My Month Without Packaging

Cape Town's first plastic-free grocery store

http://www.food24.com/News-and-Guides/Features/we-chat-to-the-guy-behind-cape-towns-first-plastic-free-grocer-20171012

Take note:

Living Planet Conference #LPC2017 Living Planet Conference

War On Waste - Living a Plastic-free Life.......is it possible?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-20/war-on-waste-living-a-plastic-free-life-is-it-possible/8522674

The Art of Zero Waste

The image is missing a travel cup.

Now isn't that ironic. This is a prime example of 'green washing'.

Chop down trees to make flyers, never mind the resources that go into the printing.

PlanetSaver.......'water saving product', my ass!

3 more companies to contact. Luckily these three can go into my compost.

So what wording would you put by your postbox? Something like: "Strictly No Adverts/Flyers"

As you may know, we are in our second year of homeschooling our children, ages 8 and 10.

We invested in a curriculum for this year so that I can also have enough time to also grow my business.
The curriculum that I'd ordered online just got delivered. I'm super happy that we've received them, but each of the 3 files have came in a separate box, which is much larger than the actual file.

It took me 10 minutes to remove all the sellotape, which I can't recycle.

Thank goodness they used old shredded curriculum notes instead of bubble wrap. I'll used the cardboard and shredded paper as mulch in my garden.

I should have phoned them after placing my order to ask if I could get our order without packaging.

I'm awaiting another order from them and will ask them for no packaging in that.

Today's delivery. Ok so I don't really ever read the Bulletin. But you know 'shrugging my shoulders', I can use the paper in my compost or my composting worm bath. As far as I know South Africa still uses soy for black and white newspaper print.

But in the inside there's the glossy stuff! Normally, I take the whole lot and put them straight into the recycling. I'm not even sure if they are recyclable. I can't do anything with that paper. Sometimes if there isn't too much I'll add it to my banana circle......,out of guilt. I feel that it would be better slowly breaking down in my anaerobic compost system than in a landfill.

Now I have more companies to add to my list as well as a letter to the Contantia Bulletin.

The thing is, I didn't ask for it, I don't need it and I don't want it.

Tonight's supper from our garden.

Purple cabbage (going into a light stir fry)

For our salad:
Wild garlic flowers
Mint leaves and flower heads
Nasturtium flowers
Butter lettuce
Red frill lettuce
Cos lettuce
Tatsoi
Mitzuni
A variety of basil leaves
Carnation flowers
Chamomile flowers
Chives
Coriander
Fuchsia flowers
Mustard leaves and flowers
Pansy and viola flowers
Rocket
Snapdragon flowers
Violet flowers

Plus various fruits and veggies that we have available in the fridge.

So yesterday my children and I spend the entire day between Paarl, Wellington and Franschoek looking at farms for sale.

I messed up by underestimating how long it would take us. We left st 9am and got back home just before 8pm. We did also stop at the Newlands spring to collect our drinking water.

So it meant that I needed to buy food and drink for us while on the road. The only place we could conveniently stop at without inconveniencing our agent was McDonalds! Terrible. We got 3 vegetable burgers, 3 medium fries and 3 orange juices. Everything came in paper/ cardboard (which I'll add to my compost), except for the juices, which came in plastic cups. I also can't recycled the tomato sauce packets.

We were so dehydrated after walking about 5km on the last farm in the heat that we also needed to stop and buy water (only plastic bottles available) and cool drinks (in returnable and refundable glass bottles).

The only bonus was that I found toilet paper that wasn't wrapped in plastic but in a light thin paper, which I can add to my compost.

I completely unprepared. I also realize that it's much harder with children. If it was just me, I would have gone without and pulled over somewhere and drunk some water from a tap in a garage bathroom somewhere.

My children are aware of my project and they commented on each packaging item we had accumulated trying find solutions of how we could recycle them and discussing how our plastic cups and bottles posed a big problem. "Mom this has plastic!" While I'm following a car down a dirt road in the middle on nowhere.

I'm going to have to remember to carry 3 glass bottles of water (it's not just me), 3 take away cups, some extra kind of food packets/ bags, and packed lunches, even if I don't think we'll make it home in time for mealtimes.

An unwelcome 'gift' in the post box this morning.

I have never and never will respond to advertising of this sort. It goes directly into my compost.......I don't look at, I don't read it.

Why do companies/businesses still use this mode of marketing? It's outdated and wasteful.

It's mostly printed on glossy paper which isn't great for my compost, but I'll add it, otherwise it will land up on a landfill.

I will contact these companies and pose this question to them and share my feedback.

I will also put up a sign by my post box saying: No flyers or something along those lines. I'll have to find the right wording. I will also make sure that our addressed post is moved to paperless.

Ok so Monday is my regular grocery shop day, when I buy my staples for the week.

I went to Organic Zone in Lakeside and their variety of fruit and vegetables seemed low. However I feel like I was able to get way more than I anticipated.

I bought 4 items that were packaged:
Bragg Organic Raw - Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (in glass bottle that I'll keep and re-use)h
A.Vogel Bambu (in a glass bottle that I'll keep and re-use)
Diatomaceous Earth (in compostable biodegradable plastic)
Freshly baked olive bread (in a brown paper bag, which I'll reuse and finally compost)

I noticed when I was unpacking the food when I got home, that 3 of my kiwi fruit had plastic stickers in then. I pulled them off and will add them to my Banana Circle and hope pray that they'll breakdown quickly. Or maybe feed them to my Mealworms which are apparently great for breaking down plastic. I'll research that further later.

So in my shop I bought the following unpackaged:
Lemons
Carrots
Beetroot
Purple spring onion
Green spring onion
Plums
Litchis
Mangos
Pineapple
Kiwi fruit (some had plastic stickers on, which I only realized when I got home)
Tomatoes
Gem squash
Pears
Cucumber
Baby marrows

This is definitely a great way to eat healthily, as everything that has been processed, will come in packaging of some shape or form.

My most immediate challenge is that I need toilet paper and all the places I could go to buy it, sells it wrapped in plastic. I might be lucky enough find singles that are wrapped in paper, which I can compost.

I also desperately want and need a glass of wine ( :

While driving I realized I'm not easily going to be able to get that new pair of shoes I need. I could always give them back their packaging. It's kind of pointless as they most likely won't recycle or reuse it and it would kind of defeat the object.

I made sure I packed the only tupperware and a take away cup as I'm a little bit addicted to Seattle coffee.