KEY POINTS:
I don't mean to use the term 'addiction' glibly, but it is entirely possible that the world is addicted to plastic. Each year more than 110 billion kilograms of nurdles - the tiny hydrocarbon resin feedstock for all plastic products - are carted around the world. They now
constitute 10 per cent of the world's beach litter.
You don't need a beach holiday to appreciate this. Just have a look in your bin where plastic food packaging uses nearly four per cent of all crude oil. More than 80 per cent is used only once before going to the rubbish tip.
But you can call time on this litany of squandered resources and accrued waste and follow a small group of other plastic-free devotees (plasticfree.blogspot.com).
As 35 per cent of plastic consumption is down to packaging, unwrapping your shopping habits is a key starting point.
As plastic is famously the 'skin of commerce', retailers dedicated to doing away with packaging, such as www.beunpackaged.com, are rare.
Buying minimally-packaged consumables in bulk is the key to this experiment. During conventional shopping trips, don't be afraid to put loose vegetables on the conveyor belt. Meanwhile, a good water bottle obviates the need for a disposable water bottle (nearly half of our plastic footprint comes from water bottles). Instead of clingfilm, I like Eco Food Covers (www.naturalcollection.com) - yes, they are silicone but they are reusable.
Cleaning products are a particularly fertile area of opportunity. Apart from the packaging, an E-cloth (www.e-cloth.com) just requires water, you can refill Ecover products or try Aquos water-soluble cleaning refill systems
Avoiding hidden plastics is trickier, though. Paints, fabrics and clothes are chock full of polyester, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride.
As are cosmetics, particularly exfoliating creams and body washes with tiny plastic beads. Only buy those containing biodegradable, natural substances, such as sugar, salt or apricot kernels.
Once in full flow you will have very little non-recyclable or non-compostable rubbish. You will divert as much as possible from the bin - if you have a wool carpet, even the lint from the hoover can be mixed into compost.
But you're unlikely to have zero waste to go with your zero tolerance of plastic - you'll still need a black sack for bin day. The panacea for ethical livers is said to be the biodegradable sack, usually made of corn-based polylactic acid (PLA).
These break down in an in-vessel hi-tech composter.
PLA contains 68 per cent less fossil fuel than petroleum-based plastic. No, they don't break down in a landfill rubbish dump, but they are less crude than a hydrocarbon polymer.
- OBSERVER
