eleven. Bags

Plastic bags, not so bad,  apparently. Apart from their extreme dexterity,  as adept at deep sea diving as they are dancing on the edge of the wind, they may actually contribute less to greenhouse gases than paper. This then, is confusing for the do gooder consumer, like myself,  who has gone to great lengths to exorcise these flimsy plastic poltergeists. Tip eleven aims to demystify which is the better eco bag; cloth, plastic or paper.

What’s wrong with paper and what’s right with plastic then? Paper bags often come from our Nordic neighbours’ sustainable forests, which is great, but the process of turning wood into paper is highly energy intensive leaving a large carbon footprint. Furthermore, paper bags break down into methane, one of the mosy noxious greenhouse gases. Plastic bags do not break down into methane, mainly because they do not break down at all, living for eternity in a landfill limbo. The energy that goes into their manufacture is also significantly less than paper and to top it all off, plastic is more durable than paper if you are reusing before recycling. The heavy duty plastic bags of the more luxurious retailer are less green as they take more energy to make. One case where low quality is better. No need to self flagellate if you have to pick up a plastic once every so often.

Undoubtedly though, the triumph of the bag world has to be the reusable cloth bag. Despite the moderate carbon footprint generated through their production, the durability and long lifespan more than comornsates for it. Better yet, check that it is made from organic cotton and you’re on the stairway to eco heaven once again. Of course, string, hessian and other natural fibre bags are great too. There are even little mesh, muslin or cotton drawstring bags for those small or loose items liable to roll around or slip of of the basket, but perhaps more of that in a future post.

The main green factor considered here has been carbon footprint and greenhouse gases. Plastic bags are a menace to the environment in many other ways, from endangering wildlife to becoming a main component in the plastic soup of the great pacific garbage patch (see this post). For these reasons, my own native Northern Ireland recently put a tax on plastic bags and you have to pay if you want one. By the end of the year we might be able to judge to what extent the initiative is a success.  The mockumentary below sums up the ecological dangers of plastic bags well, so please remember to bring your reusable bag to the grocery store and pop a spare in your bag for those impromptu shopping sessions. I leave you with the dulcet tones of Jeremy Irons on this clip.

Sources
Clark, D. The Rough Guide to Green Living

ten. Eco Deo

Deodorants used to have a pretty bad eco rep, what with all the CFCs. I feel the tide has turned against sprays anyway, with people opting for roll ons and sticks; not that this is based any sort of proper thorough market research, more of a haphazard glance here and there in gym bags- not creepy. We all want a fresh dry pit, so here’s tip ten, invest in a good eco deodorant.

On the hunt for this new deo, I stumbled across a crystal deodorant and sheer curiosity almost resulted in an impulse purchase when I realised that it too, like all of the other natural deodorants on the shelf, was contained in some sort of plastic vessel.  Returning my shampoo purchasing logic (post nine) I decided I needed something plastic free instead. At this point I returned to what was becoming ‘ole faithful, Lush (and no I’m not paid by them!)

Solid bars and powders were my options,  according to the helpful assistant. The most powerful was a powder with charcoal in it. I was suspicious,  surely it stained?  Not so, assured the assistant who claimed it had undergone a rigorous ‘white shirt’ test by the development team. How to apply? Like talc. Step too far for me, so I opted instead for the solid bar ‘Aromaco’ which works by tightening the pores rather than blocking them with aluminum like other deos. I bought a giant block and went home.

Three months later and that block remains.  Not because I don’t use it but because it’s unbelievably long lasting. A soft, solid, creamy lotion bar that glides on, doesn’t irritate the skin and leaves clothes stain free. Another bonus is that you can cut it into smaller, portable portions too. As I swim in the mornings, I cut a slice off the main block and put it in and old mint tin wrapped in some paper. This too is still also only half used (what is this trickery?!) In result,  the only slight downside is that the outside of the main block is a little dried out and hard, but a quick scrape with a knife reveals the still creamy lotion underneath. So all good really. If I ever use it up I might try the powder next time to test which is stronger, so watch the space.

nine. Solid Shampoo

On a bad day, I walk into my bathroom and see an anti-eco armoury: plastic bottles, beaded scrubs, chemical sprays. Pow pow pow – take that waterways! Then on the good days I find solutions. Solutions to decommission these beauty bombs. May I introduce solution number nine, solid shampoo.

