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Now, I know I’m not the most eco person out there. But I’m trying.

I can’t drive, which helps, and I’ve done all the obvious things like always carrying canvas bags and taking a water bottle to work. I thought that if I wanted to make a dent on all the plastic I throw out on a yearly basis, the best things to target are the things I throw out on the daily.

All of the plastic free replacements I’m suggesting should be pretty accessible for most to buy in normal shops. I don’t really see the point of buying a jar of plastic free toothpaste that looks and tastes like dirt online, if it’s going to come in a poly pocket you can’t recycle. Jus’ sayin’.

Handwash

I haven’t bought a bottle of hand soap since we moved in October. It’s been a really easy swap. Bars of soap are cheaper than bottles of handwash and last for such a longggg time.

If you think about a bottle of soap with a pump, you can recycle the bottle, but you have to bin the pump. Even if you’re buying cheaper hand soap that still comes in cellophane, the volume of single-use plastic you’re swapping is pretty substantial.

I know the next step is to swap over my shampoo and shower gel for solid versions, but I’m still too attached to them for the time being.

Milk bottles

This is going to sound weird, but I HATE buying milk. Firstly, I don’t really drink milk because I don’t have hot drinks. Of the 2 litre plastic bottle we used to buy a week, only a splash of it is actually used by me.

Despite it being my tea addict boyfriend using the milk, it’s usually me who goes to the shop to buy it. I don’t mind the cost as it comes out of our joint account, and it’s pretty cheap (maybe too cheap). I just hate CARRYING it.

No your eyes aren’t deceiving you, it’s not the 1950s. I am now being visited by the milkman.

I signed up to Milk & More. The deal is, you type in your postcode and it’ll tell you the days of the week your milkman delivers. Mine does Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

You then choose the milk you want, how much, and how often. I just get plain old semi-skimmed and it’s 81p a pint. When you compare it to the price of supermarket milk, it’s a lot of money. 4 pints in Aldi is £1.09, and 4 pints from Milk & More would be £3.24, so it’s triple the price.

HOWEVER, if you compare it to the cost of one supermarket pint (49p) it’s less than double. I get one pint, three times a week, and that includes delivery. I really don’t think £2.43 a week to never run out of milk is that bad.

You can edit or cancel your order online by 9 pm on the evening before each delivery. They promise it’ll be at your door by 7 am, so I can get it in the fridge before work. They pick up your empty bottles to reuse, just leave them outside!

Face wipes

It’s been a longggg time since I used a face wipe to remove my makeup. I was at uni when I first realised the 2 for £1 jobbies I was buying were making my face burn. As well as being terrible for your skin, they’re also horrible for your plumbing and the environment!

I now use a cream cleanser, it’s much better for my skin. You can read my review of two at either end of the price scale on my beauty blog. I choose to use a flannel with them, but they usually come with a muslin cloth.

I use the muslins to wipe my kitchen surfaces – no waste here!

Cat food pouches

Lola is my baby. She eats two non-recyclable pouches of cat food a day.

I’m going to attempt to transition her onto tinned food. It’s working okay so far, but I have no idea if it’ll stick! Tinned cat food is cheaper than pouches, the red tray on the right is 21p in Aldi, I get a box of 40 Felix pouches for £10.49 in B&M, and 40 Aldi meals would be £8.40. Bigger tins are even cheaper, even branded versions are half the price by weight vs pouches.

What do you think? Do you have any other ideas for how to cut back on single use plastic?