Letting the side slip with reducing plastic and food airmiles

I've been in the UK for a week, repossessing our family home. Tenants have just left everything they didn't want and it's now my responsibility to remove everything, sadly it will all go to landfill. I wasn't in the mood, nor did I have time to sort through the full bins they left outside and all the waste from the house was swiftly removed by the removal firm who have piled it up by the side of the house until I rent a skip.

Back in Dubai, extremely tired after a night flight and the stress of the week and having to take the cat for her travel injections, I did a quick shop.

Whilst I had my reusable bags in my car, I didn't have my food nets or an old plastic bag to pack my meat in separately from the rest of the chilled foods.

No apologies for buying a plastic container with pre sliced carrots in at double the price. I suffer with chronic pain and having spent the week removing 101+ screws and nails from the walls of the house, I am suffering and can't hold a pen at the moment, let alone peel and chop carrots.

Having brought back with me in my case some Gluten Free cakes (I'm wheat free) that I can't buy over here, it made me look at the air miles my food has travelled.

I don't normally shop in Waitrose in the UK or Dubai as I find it too expensive, but we have little choice here other than Carrefour and I couldn't take the cat with me to a mall, so Waitrose it was while she was at the vets nearby.

Some foods have travelled quite some distance, others were at least packaged in the UAE, but I have no idea where they are from originally and some foods are actually grown and made locally. I should really make more of an effort to purchase locally grown/made foods and with my husband working in the food industry over here, he should be able to tell me more.

Risotto rice from???? Packaged in the UK

New Zealand

Produced in the UK for the UAE market

Pate from the Czech republic

Beetroot from ???? Packaged in the UK

Ecuador

Smoked salmon from ???? Packaged in the UAE

Yogurt made in the UAE

Vine tomatoes grown in the UAE, sadly in plastic packaging

Do you know where your food comes from and how many air miles it takes to reach your plate?

Unfortunately living in a desert not much is grown here and whilst products can be made and packaged here, produce still has to be flown in.

Did you know Marks and Spencer actually import British milk to the UAE?

Coffee shop Christmas disposable cups - why i don't use them

Yes I love Christmas and all things Christmas related and I love coffee shops. But what I don't love is the disposable cups designed for takeaway drinks.

I use my own coffee cup for take aways, regardless of the coffee shop I use.

Most chains have a Christmas reusable cup out now, but I don't need to buy a new one, the one I have is perfectly adequate.

I have an issue with coffee shops in Dubai regardless of the chain. Every time I request a coffee to drink in, they automatically reach for a disposable cup.

This was obviously drunk here by a previous customer.

I've learnt to place my order as follows (size) (type of drink) and automatically add 'in a ceramic mug and don't warm it'

In the UK I always get asked 'to drink in or take away' but Dubai doesn't work like that. I think it saves on the staff having to wash up as it's easier to scoop disposable cups up and put them in the bin.

I stop regularly at the local petrol station for a latte, using my own cup. I often pick up a banana at the same time.

Whilst I ordered my coffee, asked for a banana, went to the counter and paid, then back to collect my coffee, this had happened.

Not only was my banana in a plastic bag, it was then placed in a plastic bag.

Sometimes I just give up.........

Secondhand September and Zero Waste Week

So I'm doing my bit in regards to single use plastic and using up all the plastic in my house. using my own bags in the supermarket and I've purchased washable food nets and ditched the cling wrap for reusable covers. I have my coffee mug for when I go out and carry a reusable water bottle.

Nothing that can be used gets thrown away here, ever. Cardboard boxes and toilet rolls get used to make seed trays, even shopping bags when their handles or sides can no longer be repaired are reused.

Sometimes I have no control over what waste comes into my house in the form of packing and often when I do a large food shop I find that despite my requests not to pack in plastic, that while I'm unloading the trolley a few bags have sneaked in.

We had a tonne of personal and work paperwork that needed shredding, the last lot I cut up by hand, but this time we purchased a shredder to ensure all personal details were destroyed. All blank sheets have been saved to use for printing, writing shopping lists, drawing plans for the garden on etc. Once shredded I used the plastic packaging and the box to put the shredded paper in.

I will attempt to find a paper recycling bin somewhere in Dubai that isn't already over flowing, but recycling is not an easy option here.

We've been having a bit of a sort out, reusing old sheets in the car for the dog and covering outdoor furniture to protect it from the harsh summer sun. Our steam mop and fan both broke at the same time and needed replacing, the old ones were put outside by the bin as people will often take to use for spares and repairs, however you try finding someone that can repair or actually has the spares.

All this is being donated to a friend from Sri Lanka who organises and arranges aid for those back home.