There are two main considerations when choosing an environmentally friendly shampoo, a) is it sulphate free or b) plastic packaging free? Sulphates are the grease removers, indeed they were originally used as an engine cleaner, and so while being good at lifting grease from our hair, are also linked to skin irritation and other chemical nastiness.  Plastic packaging, well, it uses oil, doesn’t break down for hundreds of years or in a way that is helpful for our environment and even when recycled is one of the most persistently polluting materials around, so shampoo bottles are also not that great. Makes shopping for an eco shampoo a tad difficult. In the end, I saw plastic as the bigger enemy and opted for a solid shampoo bar from Lush.

The benefits of my beloved shampoo bar are many, and one is even about sulphates. Rather than the abrasive sodium lauryl sulfate, the newer shampoos are beginning to be replaced by the gentler sodium coco-sulphate derived from coconuts, so says the website. Also, it is incredibly economical; being a concentrated solid bar you can get 100+ washes – mine has lasted 3 months already with more to go. With each bar lasting longer than three bottles of liquid shampoo, it prevents unnecessary waste in manufacture, transport and disposal, saving tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere and countless birds and sea creatures from the dangers of the plastic soup swilling in our oceans. This fact that it is plastic free instead coming in its own nifty little tin, is definitely a winning point for me. It means it is also great for travel in hand luggage, no 100ml liquid limitation, hurrah! My solid shampoo even got the seal of approval from another tester whilst it came on holiday with me to Barcelona. It is around £6, long lasting, smells good, leaves my hair feeling great, all in all, fantastic!  So eco tip number nine of fifty two, ditch the plastic and switch to solid.

What do you shampoo with? Have you tried any homemade products? Perhaps you’re an advocate of the no’poo method? Comments below.

eight. Reuse your glass

No more milk bottles, Dairy Crest announced on Monday. It was one of the smaller pieces of Eco news in the week where the Climate summit in NY kicked off and thousands took part in the Waste Less Live More Challenge. I admit, I’m sad; milk bottles represented all that is good about the ‘reuse’ mindset. Cleaned, washed, refilled, repeat; a classic example of the responsible product cycle we hear so much of now. Anyway, it reminded me how much value I get from using my own jars, so eco tip eight, “reuse your glass.”

Jars are glorious, I use them for my homemade pestos, for a quick shake salad dressing and even for some outdoor candles. I know those on the zero waste lifestyle carry jars for water or a snack. Those eco friends who shun plastic use glass for its non-leeching non-toxic properties and of course. They can be easily recycled, melted down and remoulded. And of course, they’re beautiful! Anyone who has tried to reuse a jar knows that the most tedious part is getting rid of the sticky label glue. I have tried nail polish remover, lemon and salt and a good old fashioned scrubber with little success but after some experimenting, I now have the answer!

Fear the residue no more folks, a simple mix of bicarbonate of soda and equal parts oil applied for 15mins and wiped off with a cloth gives crystal clear jars- hurrah! Give the jars a good wash to get rid of the oil and you can paint, wrap, draw, fill, use them in whatever way your heart so desires.

How do you use your jars? What’s your favourite thing to fill them with? Drop me a comment below.

seven. All Hail the Pressure Cooker

No longer the sputtering, hissing, whooshing, whirring, potentially explosive pot it was in the fifties, the once feared pressure cooker is now revered by top chefs across the country. Thanks Heston. Famed for its flavoursome stocks and speedy stews, it is time that the pressure cooker also gained recognition for its decidely eco credentials. So we come to item seven in the list, all hail the pressure cooker.

I’ll admit it now, when I heard that you could rustle up a risotto in seven minutes,  I was sold. Of course, I debated with the idea of a slow cooker which promised to have my dinner ready and waiting after a long commute, but ultimately I couldn’t get my mind or stomach on board with the idea of cooking my dinner before my breakfast. Last minute evening plans, late lunches, dash to the corner shop for an ingredient, these are all changes possible with the pressure cooker but not so much its slow counterpart making it a much more practical choice. Having had my cooker for almost a year now, I have become something of a die hard fan. It fits in well with eco efforts so here are my top three reasons to cheer for pressure cookers.

1) Energy efficient – once it is up to pressure you turn the ring right down to low and let it sit for a very short time before your food is ready. It generally takes a third of the normal cooking time; tender irish stew in around 30 minutes, what’s not to like?
2) Water reduction – because of the steam and pressure, recipies require a good deal less water than usual, which helps for those watching their water as well as their carbon footprint.
3) Vegetarian friendly – while the pressure cooker is perfect for tough cuts of meat, so too is it perfect for dried peas, beans and lentils without the rigmarole of soaking. We all know how much more environmentally friendly a vegetarian diet is and the pressure cooker is a helpful step in that direction.

