In my mission to reduce my plastic use I called some friends and we set up a group called plastic free Nelson.
My first task was to go on a search of the Nelson market and the supermarkets …..I wanted honey so I asked the woman at the honey stall at Nelson market to sell me honey in a glass bottle…..next week she came to the market with glass bottles..http://mountainvalleyhoney.co.nz
Then I asked the miso man to sell me miso in glass jar……I took him a glass jar and he filled it for me….http://miso.co.nz
Then I wanted to buy dishwashing soap — but that was a challenge…..I went to the organic greengrocer but it cost more to refill my bottle than buy a full bottle from the supermarket…! so I wrote to http://www.ecostore.co.nz and they wrote back saying they are using renewable sugar cane plastic…… a step in the right direction……
Still having rubbish to throw away and not wanting to use plastic bags I wrote to the Nelson council and many emails later they have invited me to go in and talk to them….. however in my search I discovered that biodegradable bags are not the way forward either — they get into landfills and break down and release masses of methane — not a good look…..but if we can persuade council to have road side green waste collection that will apparently reduce landfills by some massive % …….any thoughts would be great on this please……
I know this feels painfully slow but many years ago when I worked in hospitals I was the only veggie — Id go to different hospitals and ask for a veggie meal — the chef was invariably Indian and a vegetarian also….Id get this amazing veggie curry…… all my friends soon were asking for the same and when I returned 10 yrs later the most popular dish was the veggie option…….all starts small……