Hubby had a sort out of his wardrobe under duress, there's a suit in there over 20 years old, he hasn't worn for 15 years. These clothes will be put out the front of the house for the local workmen, gardeners, car washers, dog walkers to help themselves too. There's a pile of my clothing in a suitcase waiting to be distributed to a care home in South Africa later this year.

I'm in the UK next week, we have a flat in a small Welsh town, it's full of charity shops. I shop in these when I'm home before I go into the main stores. I'll also be using eBay to purchase pre loved goods for Christmas and birthdays.

Our son gets married later this month, I've completed my Mother of the Groom outfit with a fascinator from the British Heart Foundation.

I've returned and borrowed books from the local dog park, been using the washing up water for the plants and grass, selecting low temps on the washing machine as the cold water runs at 30c anyway, buying products in bulk to reduce packaging and save on finances and using the air con sparingly and turning the temperature up a notch or two.

I'm doing what I can and where I can to recycle, reduce waste and re purpose unwanted goods. Every bit we do, helps more than you realise.

Going Green in Australia.

They call these Bin Chickens, they scavenge through the bins in Sydney. The Australian White Ibis.

Living overseas and travelling regularly to new places, I'm always interested in how things work in different countries.

There are quite a lot of similarities in Australia with the UK and Dubai and a lot of differences also.

In the UK and Australia you pay for plastic bags, in Dubai, they just bag everything up for you.

McDonalds in the UK have banned plastic straws, they're freely available in Dubai and Australia.

Most coffee shops here offer a 50c discount if you bring your own take away cup, this doesn't happen in Dubai and I think nearly every coffee shop offers a discount in the UK. A couple of coffee shops in Australia have signs stating the cup must been clean for them to fill it and in one place there was a charge of $2 to wash your cup.

I've noticed a few places offering recyclable cutlery and most places the tap water is not for drinking, so there are water fountains available to refill drinks bottles. We can't work out if the signs were to say you need a minimum of 1 litre per person for the hike or only refill 1 litre of water.

However despite drinking water being freely available and visible signs encouraging you to recycle, there were a lot of people walking around with shop bought bottles of water. In Australia in a restaurant or cafe, you are given tap water automatically. In the UK you have to ask for tap water, in Dubai they only serve bottled water.

I noticed sun composting bins in Sydney and Melbourne.

There were  bins everywhere from Bondi Beach below

to a light house at Cape Otway

and in every car park we parked in.

And if you can't find a bin, then you're reminded just to take your rubbish home.

A long weekend in Sydney

Our trip from Sydney to Phillips Island

Phillips Island

Phillips Island to Port Fairy

Port Fairy to Melbourne via the Grampians

A week in Melbourne

Flora and Fauna in Australia

Accommodation in Australia

Going Green in Australia

Australia 2019

Charity Shops for Going Green

We don't have charity shops in Dubai, but we do have places we can take our unwanted items to and in most cases if you just put stuff outside your front door, someone will take it away and make use of it.

I try to find a home for nearly everything I no longer need. When we lived in South Africa it was easy to get rid of everything, from newspapers to line the inside of shacks with to keep warm in winter, to broken electrical items that would be dismantled and components sold. Even our recycling was collected and sold on, especially plastic bottles.

I learnt quickly that even out of date food was a vital resource for many also.

I'm currently in the UK, I don't have much for donations, but I'll often bring things over with me if I have space in my case that I know will be of use here to others.

What I do a lot of in the UK is buy from charity shops. They will be my first go to point for everything, whether its for a hat for our sons wedding in September to a new wash bag for my travels.

My current charity shopping list:

• Books to read
• Jeans
• White trousers
• Casserole dish

I've noticed the prices in the charity shops have increased in price and I've noticed worn clothing only a fraction of the price cheaper than buying new in the stores.

Whilst out looking for a casserole dish, I ended up purchasing a new one for £1.75 in Wilko, as the charity shops were charging over £2. I can't help but think that some of them are pricing themselves out of the market. I know the point is to rehouse and reuse unwanted goods, but I'm not prepared to pay over the odds to do so.

• Do you use charity shops, either for donating or purchasing? 
• Do you favour particular charities? I like the Dog's Trust for clothing.
• Do you find the cost of items has gone up and the quality has gone down?
• Are there too many charity shops in the high street?

How I reduce food waste

There's only Peter and I, plus a cat and dog. We both like the same types of food so cooking is easy for us. We don't feed left over cooked food to the cat and dog, but do give them the trimmings of any meat and fish added to their next meal.

I've always batched cooked and frozen left overs from the days when we had 5 kids at home and soon discovered that this way there was less food waste if we banned fizzy drinks and bread from the dinner table as the kids would fill up on that and leave most of their dinner then be hungry later on that evening.

Batch cooking allows me to freeze meals according to the number of people I'm feeding. Currently Child 2 and 2a are visiting so there are meals for 4 portioned out ready to cook/reheat.

