The Plastic Crisis Wrapped Up
Plastic, particularly single-use plastic is one of the biggest environmental challenges we face. I know many of us will have made some positive changes in our lives, reusing plastic shopping bags, for example, or shunning them totally and using cloth bags instead. But so much more needs to be done. And if you want to start shopping like an eco warrior, reducing plastic, in general, should be your number one priority. I'm Emma Heathcote-James founder of the multi award-winning, certified B Corporation 'Little Soap Company', which created the challenger brand 'Eco Warrior'. In this episode, we will drill down on what's wrong with plastic and what we can do to reduce it. You may well be shocked to learn how many unnecessary plastics and microplastics lurk in your home. But help is at hand, as I reveal some brilliant alternatives. We can't explore the issues and solutions without examining the facts. I'm sorry to throw so many stats at you but bear with me as these are really important. Globally, 380 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year. 91% of this plastic is not recycled. Plastic can take hundreds even 1000s of years to break down. And millions of animals across nearly 700 species are killed or affected by plastic through entanglement, strangulation or blocking their digestive systems. 80 billion plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles are thrown out globally each year. And we know that only 50% of bathroom waste gets recycled compared to 90% of waste in the kitchen. The shocking statistics are the reason why we must simply reduce the amount of plastic. And we can and must all do something about it. You might be thinking, why is it down to consumers? It should be the manufacturers, the retailers, business leaders and governments who should take responsibility. It should be they who enforce brands to use different materials and reduce plastic packaging. And you're right, they should do all these things. But the problem is plastic is cheap, is durable, and it's practical. And right now, there's very little incentive for big brands to switch to something else if they can get away with using cheaper materials that make for bigger margins and profit. Now I'm never one to wait around for others to take action. We can all make small changes, and by voting with our wallets put pressure on the big boys to change as well. Here lies the importance of choosing planet over profit. Over 600 UK businesses are certified B Corporations, which is brilliant. But it's not yet enough. As a B Corp we take the right action, not the easy one. Now there is some good news and some great examples of progress. Technological advances have been made in science, engineering and product development; Clever people are working on alternatives to plastic and there's already a lot of them around. Some examples of corn and potato starch; bamboo is also a fantastic renewable resource and mycelium from mushrooms. As a society, we've now rejected certain single-use plastic items. Plastic straws have become unacceptable and very quickly, innovation has led to alternatives becoming the trend such as paper straws and reusable metal straws. The introduction of the charge has seen a phenomenal 95% reduction in plastic bag usage and disposal. And there are non-plastic alternatives to loads of everyday household products. But consumers need to know about them. We all need to support them and buy them because until the alternatives become the mainstream, we still have too much plastic. Do you know how many plastics are lurking undetected in your home? Plastic bags are obvious plastic packaging on food and other products also obvious, but let's break this down. And for now, just consider your bathroom the tiniest room in your house. But one way you really can make a few small tweaks that will make a massive difference. Let's consider your bathroom sink. How many plastic toothbrushes or electric toothbrush heads do you get through in a year? As well as toothpaste tubes, mouthwash bottles or liquid hand soap bottles? The cabinet how many plastic bottles tubes and containers are there? Perhaps cleanser, toner, moisturiser, makeup items like mascara wands, lipsticks and blushes. The list just goes on and on. And to the bath and shower; shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, disposable razors and disposable plastic house blades. And each one of these plastic containers when thrown away we know will most likely end up in landfill. We know only 50% of bathroom waste gets recycled. And this is multiplied by all the other households in the world, sadly doing the same thing. On our tour of the house, let's move over to the kitchen. What's under your sink, plastic package cleaning products and bottled sprays. Have you considered refills? Or washing up brushes, there are bamboo and other alternatives. Even standard scours are made from plastic and shed microplastics down the plughole into the oceans every single time you use them. Let's move to the fridge; milk cartons or plastic bottles, plastic wrapped vegetables, plastic pallets of tomatoes, yoghurt pots. In fact, one of the most poignant images I think we ever put on our 'Eco Warrior' Instagram was a pristine yoghurt pot that had washed up on a beach with a 1970 best before date on it. Unbelievably, that had been bobbing about in the ocean since before I was born. Then there's a pantry, squeezy ketchup bottles, fridge pots of beans or tuna and convenient plastic rather than tins, cling wrap, food bags, it's endless and needless. When you start thinking about it and looking around, you realise most of us are drowning in the stuff. As an aside, when we're talking about what goes down the plughole in our homes, let me tell you this quick story. During lockdown, my best friend knowing