Living plastics free

The Manx Wildlife Trust is currently running a campaign (Wave Goodbye to Plastic) to encourage people to reduce their use of plastics.

So I decided to do my bit too and each month, since the beginning of the year, I have been making small changes.

However, I felt this wasn't enough and I wanted to do more. So for the month of June I decided to try and go single-use plastic free.

In some ways this has been very challenging and in other ways easier than I thought. I've managed to find alternatives for most things, or plastic-free options, but some things are still providing a challenge, such as cheese, lettuce and cucumber. I just can't seem to source them plastic wrap-free.

So next year I will get the vegetable patch growing again. My diet may have changed slightly over the last couple of weeks but a positive is that I'm eating less processed foods.

In terms of toiletries, I've found alternatives fairly easily, such as shampoo bars and toothpaste in glass jars. I've even managed to find solid perfume, which I didn't even know existed. Toilet roll was initially another difficult one. The wrapping is always plastic, but I've managed to source that now.

One of the unforeseen benefits of this challenge has been that I am shopping more locally. I have always chosen Manx produce where possible but now I'm using local shops and producers more.

A benefit of living on the Island is the great local produce and products available, which means I can source a large amount of what I need here without the added shipping. So it is possible to reduce your plastic use it just takes a bit more time and planning.