Not just Plastic Bags

Flora and Fauna have just introduced a product called Cora Laundry Ball which catches microplastics and microfibres that shed from our clothes. Here is a link to the product:

https://www.floraandfauna.com.au/cora-laundry-ball-yellow-1-ball

https://coraball.com/

Since it’s a newly introduced product, there is only one review, and it isn’t a glowing review. Maybe later the reviews will be more positive.

I get Muffin Break enewsletters (they’ve got a rewards card – buy 5 & get a free coffee). The newsletter was about their War on Waste! They’re starting up two new initiatives:
1. for every takeaway cup bought, they’ll pay to have one cup recycled through simply cups (dotcom dot au);
2. they’re bringing out new KeepCups. They’ll give you 30c off your coffee every time you reuse your KeepCup.

I don’t know if they’ll give you 30c off if you bring in another brand’s or unbranded travel cup. I emailed them from their “Contact Us” page, I’ll update when I get a reply.

[EDIT]
Muffin Break replied: you can bring in ANY reusable cup & they’ll give you 30c off your TAKEAWAY coffee.

I’m from Perth and there are more and more cafes that give you a discount when you supply your own cup. I think this is a great initiative, a lot of people think these are recyclable but they aren’t, and then there are ones that actually are recyclable. So I don’t know how recycling plants differentiate between them.

Also, this seems like a good opportunity to bring up microplastics. These are usually too small to be picked up by waste facilities so they end up in the ocean/waterways.

I consult the website below before I buy any beauty products;
http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/

I’m stating the obvious, but it was truly shocking to see the amount of waste on War On Waste: The Battle Continues. I was especially shocked to see how much rubbish was on the banks of the river.

The ABC show Q&A has an episode tomorrow night (Monday, 23 July 2018, 9.35 pm) on the issue of waste. The panel includes the host of War on Waste and CEO & founder of OzHarvest:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/?

War On Waste: The Battle Continues returns on Tuesday, 24 July 2018, 8:31 pm.

I have experienced something similar Joanne330. I think companies need to think about their actions.

I guess with any purchase made online, companies do their best to reduce damage to the goods but typically this ends up with a huge amount of wastage and unnecessary plastics. I once ordered a tea tumbler from T2 and it came in a huge box (the size of a standard box of 5 reams of A4 paper), and there was a tiny tea tumbler in it, with the rest of the space filled with plastic bags containing air for buffering. I was horrified.

Just to raise awareness for soft plastic recycling:

REDcycle is a great soft plastics recycling initiative and has easy-to-access bins at most supermarkets. You can find the nearest location to you on here http://www.redcycle.net.au/where-to-redcycle/.

I’ve just started collecting my soft plastics to recycle because I’ve been feeling guilty about the plastic trash I throw out. So if you’re keen, give it a go too 🙂

What I find is really annoying is when I’ve ordered online (groceries) Woolworths packs it in so many single use plastic bags. It’s often poorly packed too, so it’s one or two items per bag. I’ve fed it back but I don’t think they care. Surely they can look at a few boxes?

I’d never really stopped and thought about it, but you’re right… I guess in an ideal world, we would buy and clean durable packaging ourselves and just get refills at the store… how waste-efficient would that be? Just have a glass moisturizer container that you can pop in the dishwasher when it’s emtpy, and go to the store to get it refilled with your product of choice… I’m too much of a dreamer.

I don’t think that’ll ever happen because sadly beauty companies rely heavily on aesthetic and they wouldn’t give up their pretty, unique, selling packaging.

McDonald’s UK is making the switch to paper straws, will be interesting to see if other companies/Australian companies start following suit.