my love of stand up paddle boarding, found a streaming of 'Brave Enough', which documented a lady called Jo Mosley, a 55 year old stand up paddleboarding, paddling 162 miles from Liverpool to Gaul. Watching this documentary and delving into Jo's happy, healthy 50 Instagram opened a whole new world of other paddleboarders who I now follow, who, like me when paddleboarding canals, find plastics and collect them to put in the bin. Beach cleans are a well-known thing. But river cleans or canal things aren't really that known about. Yet, it's here the problem starts as it's this water of course that flows into our oceans. So litter picks and cleans are important wherever we are in the country, inland, or coastal. People and businesses so often forget what goes down the plughole from our sinks and baths and showers goes into the oceans. For that reason, as well as being skin kind, ingredients need to be simple and pure. There is no need for them to be otherwise. And I believe it's the responsibility of a business to improve the world. I just wish more people would follow suit. But anyway, I digress. If we agree plastic is all around us. How can we reduce it? Reducing plastic lay at the heart of me creating our 'Eco Warrior' range of soaps, which you can hear more about and the 'Little Soap Company Journey' podcast. Bars instead of bottles of hand soap, face wash, shower gel, shampoo and shaving foam are an immediate and easy way to replace a number of single-use plastics in the bathroom. They last far longer, offering great value for money, and many of our customers would argue they're as good as, if not better, than their traditional liquid counterparts. But soaps aren't the only switch you can make in the bathroom or kitchen. Many people still don't realise most mainstream sanitary products can be swapped out for period pants, which I have to say have transformed my life; or menstrual cups. Nappies, baby wipes, and makeup wipes; all of these contain tiny particles of plastic, but there are sustainable alternatives out there for all these things. Right down to chewable mouthwash or toothbrush powder. You can switch to plastic bottle refills for shampoos and liquids. Just be careful of the plastic pouches. They're not recyclable. A lot of companies sell tabs you can add to water to refill your cleaning product containers to negate this ridiculous strain on shipping plastic bottles filled with water around the planet. When it comes to the kitchen, choose glass or tins rather than the plastic squeezy bottles, which are now available for so many of our traditional food products. Get in the habit of carrying a reusable water bottle rather than buying single-use plastic bottles of drink when you're out and about. There's vegan wraps and covers in place of clingfilm. There's refills instead of new cleaning products and even the traditional milkmen instead of those large plastic cartons from the supermarket. And of course, buy your fruit and veg loose, rather than wrapped. Choose paper bags rather than plastic. One plastic alternative I love is bamboo. And you can now get a surprising number of bamboo products from toothbrushes, toilet rolls and wipes, to coffee cups and picnic cutlery, even clothing. It may take a bit of time choosing alternatives to your plastic staples. But once the switch is made, you're over halfway there. Perhaps your concern that choosing sustainable products over plastic itself is costly. But actually many offer great value because they're reusable and refillable. And no one's suggesting you throw out everything you own today and switch it all over tomorrow. That totally defeats the object. Do it gradually, so that as you run out of things, you try a non-plastic alternative. And if you do find an eco friendly product that's a few pennies more and you can afford it, isn't it worth it to know your decision is helping and not harming the planet? Lots of exciting new challenger brand products are being embraced as not just brilliant for the environment, but a genuinely effective alternative. Next time you purchase just make the swap. Our episode on 'the future of shopping needs to be circular' dives deeper into how our future shopping habits can, must and will change. The challenge of eliminating all the plastic around the home may seem like an enormous and daunting challenge. And this is why my message is start small. Change is possible. Look what happened with plastic straws and plastic shopping bags. And when it happens globally, it does make a difference. There's a wonderful quote which says "It's only one plastic straw said 8 billion people". Poignant, yes. Small swaps, when done on a large scale make a massive difference. We all have our part to play. Being aware is the first step. Hopefully, now you can look around your home and see where simple plastic-free switches can be made. What single-use plastic or unnecessary plastic will you ditch today? So as we draw to an end, let's quickly recap. In this podcast, you learned about the harm caused to our environment by single-use plastics, where hidden microplastics might be lurking, and about the many fantastic non-plastic alternatives you can switch to in the bathroom and kitchen. If you want to do a deeper dive into topics touched on in this podcast, and find the sources for all the statistics listed at the beginning and for more plastic-free inspiration, head over to our 'Eco Bathroom' area at littlesoapcompany.co.uk. You can also follow me Emma Heathcote-James, Little Soap Company and Eco Warrior Soap on Instagram. And you can listen to our other podcasts including hearing the Little Soap Company journey, why the future of shopping needs to be circular and getting the lowdown on green washing, which are all also available where you found this one and on iTunes, Spotify and Google podcasts.
