This is a collaborative post.
Regular readers will know that, as well as my blogging activities, I keep the wolf from the door by selling bits and pieces on eBay. Because I am aiming for a more sustainable lifestyle, though, I do consider using more eco friendly packaging options where I can.
I like the idea that all of the items I sell are second hand and by using eBay as a marketplace I can find a good home for things so that they can continue to be used rather than be sent to landfill. As I have pledged to buy nothing but second hand during 2021, this fits into my way of thinking about the world right now.
I also like the fact that vintage is now trendy again! It places a greater value on items that might at one time have been thought too old-fashioned to still be used and discarded.
Packaging
As I say, I give some thought to how I post items out, preferring to use eco-friendly packaging options wherever I can, such as compostable packaging. I also purchase mail bags that are made from recycled plastic that itself is still fully recyclable. Even better (and cheaper): I reuse packaging that I have been sent, especially Jiffy bags, which are hard to recycle and quite expensive to buy new. Cardboard boxes are also folded flat and stored in the shed for future use.
When I am shopping for clothing and household items, because I buy only pre-loved I tend to avoid any packaging at all. Food presents more of an issue, but I avoid over-packaged items wherever I can. I have some fabric produce bags in my handbag, and if there is an option to buy loose goods rather than those in plastic bags I will use them.
It is still really hard to avoid packaging, though, especially if you are on a tight budget as I am. I can’t afford to buy all my fruit and veg in the farm shop, or use a zero waste shop for all of our dry goods and cleaning products.
However, I figure that by buying less of everything, getting off the consumer treadmill, purchasing pre-used whenever possible and saying no to massively over packaged goods, we can all have a positive impact on the environment whatever our financial circumstances.
Glass or plastic?
At one point, I was trying to buy as much as I could in glass bottles and jars – and I still do this for some items. However, there is an argument that the weight and volume of these means that their transportation actually gives them a bigger carbon footprint. A better option might be a super light flexible film container, like the pouches I now buy my vitamins in.
Which is the lesser of the two evils? Tyler Packaging gives this example: “A truckload of glass containers contains approximately 50% packaging whereas the same product by volume in flexible pouches contains approximately 6% packaging. If a product can be supplied using flexible pouches instead of glass jars then for every truckload of jars, the supplier could deliver eight trucks of pouches, with the resultant large reduction in carbon footprint.”
Things are never black and white, are they?
Reuse
Another thing I do to try to be more green when it comes to packaging is to reuse as much as possible at home. Glass jars can be used for storing dry food items such as lentils and rice. Bread and cereal bags can be washed out and reused. Plastic margarine and yogurt containers are great for storing leftovers or freezing home made soup.
Egg boxes can be used to start seedlings or made into sculpture by the kids, along with sweet wrappers and bits and bobs of foil and string.
Gift wrap and ribbon can be folded and stored for reuse too. Envelopes can be saved, either with a label over the old address in the post or to use for shopping lists . Cans can be painted and transformed into containers for plants.
Once you start to think about eco friendly packaging options, such as reusing packaging first rather than recycling it or throwing it in the bin, you can come up with a multitude of creative ideas!
Julia says
Being Very Old, I remember that packs of toilet paper used to come wrapped in paper. If it was good enough in the 70s, why not now? It wouldn’t add any more weight or volume to the packages so should be a simple swap.
Fruit & veg used to come loose, and still does in many independent grocery stores – we’ve all seen them arranged in bowls out the front – so why do supermarkets insist of wrapping everything in plastic – even bananas! Sure to wrap needlessly is more expensive, never mind wasteful. Yes it’s easy just to grab a 1kg bag of spuds, but hard is it to grab a handful and just drop in the bottom of your basket, or to put soft items like tomatoes into a reuseable bag for transport to the checkout?
I just despair at the level of wasteful, brittle, single-use plastic. Why do boxes need a film ‘window’ so we can see for ourselves the contents are the same as the picture on the box? Why are they still making envelopes with film windows for the address to show through? If someone has to physically stuff the envelope, surely it isn’t hard to write the address at the same time, or at least stick on a printed label!!
It’s little things like that, which most people probably don’t even bat an eyelid over now as it’s been commonplace for so long, that really contributes to the micro-plastic problem.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I couldn’t agree more with all of the above! The plastic windows make these things harder to recycle as well