Plastic, plastic EVERYWHERE!

The Plastic Challengers give us their top tips for avoiding single use plastic

After Sea Champion Emily Smith gave up plastics for Lent in 2013 and raised over £700 for MCS in doing so, she threw down the challenge to other MCS supporters to do the same in 2014, and so the Plastic Challenge was born. 

The Plastic Challenge isn’t all about living completely plastic free- in this day and age that would be pretty near impossible. So Plastic Challengers have tried to reduce their plastic usage in all sorts of ways - giving up single use plastic products for the whole of Lent, organising plastic-free meals, not using a type of regularly-used plastic like plastic bottles, plastic bags or ready meals.

Getting past the first hurdle of the weekly shop was a challenge in itself. Just about everything is covered in plastic which goes straight in the bin! But our Plastic Challengers found some ingenious ways to avoid it.

 

Agatha Ioannou: Pop down to Lush for plastic free toiletries – shampoos, conditioners, face wash, moisturiser, even deodorant and toothpaste

Charlotte Gee, from Bristol: Take containers with you for self weighed dried goods like herbs and spices, coffee, dried fruit and pasta, and for shopping at meat counters and delis. I also found unpackaged loo roll from ScoopAway and The Better Food Company!
Emily Smith, from Lambeth: I started having a doorstep delivery of milk to avoid the plastic containers.

Elspeth Owens, from London: Refill your cleaning products! I found that Ecover sell 5L litre re-fills of toilet cleaner, multi-purpose cleaner, washing up liquid… and much more.

Ed Santry: Shop locally! Check out your local butchers, grocers, fishmongers and markets, you’d be surprised, there are more plastic free products than you first think!

Patrick Joel: Plastic razors were difficult to replace, but I found a supplier of razor blades for use in a long lasting metal handle.

Stephanie Barnicoat, from Truro: Make more meals from scratch! I made things like falafels, risottos, hummus and orange juice.

Sanjay Mitra, from Ross-on-Wye: I made my own yoghurt from tinned milk and a small jar of the live stuff, and I also made my own potato crisps, bread and a sugar scrub. Easy, but time consuming!


Stephanie Barnicoat, Emily Smith, Abigail Ferrar, Charlotte Gee, Sanjay Mitra, Patrick Joel, and Gill Bell raised over £730 for MCS by getting their Plastic Challenge sponsored. Thank you all!


Three of our Plastic Challengers cut out single use plastics by 65-80%. This is an amazing reduction. Let's carry on the Plastic Challenge!  Find out how to get involved at www.mcsuk.org/plasticchallenge and spread the word to friends and family.

Patrick's single use plastic free lunch!