Selfsufficientish.com

Thanks, MKG. The idea is to reduce this weekly waste even further as I find more and more ZWP options.

There is a great deal of inertia among suppliers/superstores to change. If I can find total ZWP without their help, it will prove that it is practicable. They will either have to follow suit or be left as irrelevant to the future.

WRAP yesterday put the blame on consumers, an easy target, for all the food and packaging waste. The food was emphasised, in my view mistakenly, and consumers told to use it more efficiently. The throwaway society is to blame and this is a creation of packaging. The waste from this fills up landfill. 3.25lb (approx) will be a full years bin waste for me. The questions are - How long does it take a supplier to create this amount of waste (in non-ZWP plastic)? and How long does it take a superstore to sell an equivalent amount of waste? Answers please in micro seconds!

I think you've answered your own questions - microseconds. But manufacturers and suppliers operate on a response basis - the public want it, we'll supply it. It really IS the consumer who is to blame. I'm not saying that the consumer is totally culpable - the average consumer has never even thought about it - but it's from the consumer that change might begin. That's where you come in, John. Change consumer attitudes rather than supplier attitudes and the suppliers will gladly go along with you, because that's where they'll see their profits.

MKG, please do not blame the consumer for everything. Chocolate can be cased in tinfoil and card, both recyclable. How much of Cadbury's chocolate has this - 0%. That is not the consumer's fault. Soap can be packed in card packs, recyclable. Only Dove, Pears do this. That is not the consumer's fault.
Plastic is oh so easy to use for suppliers and superstores. They could not care less about the landfill impact. Consumers like the convenience as well. To preserve this setup 100% compostable/recyclable plastic can be used. I would even shop in superstores if this type was used. Until then ZWP is essential. If other consumers follow suit, you are correct, things would change more rapidly but I think other pressure should be applied to end their wasteful practices.

The superstores claim, I have even been told it myself but retorted that I was a consumer and did not want it, that consumers want it is repeated ad nauseam. Come on, change the tune please! The blame game is used extensively by superstores. If its not the consumer, its the council, or its the government, or the farmer, or an act of god, whatever to shift blame away from the real culprit! They turn out waste like there's no tomorrow and if they refuse to change there will be no tomorrow, eventually.

Week 4 waste was only 0.25 oz, the lowest figure yet. Years waste now 2.64lb est. (Quarterly Miscellaneous Waste not included - sponges,gloves etc). This amount of landfill waste makes me think that a home landfill kit would be a good idea. It might be like a bokashi bin, size anyway, with the run-off, possibly an oil type residue. If my landfill contribution is zero the vicious cycle of waste is broken, never to be seen again!

In the interests of the accuracy of your statistics ...

I note that you are using a 52-week year for your calculations. This, of course, will lead to inaccuracy. The year is not 364 days long, nor even 365, but either 365.242 or 365.256 days (and there are other systems of measurement). I mention this because you're already into two decimal places and this is only week 4. So, year 1 figures will not be a true reflection of actual results. Admittedly, they'll almost correct themselves every four years, but you will have a steadily increasing error for 400 years because of our undeniably approximate system of timekeeping.

I felt you needed to know this, John.

Thanks for pointing that out. It will be educational to many. Being better educated myself I am making assumptions to present an easy formulation for others. Keeping things simple aids communication.

Aha - that's better - the true John shines through!!! Welcome to Ish.

Hi John,

I love your site and what you're trying to do. Here's some of my solutions:-
Coffee Jars - one brand (I dis-recall the name but most big stores sell it) produces it's coffee in glass jars with glass and plastic stoppers. I use these for everything, from storing dried foodstuffs and teabags etc to pickling (so long as they don't get tipped). They are incredibly useful and when I have too many, my family get the extras and they use them too. They also look quite pretty in the kitchen.

My John is the coffee monster - I prefer herbal tea but even clipper use plastic foil inserts

Waitrose sells small compostable bags now - great when you're walking the dog on a public road and also for storing veg if necessary.

At the moment, I buy my milk like most people in plastic bottles but John knows a local dairy farmer very well so I'm going to start getting my milk from him, unpasturised and as nature intended. Then I can start making butter and yoghurt too and so more plastic bites the dust.

making your own bacon is very easy and it can be stored in greaseproof paper or muslin, reducing further need for plastic.

If I need to use a supermarket (and lets face it, sometimes lifes like that) I try to use the co-op or waitrose - although they are more expensive, I feel like I'm letting my fellow farmers down if I don't. Waitrose are pretty good at stocking eco friendly products and they never mind me buying my veg loose.

Hope this is of interest!

Rach.

Rach, it is good to hear someone ahead of me in their zero waste attitude. I will certainly look for the coffee jar/glass lid though some coffee grounds/instant are sold in paper packets as well. Milk, without plastic, is an impossibility for a townie like me so your country living is great. My attitude is to push to end the supplier-superstore-consumer-landfill cycle of waste. As a consumer, I can break the link and if others join in the whole cycle will end, and eventually landfill too.

I've read this tread with interest, what you are doing is really great, if only more people were like it. I have taken up this ZWP attitude now when I go shopping. Its amazing how much packaging is actually totally unnecessary when you look at it. I have reduced my bin down to tree small plastic bag os waste this week from the usual 10 or so, but that is mainly down to using up stuff with packaging in our cupboards already.

My biggest problem is meat, we dont eat much anyway, but still like the occasional bit, but being in the middle of London, we are not exactly near any farms and even the butchers meat comes in packaging. Any ideas?

Short of producing your own or collecting roadkill - no. Even if you buy your meat on farm, it will be packed. Don't think they could otherwise do it, legally.

we just took a sheep to slaughter.. it came back in a big bag.