Plastic Free July: Life before plastic was about reusing and repairing

Sunday, 30 June 2019

Opua resident Adele Earnshaw, 69, remembers life without plastic - now she spends some of her spare time picking it up.

Adele Earnshaw remembers life without plastic – when tin foil, waxed paper and cardboard reigned supreme in New Zealand.

In the 1950s, the Opua resident, 69, used to go to her local Four Square with jute or net bags, while her neighbour used a flax kete.

BPA-free plastic doesn't necessarily mean it is less toxic.

But times have changed and living without plastic is no easy task, she said.

'I try to live plastic-free, but it's almost impossible.'

**READ MORE:

The amount of single-use plastic waste has increased exponentially since the 1950s. (file photo)

* No more single-use plastic bags in shops from July 1

* My failed day of being plastic free

'Our impact on the planet has become so large ... just in my lifetime,' Earnshaw says.

* Remote, uninhabited South Pacific island becomes a plastic wasteland**

Nowadays, it was a struggle for people to even find a bottle of milk in glass bottles.

'Looking back at the 50s, and thinking about how we changed … the biggest change I see is in the kitchen.

'We had tin foil, waxed paper, glass, tin, wood …many things, because they were made of metal or wood, could be repaired. Now they can't.'

Nylon and vinyl were used, but plastic was not yet mainstream.

'Maybe you'd have a toothbrush made of nylon, but your toothpaste would come in a tin.

'Ointments would come in a heavy tinfoil tube.'

Food from the supermarket would come in brown paper, cardboard, and some was wrapped in string, she said.

Items would be behind the counter and wrapped in paper and bread would come unsliced in a paper bag.

'If you'd go on a picnic, you'd have sandwiches wrapped in wax paper and everything would be in a biscuit tin.

'We'd have a thermos for tea … I don't remember fizzy drinks or anything like that. It was a real treat to have something like that.'

Many things were sold in bulk, and Earnshaw said she remembers going to the dairy for treats and getting them in paper bags from large, glass jars.

At school they used pencils – Biro and ballpoint pens were not around at that time.

People now reach for body wash in plastic bottles when they used to just use bars of soap, she said.

She was taught to fix things like clothing in primary school, she said.

'If you had a cardigan that couldn't be handed down, you'd unravel it and make something new out of it.'

It used to be more cost-effective to repair what they had, but now, things with plastic in them could be thrown away with it cheaper to replace the item.

Earnshaw said so much had changed in her life.

'Our impact on the planet has become so large … just in my lifetime,' she said.

'There was no plastic on the ocean floor in my time as a kid, and now they're finding it in the deep ocean.'

Earnshaw said since the Far North District Council stopped accepting types three to seven plastic for recycling this year, she'd been avoiding it entirely.

'Now I'll buy jams in glass jars. It's really had a big impact on what I buy at the supermarket.'

Plastic Free July was useful to get the word out about the harms of plastic, she said.

'There's still going to be people that throw their plastic out the window … there's just some people that don't care.'

**Celebrate #PlasticFreeWelly with us this July. Have you swapped out any plastic items for more environmentally friendly versions?

If so, let us know: submit photos of your plastic substitutes to capitalday@dompost.co.nz or upload them to Twitter with #PlasticFreeWelly**