If Plastic Wins, We Lose

On April 22nd, we celebrated the 54th Earth Day ( EARTHDAY.ORG ), a day to honour and celebrate our remarkable planet as well as educate and highlight what we need to do more (or less) of to protect our home. This year, the focus for 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics”.

For the remainder of the week, Canada hosted the fourth session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) in Ottawa (April 23 - 29, 2024). The negotiations held there aimed to further develop a legally binding global plastics treaty to help safeguard people and the planet from the harmful impacts of plastic pollution (you can see the outcome document here). Obviously real change has to come from the world’s industries reducing their usage of plastic dramatically but that does not mean that collectively, we members of the human race cannot together make an impact for the betterment of our planet.

Nearly 4 years back, I wrote an article about reducing personal plastic usage and included a few tips from PacSol employees. So with this year’s Earth Day campaign in mind, I thought it high time to revisit those suggestions and provide updates on more options.

The following suggestions are all based on opinions of PacSol employees and any products mentioned are not affiliated or endorsed in anyway by PacSol (Pacific Solutions International Ltd).

Still keeping it clean with soap bars: Having ditched those plastic bottles and liquid washes over 4 years ago, Friendly Soap Ltd is still the go to for the daily shower scrub - shampoo, shaving and sensitive skin bar options are all available with excellent ethical and environmental standards. For those that just don’t get on with bars, some fantastic liquid shampoo, conditioner and soaps have been tested from Alter/Native (by Suma Wholefoods ).

Still going strong (and long): Who Gives A Crap is still the toilet paper of choice and they still donate 50% of their profits to ensuring everyone has access to clean water and a toilet. It was also great news to see that in a Which? test of ‘bamboo’ fibre toilet papers (such as WGAC’s premium), WGAC was one of only two tested that actually were what they claimed - 100% bamboo. Others tested contained virgin exotic hard wood fibres for example - really not great.

I’m spinning around: When it comes to washing clothing, there have been a few options tried and tested over the last 4 years in an attempt to be as environmentally and ethically conscientious as possible. Washing non-bio liquids from The Bio-D Company Ltd | B Corp?? , SESI and Miniml have all been tested (with children) and the goal is to find a local refill option. The good news from Miniml in the meantime is they accept returns of their empty 5ltr containers to reuse - for free! Use the manufacturer websites to see if a refill centre is near you and make the switch - and no, it doesn’t cost more! Bio D also does a great laundry bleach to add extra cleaning power (bit like Vanish) to your wash.

No more smelly pits: Now available off the shelf at your local supermarket, Wild have been a great alternative to the larger consumer products. It's not an antiperspirant but it will help to keep you naturally dry and fresh smelling. (And some say that having stopped using mass produced products they sweat less in general…) The refills themselves come in a bamboo based casing that can be composted.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: It's great to see that 4 years down the line, most large supermarkets have a collection point for many of the ‘soft’ plastics used in packaging - crisp packets, bread bags, cereal packet liners etc. Just look for the ‘recycled at larger stores’ label. The dream is to not have the plastic in the first place but small wins! If you buy fruit and veg at a supermarket why not just not bother with a bag! Weigh it, buy it, bag it (in your large reusable carrier with everything else), wash it and consume. If you use home delivery, check the option to not have loose items bagged up.

Wear it out: In recent years the social stigma of second hand clothes has definitely reduced. With sites like Vinted offering a way to buy and sell directly with no fees and eBay recently announcing clothing can be sold with no fees (in a reaction to the competition), it is now not just the local charity shop where you can bag a bargain. You can have that fast fashion wardrobe rotation without the fast fashion! A reduction in waste to landfill, a reduction in clothing made from new materials and less money spent from your pocket (Honestly, a pair of hardly worn Vans high tops - less than ￡20 (RRP ￡85). There are also loads of free groups on social media for local sales (reducing the environmental impact even further)

Did our article all those years ago inspire you to try something new last time? Do you have any suggestions to add to the list? How have you used your consumer power (your influence) to make changes for the better?

(No I didn’t forget about reusable cups for your Costa* Latte or refillable water bottles - I just assume we are all doing that already. Right?)

*Other brands of coffee are available - I recommend Cafédirect Group

#PacSolUK #Environment #EthicalConsumer #SayNoToPlastic