We’ve always been interested in sustainable living and our effect on the environment. But it’s funny how van life really makes you think about how much stuff you use and consume, every single day.
The turning point for us was after our month in Bali, and the time we spent on the beaches and in the sea. That’s when we truly experienced for ourselves the extent of plastic pollution in the ocean. We remember initially just feeling a bit disgusted by the slippery plastic bags getting wrapped around our arms and between our legs as we were trying to swim. We were just thinking about how that’s not what we expected from this apparently picture perfect paradise.
The problem is that we are constantly shown on TV and photographs how this is happening all over the world, but we aren’t directly effected by it.
We’ve all seen Blue Planet and vowed to never buy another plastic bag again. But then you go on with your life and 3 months later you forget to bring your reusable shopping bag to the supermarket and just pay the extra 5p for a plastic bag so you can carry all of your other plastic home…
And we aren't not writing this from a position of authority. We’ve been there.
So after Bali, when we arrived in New Zealand and started living in the van, we found it impossible to ignore the left over little scraps of plastic from our daily life.
When you’re living in a van, rubbish no longer just gets put into the bin and then out onto the road to be collected. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Instead, your rubbish slowly accumulates until you have to figure out how to throw it away. No one comes by every Monday to take it away for us.
So that’s what inspired us to start living a plastic free life.
The main thing we’ve learned is that going fully plastic free is a slow process, it can’t be done overnight.
But weirdly, for us, the things we thought would be the hardest to live without or find plastic free alternatives for, usually turned out to be the easier ones. It’s the everyday objects that you don’t even consider being plastic that have been the hardest to adapt away from.
We actually now don’t have a bin in our van anymore. Betty is ‘self-contained’ which technically requires a rubbish bin but we just don’t feel like we need one, or really have space for it in our tiny little matchbox (don’t tell the DOC).
We still aren’t fully plastic free. But we are on our way there and now I can’t imagine living my life any differently. Here's a list of things we find easy, and ones that haven't been as easy...
The Easy Ones
Shopping Bags
We always think this one is obvious but everytime we go to the supermarket and see the thousands of plastic bags being carried out of the store, we are reminded that this is still a huge problem, but it can be so easily avoided with a reusable shopping bag, tote bags or these super cheap but cute organic mesh bags for fruit. This goes for all types of shopping and we always make sure we're carrying one.
Living in the van means that you only have to run back out to the carpark to grab it if you forget, or we just take the trolley and unload our shopping straight into the kitchen.
Fruit and Vegetables
This has to be the easiest adjustment we’ve made and now we can’t understand why everyone isn’t doing it too. We bought some cute little resusable produce bags and we’ve realised most supermarkets even sell them now aswell? (How did we just notice this?)
Pasta
We honestly dreaded this one. Especially because right now we are still very much living a budget lifestyle. But many supermarkets have bulk food sections now, so similarly to fruit and vegetables, we use our reusable produce bags to stock up on food like lentils, rice, pasta and muesli. Depending on how exciting your supermarket is, you can get some cool stuff in that section. And if your supermarket doesn't have this, they are easy to find on google. And some bulk foods are even cheaper than their plastic packed alternative.
Bread
This one is super simple, and you just put your bread straight into your bag from either the supermarket or a bakery. We also recently made our own wraps in the van and even with our limited culinary skills, its was a piece of cake (or weirdly shaped tortilla is probably more accurate).
Water
We carry a flask everywhere with us, which means there is never a reason to buy a plastic bottle. We have a Hydro Flask and they are fab.
Coffee
We actually aren't really big coffee drinkers, so this one never really posed much of a problem for us. But we do have two of those reusable bamboo coffee cups with the little rubber lids. But the easiest way to avoid the plastic here is to just say no to the plastic lid.
Toothbrushes
This is one we didn’t even realise we were doing, but it’s a big one. Single use plastic doesn’t just mean the one time plastic bags (although they are obviously the biggest offenders) but these are still plastic things we replace relatively often. But you can now easily get bamboo toothbrushes which are fully recyclable.
Straws
What even is the purpose of these little devils? Well you can get so many cool metal or bamboo ones now, or just say no to a straw completely. The drink still tastes yummy.
Ladies
So I'm sure you've heard of the Moon Cup, but if you haven't, it's this weird squidgy reusable thing that you use instead of tampons. Sounds gross right? Yeah I thought so too. But I've got one now and it's changed my life. It takes a while to get used too but it will change your life too, and it means you don't have to pay for tampons every bloody(lol) month!
The Hard Ones
Paracetamol
This one I haven’t found any alternatives for yet so if anyone knows any I would love to know. And I know there’s the option just try not to not take any but when you’ve got a splitting headache or it's that time of the month and your uterus is ripping you open from the inside, the whole plastic free mindset sometimes gets a bit side lined.
Cheese
You can choose to buy cheese at a cheese counter or cheese shop (including vegan cheese) where you can use these cute Bee's wraps which are a great alternative to cling film. The problem for us is that when travelling on a budget, any cheese from the counter is always so eye wateringly expensive!
Chocolate
So we've started realising that if you can't buy it without plastic then you probably don't need to eat it because it probably isn't very good for you. But tell that to Midnight Frida on a chocolate craving fuelled rampage. This is based mainly on New Zealand, but all the relatively cheap chocolate brands come wrapped in plastic, even the vegan ones, and we can't afford the fancy cardboard wrapped Lindt chocolate right now. And I'm getting desperate.
Noodles
I remember watching that one episode of Chef's Table where he makes his own noodles and I've never seen something look so complicated.. And given that our kitchen set up includes one questionable hob, I'm not sure we are ready to delve into that just yet.
We've got a long way to go to being fully plastic free, but the thing that has surprised me is how easy it can be, but also how rewarding.
Have you ever considered going plastic free? And if so, then what's stopping you?
Challenge yourself to choosing just one or two things on the list above and see if you can do it on your next trip to the supermarket. You'll be surprised how simple it can be!
And I'd love to know if anyone has any tips for us because we've just started this ourselves, and I'd love to know what things you find easy or difficult?
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