Organic-Ally

The following article caught my attention. Looked down the list to find only the products of one company (Duchy Originals) are regularly found in our household. While we did not buy the Duchy Easter Egg (we found the Divine Fairtrade mini-eggs very tasty and good value) and only bought one Easter Egg for the whole family, we do often buy Duchy sausages which come in waxed paper and just a small band of card round the sausages. We are one of those families that shop with packaging in mind. "It's OK for you," some would say, "if you could afford to buy Duchy." The truth is we save a lot of money simply by cutting out all crisps, fizzy pop, sweets and chocolates. Because what we eat tends to be more expensive, we eat less and appreciate it more. The end-result: a healthier lifestyle. Campaign breakthrough as food giants agree to cut packaging By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent Published: 15 June 2007 Timesonline Some of the world's most powerful ...

Or boys who know their recycling As I wrote to my customers in our occasional newsletter: "For the first time in a while I had a load of washing plastered in shredded paper. My son quickly owned up. Well, it was his seventh birthday and we had taken him and his best friend to a theme park. Every time they were given something to eat and drink they examined the containers to look for the 'recyclable' sign. "They are studying recycling in their Science topic this term. These little boys can now tell me, 'It says PET and a number one, so it can be recycled.' Not bad. They kept collecting containers to take to the school for their sorting exercise. At some point, son decided to keep the 'recyclable' serviette that was wrapped round his ice-cream cone. "It was my fault really for not checking those pockets." The truth is I take for granted that only cloth hankies are used in this house that I've become quite lax (is that the right word) in che...

This is my letter published in the Singapore Straits Times Forum page on 28th April 2007. 'Rubbish chutes' are hollow columns in high-rise flats in Singapore. Each flat has a 'flap-door' in the kitchen wall through which rubbish is disposed. The rubbish falls through these columns/chutes into a bin at ground level and these bins are emptied (usually by foreign workers) every morning. With the advent of plastic bags in the 1970s, Singaporeans have been asked to put their rubbish in plastic bags to reduce the amount of cleaning required in these chutes. Live without plastic bags? Here's how it can be done FROM some letters on the use of plastic bags, it appears that some Singaporeans think the world would end if they didn't get their 'free' plastic bags. And we take our rubbish chutes for granted. Here, in the United Kingdom, where we pay more than £2,000 (S$6,060) in annual council tax (for refuse disposal, etc), I have to sort rubbish into three differe...

I was measuring out washing powder to put into the washing machine and I thought: why on earth do manufacturers have to package some washing powder or liquids into tablets or gel sachets, every one of which is encased in some form of pl-st-c? The answer seems to be: because we are either too lazy to measure out the right amounts of washing powder/liquid, or too stupid to do so. I remember washing powder as my mum used it came in big cardboard boxes. In fact everything came packaged in cardboard boxes of different weights. She would measure out the amount of powder she needed for each wash. If those boxes were put into landfills, they biodegraded in due course. Or if they were incinerated (which is more likely the case in Singapore), it just broke down into ashes. It is interesting to read: Me pay? I didn’t ask to be buried in bubble wrap by Martin Samuel in The Times . Basically he is saying: why should I be paying to dispose the rubbish I did not ask for? "We did not ask for gre...

1st April 2016 Update: We do not stock Hankettes Cosmetic Squares any more, but have made-in-UK ones here . ===== The customer is always right. So give them what they want, not what the shopowner wants. Because I do not use make-up now, I didn't even think of selling the washable reusable cosmetic pads on the Organic-Ally business site. When I took the risk and imported my first batch, I was pleasantly surprised to find these quickly becoming very popular. So it was a bit of a shock when I received an email from a prospective customer who told me that she liked the idea but does not like the pl-st-c packaging. Immediately I had a quick pow-wow with my supplier and we now have the same soft reusable cosmetic pads packaged in an organic cotton gauze bag. The bag with a twine tie doubles as a 'wash bag', to stop these pads being lost in the washing machine. We are proud to present reusable washable organic cotton cosmetic pads in new packaging . Whatever hel...

Really pleased to read this piece 'Organic milk is healthier, scientists say' in The Times . My husband and I were just mulling over how my hayfever this year has been 'so good'. Apart from three really bad days, it has been tolerable. We don't know how much this is down to our 'detox' in the last six to seven years switching to organic food where possible. Back to Organic-Ally .

The weekly Farmers' Market at Pinner started three Sundays ago. We've only managed to get down there for the first time yesterday. (Church service ended rather late the first week. Then last week we decided to celebrate our wedding anniversary at our son's favourite eatery.) It was wonderful to see such a wide range of food being sold. Better still to see the delight on the faces of the people at the market. Then we got to the soup stall. Son wanted to have his vegetable soup, but they could only sell it to us in a -- horror of horrors -- foam cup! I've been going on and on about how I hate plastics . So I was not impressed. However, i must not blame the nice guy there selling such delicious soup. I should be the one bringing a sensible container with me to the market. Just like we used to do when i was growing up. Came home and quickly emailed my cousin. Please bring me a stainless steel tiffin carrier when you come next week. The other disappointment was the sheer num...