Looking for ways to shop without buying more plastic! First attempt!

 So far I have found three shops in Ciutadella which offer a variety of products that you can buy loose.  All I had to do was take some of my own containers ( I used old chinese takeaway tubs) to put the stuff .in.  The first place I went to was in a row of shops in the arches near the Cathedral (Ses Voltes)

What a selection of stuff they have!  There are many things typical of Menorca and made in Menorca too, as you enter on the left side is a complete wall of dispensers, filled with many things from breakfast cereals to lentils, pastas and rices to name but a few.  On the right hand side is a tea section, then a spice section with a table in the middle filled with compartments of nuts!  

Over the back are the spices.

The process is quite simple, first the nice lady weighs your container, then you put however much you want in, it gets weighed then, done!  And when you have finished you leave with some nice things and also feeling good with yourself for not buying any new plastic!!

 

 

My next stop was a local store which sells frozen produce by weight, so it is the same set up there, it also sells a lot of fruit and veg from Menorca.  It is situated near the Plaza Menorca on the corner.

I take my own mesh bag (thank you Lidl) and put my fruit and veg in it, the lady only has seasonal fruit in there(at the moment it´s apples) but boy is it worth waiting for!

Products from Menorca

Products from Menorca and elsewhere, everything is clearly labelled as to its origin.

My last port of call was also near the Plaza Menorca, up near the church it´s called Camamilla, it´s great, they have a great range of products in there, 

Take your own container and they will fill it for you, great value too, all eco products!

Their range of infusions is enormous and they have a great selection of environmental beauty products too.

Today I only needed some bubble bath;

It smells lovely and for a mere 1,35 for 500ml good value.

So I can say that todays first adventure was a success!  

My blog song for today is: "Disco 2000" by Pulp  your house was very small with woodchip on the wall, classic!

TTFN

At last some clarity of those awful hard to read triangles with teeny tiny numbers inside

 

 PLASTICS 

I have come across this information and it is very interesting.

The aim of this symbol is to tell you what kind of plastic the product is made from, with seven different numbers and letters to help you figure out

1. PET – short for Polyethylene Terephthalate which is widely recycled

2. HDPE – short for High-Density Polyethylene and is also widely recycled

3. PVC – short for Polyvinyl Chloride - capable of being recycled but is harder to do so. Before placing in your recycling bin, check with your local authority whether it is a material they can recycle.

4. LDPE – short for Low-Density Polyethylene - capable of being recycled, but it’s a good idea to check with your local authority to check it can be recycled.

 5. PP – short for Polypropylene -material is very hard or not possible to recycle. Can be found in tupperware, disposable cups, and some food containers.

6. PS – short for Polystyrene or Styrofoam - material also hard or not possible to recycle. Used in disposable coffee cups, plastic cutlery and packing foam.

7. Other – this is usually a mish mash of lots of different plastics, which means it is difficult to recycle.

So here in Menorca listed on the leaflet I downloaded from the official recycling plant website it says we can recycle polystyrene but according to the list above it is very difficult or not possible to.  A little confusing.  I think I will send an email and see what they say! So it looks like 1 and 2 are the clear winners! (forgive the pun).

The song for the blog today is:  Pink Floyd - "Set the controls for the heart of the sun" Break out the wrangler flares and flowery shirts!

 

TTFN

 

How did we end up with so much plastic packaging? what can we do about it?

 I have found some more information online from the Greenpeace UK website:

I have copied and pasted it below;

"There are all sorts of claims that justify why plastic is used in such enormous quantities. But look closer and it turns out these claims aren’t as sound as they might seem.

1. Can we use “bioplastics?”

The term “bioplastics” can mean two things:

• Plastics that biodegrade or break down into tiny pieces (creating smaller bits of plastic that are still, well, plastic.)
• Plastics made of renewable, organic biomass sources, like vegetable fats and oils, and corn starch.

So-called bioplastics might seem like a great idea, but they can actually be just as bad as normal plastic. If bioplastics end up in the ocean they can entangle and endanger sea life, just like regular plastic. And making them also uses up valuable land and resources, and can require chemical-intensive industrial agriculture.

