Be More Eco 3: Switching to Glass

So, another thing that I've been trying to do recently is to stop buying products that come in plastic bottles - this is not always possible of course, but where there is an option that comes in glass, I'm trying to use that option instead.  Our biggest saver of plastic in the past few months has been switching back to milk delivery.  This is even better than simply buying in glass, because the bottles are reused many times rather than simply recycled. My milk delivery service (in this area, we are served by Milk and More) also offers juices in glass bottles, and excitingly for when Olivia is home, both soy and oat milk in glass bottles (larger bottles, but still).  This means, that I have also virtually stopped buying tetra packs, which again, are recyclable in principle, but not buying them and instead using refillable glass is a much better option.

Some things are quite easy to find in glass bottles - there are loads of types of olive oil in glass, so that's simple.  Regular vegetable oil is virtually impossible to find in glass, so I've bought  Clearspring Sunflower oil (bottle at back left) a couple of times - but also, the zero waste shop offers rapeseed oil as a refill, so that's what I've been doing when I can. 

We still drink some squash, though not as much as when the kids were little, but there is lots of squash available in glass (though they call it "cordial", which makes it sound more posh).  The other plus is the flavour is much nicer than other squash anyway.  My kids mostly drink water (or tea or coffee), but when they want something else, these are good alternatives.

Another thing I've done is to buy a smaller size ketchup bottle (we don't use a lot of ketchup - I appreciate in some households this would not be a practical solution).

There are other instances of avoiding buying plastic things, and opting for tins or glass instead - for instance, I've mostly stopped buying olives from the deli section (not the counter, but the pre-packed section) and instead, buy tinned or jarred olives. 

It takes thought, planning and work to avoid plastic packaging, but even small steps make a difference.