Plastic Free July has continued to throw me some doozies. 

Last week I wrote about the sheer volume of plastic used in almost all groceries. 

This week, while I cut down quite a lot of plastic in my shopping, I learned the crux of the real problem. 

That problem is convenience. 

Western, modern society is built around convenience. We are time-poor, lazy, and have a wide, expensive taste in food. 

This week I switched to buying wholefoods, with a local business able to fill my own bags and bottles with raw ingredients, such as honey, beans, muesli etc. 

An amazing solution, but it just takes a little bit more time. 

As a vegetarian, cooking dried beans means planning meals hours in advance - sitting beans in water overnight or boiling for hours. 

The tin can beans make it easier, they aren’t plastic, but it still creates wastes which needs to go through a cycle. 

The other lesson I found was laundry and other items - such as plastic bottles for detergent, shampoos, etc. 

I found a bar of soap was and is the king of hygiene and plastic-free solutions. 

They now have shampoos and conditioners in bar form - delivered in paper packaging. Brilliant. 

There have been innovations in using plastic waste. While I freelanced in Australia I worked for a bloke who took empty plastic bottles from hair salons, and processed them into 3D printer filament. 

He would then 3D print prosthetic limbs for children overseas. 

While my little steps are seemingly just a drop in the ocean, we need to remember every individual drop we create makes that ocean. 

Oh, and there’s a happy little side-effect of Plastic Free July - I have saved money. 

More on that next week.