Calzone

So happy that the calzone came in a paper bag!! Got away there!

Laundry of shame

As predicted, travelling and staying plastic free Is a little difficult. Having found out that I get my washing done free of charge because apparently I'm a VIP guest at the quite fancy hotel I'm staying in in Tunis (ha ha...no idea why, but don't question it!)... I foolishly sent my laundry off...

And this is what I found in my room on return.... Argh!! Plastic overload!!

Soda Stream

Disclaimer:  This product is approximately 90% plastic.  I mean, have you tried to buy an appliance made entirely from metal recently?  They still exist but cost something around £695 and your first-born child.

In any event, Jim - being the gadget geekster that he is - could barely contain his enthusiasm for this little bit of plastic-reduction love.  And it eliminates the need ever again to purchase bottles, plastic or glass, of the divine fizz.

Yep, that's a plastic radio/IPod charger next to the plastic Soda Stream.  So shoot us.

This is where things get exciting:

Vroom, vroom!

The kit comes with three (plastic) bottles in which to store the final product.

The kitchen scale is Italian and NOT plastic.  Those people really know how to do it.

At least those plastic bottles are not headed for the landfill.  And that's the point, is it not?

You could hold us to a £1 fine for buying new plastic but I will lobby hard and long for the point of this purchase.  Contemplate that as you haul a week's worth of glass bottles down four flights of stairs to the recycling bin.

LIST OF SHAME

FARMER FURIOUS AT UNEXPECTED & NEEDLESS PLASTIC PACKAGING

.... and to make matters worse, the blogosphere is now humiliatingly aware that I bought an Alexander McCall Smith book off ebay.

So far, living without buying new plastic has given us some problems, but most have been surmountable by careful planning or simply gritting one's teeth and not buying some stuff we like for a month.

However - despite buyng Lush's ludicrous toothytabs, instigating an all-Greggs breakfast regime, sacrificing the glories of the Nak'd bar and sporting broken shin guards all month (if I break  my shin in September, I'm suing Carrie) - several unexpected pieces of plastic have slipped through the net!

So, one week in, here is the full, unedited List of Shame....

• Two poor-quality books from ebay, needlessly shrink-wrapped.  (Top tip for future eBay purchases is to email the seller in advance.) 
• Similarly pointelss small piece of plastic on top of my Greggs cream doughnut.  I blame Mark Henderson, who convinced me that Greggs was a safe bet.
• Mr Shapla!  You may be the best Indian takeaway in Edinburgh, but we reckoned without the small tub of yoghurt for the pakora and that wee bag of salad people throw straight in the bin anyway.
• One disastrously unplanned scone-buying episode.
• And what is going on with the Demijohn glass bottle of spicy rum liqueur?  It's already got a cork in it - why add the little slither of plastic?  Aaaarrghhh.  Nice rum, though.

However, as Ghandi said* - "there is nothing so sad as a man who does nothing becasue he cannot do it all" ...... overall we are vaguely satisfied with our team's performance, are learning from our occassional slip-ups and looking forward to our first post-challenge bag of Monster Munch.

*maybe

:)

Hurrah!

Plastic-Free Jocktoberfest - The Other Side of the Story

Alas, Jocktoberfest was only plastic-free for beer consumers.  For those of us who eschew the grain in favour of the grape, it was an entirely different matter.  Witness the following:

Who invited YOU?

Not that I didn't try.  When requested to refill my plastic cup upon re-order, the staff at Black Isle - the same good people who said absolutely no glass allowed on their certified organic, crunchy granola, Mother Earth farm - poured my preferred elixir into......another plastic cup.

Caught in the act

Given the amount of wine I imbibed over the two days of the festival, I will probably be buying the first three rounds of drinks at the end of September.

Plastic Free Jocktoberfest @ Black Isle

Every festival I've been to in the past was bound to be a plastic waste disaster. We planned a pilgrimage to beer / music festival Jocktoberfest organised by the Black Isle Brewery. They lived up to their motto "Save the planet, drink organic" by serving beer in glasses made of plant starch (which is compostable). Thanks Black Isle!

Inflight and plastic free? No chance!!

I've only been travelling for about 3 hours, and my attempts to stay plastic- free equal a big fat FAIL.

Too hungry to refuse the plastic triple-wrapped pasta salad, with separate plastic wrapped bread sticks, and a plastic fork which had its very own plastic wrapping (thank goodness it didn't touch the bread sticks), all enclosed inside the pasta salad plastic wrapped box- I had no choice but to compensate with a glass bottle of beer!

It's not looking good for a plastic free week overseas!