Category: Green shopping

Green Gadgets: Making more eco-friendly tech choices

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Quick disclaimer: This post was inspired via a chat on Twitter with the team at Compare and Recycle, who made the excellent infographic below. However, I have no affiliation with them, or any other company mentioned here, and make no financial gains from anything linked in this post.

 

There’s a pretty significant chance that you’re reading this post on a smartphone or tablet. These devices have become firmly embedded in our lives, with over five billion people expected to own a mobile phone by 2019.

Phones and tablets have arguably saved the production of a lot of other materials in what they’ve been able to replace. My phone really isn’t just a phone – it’s my calculator, diary, pedometer, food planner, personal trainer, virtual yoga instructor, note-taker, camera, video, music collection and it provides storage for countless magazines, newspapers and books.

Internationally, mobile phones have leapfrogged a number of older technologies to provide an important role in society. A great example of this is the huge growth of Kenya’s M-PESA mobile money service, which 40% of Kenya’s GDP passes through. The M-PESA service, which started as a microfinance initiative, now allows people to transfer money for services, and offers loans and savings opportunities. The virtual nature of the service has saved many hours of time and money for its users, especially in the most rural areas of the country as they no longer need to take long journeys to physical buildings to access money. You can read more about M-PESA in this Economist article or in Kate Raworth’s excellent book, Doughnut Economics.

But whilst it’s great that our phones have replaced the need for countless bit of other ‘stuff’, there is a huge environmental impact from the production and running of our tech that we do need to address.

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Continue reading “Green Gadgets: Making more eco-friendly tech choices” →

Y.O.U. have great underwear!

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I think it’s very important that you know that Y.O.U. have the best pants ever.

I’m using the word ‘pants’ in the British sense of the words – underwear, knickers, smalls, undergarments, however you want to call them.

I finished a ‘no new clothes for a year‘ experiment recently. Having not bought any pants in the run-up to the challenge, by the time I finished, my current underwear was looking and feeling a little on the sad side. But after rejecting fast fashion and clothes made in sweatshop conditions for a year, I didn’t want to just head to the high street and undo all that good work.

So I headed to the internet to seek out some smalls. I wanted something plain and black, made with sustainable fabric, by people paid a good wage, supporting a small business. I also wanted them to be practical, smart, non-VPL, comfy, and to feel good. I favour a simple style – I don’t want to be worrying that matching bras and pants sets are washed and dry at the same time. Not asking too much eh?

After my much searching, I’m very happy to let you know that I’ve found the perfect pants, made by British-owned company, Y.O.U. I would like to stress at this point that this post is not sponsored. I wasn’t sent a freebie. I have no connection to this company except as a very happy customer. This review is written purely out of the happiness that only a good pair of pants can bring.

Sarah and Lily set up Y.O.U. after a trip to Uganda, and were shocked at how a lack of access to underwear was preventing women and girls from participating in  education and work. Continue reading “Y.O.U. have great underwear!” →

The ‘no new clothes for a year’ challenge

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In December 2016, I watched a film called The True Cost. It’s about the ‘fast fashion’ industry, showing the awful working conditions endured and the environmental devastation caused by our throwaway attitude to clothes.

In particular, the film looks at the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh in 2013. If you haven’t heard of Rana Plaza, you will almost certainly own items bought from a brand who had some of their clothes made there – J.C. Penney, Matalan, Benetton, Primark, Zara – to name a few.

In total, 1,134 people died and 2500 were injured when the factory collapsed on 24th April 2013. The incident shone a light into the dreadful conditions that people working in the garment industry were subject to, and the huge cost people paid with their lives so that those of us in richer countries can buy clothes at such a cheap price.

I watched the film with tears in my eyes as the credits rolled, and messaged the friend who had recommended it to me. “I’m not buying any new clothes for a year”, she said to me, and I decided to join her.

I know I could have just said “I’m only shopping for ethically-made clothes from now on”, but it didn’t get to the heart of the problem, which is the addiction we have to consuming without thinking, for always assuming more is better, for never considering where each item comes from. It is frankly obscene that UK households are throwing away 300,000 tonnes of clothes in a single year. Donating to charity, whilst better than simply landfilling used clothes, carries a lot of problems with it as well, not least the disruption of local clothing economies in the less economically affluent countries that our clothes are shipped to. In fact, this is such an issue that some countries are now considering a ban on second-hand imports.

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Plastic free and on TV

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A slightly wonky snap of me from my TV!

This was definitely not a post I was expecting to write, but on Saturday I was interviewed about shopping plastic free for Sky News! One of their reporters got in touch with me via Twitter on Saturday morning following a referral from the lovely Kate at Plastic is Rubbish, and a few hours later, I found myself in one of my favourite places, Earth Natural Foods, being mic-ed up and ready to film.

