Plastic Free Cotgrave

Reducing single-use plastics

 

Mothering Sunday/Mothers' Day

 

If you are looking for cards, gifts and flowers that are single-use plastic free (and therefore low on gimmicks and pressure to spend) here are some ideas (thanks to Lizzie Lambert for some of these great sustainable suggestions):

 

Cards

Everything we said at Christmas and Valentine’s Day applies again here: avoid cards that use glitter and embellishments and those that come in a cellophane wrapper.

 

GET ARTY: Make a homemade card with a personalised note.

Cards

Flowers

Hmm... have you ever thought how there are all those (expensive) flowers in the shops around Mothering Sunday? Where they come from, worker conditions, how they are transported (usually flown) here and – almost inevitably – wrapped in plastic? If you search hard, you can find some home-grown flowers not wrapped in plastic. These British-grown daffodils came from a supermarket for £1 a bunch. Not wrapped (although there are – reusable – rubber bands).

 

Or maybe consider a weekly or monthly posy subscription for future flowers – something that will last months rather than a week or two? Check out Flowers from The Farm – they have some gorgeous ideas with spring flowers.

 

Find British Flowers for Mothering Sunday by searching for the following hashtags on social media:

  • #britishflowers
  • #grownnotflown
Flowers

Chocolates

Boxes of popular brands usually include plastic trays, protective layers and even around each individual chocolate too. As they say, ‘Other brands are available’, often through small, local shops, such as ‘The Simpler Life’ in Keyworth.

 

Chocolates

Balloons

These are seriously bad news, especially the helium-filled ones that are more likely to escape into the environment causing death to both wild animals and to livestock. Balloons are made of latex (which takes a long time to break down) or Mylar (non-recyclable plastic) ‘foil’ balloons.

 

Instead, why not try bunting, paper chains, streamers, pompoms, pinwheels or paper flowers?

Balloon