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Fox News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
UN said to be stalling reforms in hopes Democrats flip House in midterm elections
While the United Nations, through its UN80 Task Force, continues a public-facing attempt to slash its budget to manage a decline in external contributions and in recognition of overlapping mandates and duplicated efforts, a U.N. diplomatic source tells Fox News Digital that the effort is an attempt "to keep a mammoth organization untouched" until 2026 midterm elections. The source explained that the "zero-growth budget" proposed for 2026 has already been prepared, and that "talk about how we're going to get it leaner" is only intended to "take [President] Trump for a sucker." The source said that the U.N. believes that the budget will tide the U.N. over until the House flips to Democratic control and Trump will no longer be able to "inflict damages to the U.N." The source claimed the effort is the "brain child" of the U.N. Foundation, something the group refuted. "We have never proposed linking U.N. budgetary deliberations to the U.S. mid-term elections," a spokesperson from the U.N. Foundation told Fox News Digital. "The U.N. Foundation is an independent organization, separate from the U.N. itself. We are not involved in the U.N.'s budget process, which is decided by the U.N. General Assembly. We also share a widely held view that there is scope for efficiencies and innovations to strengthen delivery of the U.N.'s lifesaving work," the spokesperson added. Fox News Digital viewed internal documents which show efforts by various U.N. entities to direct cost-cutting measures. The source says some show the disingenuous nature of the effort. A UN80 memo from the U.N. Resident Coordinators in Africa from April 2025 discusses how previous reforms have failed. It explains that they "did not fully address incentives for collaboration," which left U.N. entities to "too often prioritize their corporate obligations over system-wide coherence." Coordination, the memo reads, "is too easily viewed as additional work rather than a core responsibility," and "funding competition further compounds these issues." While the memo identifies two options for reorganization, it notes that "implementing such ambitious structural reforms, especially Option 1, will require a medium-term phased approach over a 5-10 year horizon," and notes that Option 2 "is not likely to be viable if no structural changes are made to [headquarters] level entities." The U.N. source says the memo "shows…the inability of the U.N. to reform itself." Another memo from the office of the Secretary-General sent on April 25 directs Secretariat entities to perform a "functional review for cost reductions and efficiencies." Among the directions provided is that personnel "identify which functions could be relocated," including "at a minimum the functions, organizational units, post numbers, and grade levels proposed for relocation." Numbers were to be sent to the Office of the Controller by May 16, noting that the "tight deadline" is in line with the "very limited timeframe" the U.N. has "to prepare and submit the revised estimates through [the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ)]" so they might be considered "within the overall context of the proposed programme budget for 2026." Fox News Digital's source called foul on the earnestness of the endeavor. "This Secretary-General has to deal with bodies that, even though they are called the United Nations, they do not depend on him," they explained. "The document does not represent any value legally, because none of their boards have committed nor listened or reviewed" the order. Fox News Digital asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson Stephane Dujarric whether Guterres could expect organizations with independent boards to enforce changes like those addressed in his memo. "We do not take such a pessimistic view. The Secretary-General and the heads of the U.N. Funds and Programmes will act in areas under their authority while, of course, keeping the governing bodies informed," Dujarric said. Before the deadline for responses came due, Guterres delivered a May 12 briefing admitting that the proposal for the 2026 budget "was already given to ACABQ some time ago and it will be impossible to change it at the present moment." While Guterres said he would present revised proposals in September in time for budget approvals, he explained that "changes that require more detailed analysis will be presented in the proposal" for the 2027 budget. Fox News Digital's source says the admission is proof that "this whole attempt is a lie to appease the Americans so they don't go harsh enough and cut anything right now." On May 13, Guterres addressed a letter to all U.N. staff about the need for "bold, transformative thinking" and extensive reforms to bring the U.N. out of its liquidity crisis. While expressing gratitude for employees' "extraordinary dedication, expertise and creativity" he warned "that 'leaks' and rumours may create unnecessary anxiety," Guterres said that "it will be inevitable that we cannot leave all posts untouched." After over three decades of working for the U.N., the source says they have "seen the U.N. attempt to change itself at least five times." Instead, they said that the U.N. only got "a larger footprint." They explained that other insiders "are fed up that the organization is not changing." "You have…a super state that basically controls itself," the source explained. "And you should also trust them to reorganize themselves?" they asked. Whether the U.N. could hold out for promised change is unknown. The Economist reported in May that due to nonpayment of fees, the U.N. may run out of funds to pay its suppliers and employees by the General Assembly in September.
