Posts from the “Less Waste” Category

Just don’t waste – Sir David Attenborough

Posted on January 29, 2020

The amazing Sir David Attenborough gave us the very simple message of “Just don’t waste!” a couple of months ago at the BBC launch of the series “Seven Worlds, One Planet”. Here is what he said. …the best motto to think about is not waste things. Don’t waste electricity, don’t waste paper, don’t waste food. Live the way you want to live but just don’t waste. Look after the natural world, and the animals in it, and the plants in it too. This is their planet as well as ours. Don’t waste them. It’s such a beautiful summary of the sentiment behind the Use 10 Percent Less initiative. Modern life is very wasteful and we have been getting more and more wasteful, and more…

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Categories: Less Waste

Tagged: consumerism, environment, sustainability

Disposable Batteries – what a waste!

Posted on January 11, 2020

Disposable batteries obviously increase pollution and use up the Earth’s resources, but there’s really very little need for them. Rechargeable batteries are so good these days that it must actually be very close to the point where disposable batteries should be banned. I’ve been using rechargeable batteries for almost everything for 3+ years now, and they work well. There’s no need for disposable batteries. First experience with rechargeable batteries The first time I really looked at using rechargeable batteries was to power the external flash unit of a new Canon camera that I bought. The external flash unit took four AA batteries and I did a bit of research to see what professional photographers used for this purpose and I came across Eneloop…

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Categories: Less Pollution, Less Waste, Recycling

Tagged: battery, packaging

250 potatoes

Posted on December 22, 2019

I was watching a episode of “Countryfile” on BBC television a few weeks ago (Nov 10th, 2019, it was their Autumn Special, originally aired on Nov 3rd, 2019) and was stunned to learn a surprising fact about 250 potatoes. Let me explain. First, the programme showed a farmer who was cultivating his field with a large tractor with a large array of angled, metallic discs behind it, rapidly cutting through the soil and turning it over. Across the whole farm and as far as I could see, there was only bare soil that had been turned or was about to be turned. I was wondering what happens to any wildlife in the soil when this tractor comes through slicing everything up and why nature…

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Categories: Less Waste, Nature

Tagged: alcohol, environment, farming

Toothbrushes and plastic

Posted on November 12, 2019

I received this question from a friend, and it got me thinking about toothbrushes again. “I’m trying to buy some plastic free toothbrushes. Have come across a number of options. Just wondered if you had done any research on this that you may want to share. Also wondered if you could help me with the difference between “nylon -6” biodegradable bristles and “nylon – 4”. Sounds like a con to me as nylon and biodegradable is surely an oxymoron.” I haven’t really thought about toothbrushes for some time, ever since I started using a Monte Bianco toothbrush that I bought about 6 years ago now. It’s not that I’ve been using the same toothbrush for that length of time, but it’s because the toothbrush…

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Categories: Less Pollution, Less Waste

Tagged: nylon, plastic, toothbrush

Do less to save the planet

Posted on September 23, 2019

This title might sound like it’s contradictory to the theme of this blog, but it’s actually a fun play on words. I have to thank Tom Hodgkinson for the title. It’s all about the fact that just “doing less” will help save the planet. We do so many things that require more and more energy, so indeed there is considerable merit in the concept of aiming to do less to save the planet. I first cam in contact with Tom Hodgkinson several years ago when I read his book “How to be idle” (see www.lifeintherightdirection.com/how-to-be-idle). It’s a good book and really opened my mind to the consideration that we don’t have to be doing things all the time and that there can be merit…

Cashew Nuts – signs we need to change

Posted on September 9, 2019

This short news video from France 24 shows us what’s behind the cashew nuts we casually munch on in our comfortable homes. It immediately made me think that we need to reduce our overall consumption and use less. We consume things that appear cheap, and hence not so important, even though they can have severe effects on people we don’t normally see. Unfortunately, I can only find this video on a Facebook site, so I can’t link it properly into this page. To watch the video, follow this link (or look at the static screenshots below); http://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=382690935702720 While I was watching it, I saved a number of screen shots which I’ve posted below in the order of the video, so you can get the…

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Categories: Less Waste

It’s Not all Rose Gold Straws and The Perfect Pantry

Posted on August 7, 2019

Today we have a guest writer, Abi Jarvis, talking about some of her advice for using less. I find Abi inspirational. She’s a young person who’s really showing us all the way and I’m glad that she’s been able to write this post for us. Until I saw her post, I’d never heard of “Rose Gold Straws and The Perfect Pantry“, so I’ve been further educated by Abi. Many thanks. Peter. It’s Not all Rose Gold Straws and The Perfect Pantry By Abi Jarvis First, I would like to start with – THERE IS NO PERFECT WAY OF DOING THIS. Whether you’re lucky enough to live near a zero waste bulk buy food shop or not, whether you don’t have time to pre-make your…

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Categories: Less Pollution, Less Waste, Recycling

Tagged: plastic, sustainability

Ironing – why do we do that?

Posted on May 19, 2019

Have you ever stopped to think why we do ironing? Why do we iron and press our clothes? I’m sure you’re all thinking that it’s because we need to get the wrinkles and creases out. Sure, but why is that important? Why is that we are not acceptable human beings if our clothing isn’t pressed? Surely this is just a symbol of status and it’s quite ridiculous. If we didn’t have to iron and press our clothes, we’d actually be using less of the worlds resources; we wouldn’t be wasting energy (mostly electricity) on heating up irons we wouldn’t have to make irons (mostly made in far away countries, using metals and plastics, then wrapped in plastic and a box and then shipped all…

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Categories: Less Pollution, Less Waste

Tagged: sustainability

Soap without plastic

Posted on January 31, 2019

It’s hard to avoid plastic in general in today’s world, and it’s especially hard to find soap without plastic. Somehow, we’ve managed to convince ourselves that soap comes from the factories of large corporations and comes in disposable, plastic, pump-action bottles. That’s crazy! Soap is actually pretty simple stuff and you can definitely buy it without the need for any plastic. We should all really get our soap without plastic pollution as part of the transaction. I’m glad to see that more and more soaps are available in packaging that does not include plastic. It is possible to buy soap without plastic. All that’s needed is for the soap to be wrapped inside some paper and put in a simple cardboard box. Not even…

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Categories: Less Pollution, Less Waste

Tagged: packaging, plastic, soap

Compostable Crisp Packets

Posted on December 26, 2018

We don’t think about crisp packets too often do we? We just enjoy the crisps, without realising that almost all crisp packets are not recyclable and will end up in landfill (or worse!) for a very long time. The good news is that a British company called Two Farmers has come up with a way of creating compostable crisp packets, which is fantastic, and they taste great too! Compostable Crisp Packets It’s amazing that a small start-up company in the UK has been able to beat all the big manufacturers to a compostable crisp packet. Amazing, but understandable. We’ll see later what’s really going on here. On the Two Farmers website, they say this about their compostable crisp packets (I have no affiliation with Two…

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Categories: Less Pollution, Less Waste, Recycling

Tagged: packaging, plastic, sustainability