from this month.
The new policy is part of a number of measures the Bradford-based supermarket is taking to reduce plastic pollution, in addition to committing to make all its own-brand plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by no later than 2025.
For further information, click here.
More than 40 companies have signed up to a pact that aims to cut plastic pollution over the next seven years.
The firms, which include Coca-Cola and Asda, have promised to honour a number of pledges that include eliminating single-use packaging through better design.
They have joined the government, trade associations and campaigners to form the UK Plastics Pact. Continue reading
Zero-waste shopping can mean a number of things: buying articles designed to last, eg, good-quality T-shirts that last for years rather than cheap ones that lose their shape after a couple of washes; buying secondhand from charity shops, eBay, etc, or obtaining goods from Freecycle, Freegle, etc; and repairing or repurposing items.
It can also mean using your own containers when you buy unpackaged groceries. Shops like As Nature Intended offer the opportunity to refill washing-up and laundry liquid bottles, and many Lush products are unpackaged.
As for food, loose fruit and veg are readily available from shops of all kinds, but it isn’t all that easy to buy other kinds of products in loose form. The Zero Waster has a comprehensive list of places where you can do just that, as well as much other useful information about avoiding waste.
The Source Bulk Foods has just opened in Chiswick, at 24 Turnham Green Terrace. It has a range of about 450 products, including flour, rice, cereals, honey, oil and vinegar, as well as cleaning and personal care products. You can buy whatever quantity you need and fill your own containers. Have a look next time you are in the area.
Reducing the amount of plastic you use needn’t be hard. With this post, BRAG kicks off a series of tips on how to do this, one tip at a time, and in no particular order of priority, so you can gradually introduce plastic-reducing changes into your routine. And we’d love to hear your tips, too.
Tip no. 1: Carry cutlery in your bag, and refuse offers of plastic knives, forks and spoons in food outlets. If you work in an office, keep a plate, bowl, glass and cutlery in your desk.