2. Can recycling fix the plastic problem?

Recycling is absolutely vital for dealing with waste, and we definitely shouldn’t start chucking everything in the bin for landfill. But unfortunately our recycling systems just can’t cope with the amount of plastic we currently produce – especially as plastic production is on the increase.

As a material, plastic can only be recycled a certain number of times, so we can’t keep recycling the same thing forever. Making new recycled goods out of the plastic we recycle also uses up a lot of energy and resources.

3. Doesn’t plastic packaging prevent food waste?

This might seem like a question with a simple answer, but the links between food waste and plastic packaging are complex. Sometimes, plastic can increase shelf life, but it also increases food waste in other ways.

When foods are packaged together, they have to be a regular shape and size so they can fit into their plastic container. Food that doesn’t conform to these standards doesn’t make it, which means that some food is rejected before it even reaches the shelves.  

Packaging can also make people buy more than they need. For example if you only need 10 tomatoes for your signature homemade salsa but you buy a pack of 16, those last six can end up mouldy and forgotten on the bottom shelf of your fridge. Eventually, they might get thrown away.

So after all this doom and gloom, what is the answer?

Ultimately supermarkets need to reduce the amount of plastic packaging they use in the first place. Sometimes packaging is necessary. Pre-chopped fruit and veg are vital for people who have accessibility issues that make chopping and peeling difficult or impossible. But the vast majority of plastic isn’t necessary.

Stopping excess plastic at the source will mean that there’s less of it in circulation, and ultimately less plastic in our oceans."

 If you go to the website;

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/whats-answer-plastic-problem/

at the bottom is a link to sign a petition to urge supermarkets to reduce plastic.

Here is a challenge, for one visit to the supermarket, try to find alternatives to plastic!  It is more difficult than you think!

We can as consumers make a change, we all managed to change from plastic bags to reusable ones, lets try and make a difference in the amount of plastic is produced, by reducing the amount that we buy and steering away from the companies that over package, for example; those little fairy cakes individually packed in twos in little plastic bags, inside a large plastic bag, a bit over the top(very common here in Spain) Once you start looking you will be very surprised about how many you will come across!

 That is it for me today, time to start making dinner!  I will leave you with the "blast from the past" blog song for today, it is Led Zep - Kashmir!

TTFN

Recycling of everyday items and the huge problem of disposable nappies (diapers)

 Here´s the latest on my search for good information regarding recycling of plastic!  I have not been able to get a visit to our local recycling plant because it is undergoing construction work, they do not let individual people take tours of the plant but if I can get together a small group it is possible, but not until 2021.

The main problem I have and maybe others too is that there is too much confusion with the triangles, numbers and letters which are embossed in the plastic, if you can in fact see them at all!  I have come across a few products which have made life a bit easier and have actually printed a coloured icon to enable us to easily identify in which container to put the plastic in.

What a great idea!  Come on companies make life easier for us.

From the Recycling Web Site of Menorca ,

BLUE BIN 

 - Newspapers and magazines - Cardboard packaging: from food, shoes, frozen foods, etc. - Printing paper, envelopes, cardboard, etc. - Advertising, such as posters, leaflets, catalogues, etc. - Wrapping paper - Booklets, books, guides, etc. 

 A few tips: - Fold cardboard up. - Don’t deposit paper/ cardboard in plastic bags. - Don’t deposit dirty paper such as tissues, napkins, etc. - Don’t deposit tin foil, laminated paper, fax paper, etc. - Remove all types of staples, paper clips and other metallic elements. - Only deposit packaging displaying the Green symbol.

 YELLOW BIN 

 - Packaging for water, milk, yoghurt, detergent, hygiene and cleaning products, etc. - Tetra Briks for milk, juice, wine, soup, etc. - Aluminium tins and drinks cans - Steel drinks cans - Plastic bags and wrapping - Tin foil and aluminium trays - Polystyrene trays - Aerosols - Deodorant cans and cosmetics containers - Metal caps and lids

 A few tips: - Only deposit empty containers, with nothing left inside. - Reduce the volume of the containers. - Only deposit containers displaying the Green symbol.

