October 2023 "Just Change One Thing" towards waste free lifestyle

OCTOBER 2023

This weeks "just Change One Thing" towards waste free lifestyle 

I'm so excited by this one as it really is a waste free change in my kitchen.

When my son turned 16 years old last year he wanted the a coffee machine that his uncle has because according to him - "It's the Best Coffee Ever".

We purchased the Nespresso coffee machine as a present but like most you need to buy the single use coffee pods for the machine. (P.S not a happy momma)

Here is the machine, it's very practical and makes lovely coffee                                            

                

But here is the waste from one month on, a pod pack full of pods that I need to drive to a drop off point. As you can imagine I was not happy with the impractical and inconvenient way this company offers a waste free option as you can recycle. Not waste free then??

Role on one year and I can now officially say that I am coffee pod waste free thanks to the reusable coffee pod lids. I have emptied out the coffee cleaned the original coffee pod and purchased a coffee pod lid. These are superb as you can fill your pod with coffee, place on the lid and clean it all after use ensuring the coffee goes in to your compost too. These cost me £19.99 and I can cancel my subscription of £39.99 per month for the coffee pods delivery. I can just by the coffee in a pack and add to my pods. Money & waste saved. RECAFIMIL 4 PCS Reusable Cap Compatible with Nespresso Vertuo and VertuoLine Capsules, Refillable Coffee Pod Caps with Spoon and Brush : Amazon.co.uk: Grocery

There is also this £24.99 metal pod but you will still need to save your original pod bottoms as these are barcoded to ensure the amount of coffee made. They also work great but personally the first one is more practical. RECAFIMIL Reusable Coffee Pods Compatible with Nespresso Vertuo Next Machines Stainless Steel Refillable Coffee Capsule Filter, Use with 230ml Original Capsules(NOT Including Original Capsules) : Amazon.co.uk: Grocery

just make one change and see how you get on

Day one
1st July 2019

So I was really chuffed last night preparing for Plastic free July.

So this morning I woke up to one simple change Milk bottles, I have changed to glass bottles now for about a year so that was simple. PG tips pyramid are compostable tea bags and I was ready to guide my family forward. Then boom, one problem on day one breakfast I find that my goats milk has a plastic lid. I’m cow dairy intolerant and suffer from Ezcema so I can’t have cows products, I’m in trouble now as this is a plastic item. I can recycle the carton and cut off the lid to be recycled by a local company who make items from plastic lids.

Stuck what to do as I can’t buy another this month due to being plastic free, so I’ve decided to email St Helen’s farm to see if they offer a carton without plastic lids.

Wish me luck, first day, first meal then boom gutted but one hurdle to conquer on my plastic free quest.

Interceptor Explained by the Team | Cleaning Rivers | The Ocean Cleanup

Why our behaviours around our purchases have to change #planetfirst #plasticfree life

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Our Village Green shout out

Let's shout it out to the wonderful Nicki who has made sustainable shopping convivence to her local communities. One of the most common comments I receive when talking to people about waste reduction in their homes is that it is too expensive, that they cannot reach local refillable shops or that life is just too busy. My work in the litter picking community allows me to meet and stumble across many who are just trying to do the right thing for the sake of the planet. Waste reduction is one of the most important ways we can help repair our planet by reducing what goes out in our house hold bins.  This bins are picked up by the council and taken to either the incinerators, landfill sites and recycling business Envirosort. For those of you that have never been to Envirosort in Norton I recommend a visit, the waste that 335000 homes produce will really shock you and that's just the green bins. 

I was invited to attend Hagley Village green event this month that is a green living fair offering community members options to reduce their waste. Katherine invited me to take the children litter picking around the Hagley park area where the children found a drinks can dated back to 2012 among buckets filled with food on the go packaging litter.

I would like to introduce "The Village Green" initiative to my local like minded busy community as this service really puts sustainable shopping at the forefront of our busy lives making convivence shine on your doorstep, If we all used this service in our communities around Wyre Forest district, Hagley, Ombersley the service can operate a free delivery too.  Villages could have an arranged date that they would deliver refillable shopping to our door steps. Who's in? There are a lot of supplies we all use on a daily basis and to be able to have these wasteless is a winner for me. #sustainable #wasteless #ownyourwaste

Her website Our Village Green Homepage (sumupstore.com)

A welcomed wasteless business find

My husband and I decided to go for a breakfast in Worcester today as we needed to buy my niece an 18th Birthday gift. We parked the car and walked toward the high street and found a lovely little café that offered coffee and breakfast. As we ordered we could hear children playing upstairs and my husband asked if they ran a playgroup. The lady behind the counter said it was a stay and play area and I remembered reading in the Worcester news about them. As an environmentalist you can see so many day to day businesses wasting unnecessary waste/packaging due to convivence and lack of sustainable knowledge. My coffee was delivered and I noticed a cup that I had never seen before that came with a saucer, nosey as I am I turned it over to find it was made by a company called Huskee, they sell reusable coffee cubs, lids, plates, bowls etc made from recycled coffee husk organic material that is produced at the milling stage of coffee production. Talk about a wow factor, this made me look around to see exactly what this business is doing and what a welcomed surprise.

