大象传媒

Why not take your own cup along to the tea bar? I'm sure they won't mind -so long as it's not a pint mug!

This is a great idea. I shell follow suit,as I am certain many others will also.

I trust you will be stopped from bringing in an untested electrical kettle into an office working environment...

Or you could take it to the 大象传媒 tech department who would no doubt have a PAT testing kit and a suitably qualified person to test it.

Quick question - I take it you either take your coffee/tea black or have brought in glass bottled milk!

Good Luck - I think milk would be my biggest headache as my teenage boys get through 3 x 6pints a week! And we have no glass bottle deliveries - how would anyone survive? Any ideas as I would love to try this myself!

interesting experiment.
I am looking forward to hearing about your shopping and food storing experience.
Will you also be keeping a log of the food you throw away or the number of journeys to the 'shop' you make.
What about the environmental impact of the washing of reusable containers, bottles etc.
By the way how much does that Alluminium bottle weigh? You might like to know that as a very rough guide it takes 18Kg of 'oil' to make 1Kg of Alluminium. For plastic the figure is 2Kg of 'oil' for 1Kg of plastic. If you then incinerate the plastic in a power station you get as much electricity generated as if you had burned 1kg of oil!

Milk can be bought in waxed cartons.

(Mind you, the screw top is usually plastic - Hmmmmm!)

Exactly why do you need a water bottle? Does your office not have a tap? You already have a mug (and I agree, why can't you take that to the tea bar) - I think you are making deliberately heavy weather of this. I have been making sandwiches for my husband and myself every evening for the next day for ages - mainly for economic rather than environmental reasons, admittedly - and you get used to it very quickly.

as jenny_em said, take your own mug; in our staff canteen/cafe we get a discount if we bring our own mug in.

for water, bring in a pint glass!

We buy the supermarket 'value' range of milk - comes in a carton, no fancy plastic pourer spout - you have to use scissors and cut the top off.

make your lunch at work... leave a plate, fork, knife, etc. at your desk. you can then easily make salads, soups (use microwave), sandwiches, etc. without thinking as long ahead. also means you have something distracting from work and cathardic to do during lunch besides just eating it.

Also... starbucks charges you less in NY for coffee/tea in your own cup and for refills. other shops in the uk might do the same. just ask.

So those teabags that you're bringing in - are those the variety that come in a cardboard box packaged within a *plastic* film for freshness? What about making coffee in the office? Be sure you don't get instant coffee in a glass jar with a *plastic* lid. Be sure to avoid glossy paper/cardboard packaging at the supermarket as this is likely to have been laminated in polythene, especially the sort used to store liquids. Also, when you buy your breakfast cereal, remember that inside that (shiny laminated) paperboard box, lies a plastic sealed pack of cereal. And be sure not to accept any medicines such as headache tablets that come in those plastic and foil blister packs. And that pen you're using to scribble notes - even if it's a nice pen has a metal exterior, chances are it still contains plastic components (so you better hope the ink lasts the month - no grabbing new pens from the bbc stationary cupboard!!!). I'm sure there are hundreds of other ways plastic invades our lives in the most subtle of ways!

Rather than 'clanking' in with an aluminium water bottle (and I agree with the post above, what's wrong with the tap water in your office?) why not take in one of the plasric water bottles you already possess, filled with home tap or filtered water from home.

Tap water from the office isn't much good if you're thirsty on the way to work. My aluminium bottle keeps my tap water from home nice and cold.

Here at the Uni we have a system that seems to have worked. If you buy a mug (education business after all) each time you use that mug to have your tea/coffee you get an utterly generous 5p discount.

It might not be much of a discount but it makes a point to stop wasting paper cups...

Living without plastic is difficult, but definitely worth pursuing. I started a similar lifestyle about 4 months ago when the Canadian government issued health warnings about many of the chemicals found in plastics used for food, notably in plastic water bottles and baby bottles. My main challenge was food storage, but I have completely switched to using glass containers such as large mason (canning) jars and reusing other glass jars to hold all sorts of things. I also have my own plate/bowl, cutlery and mug at work, and have started bringing a glass container around with me for take-out. It may be a bit strange, but it works for me. If you are finding things to be too bulky, I suggest investing in a larger bag (made of cloth of course) to suite your needs. If you are creative, you'll survive! As for buying overly packaged food, can you buy direct from a farmer? Might be a good idea to source out some alternate suppliers. Good luck!

Johnny Pixels: If you can't manage to get home from work wihout gettting thirsty, natureis trying to tell you something - you're living to far away from work!

