Plastic free tips and pledges 1 – 4 from SUPER

I used to eat a lot of store-bought yogurt.  In my cupboard were stacks of empty plastic yogurt containers.  I used many of them to store food, but a good number ended up at the recycling depot.  This seemed like a huge waste of resources and I felt a twinge of guilt every time I bought another tub of yogurt.  What to do?  Now I make keffir – it has more probiotics than yogurt and is dead simple to make.  I bought a keffir starter from the health food store.  When needed I pour milk into a glass sealer jar, add the keffir grains, stir, and let sit on the counter for 24 hrs.  Voila!  Keffir ready for use.  I estimate I will save about 1 kg of plastic a year. 

Susan Hannon, member of Single Use Plastic Elimination and Recycling (SUPER) group

Do you sometimes go out for a meal and can’t finish it?  This happens often for me, so I have trained myself to remember to take along a reusable container for leftovers.  As well, I try to always remember to bring along my travel mug when I purchase tea/coffee from a takeout restaurant. As for other drinks, I always fill and carry my stainless still water bottle, which is all I need.  Even if a restaurant is using compostable cups, these are normally only compostable in an industrial composter. And then there is still the plastic lid!

Michelle Mech, member of Single Use Plastic Elimination and Recycling (SUPER) group

Balloons are colourful and attractive and there are no non-plastic replications. But do we really need them? There are many environmentally friendly alternatives for creating decorations or amusement, such as tissue pompoms, paper pinwheels, fabric kites or spinners, paper or ribbon streamers.  In remembering a loved one, the upward drifting of balloons can give people a sense of letting go. Floating flower petals on a water surface can provide the same sense. If someone gives you or your child a balloon, in particular a helium-filled one, keep it inside and dispose of it properly so that it can’t end up being released into the air where the balloon can get blown into the ocean or another waterway.  Marine animals, in particular birds, can get entangled in balloons and string and often die from this. Balloons can also look like jellyfish to sea turtles and other ocean animals that eat jellyfish, so are often ingested by them.

Single Use Plastic Elimination and Recycling (SUPER) group

Plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles are one form of plastic containers that we can easily eliminate.  Instead of liquid shampoo, buy bar shampoo, which is available at Soapworks and Barefoot Daughter on Salt Spring Island, Lush stores in Victoria and Vancouver and also online at lush.ca and other sites.  It is quite possible that you won’t need conditioner with these products, but if you do, Lush also sells solid conditioner or you can easily make your own.  There are many ‘recipes’ online, which utilize readily available ingredients such as apple cider vinegar and water.

Single Use Plastic Elimination and Recycling (SUPER) group

FEATURED IMAGE: Shampoo bars