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The last post

  • Chris Jeavans
  • 2 Sep 08, 01:00 PM GMT

A month's worth of plastic before the experiment (right) and after

My month without plastic is now over and you can read about my conclusions here.

This blog will remain in the archive but will be closed to new comments shortly.

Thank you again for all your comments.

Chris

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  • 1. At 3:40pm on 03 Sep 2008, chemscientist wrote:

    christine i hope you enjoyed your month without plasic.
    you probably sustituted the plastic with paper.to manufacture this paper trees were chopped down reducing co2 absorption thus helping global warming.after you chopped these trees up you than treated them with chlorine and caustic soda to produce the paper.making chlorine is a massively energy intensive process needing oil to provide the energy.
    guess what this same oil could have produced the plastic but we would have kept the trees.
    arent you proud.

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  • 2. At 6:13pm on 03 Sep 2008, AdeJones wrote:

    #1 - if you'd followed the blog all the way through, you wouldn't have made such a silly post.

    BTW - I've never met a chemist who can't spell 'substituted'. I think you're just a troll.

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  • 3. At 7:03pm on 03 Sep 2008, aquarizonagal wrote:

    Congratulations Chris!

    I just got back home and am reading your blog. Your picture of before and after is truly worth 1000 words! Thank you for giving us such a great forum to share ideas. I am sorry to see this end.

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  • 4. At 7:26pm on 03 Sep 2008, johnhcrf wrote:

    Hi Chris,

    Lovely picture.

    The pile on your right represents what Zero Waste enthusiasts achieve, some even better than that - ZeroWastePackaging.

    The other pile is the plastic lovers' dream.

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  • 5. At 9:54pm on 03 Sep 2008, CurlySteve wrote:

    Congratulations again Chris.

    The picture says it all!

    Thanks again for letting us all share/discuss/argue our views, it's been a fascinating month.

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  • 6. At 5:55pm on 14 Sep 2008, utahladybug wrote:

    I have very much enjoyed following along on your blog. You have really made me stop and think about how much garbage my family and I generate. By educating myself, we recycle nearly twice as much as we throw away. So, while I'm not to your level, I'm feeling much more responsible and proactive. Thank you for all your efforts! They were definitely not wasted!

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  • 7. At 04:31am on 17 Sep 2008, Feraqper wrote:

    Hi chris:

    First I wanted to say congratilations, for what u did, a really big effort.
    I really think that living with out plastic is imposible, plastic is everywhere (food, cleaning products, tecnology.. really everywhere), but reduce the plastic that we use is important if all of us could reduce the plastic use, thing would go much better, congrats for ur idea, greetings from Arequipa, Perú

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  • 8. At 08:52am on 19 Sep 2008, 4e_burashka wrote:

    Thanks for a nice experiment, Chris, I really loved it and became more careful trying to get less plastic. Just a few days ago I went to a supermarket in Moscow, a large one.There was one thing that attracted my attention. They sold bags there, and when you buy a bag the money goes to children with no families. I am not against helping children, I am for it and try to participate in such things. But imagine how ambiguous the choice was: the bags were made of plastic!!! It really shocked me!

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  • 9. At 10:35am on 25 Sep 2008, The-Idler wrote:

    I admire the sentiment behind your experiment and blog, but can't help but think the whole thing was misguided from the start.

    The impression I get from your experiment is that plastic is totally without merit and that is somehow worse than other materials. This is simply not the case.

    To try and live without plastic is missing the point, a more useful aim would have been to try and live without disposable packaging in any form.

    Sturdily constructed re-usable plastic items surely have a use. For instance, while you are no doubt right that taking leftovers to work is a useful way to save energy and waste, there's no need to avoid using a plastic container to do this. A plastic box is ideal for this purpose, better one might argue than your metal tiffins, because a plastic lunchbox can be directly heated in a microwave (the most energy efficient form of cooking by far), without the need to transfer to another container that needs to be washed with detergent and hot water etc.

    Similarly, Like you, I use an aluminum bottle for carrying tap water with me, but I'm willing to bet that yours, like mine has a plastic screw cap. Surely it's not sensible to abandon this useful item just because it contains some plastic?

    There's no need to single out plastic as a single source of the UK's growing waste mountian - why not try to throw out no more than 20 Litres of waste next month instead.

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  • 10. At 4:23pm on 29 Sep 2008, particularalien wrote:

    Hi Chris,

    Your blog has really inspired me to take more action to reduce my plastic waste, especially when it comes to bathroom products and cleaners.

    In Germany, where I was born and grew up, a lot of dairy products such as yoghurts, cream and milk are available in glass bottles and jars.
    Also, a wide variety of juices, lemonades and beer is sold bottled in crates, for which a deposit is paid, which is returned when the crate with the empty bottles is brought back. The same principle applies at many music and other events: beer bottles are sold with a deposit on top, so that people will return them.

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  • 11. At 10:52pm on 06 Oct 2008, lex_iow wrote:

    you can get yogurt in jars from http://www.browncoworganics.co.uk/organic-yoghurt.asp
    who make it or from
    www.organicdelivery.co.uk who stock it and deliver in London.
    Alexis

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  • 12. At 10:09am on 20 Oct 2008, TOUSAZAPPA wrote:

    THE MESSAGE IS FOR CHRIS JEAVANS

    Dear Chris,

    Allow me to introduce myself.

    My name is Toussa Zappa and I am a staff editor of OIKO environmental magazine, a monthly supplement of the Greek newspaper Kathimerini (www.ekathimerini.gr), which is one of the major and most respected dailies in Greece. Our publications include an English-language daily (www.ekathimerini.com), exclusively available inside the International Herald Tribune, an 8-page weekly supplement of the New York Times and various other magazines (Popular Science, Popular Medicine, Harper's Bazaar, etc). OIKO is the first magazine about ecology, sustainable living and the environment that was ever published in Greece and additionally the one with the highest circulation (circa 200.000).

    Having red about your , project under the title “A month without plastic”, I am writing to you asking for a interview regards to the issue. The interview may be conducted via e-mail.

    So please be so kind to give me your contact details in order to arrange with you this interview.

    I am looking forward to hearing from you soon,

    Best regards,

    Toussa Zappa
    OIKO Magazine
    e-mail: tzambb@vodafone.net.gr

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  • 13. At 5:10pm on 27 Aug 2009, glitterNaturalJessie wrote:

    I have started using solid shampoo to stop the need to recycle plastic bottles. Their great & natural & really good for your hair, I was recommended to The Soap Cauldron by a friend about a month ago, cut on recycling & go natural yourself by visiting www.thesoapcauldron.co.uk
    I loved them xxx

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