Avoiding Useless Waste - Canvas Bags

It's easy. It's simple. It's plain reckless not to do it. Taking your own re-useable bags to your local countdown, new world, pak n' save or wherever else you buy groceries. I'd like to say this has become the norm. It hasn't. The majority of people still turn up to the supermarket once a week without their own bags and in turn put another 20 plastic bags into our local landfill weekly. 

The energy to create a re-usable bag is estimated to be equivalent to the energy to create 28 plastic bags. Therefore to have any environmental impact you need to use your re-usable bag 28 times, is that right? Wrong. If you can use your own old fabric to create shopping bags out of, then each time you use your bag you are stopping another plastic bag from being used. Fantastic. Making you own bags is easy. Use some old fabric, sew a couple of seams up, and voila you have a bag that you can use and use and use again.

Wine in a homemade bag, made from an old couch throw.

A lot of people seem to think that bringing their own bag is a hassle and not worth the effort. The reality is, If everyone used their own bags instead of plastic we would be producing far less waste than we currently do. Leave your bags in the car, and use them again each time you shop.

If I just sound like a random blogger whining about plastic bags, watch the video below and then see if you are swayed.

As Tim Minchin says "Do something drastic to rid the world of plastic". On a side note, I'd also like to discourage the purchase of fruit and veg that is wrapped in styro-foam and plastic. Is there anything more unnatural that we could do to disguise the things we consume?

http://www.radionz.co.nz/assets/news/41893/eight_col_1M1A4336.jpg?1435123100

I know that sometimes it is hard to refuse a plastic bag, and sometimes your things are bagged before you have a chance to refuse; in situations like these, it isn't worth the hassle to make a scene and draw unwanted attention to yourself. Instead, take the bag, but use it. Make sure its life is one of use.

Don't just bin it, there are heaps of things plastic bags can be used for, it can store your loose belongings, like jigsaw pieces, or lego. It can be used to store fruit, or used as a means of battering your potatoes and other veg in tasty herbs and spices. And of course, it can house other pieces of rubbish, I admit it, I still bin things, what else do I do with all of that belly-button fluff? An old plastic bag can still do good if it contains other objects that are inevitably headed toward the landfill.

Plastic bag as a rubbish liner, to contain all other waste.

If you  have read my manifesto you'll know that I am an advocate for buying good stuff. Believe it or not plastic can be good stuff. Using lunchbox quality plastics can be more beneficial to the environment than using cheap plastics that will crack, shatter, and be thrown away.

At chinese fast-food outlets the plastic that your chow mein comes in is rubbish. One use and it is bust; but lunchbox plastics bought at any supermarket could last more than a decade with the right care.

Good re-useable lunchbox, containing porridge for breakfast.

I have recently been suggested the idea that instead of using plastics from a chinese fast food store, or even the plastic at supermarket pick n mix, I should instead take my own containers and keep on re-using those.

A decent plastic container can be used for many things. I use them to hold my lunch, to store foods, and objects around the house, and recently for even more sustainable food shopping. Of course they are only a great tool so long as they do not break; a lot of love must go into all items, even plastics to ensure that they survive a long time.

As my birthday is approaching in less than a month I have naturally thought of a few gift ideas. One of the items on my wish list is a guitar pick cutter which cuts old credit-cards into guitar picks. Brilliant way to give a piece of plastic some new life. Especially seeing as I am always losing picks. This nifty item will save on pick costs, enable some creative license when deciding on my pick colouring, and breathe new life into the many expired credit cards which nowadays people chow through.

http://www.pickmaster.co.uk/

Lastly this week I am to talk about something somewhat disappointing to a Wellingtonian like myself. The Wellington Hurricanes were favourites to beat the Otago Highlanders in the Rugby Super 15 final. As I am not the gambling man the  extent of my wager was that the winning team decided the beer that would fill my next crate. The bottles that make up a crate are a brilliant example of re-use that is not only environmentally sustainable, but also economically friendly. The first time you buy a crate of beer you pay an extra 5 dollars for your crate and bottles, every other time after that you are saving money by swapping the bottles in. These bottles in turn just get sterilized and then refilled with beer. As my team lost my next refill will be a southerners drink. Speights.

Make your empties go another round.