Final points, there are some good pressure cooker recipie books out there, particularly Catherine Phipps’ which changed my life, or certainly my waistband, with its recipie for pressure cooked cheesecake! Also, I plugged for a midrange Prestige which does a great job, but if I had a few extra pennies would have gone for a Kuhn Rikon with the higher pressure of 15psi as I have to add on 1 minute for every ten in most recipies.

Are you part of the pressure cooking club? Any tips, recipies? Maybe you prefer to slow cook in your crock pot? Drop me a comment below.

six. Liberate your Groceries

For Zero Waste Week, I pledged zero food waste + food packaging waste. Having had some practice in the former, my bin was food free. As for the packaging, well I hadn’t counted on what a monumental task going free would be. Though success was limited (and I take failure badly) I have learned some valuable lessons. I shall share them here for tip number six, liberate your groceries.

It started at noon on a Saturday with a spring in my step and ended in tears in Sainsburys at five o’clock. Step one, plan a menu with packaging in mind. I went for a high veg approach as it is one of the easiest to buy pkg free. This meant low on meat, in case the butcher wouldn’t be on board with a bring-their-own-box customer. It also meant low on dairy, especially my favourite, greek yoghurt. Then, of course, it dawned on me that, step two the easiest way to be package free is to DIY it and make your own. Dedication required,  but doable. In this case making yoghurt required milk, but alas that too comes in plastic. Luckily, I remembered a fellow blogger who wrote about Whole Foods milk refill service. This coupled with the fact they also do loose dry goods meant I packed up my containers and headed on my merry way to the nearest Whole Foods. Readers, please note that Whole Foods in Camden does not do milk refills or any loose food other than veg. Not to be foiled, I took a bus across London to Maida Vale where a a dry goods store I’ve been meaning to go to for some time resides. I arrive but it is closed. Sad times. Feeling decidedly dejected, and the growing panic of a looming dinner deadline, it was retreat to Sainsburys. I am sorry.

As I sat on the bus I consoled myself with the idea that I could still go package free at the meat, cheese and bread counters. Ha ha, the plastic gods laugh in my face! Every single piece of cheese, even the whole wheels, were constrained in cling. The meat counter insisted on giving my ribs a plastic cloak. Even the bakery bread wore plastic perforated suits. Only the fruit & veg was naked, as nature intended.  It seems that what we really need are all the specialist shops, butchers, bakers candlestick makers  back on our high street so we can avoid tge plague of plastic.

Please give it a try or please give me some tips. All help gratefully received.

five. Food Storage

Mason jars, winners of the glass world on looks and on function. Cling film and tin foil, the ugly single-use stepsisters. Part of reducing food waste (a massive methane contributor) is about storing food to best preserve it, and so, tip number five this week is about food storage. Including a crafty tutorial!

Goodbye clingfilm

When I moved into my tiny rented patch of land in London, my mother, in congratulations, posted over shower caps. Hmm? Further investigation revealed, however, that these were not designed to atop the human head but to atop my ceramic bowls and plates and thus call off the inglorious wrestling match with the clingfilm. Hooray! I became rather enamoured with these elasticated beauties and decided to find out other reusable wrapping methods. 

Beeswax wrap anyone? Breathable cotton wrap that can be contorted into all manner of spectacular shapes to cover and preserve your food. The YouTube videos are definitely worth a watch. Abeego and Bee’s Wrap seem to popular brands. I haven’t included a link though because you can’t get them in Britain, unless you’re up for the shipping fee of $15. Though an unfortunate turn in events, it did not foil (no pun intended) my wrapping plans. I made some!  An old cotton tea towel,
some beeswax pellets, an oven and a spare 7 minutes. It works a treat and can be folded into a little package to pop your sarnie in. Some sensitive noses online claim to detect an after aroma of beeswax but in my survey, all was smell free. If you are craftily inclined, please see below for instructions.

