Selfsufficientish.com

Annpan wrote:Tea direct and Sainsburys own fair trade come in just a cardboard box... but really John, if you are serious about this you need to make adjustments in you buying habits, like buy loose tea and coffee (places like whittards do it) and a bag of sugar, bag of flour and eggs have no waste either, not like the packaged cakes you seem so fond of.

When I say packaged cakes, these consist of paper bases and card boxes, completely ZWP! There is no need to bake just visit Auld's or Gregg's. The first is my preference.

Annpan wrote: but really John, if you are serious about this you need to make adjustments in you buying habits, like buy loose tea and coffee (places like whittards do it) and a bag of sugar, bag of flour and eggs have no waste either, not like the packaged cakes you seem so fond of.

Like most of the people on here we make very few trips to the shops, and for many reasons we don't buy excessive amounts of packaging... but then we have made the adjustments and just buy raw ingredients.

I made the switch to loose tea - I think its much nicer to drink, makes better tea. I biy co-ops 99 tea - which is fairtrade and comes in a cardboard box no plastic.
its not difficult.

johnhcrf wrote: When I say packaged cakes, these consist of paper bases and card boxes, completely ZWP! There is no need to bake just visit Auld's or Gregg's. The first is my preference.

it still takes energy to make the packaging.. extra food miles to get the ingredients to the manufactures and then the shops for you to buy.. not to mention home baking involves less additives (more processing and food miles) and tastes better.

and this forum is about being self sufficientish and so there is every need to bake

The object of my topics/campaigns is to help others, everybody, to buy ZWP items and to encourage superstores to follow suit and sell ZWP items. When waste is reduced the landfill effect is reduced. Landfill affects everybody and is my main focus. The mainstream is my target though there is a good deal of overlap with isher values. I make a fuss over local shopping to spread the message in town.

I realise ZWP is your main objective - but I am fairly sure on a forum about being self sufficient, it is not the main objective of a lot of members here.

You should be looking at what mutually interests you and other members here. and that is the area of where self sufficiency creates less packaging - for example by baking your own cakes, you dont create cake packaging waste.
I personally think you are going in the wrong direction to look at how to still have these convenience foods, at a cheap price with no packaging. The answer IS to become more self sufficient, then you don't need to make so many purchases in the first place.

I am growing rhubarb, pots, onions, leeks, bushes for the bees, roses. The food I will share with neighbours and family. I feel part of the mainstream and want to influence people to be more isher in outlook. Setting a good example is important in modern times and the trend is for more and more environmental interest shown by the public at large. Baking is something I would like to try, especially bread making, and will do so after some research.

Just listened to the school weans singing their anti-plastic bag song on timesonline. M&S hosted the event but the follow up ("ZWP for me",my title) will not be featured there. The young generation should join in, after all its their future.

A great today, Saturday. Beautiful day for shopping. I visited 4 shops for weekly meat, rolls, cakes for friend's visit, few days provisions, daily paper and more Nambari teabags. What rounded it off was not one scrap of waste packaging! If only this occurred at the local superstore for bigger items, what a beautiful, wasteless world it would be.

johnhcrf wrote:A great today, Saturday. Beautiful day for shopping. I visited 4 shops for weekly meat, rolls, cakes for friend's visit, few days provisions, daily paper and more Nambari teabags. What rounded it off was not one scrap of waste packaging! If only this occurred at the local superstore for bigger items, what a beautiful, wasteless world it would be.

I am actually dissapointed in you John, having 3 oz of waste in 3 weeks.... Just what is this waste please ?

Alan

Good to hear from you, Big Al! The full list is on my website and contains weekly waste details. Please look at the site and any further questions you have, I will be glad to answer. Total ZWP is not possible just now but reducing your waste is a good first step. It is not easy and I find I am a lone voice. This does not deter me because I see the need for change, having been a shopper for many years, unusual in a male.

Don't get down in the mouth, John - you're not a lone voice. You may be more extreme in your outlook, but no-one on this site would disagree with your aims.

MKG, In Johnstone, I am a bit of a curiousity. Most staff tolerate my eccentricities and I am grateful for that. I was just warning Big Al and others that this ZWP attitude is still a novelty in town life. You have to exercise a great deal of patience and good humour to prevent ZWP from getting a bad name. Most people are unaware but that does not concern me because they are not the target. What must change is supplier/superstore practices and it will take a broad range of actions from many sources to facilitate the change.

The change in attitude in adopting ZWP affects dealings with friends and family. They all are still using plastic bags as I used to and I smile at their actions. One thing is absolutely certain plastic bags (of every possible type today) are a thing of the past for me. Turning your back on the vicious cycle of waste is a great relief. When the cycle ends sustainability will follow.

johnhcrf wrote:The change in attitude in adopting ZWP affects dealings with friends and family. They all are still using plastic bags as I used to and I smile at their actions. One thing is absolutely certain plastic bags (of every possible type today) are a thing of the past for me. Turning your back on the vicious cycle of waste is a great relief. When the cycle ends sustainability will follow.

Although I do think you are well away with the mixer john... ( in a nice way i guess ) I'm at a quandry with plastic carriers. We use cloth bags that i have made out of recycling material found in my mams wardrobe when she dropped off the perch last year but we still use carrier bags occasionally as we have a dog and cannot find plastic bags that are biodegradable in order to pick up his waste. Therefore my thinking is that once a month we use plastic carriers for the shopping and then re use these to pick up the dog dirt. At least they get recycled although I suspect the dog excrement bins are emptied and then incinerated so plastic being incinerated produces more problems. If you know of where I can buy biodegradable plastic bags then we can compost them along with the excrement in a dog poo loo....

I've just googled "biodegradable dog poo bags" and came up with several options... I've seen them somewhere, too - just can't remember where, as I don't have a dog, so these things kind of pass on the periphery of my conscience!