This month is Plastic-Free July. Both as an individual & a business I love to follow the approach
‘A Little Progress Each Day adds up to Big Results!’
By looking at ways you can make small changes, the cumulative of these small steps lead to having a bigger impact.
As a business we try to reduce our plastic usage by doing the following
Image supplied from Hero Packaging
- We use both Hero Packaging & Better Packaging Co to supply all of our satchels. Both of these businesses create satchels that can go into your compost as ‘brown’ materials. It is important that all labels are removed prior to doing this.
- We choose to reuse suitable boxes, bubble wrap and other packaging materials. This has a positive impact in two ways. It gives additional life to these products and it helps to keep our shipping and packaging costs down meaning that we can continue to keep our shipping rates low on our website.
- If we do end up with delivery boxes that are not usable due to damage incurred or being too large (as our wholesale orders are quite big) I use these boxes at home with my kids to create art projects (even more so now given Metro Melbourne is back into lockdown due to Covid.) We also advertise excess boxes on our local buy, swap, sell pages for free for locals to pick up to use as moving boxes or for their own needs.
As an individual at home, we have implemented some changes in our home to reduce our plastic usage. These are all small changes which have been easy for us as a family to achieve meaning they are quick wins for the environment
Image by @lifewith_thelofts via @wemightbetiny
- Using cloth nappies for my son during the day. It has been estimated that over 800 million nappies end up in landfill each year in Australia. Plus, if you dispose of nappies in plastic bags, the nappies have no exposure to environmental elements meaning they will take hundreds of years to break down. Whilst we still use disposable nappies at night time I estimate that we are saving 6 nappies a day ending up in landfill. This is over 2,000 nappies a year saved from landfill from one household. Once you have a routine set up, Cloth Nappies are quite easy to maintain a routine for. Even taking the small step of using a reusable swim nappy for your toddler in the water helps to reduce your footprint.
- My kids love having smoothies in the morning. It is also a great way to sneak some vegetables in as well. We use silicone reusable straws to reduce the use of single-use plastic straws. Reusable straws are also available in bamboo or stainless steel however as my kids are quite young, silicone suits us best to avoid any accidents.
- Purchasing food products in bulk rather than individual packs. Things such as yoghurt, chips and other products. When purchasing in a larger size, less packaging is used. When making smaller portions some of the storage products I use are listed in the next section.
- A further extension to the above is to actually make products such as yoghurt at home. As well as saving money and knowing what you are actually putting into your foods. Google is your best friend in this situation to discover new ways to make these products!
Six products you can purchase from Scarlett Tippy Toes to help reduce your eco-footprint during Plastic-Free July
Subo - The Food Bottle is an innovative product that assists with feeding toddlers and young children home-made nutritious food whilst being on the go. They are much easier to use than reusable pouches and less mess as well. Subo Food Bottle can be used for yoghurt, smoothies, soups and much more
Have you been in the situation when you get to the Coles checkout and realise, once again, you have left the shopping bags in the car? This is me most of the time! Enter MontiiCo Shopping Bags. These Shopping Bags come in a set of three and fold up nice & easily so you can keep the pouch in your bag.
MontiiCo Shopping Bags are made from RPET Fabric - which is recycled plastic bottles!
These are a degradable yet durable product. These eco-cutlery sets are made from wheat straw and a minute amount of food grade PP (polypropelene). This results in a lightweight product which is solid and long-lasting. Emondo Kids cutlery are available in four colours - Blue Bell, Blush Pink, Natural & Sage. Each set comes in a small carry case meaning you can also take them out and about.
Use them to carry snacks with you out and about but you can also use at home for smoothie prep, single-serve leftovers, leftovers that are single serves, the possibilities are endless. MontiiCo Pack & Snack Bags keep food fresh for longer. Each bag measures 16cm x 12cm. Bags have a firm close making them airtight. Bags are freezer, microwave & dishwasher safe.
Image by @zaynne.and.chloe via @wemightbetiny
Using a food-grade, high quality silicone you can ensure there are no nasty chemicals in this product and they are durable so will last for years to come. They are also a little bit wider as well so that small chunks of fruit that may have not blended completely will still be able to be sucked up by the straw.
MontiiCo Original Drink Bottles are stylish and have an opening which allows you to put ice cubes in the bottle. This keeps your drink super cold and frosty all day long. The Original Bottle is finished off with an eco-friendly bamboo lid which has a water tight seal. YES! No Spills. And no need to continue to use single use plastic bottles.
MontiiCo Drink bottles are available in both originals & mini size.
Hopefully the above might inspire you to make some small changes to reduce you & your families eco-footprint.
For me it is always a continually improving process. Both individually and as a business.
"A Little Progress Each Day Adds up to Big Results"