 GREEN BIN

Glass bottles: for beer, wine, cava, cider, spirits, liqueur and others - Glass containers: perfumes, cosmetics, cologne and similar - Food containers: yoghurt, jam, preserves, sauces, pulses, vegetables, etc.

 A few tips: - Empty the contents of the containers before depositing them in the green bin. - Don’t deposit plastic bags or lids, lightbulbs, mirrors or ceramics, etc. - Only deposit packaging displaying the Green symbol. - Avoid generating unnecessary waste.

 Some of the items on these lists I have doubts over, for example I did not think that Polystyrene could be recycled, but on this page it seems that it can.

I am still in the dark...looks like I am going to do some more searching..

 DISPOSABLE NAPPIES (Diapers)

One of the bees in my bonnet is:  does anyone remember when disposal nappies were introduced and how they were supposed to be for when mum and baby were out of the house or whatever and cloth nappies were the norm? Well my how times have changed, the situations are reversed now and it seems that if you use cloth nappies you are weird!  

Although they offer convenience, they do have several dangerous environmental drawbacks. Not only do disposable nappies account for a lot of the trash taking over the nation’s landfills, but they also pose serious risks to the environment and people alike. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that about 20 billion disposable diapers are dumped in landfills each year, accounting for more than 3.5 million tons of waste.

Natural Resources

The Good Human, a website dedicated to discussing issues related to environmentalism, points out that more than 200,000 trees each year are lost to the manufacture of disposable diapers for babies in the U.S. alone. In addition, it takes 3.4 billion gallons of fuel oil every year to make diapers. What it comes down to is that disposable diapers use 20 times more raw materials, two times more water and three times more energy to make than cloth diapers. Besides depleting natural resources, manufacturing disposable diapers also utilizes non-renewable energy sources.

Landfills

Although disposable diapers need to be exposed to oxygen and sunlight to decompose, they do not degrade well in a landfill. What's more, disposable diapers take about 500 years to decompose. The millions of tons of untreated waste added to landfills each year through plastic diapers can contaminate ground water. Another concern is that viruses excreted in a baby’s feces could end up leaking into local water supplies. According to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, landfills are known for producing greenhouse gas emissions, which can contribute to the earth’s climate changes. Decomposing diapers release methane into the air. High concentrations of the gas can be explosive and flammable. Methane is also dangerous to breathe in because it replaces oxygen.

Chemicals

A guide published by the Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia cites a study reported in the “Archives of Environmental Health” which found that diapers release volatile organic chemicals. Toxic chemicals such as toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and dipentene have been linked to adverse health effects in humans with long-term exposure. The inner absorbent layer of a disposable diaper is also treated with chemicals, which can trigger allergic reactions. Disposable diapers often contain dyes and dioxin, which is formed as a by-product of the chlorine bleaching process. Dioxin is a carcinogen, which means it can cause cancer. When released into the environment, the toxin can accumulate in humans and animals.

This was on the way to becoming a huge problem 25 years ago and it seems to be getting worse.

Trying to get people to change back to cloth nappies is nearly impossible, they are too convenient.

I will look into this and see if I can found out if any of the large producers are actually doing anything to solve these issues.

Until the next time.

Here is the blast from the past blog song.  Mud - Tiger Feet

TTFN

Changing my shopping habits to avoid plastic

 I must admit I have changed my shopping habits to use a supermarket that have promised and made changes to their usage of plastic. That supermarket is Lidl.

Here is a section from their website;

"Far from settling for being the first supermarket chain to eliminate plastic shopping bags in Spain, Lidl was also a pioneer in dispensing with plastic bags in the fruit and vegetable section to introduce 100% compostable bags instead. The implementation of this project has meant the reduction of up to 220 tons of plastic per year.

