We are proud to announce that we are the first community organisation to be given the title of Plastic Free Allies, working alongside Plastic Free Cotgrave to reduce the use of single use plastics in our garden and in the wider community. This is an exciting and important opportunity to change how we use plastics and to encourage other organisations and businesses to rethink some of their choices.
Plastics - particularly single use plastics - have a devastating effect on our environment; using up finite resources, releasing toxins and microplastics into our soils and water systems and polluting our oceans, threatening precious aquatic life. Almost 99% of all plastic is made using fossil fuels called petrochemicals. These are oils and gases buried deep underground, however there is only a limited amount of them left and it requires a lot of energy to retrieve them - not to mention the environmental destruction of practices such as fracking and the potential of harmful oil spills at deep sea oil rigs. Not only are petrochemicals tricky to obtain but when heated they also release harmful toxins and 'greenhouse gases' such as carbon dioxide and methane which contribute massively to climate change. A lot of plastics cannot be recycled so are disposed of in landfills - when done 'responsibly' - but a lot of these plastics end up in local water systems, carrying them to ocean and creating 'plasticburgs' or large build ups of plastics in certain parts of the oceans where currents meet. These plastics buried in the land and filling up the ocean are slowly releasing microplastics (small particles of plastics created from disposable plastics breaking down overtime), which make their way into fish we farm and plants we grow therefore ending up in our diets - that's not very appetizing!
So what can we do about it? It's really quite simple - stop using single use plastics! Although this can be harder in practice as most supermarkets and brands package their products in plastics to lengthen their shelf life and simplify the manufacture and transportation processes. The most commonly used single use plastics are drinks bottles and carrier bags; although the governments charge on single use carrier bags did have an impact on the amount of bags polluting precious Earth, it is not enough! There are plenty of opportunities for recycling locally - the council will collect many recyclable plastics (such as bottles), and Terracycle runs schemes across the country collecting and recycling things such as pet food pouches and contact lens. I would encourage you to visit Plastic Free Cotgrave's website where there is a page dedicated to local recycling points. We do, however, need to go further than recycling and reduce our use before the fact. This is a great opportunity to "vote with your pound" and choose to buy loose fruits and vegetables, use your own tubs at the butchers and use your local zero waste shops where you can fill up on grains, pulses and more.
The Simpler Life in Keyworth, which deliver to Cotgrave
The Good Weigh in Lady Bay
Dash Vegan, based in the city but now running online and at Sneinton Vegan Market
Shop Zero on St. James Street in the city centre
There are also plenty of options as alternatives to plastics such as bioplastics made from plants and glass tubs. Almost every area of our lives can be filled with single use plastics - from cooking to eating on the go, from cleaning our homes to cleaning our bodies! So it can seem like a daunting task to remove all plastics from your life, I recommend going through each room in your house and seeing what you can replace as you run out - for example when you run out of shower gel, choose a bar soap instead of buying more plastic. Luckily there are also alternatives for almost every plastic we use in our day to day lives. Just remember to start small so you don't get overwhelmed!
Our commitment to being plastic free in the garden required us to stop using or replace 3 different single use plastics in our operations. For us this was quite simple as all of our current volunteers are already passionate about zero waste. Our three chosen items are:
- using wooden lollipop sticks instead of plastic plant labels
- using natural twine to tie up plants rather than plastic ties or twine
- reducing the use of small compost bags by buying larger quantities in reusable tonne bags and making our own compost on site
We feel like these are relatively easy choices to swap and encourage you to do so in your own gardens as well, as time goes on we will be using more plastic free alternatives such as natural pots and metal watering cans. We are also already reusing certain single use plastics in the garden before sending them to be recycled, such as using plastic bottles to protect seedlings and instead of buying tubing for deep watering newly planted trees.
What plastic free swaps have you made in your garden and your life?