There are certain things that we’ve always been able to get without plastic. Yes, it takes a bit more time, a bit more effort, but you find the time and you make the effort because you care. I’m talking bread in a paper bag from the bakery, and loose fruit and veg from the market. But there are some things that have made it very difficult to live completely plastic-free. Not anymore 😀

Okay, this is it, quick and easy – where to get all the plastic-free everyday stuff you need:

Cleaning supplies

Mack! Keep it Mack with vegan, plastic-free sachets (biopods) of soluble detergents to which you add water. Everything you need to clean toilets, sinks, floors, hard surfaces, drains and to get rid of limescale. No need to buy any more plastic bottles BUT save the ones you’ve already got for refilling with these lifesavers! Also these products smell great and they’re easy on your wallet.

Washing up POWDER

Plastic-Free Margarine

Actually, it’s not margarine, it’s vegan butter! Mergulo Plant-Based Butter that comes in a cardboard box! This is a life-changer! For a long time now I’ve had to simply go without margarine, substituting peanut butter or simply straight on with jam. Which was ok. But not as good as a slice of hot toast with delicious melting fatty goodness!

Made with coconut oil and cashews, this is absolutely scrummy and we found it at Holland & Barrett! And it seems it’s in Sainsbury’s now too. Google a supplier near you.

NB – I know you know all this fat’s not good for you, but there it is if you want it 😉

Dental Hygiene

Simple: Go to Georganics 🙂 a one-stop online store for all your dental needs. Or – if you’d rather shop locally, it’s not too difficult nowadays to get toothpaste tablets in glass jars, and bamboo toothbrushes at supermarkets, health food shops and chemists. But my favourite tooth-tabs (and the cheapest I’ve found actually) are Denttabs which you can get from anythingbutplastic 😀 [UPDATE – my new favourite toothpaste tablets are the ecoLiving ones 😀 ]

Rice? Pasta? No problem!

And last but absolutely not least – Chocolate!

You can’t go wrong with Vego for vegan, organic, fair trade delicious chocolate that’s NOT WRAPPED IN PLASTIC. Available in health food shops, some supermarkets and online. Click on the pics! 😀

***

Note the mention, at just past 2 minutes into the video, that once sorted, your household recycling is baled and stacked for delivery or SHIPPING OVERSEAS! They’re not specific about where it goes but The Guardian told us over a year ago that British companies have shipped more than 2.7 MILLION TONNES of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 – two-thirds of the UK’s total waste plastic exports. Here‘s a 2025 Guardian update on the situation.

According to Unearthed and Greenpeace, the UK exported more of its plastic packaging waste abroad for recycling in 2016 than in any of the three years previously,and industry insiders warn that waste sent abroad may be incinerated or buried rather than being recycled.

Now consider the fact that, according to Avaaz, 90% of the plastic in the oceans comes from just ten rivers in Asia and Africa.

That’s our waste! 

The plastic packaging that we diligently put in our recycling bins is ending up in the oceans!

For too long we have been led to believe that sorting our rubbish for recycling discharges our responsibility to the environment – but now we know different.  We have to take responsibility ourselves.  We have to take charge.

We have the power!

The only way to save the environment is to stop buying new plastic.

***

*

Final note: let’s be real. To live COMPLETELY plastic free is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t avoid it completely. All we can do is the best we can do in our own personal circumstances. Whatever you do, don’t give up just because you can’t do it 100%. Any reduction in plastic is worth the effort – especially when you can support ethical companies and boycott the trouble makers! 😀