Beyond this, and with the aim of continuing to promote the use of reusable materials, Lidl was also the first company in the sector to introduce a new mesh bag as a test in the fruit and vegetable section of its stores in the Balearic Islands: a 100% recyclable alternative, which can be washed and reused as many times as desired, and which has a resistance of up to 5 kg. Thanks to its great reception, in 2020 Lidl deployed its new mesh bag in the fruit and vegetable section of all its establishments in Spain. Within this same section, it is also worth noting the increase in the number of bulk references and the new 100% compostable packaging of our BIO fruit and vegetables.

Another of the actions included within our REset Plastic strategy is the elimination of all single-use plastic items. In 2019, for example, we already replaced crockery, straws and cotton buds for the ears with other more sustainable alternatives (in the latter case, by cellulose swabs with which we avoid up to 65 tons of plastic per year)"

 

I can confirm that this is exactly what they have done here in the stores in Menorca and the public here have reacted well, what a great idea with the mesh bags, one of our local supermarkets have done the same too!

 

I think they are doing a great job and hope they can introduce more of these innovative ideas.

 

I have been looking into the system of recycling here on Menorca and am waiting for more information.

I hope to be able to go and visit the recycling centre and see for myself how it all works, fingers crossed on that one!  

 

So what we as consumers need to do is to buy less products stored in plastic because even if it can be recycled the oil companies are just going to keep making more.  Just because its got the triangle on the container does not mean it can be recycled.  Trying to find definitive information on what those numbers actually mean is not easy. I thought 1,2 and 5 were good to go and the rest 3,4,6 and 7 were not, if anyone knows any different let me know!

 

 

If you want to read an interesting article go to this page:

 

 

 https://text.npr.org/897692090

 

thats it for today, apart from my blast from the past song - Ballroom Blitz by Sweet

 

TTFN

15th Anniversary of our move to Menorca

A day to celebrate, we have been here 15 years on this very day, what an experience so far.  For us it was a good decision. We came here for the quality of life and we have it.  It has been a challenge to adapt to the Spanish way of life but it is working out well.  

This is such a laid back place, at first it took a bit of getting used to!  Q- How long will it take? A- Not long.  Q- I need this making, how much? A- Not much.  The pace is so much slower than of the UK, but after a while you find yourself answering in the same manner!!  

my blast from the past song today is:  Going for the one by Yes.

I remember trying to copy their yes logo for ages when I was at school, along with Queen!  Also driving my family crazy trying to learn the lyrics to Hotel California, one line at a time on the record player!

Well thats me for today

TTFN

Supporting local products

A lot of people are of the opinion that the coming months are going to be difficult financially and I am thinking that if I can persuade friends and family to buy local products and use the smaller family owned supermarkets it may help the island get through the tough times that may lay ahead.

There are many fine establishments here on Menorca that make exceptional things, we have milk, cheeses, butter, honey, fruit and vegetables, meat, seafood and fish to name a few!  

The cakes and biscuits here are wonderful, some of the bakeries are fab!  Forn Del Ranxo, El Diamante along with Diaz (known for its Ensaimadas) to name but a few.

One of the first things we noticed when we first moved here was the freshness of all the products and how the tomatoes tasted like tomatoes!  It´s good because we all look forward to Plum season when all the bakeries sell pastries known as cocas made with.. you´ve guessed it Plums!  Another is when its the turn of the watermelon, all grown here in Menorca and absolutely glorious especially on a blistering hot summers day!  The BEST!   

Another wonderful thing is Sobresada Day, which is exactly the same day as Pancake day, so we celebrate them both at the same time, Sobresada on slices of baguette with honey on top (incredible) and then pancakes with lemon and sugar!

In my weekly shop I usually have local products, I use a butchers called Raima on the outskirts of Ciutadella, I like them because the quality is very good, it´s locally sourced and another bonus is they wrap in paper!or if you want you can take your own containers!  The web address is below.

There is also a cooperative of businesses on the Island that provide door to door delivery of a wide range of products all made here on Menorca,they are called Xuroa, the web site is below also.

