Because of the snow, our bins haven't been emptied since before Christmas, and as I went to try and squish one more yoghurt pot into the recycling bin I was horrified by the amount of plastic our household gets through. We do recycle it (or at least the bits we're allowed to, there seems to be a very complicated coding system when it comes to plastic, and the tub you're looking at invariably is PET 74.5 rather than one with a swirly arrow symbol and a number 1), but it's much better not to have it in the first place.
Milk is the biggest culprit in our house, as we go through litres of the stuff and it all comes in big plastic bottles. My mission this week is to try and find out who our local milkman is, as this must be miles more environmentally friendly than buying milk from a big supermarket. Primarily because when your milk bottles dance home behind the milkman you send your glass milk bottles back they get washed and then can be used again, rather than going through all the energy-heavy processes plastic needs to be turned into something new. Dairy Crest offer an online service where you can place orders and your local milkman will then deliver them (so much more sophisticated than notes in bottles :).
The other thing I've been doing - and I loved this one because it involved shopping - was de-plasticifying the shower. No, not taking out our plastic shower tray and replacing it with one made of hemp or anything, but aiming to have a plastic free shower routine. It was easy enough to stop buying shower gel as I have 4 lovely bars of soap that I have received as presents over the last year, and until last week they were languishing in my underwear drawer acting as drawer fresheners. Now one's in the shower and ones on the side of the sink - bye bye liquid hand soap!
Shampoo was a bit more difficult, as I'd seen shampoo bars for sale on Etsy, but as they all seemed to be from the States it seemed silly to buy a product that needed flying halfway across the world in order to be a bit more environmentally friendly :) Lush seemed to be the only high street retailer who sold shampoo bars, so I pootled along to my local shop. I bought New Shampoo Bar and Jungle conditioner. I am a complete and utter convert. I will never go back to a bottle again! The shampoo bar is meant to stimulate hair growth, and as mine is weak, wibbly and falling out a bit, I thought it would be the best one for me. I haven't noticed masses of new hairs sprouting from my noggin, but my hair seems stronger. The conditioner leaves it lovely and silky, and I've stopped using the multitude of de-frizz products I used to slap on my hair after a shower, and just blow-dry and leave it. My hair smells lovely and looks very shiny.
I thought I'd give bottle free moisturising a go as well, and bought a Therapy Massage Bar. The woman in the shop said although it was called a massage bar it worked well as a body moisturiser as well. It is made mainly of cocoa butter, and so when you rub it on your skin it melts just a little bit and is absorbed. I only shower every other day, and I've noticed that my skin still feels smooth and soft the day after I've used it. It has a really velvety scent, and even mr pickledweasel has commented on how nice it smells. I don't think it'll last very long though, so it might work out to be a bit pricey, but it's worth it! I've started alternating it with body lotion I got for Christmas so I can make it last until pay day :)
So, in summary - I'm getting a milkman, have softer hair, and smell nice. This green malarkey is pretty easy, n'est ce pas?
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