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The Latest: Hegseth says Ukraine must abandon hope of restoring pre-war borders
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a major shift in U.S. policy on Ukraine: The way forward, he told allies in Brussels, is to abandon the 'illusory goal' of a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders and prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia, backed up with an international force that won't include U.S. troops. In the U.S., bad inflation numbers came in just as President Donald Trump planned to upend global trade by signing a broad reciprocal tariffs order. And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's longstanding friendly rapport with Trump could be tested as his visit to Washington kicks off. Here's the latest: Global reproductive health advocates decry shuttering USAID, reinstatement of global gag rule Dilly Severin, executive director of the Universal Access Project at the UN Foundation, described Trump's actions as 'forfeiting our role as a leader in global health, including reproductive rights, health and justice.' Dr. Carole Sekimpi, senior director of MSI Africa, said the organization has lost $40 million in funding from the U.S. since Trump took office and warned there will be a spike in deaths of women and girls across the region due to losing 'life-saving, time-sensitive' family planning services. 'Women and girls woke up one morning and there was no care, whether it was contraception or HIV care,' she said. 'There was no forewarning, so there's a lot of panic.' The global gag rule, sometimes called the 'Mexico City Policy,' requires foreign nongovernmental agencies to certify that they don't provide or promote abortion if they receive U.S. federal funds for family planning assistance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he would seek to mitigate damage resulting from shutting down U.S.-funded global aid programs by issuing waivers to exempt emergency food aid and 'life-saving' programs. But Sekimpi said it's nearly impossible to restart the programs on the ground even with the waivers. Danes jokingly petition to buy California as Trump seeks Greenland The idea is a response to Trump's talk about taking control of the vast and mineral-rich Arctic island from Denmark. The petition's website claimed over 200,000 signatures by midmorning Wednesday. 'We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality,' it says. 'California will become New Denmark. Los Angeles? More like Løs Ångeles.' As for Disneyland in Southern California: 'We'll rename it Hans Christian Andersenland. Mickey Mouse in a Viking helmet? Yes, please.' The petition comes with a disclaimer: 'This campaign is 100% real … in our dreams. ▶ Read more about the Danish petition Trump taps oil industry advocate for land agency, former Wyoming official for Fish and Wildlife Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Colorado-based Western Energy Alliance, was named Bureau of Land Management director. Her group has long pushed for greater access by the oil and gas industry to public lands and increased mining. Brian Nesvik led the Wyoming Game and Fish Department until last year. The BLM manages about 245 million acres of federal land, mostly in the West, while Fish and Wildlife oversees fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats. Both agencies are part of the Interior Department. Human rights expert praises Trump's order restricting transgender athletes from women's sports Trump's executive order 'mandates the preservation of all-female athletic opportunities and locker rooms, ensuring privacy and dignity for women and girls,' said Reem Alsalem, the U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls. Alsalem is one of dozens of independent experts who work with the U.N. human rights office to keep tabs on human rights and is not a staffer of the United Nations. Affidavits reveal scope of US foreign aid eliminations by DOGE and other outsiders The newly filed affidavits of U.S. Agency for International Development workers describe a lieutenant of Trump ally Elon Musk and other outsiders directing the immediate termination of hundreds of assistance programs, allegedly without required authorization or justification. The groups are suing to roll back the dismantling of USAID by Trump's Republican administration and Musk's government-cutting teams. The affidavits were filed late Tuesday. One says that when USAID contract officers emailed agency higher-ups on Monday asking for the authorization and justification needed to cancel USAID programs abroad, a lieutenant of Musk's responded by asserting that the decisions came from the 'most senior levels.' Trump's ultimate power move could test the Supreme Court's supremacy Trump is clearly pressing the boundaries of the relationship between the executive and judicial branches. And that may test one of the most foundational cases in American constitutional law, Marbury v. Madison, which established the courts as the law's final arbiters. