In 2020 we are embarking on a new opportunity to provide a way to reduce reliance on plastic and waste. We are also hoping to help others who don’t have the budget to make big changes easily.
If you are creative this is up your street. We have partnered with Faye from Unravel and Unwind to create a series of courses for you to make reusable items.
There are issues with items having an impact on the environment, but in general the more you can reuse the same product again and again, the lower the impact becomes. Funny enough; so does the cost!
Don’t you think it might be time to think local, reusable and reduce monthly spending?
So what’s the problem?
- Estimates between 1 billion sanitary items are flushed down the loo (when they should not be), and 4.3 billion are used every year.
- Many sanitary or hygiene products are made of up to 90% plastic.
- We have collected the plastic remnants from the Medway and Thames estuaries that have escaped past treatment works, or via miss connections and storm discharges.
- Given that an average women spends over £400 a year, this equates to over £18,450 a lifetime, that is a lot of money to flush or throw away!
- An increasing number of women cannot afford to pay for sanitary items for their periods or incontinence and have to lock themselves away as a result, reducing what they can earn for themselves or their family.
- Clingfilm is one of the least recyclable plastics in the UK, used once and thrown away.
- Estimates state over 40 million rolls are used in the UK each year.
- Microfibers of plastic are an increasing problem and come from cleaning products, cloths, clothes and many other daily items that we just wash down the sink!
- Beeswax has antibiotic properties that helps reduce mould, but keeps moist food like cheese from drying out.
What can little old me do?
Well I learnt myself by trying different methods, burning myself on wax and getting in a tangle of yarn. But, that’s definitely not the best advice to follow, with Faye we can learn how to make our own, to fit our own lifestyle and our own aspirations for the future.
Thats why the Foundation are running fun courses with Faye from Unravel and Unwind to learn about how to make your own reusable items. Even if you use these items for part of the time it will massive reduce what you throw away.
We are using (as far as possible) natural fibres and materials, we reuse the remnants from the courses even the scraps! We have even sourced our beeswax from a local source, others are UK based.
Heres the best part
If you aren’t a crafty person, Faye is the best teacher ever. I managed to master a sewing machine that I haven’t used for over two years.
If you don’t ‘need’ these items? How about making them for someone who can’t afford the disposable ones? To make a massive difference to local people on the poverty line we are partnering with local hygiene and food banks to make sure the products we teach you to make are able to be donated to those who need them.
But if you still think it not for you, how about buying one place on? Buy a gift voucher- note it is to ‘buy one on’ and we will offer the place to someone who can’t afford to come.
Or you can donate the materials we need to make these items so that we are not having to buy new items unnecessarily.
If there is a group of you, we can always come to you, over some tea and cakes we can all make a small difference that can add up to a big change.
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