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.........

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.