Thursday, March 14, 2013

Cool Stuff to Share

Plastics

Am I the only one or do you also think of The Graduate when you hear people talk about plastics?


This past Saturday I went to one of our local libraries and heard Beth Terry, author of Plastic Free, and Danielle Richardet, It Starts With Me, speak.

Beth spoke about how she has moved to creating almost no plastic trash (except for some of the unavoidables like prescription refill bottles) after reading the article "Our Oceans Are Turning to Plastic...Are We?"

She showed us the ugly, British trash exported to China:



But she also showed us the good, products that can make for more eco-friendly living:


Glass Dharma glass straws


Chico reusable bags that come with a pouch (so you can always keep one on you)

RePEat bamboo utensil set that you can keep in your purse

Danielle also read the same article on water pollution and became driven to bring down her plastic consumption.

She not only uses reusable bags at the store but she brings jars everywhere with her.  She has them for her bulk bin items at her local co-op but also for leftovers at restaurants.

I have never thought about bringing my own container to a restaurant.  But it is rather wasteful to bring home the one time use container when I could plan ahead and bring something with me.

Did you know you can bring your own jars to fill at the bulk bin section of grocery stores (places such as Whole Foods, local co-ops, and natural food stores)?  

After the talk I was overwhelmed with information.  Beth's advice was to just do what you can and don't try to tackle everything at once...because after all every little bit helps.

That was good advice.

Now I mentioned that Beth wrote a book, Plastic Free:



I would like to give you all an opportunity to win a signed copy of this book.

The giveaway will run through Monday March 18th and I will announce the winner on Tuesday the 19th.

To enter fill in the Rafflecopter below (I promise the winner's book will be shipped plastic free)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

19 comments:

  1. That book looks great! I have a Glass Dharma straw that I love, and we try as much as possible to bring our jars to fill up at the coop (which can be a bit of a pain, but worth it, cause then you just put the jars away when you get home!). I hope to write a blog post about that soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good for you for bringing more awareness to this. I've never seen the movie, but am a huge advocate for what you've brought up.

    I tend to buy in the bulk bins because it's cheaper and NO Packaging, which is so wasteful.

    What a good tip about bringing your own dishes for takeout food. I remember working at the restaurant and a man always came in to get food to go and would bring his own containers, smart one he was.

    Thanks for a great reminder, the one thing we use a lot of is straws for smoothies and such, I don't know if I trust my kids with glass straws but it's something to think about.

    Have a great weekend Rachel :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is really cool! We've been trying hard to cut down on our packaging, too - not just plastic. It's a difficult transition to make, but we're making progress!


    By the way, I've missed coming to your blog regularly. I always learn something new here or feel motivated to be a bit healthier. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I meant to mention, for the past 10 years we've been carrying this large mesh bag with a flat bottom to the grocery store. It fits inside the grocery cart. We used that long before it became popular to bring reusable bags. I always get comments on it at the store. Only downside is it gets heavy if we buy a week's worth of groceries at one time!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very good tips, I would love to see what all is in this book. I think the bamboo utensils are a fabulous idea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is one of my favorite posts I've read in a while. I started "trying" to reduce my plastic use, and then before i knew it I was back with up again. How do they weigh your bulk items if you bring a glass jar/container to the store. I've always wondered. I suppose i could just ask. Thanks for sharing this AMAZING and inspiring info!

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh no- why don't i see the rafflecopter? I want to enter!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Danielle is awesome.

    We love our glass straws!!!

    I need to get some of those repeat utensils!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I like the glass straw! I've got a metal one - good thing too because I've dropped it several times!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the bamboo utensils! I'll have to get some of those. I would love to win this book as I am really trying hard to cut down on the plastic I use. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great post Rachel! I'm sure a lot of people think that if they recycle, then they're doing their bit 'for the planet'. I'm sure they'd be shocked if they saw where their plastic recycling ends up. The main point is to minimise waste in the first place.
    That book looks such a great read! What an amazing giveaway! I'm guessing it's US only, but do tweet if it's international and I'll be rushing to enter ;)
    Here's wishing you a wonderful weekend xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. p.s. I love the look of those bamboo utensils. I'm going to check out the website right now xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've only recently started considering reducing the amount of plastics in my life, and the more I read on the subject, the more motivated I am to press forward! I just found your blog through Glass Dharma (I'm expecting one of their glass straws soon), and I love it!

    I'm trying to move from plastic Gladware type containers to reusing glass jars for leftovers, and I'll be taking my own food container to dinner tonight so I don't need to ask for a take-home box.

    I also started making my own shampoo and reusing the same bottle I already have so I don't need to keep buying and throwing away plastic shampoo bottles.

    I would love to win the book and read about more great tips and ways to live plastic free!

    ReplyDelete
  14. We take reusable bags everywhere in the car and i switched to metal cutlery in my lunch bag.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I try to limit plastic where I can. I use reusable containers for lunches instead of baggies and plastic wrap, and I save glass jars to put leftovers in the fridge

    ReplyDelete
  16. I just begin to use less plastic in my house.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I try to use less but I always recycle.

    nomfreebies at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have been using mason jars and cloth bulk bags when I shop at the bulk bins at Whole Foods, but since it's about 2 hours away we're not there very often. Thankfully my fairly local Kroger remodeled and now has bulk bins as well. I don't use my jars since they don't subtract tare weight like WF will, but I do use my reusable bags. I wasn't sure how the cashiers would react but nobody batted an eyelash at the fact that I wasn't using their plastic bags.

    One sad little fact I noticed 2 days ago, though, is that the organic rice on the shelf is cheaper per pound than the same brand of organic rice in the bulk bins. I went ahead and bought the bulk in my reusable bag but it is difficult to know you're paying more that way.

    ReplyDelete