You'll have noticed the frozen plastic bottles of water in the fridge. In Dubai our water is stored in a tank under the ground, it's sandy here and quite often it gets into the tank, making the water undrinkable.

If Peter is cooking, we will portion out our meals and then freeze what is left in individual pots for days when only one of us is eating. It's difficult to only use enough ingredients for 2 and if there is only half a meal left, we'll often reduce our size portions to put more in the tub for a meal next time.We also freeze the tomato puree as we never use a whole tub with each dish.

We only buy fresh veg, fruit and salad as we are going to need for each day.

We usually buy a small carton of milk and if we run out the shop over the road is open from 7am till midnight every day. We also buy boxed wine and keep a jug of cold water in the fridge. In summer the ground heats up and the tap water doesn't run cold.

We portion out enough butter for the week and freeze the rest till needed.

We freeze bread on the day of purchase, we don't eat much and living in a hot climate it goes off quickly. This allows us to have several types of bread on the go at one time also.

Do you think about food waste? Do you batch cook and freeze left overs? Do you have any tips you could share with me on reducing food waste further?

Going Green in Dubai and recycling

Dubai is getting a little greener when it comes to recycling, but the onus is 100% on the individual and without much encouragement I'm afraid all waste is dumped as general waste.

I do my best to reduce the amount of packaging I use when shopping and we have a handy little shop within a 2 min walk from our house that is manageable even in the height of summer when it's 45c to walk to.

It's a battle though to walk out the shop like this, vegetables in hand. They try to put them in individual bags when weighing and then into one bag at the till. I really have to fight them every time on this.

This also cuts down on me needing to use my car and for when more shopping is needed I can ride my bike to the local supermarket 10 mins away, although I doubt I'll be doing that in the middle of summer.

I bought food nets from Lakeland, use a canvas bag for my shopping and buy larger vegetables frozen, as they retain the nutrients and cuts down on waste, expense and packaging than if I were to buy a whole cauliflower, broccoli and beans. 

I still have to battle the staff not to scan and bag. If they calmed down on assuming we are all in a rush and didn't ask us for our store card as we're loading the conveyor belt and gave customers a bit more time to get their reusable bags out, I'm sure more would be done to cut down on waste. 

There are recycling bins at the larger supermarket, but often full to over flowing and the malls all have small recycling centres for consumable waste when you're out and about.

Carrefour now offer lanes for service if you're reusing bags, but I suspect as most people in Dubai don't really care too much they'll probably just purchase a new recycling bag each visit as they can skip the longer queues. 

Spinneys (mainly Waitrose products) offer a plastic bag recycling service where customers can drop excess bags or collect a used one. I use this when I've purchased meat, unless I have a spare canvas bag I can use.

There is still a lot the supermarkets and shops could do to reduce waste. The till receipts are not made from recyclable paper and are often only printed on one side. With receipts having to be printed in both English and Arabic, a simple coffee in a ceramic mug from Costa is twice the length of my phone.

I keep my 3 reusable cups by the front door to grab when we go out to reduce the amount of waste we use with disposable mugs.

But why do the coffee shops give you a disposable mug automatically, even though you've said you want to drink in?

The new houses on our street have these new bins outside, I've not seen these before and will be making inquiries, our landlords (a building company) don't offer this service and I suspect it's an additional paid for service.

South Africa - Waste - reusing and recycling.

I'm currently in South Africa. I've really noticed the extremes of waste and recycling in Pretoria. From Starbucks to the townships and how those throw away items by some are a source of income to others. There's a lot more that can be done though. Houses have recycling bags for collection, but I've witnessed on many occasions both general waste and recycling being tipped into the same bin.

Preventable waste

Coffee cup in Starbucks, pre warmed with hot water, something they do also in Dubai and irritates the life out of me, the cost of heating the water and then just tipping it down the sink. They also automatically serve in a paper cup unless you ask for a ceramic one, even when you say 'to drink in'

Fast food take away. Box for the burger and put in a paper bag along with sauces and a tonne of paper napkins. Why put it in a bag when you're eating in? I've noticed more places using paper straws, but they just don't work with coke, it fizzes everywhere. Again all fast food places, all around the world.

Recycling and reusing

I love how these jeans have been up-cycled into flower pot holders. The weather in South Africa is perfect for this and I guess it would work the same in Dubai, not so sure how long this would last in the UK though.

Reused

This old car tyre and kids bike make a great feature in the garden.

Repurposed

Old wooden pallets made into book cases, coffee tables and planters. The workshop is on site on the side of the road, 

Then this. General household waste dumped on the side of the road, on the edge of every township. You see people picking through the waste for plastic bottles and cans that can be sold for recycling.

People walk for miles daily to collect the waste paper and bottles from the sides of the roads and go through people's bins at the end of their drive to sell to the recycling depots in order to make a living.