Get a another job or move house because your incessant travelling is as bad for the environment as throwaway plastic is.

jeffdyer: I walk to work...

i think bringing mugs, kettle and tea bags in is a great idea! who doesn't have a ton of extra, unused ceramic mugs hanging around in their cupboard!

mudbounder: most microwaves have plastic fittings and would have arrived covered in plastic............the possibilities(or lack of) are endless. I don't know how you're able to do this with a baby Chris,but good luck.

Another point about Chris not being able to drink wine because of possible plastic corks, is there any way to tell when you buy a bottle, what kind of cork it has?

I have adopted a reduced plastic lifestyle about a year ago, i went for 2/3 reduction goal. For myself the easiest and most effective cut was the disposable coffee cups and water bottles. its amazing how far an old mug and a reusable water bottle has gotten me in my goal to cut back. Good luck with your quest to cut plastic out. You will find that at first it is different but once you get new habits, it becomes second nature to not waste as much plastic.

When you travel by (sometimes crowded) public transport, the practicalities of taking fragile items like mugs are problematic. I myself reuse plastic water bottles - rinse them out then refill with tap water, saving money (bottled water is seriously overpriced), time, and the environment. At school there are two drinking water fountains, specifically designed to be able to refill water bottles. Perhaps if this culture was to spread to public places and workplaces generally, more people would reuse plastic water bottles, resulting in a significant reduction in waste without any "sacrifices". But of course, big supermarket chains (who make the profits from bottled water sales) will do their utmost to maintain the status quo.

The problem with wine coming with plastic 'corks' could be avoided by buying bottles with metal screw tops - although these often have a small plastic disc in the top so that might not be a viable solution either.

I think the only way of avoiding plastic is to buy old vintage wine from before the introduction of plastic corks.

This is great! just one question? are you going to use your plastics that you already own? if you do so, wont it be going against your rules?

At 7:49pm on 01 Aug 2008, sashmill wrote:

"big supermarket chains (who make the profits from bottled water sales) will do their utmost to maintain the status quo."

I totally agree with the sentiment of your post but I think the direction was off.

At the head office of one 'big supermarket chain' I worked at we received a healthy discount at the cafe if we used a mug rather than a paper/plastic cup. Instead of a bin there were five, one for each recyclable - including food waste!

Also the water fountains we used were tapped into the mains, all accommodating plastic bottles and mugs in a variety of sizes.

Even so, not everyone brought in a mug. Not everyone used the free water fountains.

You can only hold each individual responsible for their own actions. No point in shifting blame.

senor_fishcake: Oh my dear, if only I could afford that vintage wine about which you talk....

Mediterranean communities often buy wine in 5 litre glass 'demi-johns'; the glass can be recycled (although recycling is *not* efficient in southern Italy at least) and although there is a plastic disc in the metal screw top, the wine/plastic disc ratio is surely reduced.

Back to Britain, surely we should be asking supermarkets to mark their wine as having plastic or traditional corks at Point of Sale?

Plastic corks are made from recycled plastic so it's not as bad as it sounds, from a 'reduce, reuse, recycle' POV.

Chris Jeavans...

I have faith in you goal without plastic for a month.

johnnydyer's comment:

"Johnny Pixels: If you can't manage to get home from work wihout gettting thirsty, natureis trying to tell you something - you're living to far away from work!

Get a another job or move house because your incessant travelling is as bad for the environment as throwaway plastic is."

People who travel to work by walking or cycling do need water. Nature can always be telling you that you have an illness like diabetes incipidus, and that if you don't keep drink on hand, you're going to become ill.

Just because you can't think of a reason for someone to do something, doesn't mean there aren't numerous valid reasons to do so. I've gotten a lot of hassle about how much I drink over the years because of my DI, and I really wish people would keep their ideas about how much water I should be drinking to themselves.

people should bring their own cups to work anyway, shouldn't they?

Tea Bar? 90% of us make do with a mug brough from home anda communal kitchen, why is it so difficult for you to do the same ?

Even bringing a kettle in is not a problem so long as you get it PAT certified (ask your IT department, they will point you in the right direction for that).

Last time I worked, it was your own mug, the company kettle and everyone made a donation to milk, tea and coffee. Not hard is it?

I'm soory to tell s_e_gill (comment #10) that milk cartons are lined internally with polythene - see the website for details.

This actually makes milk and juice cartons incredibly hard to recycle, begause three layers - polythene, aluminium foil, and card - are intimately bonded together and are difficult to separate.

There are increasing numbers of collection points for tetra-pak-style cartons to be sent to the specialist recycling plants though, including our local refuse points, but they're not yet collected via our 'green bins.'

