My update on our "zero single use plastic packaging goal" for January is long overdue, but here you have it! What were the greatest challenges? How did we overcome them? And what did we learn from it in hindsight? All this will be revealed!
Biggest challenges and how we met them
I think the most honest answer here is to say that when you want to zero waste your grocery shopping, freakin' errathang is a challenge. There were so many things that we were used to buying in our local supermarket or even in the organic neighbourhood shop that we couldn't buy anymore. Everything from cheese over nuts, to meat, to vegetarian bread spreads comes in a plastic packaging! The first step we took was of course choosing to buy products from other brands which used a glass jar instead of plastic cup where possible (e.g. yoghurt, bread spreads).
A second step was not making the same mistake twice and taking my own re-usable plastic containers to the supermarket and kindly request the lady behind the cheese and meat counter to put my purchases in there instead of their own single use plastic containers and plastic lined paper. I did feel uncomfortable asking (I'm always afraid that I'm being a nuisance to people), but luckily they were used to this request at Bio-Planet and were glad to oblige. Naturally I also took my own bags with me for fruits and veggies, something that we already did before (that is if we remembered).
And a third step was making a trip to plastic-free store Ohne when we started to run out of pasta, raisins and quinoa (we always have quite a big stock of these things, so it was already near the end of the month). This again was quite an adventure for me and I still need to figure out which jars are containers are best suited for which foods, but all in all I'd say it went quite well! The store is super nearby to my weekly yoga teacher training class, so I don't have to make a huge effort to get there which is nice.
Some epic fails...
Now since this is starting to sound like one big succes story, honesty compells me to include some epic fails as well. When did we not manage to stick to our goal? Well, there was the slight difficulty with cat food. So far I have not been able to find plastic free wrapped cat munchies, since Miss Mirabelle is not impressed by canned catfood, but prefers a fancy paté wrapped in small plastic bags ro dry catfood. We could have to decided to put Miss Mirabelle on a diet of canned tuna for the month, which she likes as well, so I'm sure she wouldn't have minded, but it would have become quite expensive I dare say!
And then, a very difficult moment was when I went to visit my mom in Italy and I had to eat something at the airport. My flight left around noon so, it was choosing between either trying to survive on my breakfast 'till a quarter past two (which I positively couldn't without getting nauseous) or buying a plastic wrapped sandwhich. I chose the latter.
Major take-aways
I guess that what we learned from it, is that even though it does require some change of attitude and sometimes some extra "stops" to get all your groceries, the effort that you have to put in is actually really not that big. My beau and I both feel that since we managed it for a month, we must be able to make a lasting change in our habits. Does that mean there will never be flaws in our shopping pattern? Certainly not, in fact I mean to buy several pieces of plastic wrapped feta next time I go shopping (I haven't found it yet in a plastic-free form), but I will keep on choosing products which are wrapped in other materials or packaging free when I can find them.
February goal
And then for this month's goal, I'm planning on zero-wasting my feminine hygiene. I already invested in a cup (still have to try it out though and since I've heard some good and some bad about it, I'm pretty excited/anxious), but I still have to order Thinx undies and maybe check out some washable panty liners. Stay tuned!
