Life Without Plastic - Day 21

[siglinde99]

Technically, this is a day late, but I did the research yesterday.

Last night I visited Bulk Barn. I was able to find a range of bar soaps, some laundry soap that is very condensed (I haven't figured out how many 1/4 cup uses are in 4 lb of laundry soap yet, but I'm betting it's a fair number), a deodorant stone, and all the things people suggested I could find there. I bought some sesame seeds because I really liked the Korean meatball recipe that had me searching for them last week. They sell glass spice jars and a reasonable selection of glass cannisters.

Things that made me sad: Long pasta came pre-packaged in plastic bags. There was none available that was truly in bulk, though short pastas such as macaroni were sold loose. The Bulk Barn does not carry cloth bags of any sort, so I need to bring my own (I still need to figure out what I could use for spices, and make more plain bags for things where I don't mind paying for the weight of the bag). They do have things like bulk peanut butter, but you must use their plastic containers. Far too many of their bulk foods were actually things like individually plastic-wrapped candies. Even my deodorant stone came in a wrapper, and it had a goofy little plastic stand thingy barely visible on the right side of the stone). The alternative stone came in something that looked like regular deodorant, but the plastic container was one of those hard, non-recyclable kinds.

Also, I heard back from the place that sells bulk shampoo and other soaps. I can't bring my own containers, but I am welcome to re-use the ones they supply, so that's pretty decent.

Comments

[suelet.livejournal.com]

Have you checked out the Herb and Spice and Rainbow Foods? I know they carry a lot of that kind of stuff.

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet, but I guess I really should - in the interests of research and all...

[wareham-v.livejournal.com]

What about small paper bags (like lunch bags, but even smaller) for spices? I used to have a huge bundle of them I eventually dumped. Or heck, what about envelopes?
Also far easier to write the bin number on, if your Bulk Barn is at all like mine and has started minimizing the numbers/locations of the clip on label thingies...

Ziplocs you plan to use and re-use?

v

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

I have Ziploc sandwich bags that never get used (I think the box has been there since before Geoff left for university). The old-fashioned air mail envelopes would be perfect, if anyone still sells them. Time for a sortie to my local stationery store....