At the beginning of this year, I decided that I would try to give up plastic, so now as we come to the end of the year, I´m sure you´re all wondering how I´ve got on.
(if you missed out on the reasoning behind this, you can read it in the Jan blog -- and updates in Feb and April).
Well - it´s been an interesting year -- a year in which it seems that the evils of plastic have become much more widely recognised. I´ve seen other towns in Guatemala ban certain types of plastic bags / straws etc. There´s been online campaigns aimed at the big bottled drinks companies - encouraging them to find alternatives to plastic. In the UK, there have also been campaigns to introduce plastic bottle return schemes in the hope of encouraging a higher rate of recycling. Several African countries have made plans to completely phrase out plastic bags. I have also found a company here in Guatemala that is importing plant-based disposable plates and cuttlery -- they are still 'single-use' items -- but they will decompose naturally in your compost bin. It seems that plastic polution has become a much more urgent issue than it was a year ago. (Not that I´m saying that I´m a trend -setter or anything!)
But what about on a personal level?? Well the changes I made at the beginning of the year in terms of personal hygiene products -- shampoo bars instead of liquids, deodorant stone, homemade toothpaste, bamboo toothbrushes -- have all been very easy to keep up, so those changes will continue.
(Just for Girls....... years ago I had also made the switch from tampons and sanitary towels - which are full of plastic -- to a menstual cup, which is reusable for about 20 years - and creates no waste what so ever. If you want more information, check out https://www.mooncup.co.uk/ -- they´re now available in Boots in the UK).
I have also made permanent changes to what and how I buy food -- choosing raw ingredients and making things from scratch rather than processed options which tend to come overpackaged in plastic.
On the home-cleaning front, I´ve switched to an environmentally friendly supplier -- although some of their products do come in plastic bottles, they are in concentrated form, so last much longer, and the products themselves are kinder to the environment.
One thing which has surprised me...... At the beginning of the year, I remember thinking that at some point I would need to start making bin liners / rubbish bags out of old newspapers, once I´d run out of plastic.... but after a year of not buying or accepting plastic bags or bin liners, that point has not yet arrived .... I STILL HAVE NOT RUN OUT OF PLASTIC BAGS!!!!! This seems ridiculous to me!! -- and says something about how enmeshed we are with the plastics industry. Other factors may also include...me never throwing out anything which could be reused, so I had a good stash of plastic bags to begin with...... this year having drastically decreased the amount of rubbish I produce so therefore decreasing the number of bin liners needed..... and often having visitors at home, who aren´t on the same plastic fast as me, who seem to leave their plastic rubbish with me.
So what does this mean for 2018.... Well for me, giving up plastics was never meant to be a temporary thing, so I will continue on my plastics fast, with all the changes I´ve mentioned, but I´m not complacent. I know that there are still aspects of my lifestyle that have a negative impact on the environment - and I want to further reduce that in the coming year. If you want a good read or need to be convinced about this, I can highly recommend Ruth Valerio´s book 'Just Living: Faith and Community in an age of Consumerism'
And here´s a few specific challenges I´m going to focus on in 2018...
*Vegetarian cooking. I haven´t quite got around to buying meat from the supermarket and taking my own containers to recieve it in. But eating less meat is better for the environment anyway (and probably for my body too) - so in 2018, I want to get serious about learning proper vegetarian recipes - rather than just my old student versions of vegetable pasta!
*Find some solutions to the bin liner dilemma.
*Travel by cargo boat. In my normal life, I only use public transport, but then I also fly more than the average person. In 2018, I will be returning to the UK, via cargo boat -- I´m very excited about this, as it will also be a great time of processing and chilling out inbetween busy times at either end of the journey. But could this be a better way of travelling generally??? It might take a few years for me to work this out, but let´s start in 2018.
So that´s my personal challenges for living lighter on the earth in 2018. How about you??
