Hi everyone! Can you believe we are half way through the year! On the last stint before the school holidays begin! It’s going to be my first summer school holidays with all three at home all the time!!! Normally I would have had my son in nursery some of the days but he’s only term time now, so it will be an interesting school holidays! – Maybe next month I should talk about survival tips for the school holidays, what do you think?
I'm a Mini
Anyway, I hope my last blog on post-natal depression help those of you who may be going through difficult times or at the least made you feel less alone – remember talking is key, it’s a sign on strength not weakness.
Okay, so this month I’m talking about something that is being talked about across the world at the moment thanks to a certain Sir David Attenborough and that’s PLASTIC!
Now I know we all do our bit, with our recycling and I think the majority of us do a great job. However, I have a few issues with the fact that all the recycling centres around the country recycle different things. I have lived in two different areas and I was able to recycle much more in one area than the other – all the centres should have the same format – to make it uniform for everyone.
Another issue is that we can only do so much as a consumer to be mindful of reducing our plastic but when you have companies send parcels in excessive packaging (you know who I mean), manufacturers putting many products/food in plastic packaging, what are we expected to do. I, like many of you I’m sure, have a financial budget that I need to stick and unfortunately I cannot afford to buy everything eco-friendly or without packaging as it tends to cost a lot more. For examples, 3 single peppers cost more than a pack of three (it’s ridiculous) – so I have to go for the cheaper option that my budget allows. I know some supermarkets are starting to return back to having fruit and vegetables loose which is great – let’s hope more manufacturers re-think their packaging. As far as I’m concerned it has to start from the top too and filter down. As a consumer we are restricted.
It has recently been announced that Waitrose are going to try ‘bring your own container’ to refill foods like pasta etc – I think this is a great idea – what do you think?
Also when it comes to buying toys for kids, the packaging is excessive, more often that not it’s in plastic, it can take you ages to get the bloody toy out of the packaging unless you have some special plastic removing tool – I don’t need to added stress to be honest especially on Christmas Day!!
Something has to be done, but it can’t just be left to the consumer – manufacturers have a huge responsibility to make a change!! I hope more supermarkets follow Waitrose!
I think businesses have to take responsibility in order to help consumers. Now, as you may or may not know I have my own business – I’m A Mini - in which I design and create activity boxes for children and more recently I have also started creating children’s party bags. When starting my business I wanted my products to be as eco-friendly as I could possible make them but it does come at a cost unfortunately.
I have been able to create my activity boxes that are eco-friendly but not completely. For example, my boxes include an activity scrapbook of which the paper is recycled Kraft paper, the actual box itself can be used as a storage box their re-useable rather than one to throw away – all the activities can be stored in the box. The equipment within the box that’s related to theme can be re-used, some of it is plastic but should last a while and if any of the items come in it’s own packaging that can be recycled. I pack the inside of the box with shredded paper and gift wrapped with brown paper and twine all of which can be recycled. I have tried to keep the packaging minimal so less is thrown away.
Recently, I began my party bag range with the same concept in mind. As you know most party bags contain the plastic rubbish, that’s usually noisy i.e. the WHISTLE!! All the bits are either lost or broken by the end of the day and where does it end up – in the bin of course!
So my party bags, include a mini activity pack using the same recycled kraft paper, wrapped with twine, which can also be recycled as it’s a natural material, crayons and stickers! There are no plastic toys – the crayons can be kept and when finished with everything else can just be put in your paper recycle bin.
Thank you to one of my customers for sending me this picture of my party bags for her son’s 5th birthday. She herself is trying to reduce using plastic and loved the idea of my party bags being plastic free!
What are your thoughts on plastic?
What do you think needs to be done? I would love to know your thoughts.
Have a great month – will be back next month to talk about surviving the summer holidays and few tips I can share!
Love Rebecca x
Check out more about Rebecca and her business at www.imamini.co.uk