For non-squemish women and modern men

You have been warned!

This is a post about periods and avoiding disposable tampons and sanitary towels. Read on if you're interested.

The first thing to point out is that the alternatives have many benefits beside being fairly essential for those who are giving up plastic. Cheaper, greener, chemical-free, better for you etc.



First, as an alternative to tampons there are internally worn things which fall into two categories.

1) washable, reusable cups like the mooncup or the keeper.

2) washable natural sponges (which I know nothing about)



And as an alternative to sanitary towels, you can buy or make your own. This isn't as gross as it sounds (I was doing this well before giving up plastic). I liked lunapads - but there are many brands available. You have a base pad and then add liners according to need. Soak in water and wash in your normal load.

I also had a go at sewing my own, with moderate success. I used part of a broken umbrella for a waterproof layer, though that was mostly for amusement value. There are lots of patterns online, or you can try and copy something freehand... (this method not so recommended...).

I ought to point out that most of these contain nylon as a waterproof layer. So not strictly plastic free, though I don't think that is a concern of the majority of people.

So for a while, I though lunapads were great. Particularly the amazing variety of patterns and colours that they come in. Then I went away with only a mooncup and having no other option forced me to use it (I didn't like it much before). And now I think it is absolutely great!

It takes a little(!) getting used to - but worth persevering. It is comfortable (once you've cut enough of the stem off), cheap (£19 online, but cheaper at single step (£13?) as they sell at cost price), good for the environment - you're throwing nothing away. You don't have to remember to buy or carry tampons and it doesn't absorb like a tampon (which is not good for you).

There is lots of information on the website and I highly recommend you go and have a look!

There might be an information evening in Lancaster sometime soon. If you already have a mooncup and want to help out, let me know.

Feeding the 5000 with no plastic

Well, perhaps 20 people (and some are half size). But for a whole weekend. I've written a (brilliant) menu plan. Things I can't see a plastic-free solution to (yet) are in red. Leave comments if you have ideas!

Drinks
Adults: Tea, coffee [milk from milkman in glass bottles]
Kids: water, squash, hot chocolate

Snacks
Apples and raisins [how healthy! and raisins come loose at Single Step]
Flapjacks [homemade, but there may be some vegans so we'll need soya spread or something]
Sweets [for a game, from a traditional sweet shop with glass jars...]

Friday night
Vegetarian chilli with rice and cheese. [rice, soya 'stuff', kidney beans we can buy loose, fresh tomatoes from the market, but what about oil for cooking?] Then apple sponge or something.


Saturday Breakfast
Cereal [I might find this in Preson on Saturday], toast, jam, baked beans, orange juice [milkman], soya milk

Saturday Lunch
Pizza with salad [made by the kids, hopefully! Yeast, from Single Step. Jars of sauce would save work, but is there plastic in the lid?]


Saturday Dinner
Vegetarian BBQ with jacket potatoes and salad [but perhaps not lettuce?]
Veggi sausages / burgers often come without plastic, but which brands?
Desert - fruit dipped in / BBQ’d with chocolate + marshmallows for BBQ

Sunday breakfast
Cereal, toast, eggy bread, orange juice

I want...

an unlimited supply of marmite

soy sauce

frozen peas

some very expensive wind and waterproof cycling gloves

some silicone to seal my windows

some compost to plant bulbs

and for my laptop to become fixed.


Some people have been asking what happens after the three months. I think the first day, I go and buy all these things. Perhaps also some cycling trousers and a CD.

THEN perhaps I shan't want plastic again.


AFTERTHOUGHT: Not a CD, a condensing tumble dryer.

un-wild blackberries

I get my fruit and veg delivered in a returnable cardboard box by Abel&Cole. They are great (no plastic bags, ever) BUT today, as a substitute for apples (which I never eat), I received a tiny box of blackberries. Plastic, of course, and lined with bubble wrap. Perhaps fair enough if they were raspberries, but who buys blackberries anyway?? They grow everywhere and you can have loads for free. Plus, it is rather fun picking them.

So I shall give the blackberries away (and have added 'berries' to my dislikes list so they won't send me them again!)

wine

I'm away (again!) but this time they will collect the (plastic) conference badges when we leave, to re-use! I am really sick of cooked breakfast (cereal in little boxes, again).

Anyway, today I went looking for plastic-free wine to take to a friend's house. Suddenly I can't remember its name, but it is some chain of wine shops. And this was the one on Little Clarendon Street in Oxford.

The assistant was lovely, and not too phased by my request for European wine, in a clear bottle* with a real cork and foil, not plastic round the top. We think we found one... though cannot be completely sure until it is opened. (And apparently it will taste good too.)

* The UK is a net importer of products in green glass, and so while it can be recycled, it is not usually used in this country and often shipped overseas (probably to China...). So clear glass is better, I believe.

There is no zero

You've probably heard about the LHC at CERN by now. You may have seen the LHC rap. Unfortunately, you've probably also heard about the 'end of the world via black hole'. While it is great that such an important physics experiment is now (almost?) a household name, it is a shame talk is of such nonsense, rather than the science.

There is no chance that the LHC will cause the end of the world (except via its presumably huge carbon footprint).

I believe a main reason for so many people seriously worrying about this is due to scientists communicating with 'the public' assuming that they think like scientists. And assuming that the public have some knowledge of quantum mechanics.

In physics, there is no zero. Nothing is ever just nothing. You can't be completely still (zero momentum), you can never reach a temperature of 'absolute zero', and nothing can ever have no energy. In fact you can't even have nothing. The theory behind this is quantum mechanics - I shall save the full explanation for another day - but it basically says that particles (and hence everything) behaves in a probabalistic manner. Instead of definites, you have probabilities. And nothing is ever impossible.

So when you pour your milk onto your cereal, in physics language it is possible that you will create a black hole and destroy the world. In non-science talk, you would say this is an absolutely ridiculous suggestion.

The same applies to the LHC. In physics terms, nothing is impossible; but in normal language, CERN will not destroy the earth*.

For a very entertaining introduction to the LHC, watch the LHC rap!

*And I don't mean there is a tiny chance. It is the same kind of chance as creating a black hole from a (glass) milk bottle.

2079 cups of coffee

I've spent two weeks in CMS (pictured above) in Cambridge, and am currently in a 3 day meeting in Manchester. Here, we have real cups and teaspoons, but milk is only available in tiny plastic containers. In Cambridge there were jugs of milk, but disposable cups. A lot of disposable cups - perhaps a hundred people, and drinks twice a day for 10.5 days. That is 2100 cups. Minus 21 (I brought a mug) = 2079.

Even if you don't plan to go stealing sheets and chewing twigs, taking a mug to meetings and conferences would seem a particularly easy thing for everyone to do. Apparently even starbucks are in on the act and will give you a 25p discount.