I have recently been on a trip to Dublin and tried to limit the amount of plastic waste as much as possible by taking a few small steps. To give context, my husband and I were staying in an apartment, which meant we could cook our own food and helped with cost cutting, but made it slightly harder to find plastic free alternative for certain foods.
My family joined us a couple of days in so I didn't have total control over what we were buying; however, I tried to influence them in making as many plastic free choices as possible. Here are some things we managed to do:
Water Bottle
First of all, I took my own reusable water bottle with me which meant we did not need to buy any bottled drinks in the airports or throughout the trip. I used water fountains provided in airports and when out and about I asked at cafes if they wouldn't mind refilling. Every one was very polite and did it with no problem.
Coffee
Whenever we fancied a coffee, we made sure we sat inside and asked for our coffee to be served in real cups. This was particularly hard in airports as staff tend to automatically pick up a take away cup while they ask you what drink you want. We had to specify it a few times and only once got given a take away cup by mistake. I quite like the act of stopping for a moment to enjoy the coffee sitting down as well. It seems a very small price to pay to not use a disposable item for just a few minutes.
Airports
When travelling through airports we allowed extra time for sit down meals instead of buying something to go in disposable plastic. We avoided all snacks and when sat down to have a drink we ordered a side to share and used our own straws.
Fruit & Veg
All fruit and veg we bought was lose and I made sure to put it straight into my basket without any bags. We also took a trip to the local greengrocer to buy some local produce and used paper bags for delicate items such as tomatoes. We also tried to find as many other plastic free options as possible, such as spices in glass jars with metal lids, which we took home to carry on using. I am also planning to re-purpose the jars at a later date.
Rice & Lentils
As for the first couple of days it was just the two of us, we went for tried and tested zero waste recipes with ingredients we knew we could find (bean and lentil stew). Before the holiday, I had researched zero waste shopping options so we headed over to the Dublin Food Co-op who have a zero waste section of dried goods. We got rice and two types of lentils in paper bags and then made sure to reuse the bags throughout the trip.
Meat
As we were having a traditional Easter meal, lamb was on the menu. I made sure to go to the local butcher and ordered the lamb a couple of days before. Unfortunately, I didn't have any containers big enough to carry a whole leg of lamb but at least there was only one thin layer of plastic to protect the meat instead of the excessive amount of packaging that supermarkets tend to have. As a bonus point, the meat was very fresh and locally sourced.
Nuts
Another shop I researched before going was Nutty Delights, a market stool that sells lose dried fruits and nuts. We got some interesting nuts to snack on as well as some more unusual dried fruits (such as kiwi and papaya) to take home as a gift. You can scoop the goods directly into a paper bag and it is a very good place for pick and mix.
Paper bags
I took with me a few paper bags (I keep these from shop that sell lose items) to buy things in which came in very handy, for example when buying bakery items as the shop often had either plastic bags or paper bags with a plastic window. I reused these bags until they became greasy or broken.
Juicer
In the supermarket next to our accommodation they had an orange juice machine so I thought I'd try to fill up my own container. Luckily there were some large clip top jars in the apartment I could use. The staff were a bit reluctant at first but when I explained why I didn't want to use their plastic bottles they let me fill up my big jar and charged me for two 500ml bottles at the till.
I was very pleased as I managed to talk to 4 different people at the shop about it explaining my reasons.
Kitchen sponge
While browsing shops I found this cleaning cloth which is made from cellulose and cotton and thought I'd give it a try. It was helpful to keep the kitchen in the flat clean while we were there and I was able to take it home so I can use it until the end of its life.
