As for the flies, I was referring to the green council bin (wheelie bin). It doesn’t worry me having flies in there, as I reckon they get in there regardless (just like the crows!), but my hubby is incredibly anal about flies and refuses to put loose garbage in the wheelie bin until we find a way of erradicating them!

What I’ve done in the meantime, is purchase (from said op-shop!) a small bench-top kitchen bin (with a hinged lid). It is small enough to use all the plastic packaging that our groceries come in (Weet bix inner bag, frozen veg packet, biscuit packets etc), as bin liners! Means we have to empty it more often, and it still doesn’t solve the problem of going COMPLETELY plastic-free, but it’s an inroad, and I’m still marvelling that my hubby has agreed to try it!

:+) Jenny

I buy anything I can from the local health food store, as they get their products in bulk (less packaging) and then you scoop it out yourself into paper bags, or your own re-used bags. I can get rice, cereal, oats, peanuts, sultanas, trail mix, even lollies this way!

Everything else I get from the supermarket, and try to get the products packaged in card, not plastic. Eg, toilet rolls in paper packaging, feminine products that come in a box, and aren’t individually wrapped in plastic!, pet food in a box. I have also found a laundry liquid who’s container is made of RECYCLED plastic, and I buy this religiously!

I buy my bread from the bakery and they put it in a paper bag for me. Then I put it in a plastic bag when I get home, which I have been re-using for about 6 months! You can wash plastic bags and re-use them.

I have also been re-using bread bags or other unavoidable plastic when I get the fruit. I think I’ve had those bags for about 3 years! Some people look at me weird, but they all nod and smile when I explain :+) I also don’t buy cut fruit that is wrapped in plastic wrap (like watermelons and pumpkins). I simply buy a whole one. If there’s extra watermelon left over, it gets mixed with yoghurt as a delicious smoothie. The kids love it. If there’s spare pumpkin, it gets grated into the spaghetti bol, or the stir-fry, or turned into soup, or as a last resort, compost.

I buy most of my clothing and shoes from 2nd hand shops, which saves on a lot of plastic packaging. (Also saves on resources, manufacturing waste, transport etc!) Infact, I buy many things from the local op shop – it even has a sport department, book shop, kids toys, furniture and electrical!

I use modern cloth nappies. Apart from the plastic saved in the actual nappy, you also aren’t wrapping soiled nappies in a plastic bag each time. If you do use disposable nappies, there’s no need to buy those plastic nappy disposal bags – just use your bread bags, rice bags, frozen veg bags etc. It will be a lot cheaper too!

I use Tupperware religiously for lunches and left-overs. We don’t even have plastic wrap in the house. I also heard of a lady who takes her own containers to the butcher, and gets the meat put straight in them. I know Tupperware is plastic, but I’m sure it’s recyclable at the end of its life, and it will stop you putting so much plastic into the environment.

I make my own yoghurt. Not only does it save on plastic containers, but it’s heaps cheaper than buying! Works out to be about $1 / lt. Sooooooooooo easy to make, too.

Funnily enough, I had to take a lot of these measures when we had children, and were living on my husband’s apprentice wage. But I won’t go back now that I’m aware just how much plastic we used to use.

Oh, and just a warning about “biodegradable” plastic. For anything to biodegrade (even your kitchen scraps) it has to sit in the top 15cm of earth. This is so oxygen can reach the micro-organisms that do the breaking-down. Unfortunately, landfill gets buried too deep for this process to occur. So biodegradable plastic is a bit of a misnomer. Even your kitchen scraps just sit in landfill turning fetid, and infact are one of the world’s biggest sources of methane (a greenhouse gas)!

As far as the bin liner goes – we are still using the plastic bags that wind their way into the house. (unfortunately, the rest of my family aren’t as committed to reducing plastic as me!) I wanted to just line the bin with paper, but my husband simply refuses.

Here’s what I’d like to try… wrap anything “icky” individually in newspaper, as you would wrap up fish and chips. Place the bundle straight in the kitchen bin. Anything dry can just sit loose in said bin. Then when full, tip it into the large council bin.

What I’d like advice on though, is how to stop the flies breeding in the council bin if the rubbish is loose like this? (We live in Qld.) This is my stumbling block with trying to convince my husband to go plastic-free.

Apartment living doesn’t make it easy, neither do councils! I’ve rung our local council a couple of times about their recycling system, it’s annoying that you go to the trouble of doing the right thing and the recycling just get chucked in with the rest of the garbage at council end. We live in a townhouse and the bin enclosure is getting a make over – so no recycling bins at the moment. Driving to do the recycling is very dedicated!

Unfortunately now that we’re back in an apartment, we can’t compost, I have to drive weekly to go recycle (what little FL actually will take), and trash sacks are required to travel the distance to the complex garbage compactor.