Bury or burn?

[Janne]

One type of containers I love are the reclosable coffee containers. Like the ones Lavazza uses.
( of course others use them too.
Some have a simple square pop on/ off lid, the best ones have a screw on lid.

I think they invented a new expression recently for re using?

Also wine bottles with a screw top. And my favourite, Grolsch beer bottles with the classic stopper!
Brilliant!

 

[Robson Valley]

Patak's East Indian condiment jars come in several very useful sizes, wide-mouth as well.
I use a couple dozen to keep wood carving inlay findings (metals & stones) where
smaller containers/pill bottles wouldn't really be as good as or better.

Bury or burn? Not a chance. I packed it in, I'll pack it out. I used to burn all the tins
to keep down the food smells attracting the bears. Now,it all comes home.

 

[Wayland]

But it still gets buried somewhere by your local council unless it is exported to third world countries that are paid to "recycle it" ( Which is usually done badly, if at all. )

The point is that we need to look at the wider picture... Sure I never bury on site or leave any trace there other than ground disturbance if I can help it, but we still leave a trace somewhere even if we conveniently don't see it as the dust cart carries it away.

 

[Woody girl]

I have stopped buying pre packed veg. I take my basket and buy it loose in the quantity I need for one or two meals.
My local veg shop has just changed hands and the quality and freshness has gone up markedly. He packages in paper bags as in the "old days" and even sells "loose milk" ie take your own bottle and fill it up at the shop. 90p per litre. No plastic waste at all. He even sells litre glass milk bottles if you don't have a container.
I think this is the way to go shopping wise. If you don't have the plastic in the first place you don't have to worry about the environmental impact. My bin is even emptier now!
We also have a crisp packet recycling point!
Food waste goes into the compost bin in the garden. If I didn't have a garden I'd have a wormery
Yes these things take a bit of compromise here and there but it's all good. Be mindful how you shop and don't buy plastic in any form if there is an alternative. It becomes second nature after a few weeks.
Zero impact on the environment is not possible in general life, but it can totaly be minimised.
At camp I never burn waste unless it is burnable ie paper. Everything else is taken out and recycled or binned.
Incidently my big waste bin at home has not been put out for six weeks... there is nothing in it!
I totaly realise having kids it's more problematic but you just have to train the little darlings not to have some much waste in their lives while they are receptive to parental influence and hope it sticks. Then hopefully we bring up the next generation to be naturally aware in a way we once were but forgot .

 

[Robson Valley]

Just in our local news:
Three companies bid on one-ton bales of plastic waste. Three tons a piece.
They didn't know of the hidden GPS trackers in each of the bales.
One lot went to Asia (and then what?)
One lot went into a land fill "pseudo-recycling" to be buried with the other trash.
One lot actually went into a plastics recycling factory.

Who is to be trusted when you claim it gets recycled?

 

[Wayland]

Therein lies the problem.

 

[Woody girl]

Therein lies the problem.

sadly It most certainly does. It's not easy to go plastic free, but if you look about there are ways. Saying no to plastic bags of any kind. Telling people you are plastic free and asking them not to buy plastic presents at Xmas and birthdays.
I still unavoidably have plastic waste, but I'm trying very hard to not have any at all, and what I do throw away is mostly recyclable. I'm aware that it doesn't always get recycled properly and that is a problem for me, so I realy do try not to throw stuff away if it can be reused or repaired. Meanwhile I'm a thorn in the council's side when it comes to recycling and keep asking when they are going to actually recycle a or b or c items as they keep promising does it have any effect? Who knows! But at least they know I'm on the case.

 

[Janne]

As you do, WoodyGirl, iI believe that is the way forward.
The most efficient way is on our side. Do not buy plastic stuff, do not buy food unnecessarily packaged in plastic, take your own bags, and so on.
I remember the times when plastic bags of all sorts, and plastic packaging, was non existent.
It was a very nice change though, when the plastic bags, styrofoam trays, stuff like that came.
Convenient!

 

[Robson Valley]

I don't believe that there was as much sloppy, messy "convenience food" to be bought decades ago.
Get rid of all that, back to glass drink bottles, etc. and how much plastic is used?

 

[Woody girl]

One thing I've given up is shower gel and liquid soap. I now use a bar of soap. Lasts longer, cheaper, no plastic bottles to throw away. Win win on all counts. Small changes in shopping habits like that.. if we all did it would have a massive effect.
What I did to start was have an audit of my bathroom. Took out everything that was plastic....... I ended up with a flannel and towel..... shocked me to bits!
I now have a metal shower head and rail, wood toothbrush and hairbrush. The thing to do is as something needs replacing such as shower gel or a toothbrush replace with soap and ecco items. Not realy that hard. My shower head and rail needed replacing. Otherwise I keep reusing plastic items untill totaly shot, my tooth mug is still plastic, but I have a lovely glass got for 25p from the charity shop to replace it when the time comes. I'm having trouble with toothpaste tubes and shampoo though another thing that annoys me is why do loo rolls have plastic wrappings? They had paper ones when I was younger. Just not needed!
Next job is the kitchen... now that's gonna be scary! But incremental changes have already happened. No more nylon scrub pads. Home knitted dishcloths have become the norm now with a wooden scrubbing brush for tuff bits ....works very well.