I have decided to include in each blog a song that is a blast from the past, todays one is by Lou Reed, its called "Satellite of Love" Pom Pom Pom..satellite of love....

Here are the two web sites:

http://www.embotitsraima.com/es/

www.xuroa.com

 Have a great Saturday 31st October whatever you end up doing!

TTFN

 

Who would shoot a cat with an air rifle and why?

 I cannot believe what I have just read in our paper for the island. Here on the island (probably the same all over the world) are small colonies of cats which local people look after as best they can, providing food and water each day to them.  One of these cats from a colony was shot with an air rifle, the pellet lodged in the lung of the poor thing and killed it.  A kind lady found the cat and rushed it to a local vet, but it was too late. An autopsy was carried out and that is how they found out what happened.  

Can anyone tell me what on earth would make someone do this?  When I read stories like this it makes me so ANGRY. We used to have a large population of stray cats on the island but then the animal welfare people started a neutering campaign and the numbers have dropped, so it is not like we are over run.  

Being an island, we rely an awful lot on tourists, when they come for the summer months it is great for everyone including the cats, but the cats get used to being fed by them and when the season is over, there is a void.  This is when the volunteers come in and often out of their own pockets, feed the cats. 

Another side to the story is that some residents with cats refuse to have them neutered (even though there are facilities available for free) and as a result more kittens arrive and the cycle goes on and on.

So even here on our wonderful island with the virgin beaches and biosphere we still have ignorant cretins with no respect for the other living creatures we share the planet with.

We have a very good system here in the supermarkets where you can leave donations in the form of a tin of food or bag of biscuits which the Protectora d´animales collects on a regular basis, so the people who do not like donating cash help in this way.

However, if you would like to help then my gofundme page is another option.Just go to the gofundme.com web site and search for ciutadella cats, it should be there! Even 5€ would be fantastic.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I am a bit wound up today.

TTFN

Cats in crisis! Please help in their relocation!

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to get some financial help for the cat sanctuary in Ciutadella here in Menorca.

The landlord of the home they have been living in for the past 15 years has decided to sell the property and this means that a new home is needed for all of the 170 cats there.  We adopted our two gorgeous cats from the sanctuary nearly three years ago so I have a soft spot for the place!  

As you will see if you visit the page, some wonderful people have already made donations, so it is on its way,  I decided to use gofundme because they have been around for some time now and they don`t take a lot in administration fees so nearly all of the money raised goes to who needs it!

If you would like to help please visit the page below, if you copy and paste it into your search engine it will be in the results.

Many thanks, if you can spare a few euros, pounds or whatever currency you use!

If not, until the next time.

 https://es.gofundme.com/f/ciutadella-cats-new-home

 

 

The war against Palm Oil

For over a year now I have been at war with Palm Oil, yes it does make chocolate taste better and all the other wonderful things it does, but at what cost?  For the sake of a bloody chocolate buscuit whole villages have been destroyed along with natural animal habitats, I for one think that we should all be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves, but attempting to slow down the effects of the cultivation of Palm Oil is not going as it should. 

I am a choco addict (after 8 mints are my weakness) but for me the cost is too high for a moment of pleasure, which really is not a matter of life and death, unlike what is happening in many parts of the world.

I only thought that Palm Oil was in food stuffs, WRONG, it is in just about everything. Palm oil will not always be labeled as such. In most countries, it can pass under the term "vegetable oil." If you're looking at toothpaste, shampoo, detergent, lotion, mascara, or any other item, then palm oil will likely take the form of a derivative like glycerin, emulsifiers, stearates, etc.

For more info try these pages:

https://www.palmoilinvestigations.org/about-palm-oil.html

https://www.selvabeat.com/guides

Just cutting down on one product that contains Palm Oil and switching to one that doesn´t can make a difference, I have noticed that there are more products with "No Palm Oil" on the packaging on the shelves so it is working!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, whatever you are up to, we have a lovely day here in Menorca so I may go for a walk.

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)