Let me introduce you to The Wildling collective play cafe based in Worcester. They are leading the way for business and working to provide sustainability to the community and their customers visiting. I have to say working with many schools and businesses as a consultant to reduce waste and improve waste management working practices I find that everyday you can still learn more. This little gem of a café is definitely leading the way and flying the sustainable flag for us all to follow. 

Their children's play area is made from wood with not a plastic materials to be seen, decorated elegantly with the warmth of natural materials everywhere. The children are served their meals and drinks in Liewood pla bioplastic dinner sets that are so cute. Their cafe areas has a small shop offering sustainable items for children to a baby wall full of baby/toddlers pre loved clothes for sale with reasonable affordable prices. Mom's can donate baby clothes and receive a toddler play session in exchange. The Wildling Wood consists of equipment such as a magic sensory tree, stepping stones, a reading corner, a slide, a rope bridge, a log climber and a variety of other obstacles.

The café has made sure they only use reusable items that are made from recycled sustainable materials. It really has the wow factor and shines a light on what our city businesses should be doing to reduce their trade waste. I would like to salute The wildling collective business owners for creating such a wonderful sustainable business to Worcester. 

 

read more here New children's play café, The Wildling Collective, opens | Worcester News 

Their links are 

(1) Facebook

The wildling collective 🌱modern play cafe (@the_wildlingcollective) • Instagram photos and videos

The Wildling Collective

Where do you start your plastic free lifestyle?

 Where do you start your plastic free lifestyle?

I think most people find it scary to "Go For Green" as the stigma around eco friendly lifestyle is that it's expensive. The hardest is definatley coming out of your routine and changing habbits is difficult for anyone's busy convenient lifestyle. We all live a busy life, I should know I have three children, with working, school runs & sports clubs time was aways against me. The supermarket had the easiest and convenient all in one place shop in 10 minutes and Job done. 

When I started litter picking and mixing with other like minded people in 2018 who put the planet first by living a wasteless lifestyle, I said exactly what I hear now 5 years on from other families. "It's too expensive and I can't access the refillable/farm shop option" and "where do I start"!!

In 2019 I challenged my family to the Plastic free July campaign where we were not allowed to buy anything if it had plastic packaging. As a family we did our last shop on 29th June where the kids panic brought snacks thinking "Mom is going to starve us, as there will be no food for us to eat" When we returned from that shop I asked them to place the shopping on to the table where we unwrapped 2 bin bags full of plastic packaging, some of which was recyclable but others unfortunatley went in to the black bin bags.

Whilst this was a fun challenge it was also very difficult as I was trying to change the way we lived over night in a kind of rush to help reduce the families waste to landfil or puting waste in to the circular movement. So my advice to anyone is to just start by changing one thing and see how you feel. For me the joy came when I had reduced my family to two black bin bags a fortnight and half a green bin of recycling instead off two full black and green bins each fortnight for the council to take. 

The supermarkets for me now are just expensive especially if you are trying the quickest time consuming shop option. I can have all the lists I need but a supermarket has the power to sell you things you don't need and I always buy more than I need or want. As a family we plan meals, house chore rota and dog walk responsibility. We do one shop a month for the meal plan and only purchase fresh products like bread, eggs, milk. I find keeping the cupboards orgaised I can see what I need to use up first so I don't double buy and planning meals to what is in the cupbaord saves me a fortune. 

If you are reading this blog as you too would like to join the "Go For Green" lifestyle I would like to challenge you to sorting out your food cupboards first. Lableing and stock rotating your food to ensure you use what you already have. Plan you first week's menu then organise to shop for what you need not what you would like, as it makes life easier. I bet you save money and time this week with a plan.

Here is my families week planner and my 16 year olds excel spreadsheet organiser that helped me with the shopping list and save on shop costs too. 

I would like to thank you for reading my blog, there are many tips throughout the blog to help you start to make your lifestyle alot easier and cheaper. Have fun it really is a rewarding challenge.

From Karen