 

[Janne]

The bamboo handled toothbrush I can not stand.
I bought a family pack in Sweden, used one once.
My whole body get an involuntary shudder when I touched my teeth with the wooden part.

Not a pretty sight, me shuddering like an Aspen leaf, trust me!

 

[Robson Valley]

To hell with the tooth brushes. The biggest battle is in the kitchen.
Eschew the wrapped prepared foods. Glass jars or else I do without.

I wanted to buy 6 cobs of sweet corn (late season = my favorite)
I was NOT ALLOWED to take it out of the store without a fekking plastic bag.
(Yeah and I'll eat all that corn and I have zero plans to share.)
So, I will shuck that corn and use the bag for the hulls. At least 2X use.

What little I saw of England, they use far less plastic-wrapped things than here.
You MUST carry a SAK to avoid starvation. Be fore warned.

 

[Janne]

But everything is pointless if the plastic we laboriously collect ends up shredded in an Asian river.

My tiny business went over to paper cups last month. That is about all we can do.

 

[Grebby]

another thing that annoys me is why do loo rolls have plastic wrappings? They had paper ones when I was younger. Just not needed!

https://uk.whogivesacrap.org/

 

[Janne]

I suspect they are chopping down forests and planting bamboo to satisfy the growing market for bamboo fiber?

 

[Woody girl]

https://uk.whogivesacrap.org/

Yeah seen that. But the prices!
Rather use newspaper or izal! What's wrong with using washable cloths ? Nobody got squeamish in the old days about washing dirty nappies... always by hand. But then that was a woman's job and men never gave it a thought so balk at this idea as being unhygienic. If it was how come so many people survived before disposable nappies and washing machines were invented?
That's going way off piste in a way but it's still related to bury or burn although nothing to do with camp hygiene as the subject of the original post, but good to see conversation can progress.
I agree before anyone points it out that it wouldn't work so well in a camp environment. Loo roll is a definite must there.

 

[Janne]

In fact, most of the people died at a young age.
Toddlers died in droves, in most European countries they were not even buried in own graves, just plonked down in the family grave ( or an unmarked grave). Natural population control.
Only just more than two children survived in each family into the child producing age, plus the other people died young from every possible infection under the Sun.
Increased hygiene and the medical science made it possible for you and me to be able to live today.

Teeth related infections were a big (still is in some countries) killer.
So yes, hygiene of all sorts is quite important.

Plus, people stank. From mouth, body and clothes.




Apart from the negative environmental impact of producing and shipping Bamboo based paper across the World, how does it behave in sewage pipes and septics?
Toilet paper dissolves quickly.
Other papers not so, many tissues absolutely not, and you get the famous British Fat Bergs.

A better way is to buy paper ( of all sorts) made in Europe of recycled paper, or if you absolutely need 'virgin' paper, , it should preferably be made in Sweden or Finland. Russia is upping the environmentally friendly paper and pulp production.

 

[santaman2000]

Yeah seen that. But the prices!
Rather use newspaper or izal! What's wrong with using washable cloths ? Nobody got squeamish in the old days about washing dirty nappies... always by hand. But then that was a woman's job and men never gave it a thought so balk at this idea as being unhygienic. If it was how come so many people survived before disposable nappies and washing machines were invented?
That's going way off piste in a way but it's still related to bury or burn although nothing to do with camp hygiene as the subject of the original post, but good to see conversation can progress.
I agree before anyone points it out that it wouldn't work so well in a camp environment. Loo roll is a definite must there.

I’m not so sure a loo roll is an absolute necessity in camp. Back as a teenager we always just used leaves in the woods (whether we were camping or just needed a poo break while hunting or working)

 

[Janne]

I guess Poison Ivy was one of the first plants you learned about?


Having run out of loo paper many times while in Nature, I must confess I think that it is one of Mankinds greatest inventions....

I used to use reindeer moss, or in worst case, that green beautiful moss.

It was always tricky to be able to take enough paper for a 2 weeker, but I had access to a vacuum machine that compressed the roll. One roll per vacuum bag.






A good alternative while at home is a bidet. I have never seen a bidet in an English house though.

 

[Broch]

A good alternative while at home is a bidet. I have never seen a bidet in an English house though.

Mmm... I wonder how many British houses you've been in then

Of course, there's the good old arid country bucket of water method - but then you are restricted to only eating with your right hand