Getting inspiration from Westywrites!

I like reading other blogs and recently I can’t get enough of Westywrites. Westywrites is also preparing to give up plastic for Plastic Free July and has started a whole series on going plastic free – hurray!

Sustainable gift wrap course
Each time I read the blog I feel inspired.
Westy started off the series discussing the cost of a sneeze.  I have to admit that I did try using hankies on the kids once, but I made the mistake of holding on to them instead of chucking them in the wash straight away and managed to catch a cold myself pretty quickly.  I went back to tissues straight after that, but maybe I need to revisit this situation…
Then Westy wrote a letter to ask a local shop to stock more products without plastic – what a fantastic idea. I keep thinking I should talk to / write to some of my local shops and I did get in touch with a local dairy farm to see if they could provide milk without plastic bottles – I never heard back though…
Westy swapped hand soap for bar soap to avoid plastic bottles.  I have been using bar soap for a while (and now use it on my hair too!) – it comes in cardboard boxes and is entirely plastic free.  Recently in the kitchen I have also started washing up my dishes with bicarbonate of soda, which comes in paper cartons (I do have to admit to buying a plastic shaker for the bicarbonate of soda though, so that when I am pouring it over my dishes I limit the amount that comes out – it will last me for years though and I did buy it in a local shop..  I know a spice jar would have done the job too, but I didn’t have any going spare….)
Next Westy kept a plastic diary for a day.  This is definitely on my to do list – such a great way to work out what plastics I still need to eliminate from my life!
One of Westy’s readers asked what constitutes single use plastic – a good question.  I would like to give up all plastic, but I know it isn’t always practical and more often than not the alternatives to plastic can also be bad for the environment, so I am just going to do what I can…
Westy also gave up clingfilm around the same time that I ran out of clingfilm in my house and I felt the need to follow suit.
Westy’s latest post is about taking your own bags to the shops and it really made me laugh, as I have been doing all the same things (although I don’t have those produce bags…).

Westy even helped me out via Twitter, with where to buy some eco-friendly tea towels.  People Towels are fairtrade, biodegradable and use eco-friendly dyes – thanks Westy!  They are meant to be hand towels, but I’m sure they could do the job.  I was looking for some because I have been wearing out my old ones by reusing and reusing them, instead of using kitchen paper – thus avoiding the plastic packaging it comes in and the paper wasted. Someone did comment on my recent post about tea towels with a pattern for making my own tea towels/ cleaning cloths which I might also give a go…

So anyway Westywrites = great blog, especially if you are thinking about giving up single use plastic right now.  I highly recommend reading it and following along on the plastic free journey!
Thanks for the inspiration Westywrites!
So far I have given up shampoo and supermarkets as part of My Year of Eco Challenges and now I’m preparing to give up plastic too. If you have a moment I would really appreciate it if you would consider sponsoring me with an action on my DoNation page. Also if you liked this post please click like on Facebook and follow on Twitter – thanks so much!