Food Storage: The Usual Suspects

So how else should we store our food glorious food? Here are some of the usual suspects that quickly turn when we’re not looking. In the line up:

Avocado – so delicious but so suddenly brown and slimy, NOT if you store it in a sealable container with half a sliced onion though. The sulphur in the onion prevents the ‘browning’ enzyme polyphenol from reacting with the air. Thank you science.
Mushrooms – in a paper bag in the fridge where its humid so they won’t dry out but won’t get slimy either.
Potatoes – green horns no more in a hessian sack, which is breathable but dark; I’ve seen an old pillowcase in action for this as well. Onions are also like these conditions.
Cheese – special cheese paper is the best for this as it protects your wedge from the air while allowing it to breathe. Otherwise wrap it in greaseproof and put in a plastic bag. If you want to splash the cash there is special cheesebox at Lakeland with a microfilter membrane which a relative tells me is ‘the biz’.
Carrots – the secret to a crisp carrot is store them in a bowl of cold water in the fridge. Works for celery too.

How do you store your veg to keep them fresh? Any other rotters for the usual suspects line up? Drop me a comment below.

Beeswax Wrap DIY

1) Cut your cotton fabric to desired sizes.

2) Line a sided tray with foil, lay the fabric on top, sprinkle over beeswax pellets, aim for an even spread, especially at sides.

3) Put in a low oven 130C for 5-7 mins.
4) Don some rubber gloves, take it out of the oven, lift and lay over a wire hanger to dry. Do this quickly because the fabric is hot and dries quickly.
5) Any areas in need of a little extra waxing, put some more pellets on and put it back in the oven.

Done. Mold, wrap and enjoy!

four. Meal Planning

Momentum is gathering for Zero Waste Week, 1st-7th September, and what with food waste continuing to grab headlines it seems appropriate to talk about one solution for reducing this, and that solution is, meal planning.

Time strapped young professionals across London, I feel your collective wince. I assure you though that it is not the arduous task you fear and I have 5 top tips to help guide you through to meal-planning nirvana.

1. Stock check – although we have the best of intentions to use up all food from the last shop, let’s face it, it doesn’t always happen. So check the cupboards and salad drawer first and you can plan a meal that uses up these odds and ends; pasta surprise anyone?
2. Calendar check – who will be in/out/late/lost etc on which day? Who will be cooking and what do they like/are able to cook? Will it need to be a reheatable meal for latecomers? Is it worth doing extra for lunch the next day. Questions, questions.
3. Inspiration hunt – after the interrogation comes the fun part, perusing recipies. Beautiful pictures of oozing, dripping, glistening food; keep a tissue handy. Books, magazines, blogs, pins, whatever you like, gather them up. Keep in mind the things needing used up from your stock check, these come first in the week. Increasing the number of vegetarian meals is also an eco friendly move (see my post on Meat Free Mondays). Personally, I like to use my “food flashcards” for creative inspiration (see below).
4. Order & Shop – recipies gathered, then comes the ordering, that is, those meals with ingredients likely to go off first come first in the week. The rest of the ordering should keep in mind the who’s, what’s and when’s of the calendar check. The shopping list is a thing of greatness, it protects you from the impulsive and unnecessary, a protective knight of the round dinner table. I list the items in order of which aisles I encounter first to last making it super speedy.
5. Critique & Keep – unleash your inner food critic and ammend the recipes accordingly. Then keep them. Keeping the plans and/or shopping lists is a useful time saving resource for future meals and jogs the memory when leaky brain syndrome hits.

And there you go. Welcome to meal planning nirvana.

The Food Flashcards
These cards came about out of a desire for variety. When trying to avoid food waste it often means having to use up, for example, more potatoes than the one recipie you had really wanted them for. So before they grow their little green horns they can be used in their various tasty guises; mash, roast, bombay, wedges, jackets, loaded skins etc and all to avoid tastebud boredom.

So this book of study cards has a variety of sections.
A. Seasonal Veg – the months are written on one side and the veg in season on the other, flash!
B. Carbs – rice, pasta, breads, pastry, grains, starchy veg, pulses & beans. Again, various types of e.g. bread (naan, flat bread, pittas etc) are written on the back.
C. Meat – if you’re so inclined, categorised as above.
D. Country – style of cuisine, e.g. French, Scandi, Thai, Japanese, Spanish etc. Here, the humble butternut squash can here go from Thailand in a vegetarian green curry, to France in a galette and all other manner of incarnations. Hooray for variety!

Rice and its incarnations

three. BYOB of Water

After Downton’s #waterbottlegate, Harry Styles public reprimand for brushing his teeth while leaving the tap running in a scene from his music video as well as the serious and prolonged drought in Calfornia, it seems a case of ‘water, water everywhere….’ And so we timely arrive at number three in the eco tips list, ‘BYOB of water.’

