I'm trying to save our planet

Unfortunately my daughter and family moved abroad in june so need to fly to see them....otherwise i would definitely give up flying

Hellsbelles, wow there's loads there to help. I'm going to write your post down (see, I'm not going to use the printer!) to remind me.

The water companies say constantly that NO wipes should be flushed away, not even the ones that claim to be flushable. I’m not sure about how bio-degradable any of them are though.

Can't help thinking all this is 100 per cent better than Extinction Republic..........

Wow you are an inspiration thank you...a couple of new ideas there for me

We have 3 ' hot composters ' so even cooked meats and bones can go it them ( We don't eat meat so not used )
We put all cooked food waste ( but again should avoid having in the first place , don't cook too much food )
Vegetable peelings, all paper waste which we shred or tear , coffee grounds, tea leaves most waste really.
Only put the washing machine on for full loads . Don't own a dishwasher or a tumble dryer. We don't fly ( haven't in over 20 years )
We do own a car . Our local council have a fairly good recycling ethos so we do recycle plastic , metals etc.
Quite a fair amount of my clothes are from charity shops . I also use my local library rather than buy.

Doing everything I can including careful use of gas and electricity, planning shopping so there is no food waste, using cloth shopping bags that can be washed from time to time, composting etc. Also running a campaign to save waste of prescription medicines and NHS equipment. Here is the link if anyone wants to have a look/sign/share
chng.it/PDLCHdQM

There are some great ideas here, thank you all. I'll not buy any more wipes, even if they are 'biodegradable'.

It sounds as if Tupperware parties may make a comeback!

Right, off to make some mesh bags. Any further suggestions would be much appreciated.

All of the above plus second hand clothes. There was a programme on yesterday saying that "fast fashion" is the biggest culprit - worse than flying! Plus laundry egg or Econuts for washing clothes and always a 15 minute wash.

All the things people are striving to not buy/use are the things that never featured in our daily lives.
I never used disposable nappies or wipes, always carried several flannels and small towels. Moist toilet wipes are clogging up our sewers.
Preaching to the converted is actually not that helpful, go to the countries that are the offenders and try and convert them.

Yes, do what you can at home, but please don't think that giving up plastic bags and shampoo bottles will save the planet. Give up your diesel car and if you really need one, get a low-emission one. Stop flying to holiday destinations (I concede you can if you have children living abroad) and stop buying new clothes every season, and stop washing them so frequently.
There's a lot of panic about; please don't get hysterical. The climate changes all the time and humans and hominid predecessors have lived with it all. The UK is doing quite well in terms of CO2 output - 43.5 per cent lower CO2 than in 1990 and 2.5 per cent lower in 2018 than 2017. Extinction Rebellion should try protesting in Beijing or Delhi - but of course, they should go by train!

I bought loads of cheap cotton cloths. I use them instead of paper towel. I just chuck them in the washing machine. I hope to get solar panels put on my boat before I retire... I also hope to grow the veg I eat once I get the garden attached to my mooring organised. Yes we can all do our bit...every little helps.

Solid shampoo and bar soap must save this household throwing away dozens of plastic bottles every year. Food put into plastic containers (bought years ago!) rather than covered with cling film, washing powder in a box, vinegar used as the main cleaning agent in this house. I am also trying to buy 'pre loved' clothes; the makers of clothing that I like have all sunk without trace over the past few years so I am buying items on ebay - saving the planet hopefully, and saving me some money.

We do what we can, however,

Fossil fuel companies have driven the climate crisis, by exploiting the world's oil, gas & coal reserves.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions.

Have a look at this, it's very interesting.

Sainsbury's are selling reusable bags for vegetables at 30p each. Great, except that all the vegetables I wanted to buy were in plastic packs ! ( too large for our needs I might add). They have done away with reusable plastic lids for their own brand yoghurt, cream etc. Now we have had to buy a pack of plastic pots with lids to decant the yoghurt, since we don't use it all in one serving - hope to keep it for at least a week. Sainsbury's pots are still plastic though. It's all a bit of a muddle. If the supermarkets took the lead and really thought it through, it would make a big difference.

I dont take seriously anyone who talks about saving the planet UNLESS they have given up flying which I think is the biggest problem.

Watchdog on BBC said that Waitrose own brand toilet wipes are biodegradable. And there are some called 'Safe To Flush' something like that. No other wipes should be flushed.

Why all the wipes? You don't need half of those! A set of microfibre cloths can do the job of most of them - many hospitals use them for cleaning - even with cold water - they grab dirt and germs and can then be washed easily and re used time and time again rather than go to landfill.
Hoping that your"botty wipes" are not flushed down the loo! How did we cope before they arrived?
I recycle as much as I can - luckily our local council will take a lot of items from yoghurt pots to even trigger sprays. I don't drive so have to use public transport. However, my son has to drive as we live in a village and he works in a village that only has 3 buses a day to the nearest town.
I have been using my own shopping bags for years - hate the plastic carriers most shops have as if you have more than one, they cut into your hand.
It's a great shame that more not wasn't taken of what ecologists were saying 30 or so years ago. If we had, things may well have been a lot different.

rosecarmel, where do you live?
There are people on horses all over the place where I live.
It would be perfectly possible to ride to our nearest town and tie up outside Tesco’s!

Small things of us can have a huge impact in the future.

Unfortunately, not enough is recycled and the bulk of it thats collected is shipped to other countries where some of it gets processed and manufactured into more junk that ends up in in landfills or the ocean- Its more like a vicious cycle than anything else-

There were no wipes when our 4 DC were babies. We used a flannel for bottoms. We also used terry nappies.
I didn't know I was helping the planet then although as soon as the disposables started to come in, and at first they were rather horrid rolls of padding, questions were asked about what would happen to them. once used and the very fact that they were just used once seemed extremely wasteful.
We talked about all the trees which were cut down to make the paper for the nappies. It wasn't plastic back then just too much paper.
We also encouraged our children to use the potty from about 18 months. Now some DC are still in nappies aged 3 or 4.
Each generation seems to need to find its own way.

The guardian has a series of articles and opinion pieces pointing out that for decades the world's major pollutors have influenced policy and provided misinformation to cover up their tracks. We now feel that we are responsible for the destruction of our planet but we have been living in a fools paradise created by the big players for decades. At last we are waking up.

I'm not sure endlessly buying things helps

Aw but the poor little kiddiwinks must have Halloween costumes, plastic buckets to collects sweets, party bags, a mountain of toys at Christmas and of course crackers are vital.

Today I rang my local council to ask where I could recycle the part full/ empty aerosol cans of hair mousse, deodorant, air freshener that I no longer want to use.
Classed as hazardous waste, it can't be put in black bins.
You have to take it to the tip and ask for the haz skip, I was told.
As it's quite a walk from the nearest bus stop and an hourly bus service, it's ridiculous that they don't have a secure letterbox type bin in each town or village which can be emptied monthly by the council.
I could drive there with 5 aerosol cans but it defeats the object of reducing carbon et ....

On another note. I have, over the years, saved about a dozen plastic fresh soup containers which I washed and now use as storage, the lids being airtight.
Nuts, flour, dried fruit, croutons, porridge oats, icing sugar etc. As you can see what's inside there's no need for labels and they're stackable and non-spill.