Tips on how to live a plastic-free life in the UAE

1. Forgo disposable items

This one is a no-brainer, not least because a recent analysis of common bottled water brands revealed that, casing aside, more than 90 per cent contain tiny pieces of plastic within. Millions of plastic bottles and cups are thrown away daily and, scientists estimate that each takes 1,000 years to break down.

Buy yourself a stainless steel water bottle and coffee thermos. It won’t take long to get into the habit of not leaving the house without them (we found that denying ourselves our morning latte on the days we forgot, helped).

Rather than reverting to plastic Tupperware, get creative with your non-plastic food-storage solutions: sealable glass tubs, jars and boxes all do the same job, as do handy wooden and stainless steel Bento boxes and stacked tiffin jars. 

2. Switch to a biodegradable bamboo toothbrush

General guidance from dentists suggests that we should change our toothbrush every three or four months. Over a lifetime, that’s a whole lot of tooth-brushing receptacles. What you might not be aware of is that if you use a plastic brush, it will never biodegrade. That’s right, every single plastic toothbrush that has ever been made remains in landfills to this day. Switch to an eco-friendly bamboo alternative, though, and you can feel good about polishing those pearly whites.

3. Shop smart

Stash reusable shopping bags in your car, handbag, buggy, or fold them concertina-­style in the pocket of your trousers – whatever works, just don’t pick up plastic ones at the checkout.

When food shopping, buy the least packaged version of every item or ingredient you can. Once you start noticing excess packaging, you’ll be shocked by its ubiquity and the sheer amount of waste: peaches nested in a styrofoam tray covered in plastic wrap; a single avocado shrouded in cling film despite its natural casing. The list, unfortunately, goes on.

Instead, select loose fruit and vegetables, and have them weighed and stickered individually. Note that sticky labels are an issue in themselves, and a number of international supermarkets are currently trialing laser marking and natural branding, but at this point they are preferable to plastic bags.

4. Say no to disposable cutlery and plastic straws

Purchasing a couple of sets of natural, biodegradable cutlery, and taking them out and about with you will hopefully mean that you rarely have to use a plastic knife, fork or spoon again. If circumstances dictate you must, you can always take home the used disposable cutlery and recycle them. When ordering takeout, seek out places that either don’t use plastic cutlery, give you the choice to opt out or, if needs be, pay a little bit extra (we’re talking fils not dirhams) and get yourself a biodegradable set.

5. Buy big

Consider purchasing store-cupboard essentials in bulk and decanting them into sealable glass containers or jars at home. Not only does buying items such as coffee, pasta, rice, nuts, seeds, spices, dried pulses, cereal and suchlike en masse cost less, but also it saves substantially on packaging. The same goes for non-edible kitchen products: opt for large refills of washing-up liquid, dishwasher powder, detergent and the like, choose bars of hand soap instead of the liquid variety, and consider using biodegradable, reusable and antibacterial Bee’s Wrap from the eponymous sustainable food storage company, instead of cling film.