We all know the importance of hydration for our health but when that involves a disposable plastic bottle, it is bad for the health of our planet. Using oil that would heat 190,000 homes for a year to make these disposable plastic bottles, then to be filled from a plain old tap rather some special volcanic mountains and, unbelievably, often in water stressed areas if in America, for then only 1 in 5 water bottles to be recycled with the rest waiting thousands of years to break down in a hole somewhere, or worse, endlessly swirling around the great pacific garbage patch, well, it all seems a bit of a scam (see this video) And no one likes to be scammed. So I choose the cheaper, tastier tap and BMOB.

Water is increasingly seen as the new carbon in terms of resouce importance, and with less than 2% freshwater on the planet, changing rain and snowfall patterns as well as population increase, water is something we could all pay a little more attention to. Helpfully, a water footprint, like a carbon footprint, has been created and we can measure how much water goes into the production of certain items. Wine has a greater water footprint than beer and chocolate is a veritable Bigfoot using 20 times more water than cane sugar, for example. There are useful infographs available, like the one here, or the virtual water app, which is good but, in my opinion, not sure it’s worth the £1.49 when similar to the free e – water footprint, but both could do with expanding their range of items and make their apps available on android, then it would be brill!

London, my present home-sweet-home is a ‘severely water stressed’ area, so with demands exceeding availability we always face potential restrictions. Before any future hosepipe bans come into play again(not that my studio flat has a hosepipe), we can all still get ahead of the game and start reducing our water footprints. Here are some easy things I do:
As an avid tea drinker, make sure you only boil the kettle for the amount you need. If you’re a fan of coffee perhaps consider swapping one cup o’joe with an earl of gray which has a smaller water footprint. Also, this applies to boiling the kettle for anything, use the goldilocks amount.
Plug it, everytime. Washing dishes, your face, even your teeth because that way you can see how much, how quickly, gargles down the drain. It’s a habit, love your plug.
We’re all experts at the early morning shower dash but try timing it, it should be no more than four minutes. Keep the shaving for the sink, plugged of course. There are even Thames Water freebies – I eagerly await my new shower head!
Most importantly, BYOB with you to avoid those thirst-purchases of disposable plastic bottles. If you’re in the market for one I suggest the stainless steel (avoid aluminium) ‘Give Me Tap‘ water bottle, which funds sustainable water projects in Africa and has an app with loads of places in the city which offer free tap top ups. I would love one but already have a Brita after losing a Bobble and can’t justify another though the poor health reports on plastic might persuade me yet.

Do you bring your own bottle? What prevents people from drinking tap or bringing their own? Drop me a comment below.

Other sources:
Local Calfornian’s pictures reminding us that #ourdroughtisreal here.
Explanation of the water footprint for the business minded here.
United Nations Water factsheet posters for the visually minded.
A useful article on the future of our water: Nature’s Silent Currency

extra. Skip Garden KX

In an effort to up my meat-free game (see post two) I’ve been moseying around the city searching for some good veggie eats. Happy days are yours and mine, I’ve found the best of a good bunch for lunch at Skip Garden!
All food served in the cafe comes from the veg grown on site, behind Granary Sq King’s Cross, in giant moveable skips. Skips. A nice bit of playful repurposing. A subtle reminder of the food too often thrown in skips and celebration of the resilence of nature, for me at least. The garden is open for visitors to explore and being the obliging kind, I poked around and passed all manner of green veg, tall vines of plump tomatoes and what I can only call a ‘fruit canopy’.

Not only a tasty little cafe but also a social enterprise which teaches local children how to be sustainable, grow, cook, market and sell the bounty from the skips. The day I popped in there were some talented teens basket weaving; quite fancied a go myself! Friendly neighbouring restaurants, and personal favourites, Caravan and the Granary, also buy and use the veg grown there. Hooray! For all these reasons I am a big fan of Skip Garden, not least for that sweet sour rubarb tart on a little tin plate that keeps me coming back. It’s like camping, in a lush oasis full of skips, but so much better than that sounds. Please go and check it out some sunny day this summer and let me know of any other hidden vegetarian gems I should hunt out.

Sources: More info on Skip Garden and the social enterprise site Global Generation can be found starting here
Photo of location was papped from free maps of the area in the visitors centre, worth a look.