Thursday 6 July 2023

It's Plastic Free July

 

Find out more here
I've not signed up for another 'plastic free' activity, but I have been thinking hard about reducing all single-use products. In May we visited the wonderful Unicorn Warehouse round the corner from Steph in Manchester. 
They had reusable cotton coffee filters. I came home and researched them, then found two pieces of cotton in my stash. When the machine was out for another task, I whipped up two filters, using one of my paper ones as a pattern. 
I added a hanging loop made of cotton tape on the side seam.
They're working very well. After each use, I turn the filter inside out. The grounds go to enrich my garden - and I scrape off as much as I can. The filter is rinsed well in cold water, and hung to dry from the rail over the hob. Every couple of weeks, they get boiled up in a pan, to remove any coffee build up. [No detergents]
I don't imagine I am saving much in financial terms - maybe a tenner a year. But I am saving hundreds of paper filters from going to landfill. [I did try composting them, but they seemed to take an age to degrade]
And we don't find ourselves running out of filters any more! 
Are you doing any Plastic Free July Activities?


12 comments:

  1. I like your cotton coffee filters. My daughter uses a reusable coffee filter, but, I'm not sure what it is made of.
    I didn't know it was plastic free July. Reducing single use products is a wonderful goal. I shall look for ways to do that, myself. :)

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    1. One of our earlier coffee machines had a metal mesh filter which was reusable. I don't think Plastic Free July has been very well advertised - but I note that in New Zealand they've changed the law this week about plastic produce bags

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  2. What a great idea for reusable filters! If we have a plastic free month here I'm not aware of it. But I always try to reduce my use of plastic.

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    1. If every one of us made more of an effort to reduce plastic use, what a difference we could make

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  3. I hadn't remembered that is was Plastic Free July, so I have nothing planned ... but I am trying to diminish the single use plastics I buy. If I have to buy something in a plastic tub I make sure it's not single use by re-using it as many times as I can.
    What a brilliant idea with the reusable coffee filters.

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  4. That's a great idea to make cloth filters. I guess there was a time when paper filters weren't available and I wonder what people used back then? By law stores have finally stopped giving out plastic grocery bags here, which was no big deal for those of us who had been using our own cloth bags for years. I still find myself discarding a disturbing number of other plastic bags, although I do try to get a second use out of some of them.

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  5. Using less or no plastic is a worthy goal, inded!

    Hugs!

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  6. Love Plastic Free July but not done anything special yet for it! The coffee filter is a great idea. Our refill place sells stainless steel ones. CBC uses a caffetiere so we don't need anything! The grounds get thrown onto our soil!

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    1. You use so little single-use stuff already Kezzie

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