I live in Alto Adige, the most northerly region of Italy. Here, waste disposal is a serious issue as most of the land is mountainous with precious little land available for landfill. Therefore we all pay fixed set-up fees (essentially a tax) to have biodegradable and other waste removed. A green wheelie bin and a black one. Each year we get an invoice from the local council for the amount of times the bins are collected. We only put them out when they are full. After getting the first one, you realise how much you pay just to throw away the packaging we are almost forced to use by the supermarkets and manufacturers. We changed our shopping habits, and reduced the waste as well as the bills.

Maybe the only way to force people to change their habits is through their pockets, but it is up to governments to put pressure on the producers to come up with alternatives.

In the summer months we put all food waste (uncooked and no meat) in the garden composter. We no longer use the green bin and share with a neighbour. You get the deposit back on your wheelie bins if and when you move, they are all coded so they can be registered each time they are collected.

We are fortunate enough to live in a region where milk and yogurt can be bought in glass with screw top lids, the empties and lids go back to any shop and you are refunded the deposit, whether you buy more from them or not. The same is true of water, although the caps are not reusable (aluminum I think).

If we are passing any of the mountain farms at any time, we can call in to buy fresh products without plastic packaging. However, with the strict EU rules now in place, most meat, like anywhere else, is vacuum-packed.

I now make a point to take any unavoidable packaging back to the supermarket on each next visit. They just throw it away instead of me, which does nothing for the landfill issue but saves me money.

In every town and village there are many recycling points for card, paper, cans (all metals), glass and water bottles. It amazes me that people buy bottled water here, transported from hundreds of miles away, since our own tap water is mountain spring water or at any rate not treated like in cities. In restaurants I ask for tap water, which some are a bit sniffy about as they can't charge you for it like in a bottle.

Most communities still have a local milk man. Buy milk from him and then it will arrive in glass bottle with a foil lid. Take one with you to work. You will not only be recycling your glass bottles each week but you will be supporting a local buisness man/woman in your community and you will have milk delivered straight to your door.

Not a plastic kettle I hope.

I have a plastic isothermic travel mug from Starbucks which I keep in my desk drawer and use every day. As mudbounder said, Starbucks charge you less if you bring your own mug, so if everyone got their own mug then that would be a problem solved. And in any case, don't Starbucks and Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero and all those places serve their hot drinks in paper cups? I suppose there is then the problem of the lids, though. But in any case, why do people go on coffee runs? Do you not havea kettle in your office?

I work in a fancy law firm and we have those Nespresso coffee machines. When I first started working here I felt bad enough using them because of the individually-wrapped dosage pastilles that you feed into the machine, but then a couple of weeks later, after having made my coffee (in my Starbucks mug of course), I noticed that the LCD screen indicated the water reservoir was empty. I filled up the kettle with water and poured it into the reservoir of the coffee machine. A woman who was also in the kitchen turned to me and said, "That wasn't tap water, was it?" "Yes, why?" I replied. "Oh no no no, you can't put tap water in there! We rent these machines so we can't let them get all calcified!" She emptied the newly-filled reservoir down the drain (waste of perfectly good water that could have at least gone back into the kettle), rinsed it out, and then took a 2 litre bottle of MINERAL WATER and poured it into the coffee machine. As if mineral water doesn't have Calcium in it. Needless to say I boycott those machines now. The following day I was making my coffee from granules and boiled tap water (not as tasty but does the job) and a colleague filling up with cup with Nespresso asked me "Oh, you prefer that, do you?" I told him, "No, but I just learnt that we put mineral water in the coffee machine and I really don't agree with that". He laughed nervously and off he went with his silly coffee.

Twinings do tea bags without the plastic wrappers and plastic / foil inners - just tea, bags and card board

Annemarie, you're inadvertently supporting the Nestle boycott there too, lol.

Better bring in a kettle you already own - there is no electrical or electronic item in existence that doesn't use plastic.

cups of tea are not strangling the planet. Air miles, cheap flights and energy consumption are.

You want to make a real difference?

Fly less, drive less, turn down your thermostat by 2c and recycle all you can. Unless you are prepared to make these changes your best efforts are futile.

Everywhere I keep hearing "turn down your thermostat by a degree or two and insulate your hot water tank" trotted out, but I -- like many people -- have a combination boiler. This means there is no hot water tank and each radiator has its own thermostatic valve (so I can avoid heating unoccupied rooms).

At least my combi has electronic ignition, rather than a pilot light burning gas all the time. It is not a condensing model, but its replacement when it wears out will be.

I am reposting this comment - in the correct place this time!

Are you aware that most teabags are made from polyester and so will not degrade in the compost? So much for taking the kettle and teabags to work - it will have to be carefully selected teabags or leaf tea!

However, someone has already done the research on this, if you go to this website --- alice-in-blogland.blogspot.com and enter teabags in search there is some very useful info.