3 less plastic things in my life

The amount of plastic that we use on our everyday life is astonishing. You only have to look at the news or read a paper and you see how much plastic is invading our seas and our waters.

Also, because I live in an island, the currents bring a lot of that plastic and other rubbish to our shores. I even started volunteering every now and then, with different volunteer groups in the island doing beach clean ups. 

However the more I see, the more I'm convinced that while recycling is good and beach clean-ups are necessary, the answer to dramatically reduce the plastic invasion is by changing the way things are produced and preserved. 

Over the last year I have been seriously thinking about how, as a simple consumer, I can contribute to that.

So I have been changing some of the things I use on a regular basis for others either without plastic, with biodegradable materials or more durable/easier to recycle materials. 

Today I bring you three examples of plastic things that I used to buy that now are made of paper. 

-Shopping bags
I have longlife shopping bags which I try to use as much as possible. But we all foget them in the house or in the car, even easily foldable ones. But I'm lucky enough that the local supermarket that I use the most have introduced paper shopping bags. Afterwards,  I reuse these for carrying things or even to store paper and carboard to bring to the recycling bin.

 -Cotton buds
When I was looking for alternatives to the plastic ones I found silicone and bamboo reusable ones. In the end, I ended up using this ones that have the "stick" in the middle made of paper. Remember how lollypops used to have paper sticks too before? I used  to have fun trying to unroll it once I had eaten the sweet! How come it took so long to make cotton buds the same way?
As anybody who's clean a beach will know lollypop / cotton bud plastic sticks are one of the most common things to find.


-Deodorant
I had tried other types of more durable deodorants, the mineral rock type, but never really got used to it. I was missing some sort of nice scent that traditional spray, stick or roll-on ones have. And although I have to say I do miss the spray format I used to use, these paper wrapped stick ones are lovely, not so different from any of the old stick deodorants, but with the advantage that the packaging is less polutting than the plastic ones.  

My goal is to keep replacing or even eliminating altogether, bit by bit, as many plastic in my life as possible. 

What plastic things have you replaced in your like with paper?

May 2014 joy jar

May 2014's achievements:

On the 7th I attended Margaret's book signing of her latest thriller, Houded. Then we went for a bite to eat with her husband and they introduced me to yet another faboulous restaurant: Asian Varadero in the Harbour in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. 

On the 10th I attended the 2nd marathon of free workshops organised by Esacan. This time I chose an introduction to dog traning, which later in the year will feature as a full course  & artistic reclycling, for the sake of it (as in, no course programmed yet). I met some lovely people and look forward to whatever initiatives come out of it. 

From the 26th to the 28th I attended a free workshop on how to make preserves at the Albergue de Tegoyo, organised by ADELRLAN, the local organisation for rural development. A lot of peeling, chopping & boiling involved but we got to take home with us the jars we filled: jams, veggies, sauces & chutneys...I am sorted for the winter (well, sort of!). 

In relation to my collaboration with Lanzarote Information, here are my favourite posts I contributed with this month:

• Rancho Texas Lanzarote Park Country Night

I got almost tricked into writing this one as in: a friend offered me a ticket if I was interested in going, to which I said "yes". Only aafter I accepted I was told "but you need to write something about it". Ahhhhggggrrrr, how I hate that! The pressure! And, of course, I did agonise about it but I'm quite pleased about the result. Even some friends who didn't know I had written it, being big fans of this particular show in our island, told me: "hey, we read a very good review of it on Lanzarote Information". Chuffed. There is no other word for it.

• Lanzarote Exhibition in London: Heirs of the Volcano

Purely by chance I came across the news of some local artists presenting their works in London. I am very pleased to see that my beloved island was having a chance to show a different side of itself to the world.

***************************************************************************************

This is the post that started my 2014  year's resolutions: Joy Jar.