Buy concentrated products to reduce packaging
I remember when I was a kid, the huge boxes of washing powder my Mother used to buy. They had a plastic handle and weighed loads; I don’t think I could lift them when I was little and there wasn’t any other choice - every brand had a huge box! There was a plastic measuring cup inside and heaps of that blue speckled powder went into the machine each time a load of laundry was washed.
I think the biggest size you can buy in most supermarkets now is just over 4kg and that lasts for 50 washes!
With laundry liquids I’m amazed to see how little we need nowadays; just a small cap full in most cases.
Things have come on a long way since I was a child sitting on that huge box of washing powder and I remember when concentrated products came onto the market. There were concentrated fabric conditioners, washing up liquid, laundry powders and laundry liquids which I never quite believed could work.
Now you can buy concentrated fruit juice too, which is great because you are not paying to transport water so it helps reduce emission costs and packaging. We buy a 400ml glass bottle of fruit juice concentrate which seems to last for months; you just keep diluting it and it never seems to go down! Squash was something else I remember getting through a lot of as a child - it started off pretty weak, so we got through a lot. Tesco now sell ‘double concentrate’ squash and are calling on the drinks industry to follow the laundry sector’s example and work together in moving to concentrates where possible and making the best use of packaging.
This week while browsing, I’ve seen concentrated Jeyes fluid, vitamin and mineral supplements, tomato puree and chicken stock! As long as you remember to actually REDUCE the amount of product you use, buying concentrated forms of products is a great way to save packaging.
What concentrated products have you bought recently?
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I buy the concentrated squash, as with having the boys we get through gallons of the stuff.
The most concentrated products are probably dried ones. I bought a packet of dried ice tea concentrate last summer, which is still half full despite having made many jugs of ice tea. Sadly the plastic film packet can’t be recycled, but compared to all the plastic bottles I’d have consumed if I bought bottled ice tea, it seems quite small, perhaps even less mass than the non-recyclable caps I’d have ended up with anyway.
I’ve also stopped buying canned beans and brought packets of dried ones, they need overnight soaking, but it’s amazing just how much you can get from one small packet. Fortunately, these packets say they can go in the plastic bag recycling at the supermarket. I’ve avoided a lot of cans and saved some money too.
We used to buy fruit juice concentrate (way back in the early 90s), but that’s hard to find now. It’s a really obvious product to save packaging too, because almost all the fruit juice in cartons was condensed, shipped to the uk then the water put back in, so it works just as well if the end user does it at home with tap water. Saves on packaging, transport, energy intensive shop space, makes our groceries lighter, and it lasts longer in concentrate so might help reduce food waste too.
@maisie dalziel: I find the concentrated juice to be great for making into squash.
@Ben: how was the tea - did it taste good? Iced tea isn’t something that we drink. Good idea on the dried beans; you save heaps of money on the product; but what about the cooking time - how do you think the fuel compares cost wise? I guess you could cook up a batch and freeze them? I notice in Sainsburys the packaging from dried beans and pulses can be recycled with the carrier bags.