In all honesty, when I was first asked, my first reaction was to refuse. I feel incredibly awkward and shy at public appearances, and didn’t want to make a fool of myself. But my lovely partner gently persuaded me that it was a good idea Continue reading “Plastic free and on TV” →

A Plastic Ocean (and how you can start doing something about it): Part 2

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Running low on pictures this week, so here are my kitchen shelves again…

So in November, I wrote a post focusing on easy ways to start reducing everyday single-use plastic after seeing the film ‘A Plastic Ocean’. I was beyond excited when Plastic Oceans shared the link on their Facebook page (I still am to be honest)!

Now on to Part 2 – taking it past the easy wins and up to the next level, particularly in an area close to my heart, or rather to my stomach: food. Rather than my own recommendations, this post is going to be a guided tour round some of my favourite parts of the internet; the people, posts and pages that have inspired me.

Grocery shopping

So first up, you’ve got your water bottle, reusable cup, canvas bags and all that jazz, but you’re still finding that grocery shopping seems to involve a whole load of unnecessary waste? Supermarkets are difficult places to avoid this waste, and it’s definitely worth looking to shop elsewhere. Continue reading “A Plastic Ocean (and how you can start doing something about it): Part 2” →

A Plastic Ocean (and how you can start doing something about it): Part 1

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Plastic, plastic everywhere. Everywhere it shouldn’t be.

Earlier this year, I went to see A Plastic Ocean as part of the Raindance Film Festival in London. Directed by Craig Leeson and starring world-record breaking freediver Tanya Streeter, it’s a film about how plastics get into the ocean, the devastating effects they have, and what can be done about it. I thought my trip to see it would end up being a one-person event, as whilst many of my friends politely humour me about my enthusiastic commitment to avoiding plastic,  I appreciate that for many people it’s a bit of niche subject and perhaps not what you go to the cinema to see.

To my surprise, four friends agreed to come along.  Continue reading “A Plastic Ocean (and how you can start doing something about it): Part 1” →

Countdown to book launch: Zero Waster’s Travel Companion!

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So I’m counting down the hours, because Friday, 14th October is the day that the Zero Waster’s Travel Companion goes on sale! A helpful guide to take you round the world whilst looking after it 🙂

This project was the idea of the lovely Inge, who blogs over at www.gruenish.com and is the brains behind the Zero Waste Bloggers Network. She has worked her socks off, and lots of us have been helping, each contributing a chapter on where you can eat, shop and live zero waste in a whole host of cities across the world!

The book will be available as an ebook, and you’ll be able to purchase and download it from http://zerowastebloggersnetwork.com/products/

I am very proud to be able to have written the chapter on London, covering all the way from Bloomsbury, through Camden, Kentish Town and up to Highgate. Continue reading “Countdown to book launch: Zero Waster’s Travel Companion!” →

Green shopping in London: The People’s Supermarket

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As someone who tries to avoid shopping in supermarkets, I love The People’s Supermarket. Mainly because it’s not really a supermarket in the regular supermarket sense (if there was an award for the most number of times you can use the word ‘supermarket’ in a post about a shop that isn’t really a supermarket, I’m pretty sure this would be a contender).

The People’s Supermarket (or TPS as we’ll call it from now on) is a lovely find in the centre of London, being independent, community minded, ethical, and all in all a jolly good egg.

It’s run as a co-op and mostly staffed by volunteers. For just four hours a month, volunteers get 20% off all their food shopping there, and a say in how it’s run.

Continue reading “Green shopping in London: The People’s Supermarket” →

Plastic Free July: Not quite plastic free

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I call this picture ‘Still Life: Failure’

So July is over, and that means Plastic Free July is over. Thank god I can go back to getting takeaway coffee, using two straws in every drink and spending my spare 5p pieces on a plastic bag every time I pop out for groceries! (Even writing that as a joke made me feel guilty about pretending to luxuriate in single-use plastic, is that normal?)

But July has come to an end, and the plastic that I actually did use has been dutifully saved up, photographed, agonised over and is presented here for judgement.

It can be broken down into the following categories:

Continue reading “Plastic Free July: Not quite plastic free” →

Green shopping in London: Clapton Craft in Kentish Town

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A beer for every occasion. Except the occasions that require sobriety, that is.

There’s nothing like the telltale sound of a few-too-many wine and beer bottles clattering into the recycling bin to alert your street to the fact that you had a bit of a quiet gathering party the night before.

But it’s glass, and that’s very easy to recycle isn’t it? Well yes, glass is a good option for its recyclable credentials as unlike plastic, it can be made into the same quality of item again and again – a glass bottle can become another glass bottle, whereas a plastic bottle can usually only be downcycled (some more info on downcycling here). But although recycling glass uses less energy and resources compared to making brand new glass, it quite clearly uses much more than simply giving your bottle or jar a quick wash and refilling it.

So, as someone that likes both sustainability and a lovely glass of wine or beer (or both, although not mixed together), I was very happy when Clapton Craft opened up a branch in my neck of the woods, in Kentish Town, north London. Continue reading “Green shopping in London: Clapton Craft in Kentish Town” →