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in the 1803 ruling that while Congress makes the laws and the president enforces them, the courts decide whether the other branches have gone too far. 'It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is,' Marshall wrote. So is the court supreme? Notably, the court lacks any independent means of enforcing its decisions. But Americans have come generally to believe that court decisions should be obeyed, even amid sharp disagreement. ▶ Read more about court precedent on the balance of powers Subcommittee aimed at supporting DOGE's work holds its first meeting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and the subcommittee's chair, described excessive spending as an existential threat to the country at Wednesday's hearing, saying, 'The American people are in debt slavery to everyone who owns our debt.' She said the federal government needs to be held accountable, saying there are 'no consequences' for bad financial management or service to citizens. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Maryland Democrat and the subcommittee's ranking member, said Trump wasn't interested in addressing waste and fraud because he was instead firing inspectors general. 'We have to ask ourselves, what is really going on here?' she said. Stansbury also said it was wrong to let 'Elon Musk and his hackers' gain access to sensitive databases like the U.S. Treasury payment system. Trump teases the release of another American With history teacher Marc Vogel safely back in the U.S., Trump said another American, someone 'very special,' would be released on Wednesday, though he declined to name the person or say from what country. The president also wouldn't say if he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Fogel, who had been jailed in Russia three years ago after being caught with medical marijuana. But Fogel praised the Russian leader as 'very generous and statesmanlike in granting me a pardon.' Trump called the deal 'Very fair, very, very fair, very reasonable. Not like deals you've seen over the years. They were very fair.' The president did not say what the United States exchanged for Fogel's release. ▶ Read more on the prisoner swaps US defense chief calls NATO membership for Ukraine unrealistic In sweeping remarks in Brussels, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested the way forward is for Ukraine: Abandon the 'illusory goal' of a return to its pre-2014 borders, and prepare for a negotiated settlement with Russia, backed up with an international force of troops. Allies have been waiting to hear how much continued military and financial support Washington intends to provide to Ukraine's government. What the Ukraine Defense Contact Group of about 50 countries supporting Ukraine heard: Trump is intent on getting Europe to assume the majority of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine. The peacekeeping force would not include U.S. troops. ▶ Read more about Hegseth's speech on Ukraine Trump: 'If they charge us, we charge them' 'It's time to be reciprocal,' Trump said earlier this week as he prepared additional actions to upset the world trade system. With the tariffs he's unleashed so far, Trump has fully taken ownership of the path of the U.S. economy, betting that he can eventually deliver meaningful results for voters, even if by his own admission the import taxes could involve some financial pain in the form of inflation and economic disruptions. With imports totalling $4.1 trillion last year, a broad reciprocal tariffs order could amount to a substantial tax hike to be shouldered largely by U.S. consumers and businesses. Should job gains never materialize and inflation stay high, it's an easy line of attack for Democrats: that Trump helped the ultrawealthy at the expense of the middle class. ▶ Read more on Trump's big bet on the economy U.S. inflation accelerated last month Rising prices on groceries, gas, and used cars make it less likely that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon. The consumer price index increased 3% in January from a year ago, Wednesday's report from the Labor Department showed, up from 2.9% the previous month. It has increased from a 3 1/2 year low of 2.4% in September. Candidate Trump pledged to reduce prices. Most economists worry that his proposed tariffs could at least temporarily increase costs. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will likely be asked Wednesday by the House Financial Services Committee what the Fed will do. Trump posted on social media early Wednesday that interest rates should be lowered to 'go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!!' ▶ Read more about consumer prices and inflation Saudi Arabia 'instrumental' in negotiations to free Fogel, White House says Witkoff gave some of the credit to Mohammed bin Salman, saying Saudi Arabia's crown prince was 'instrumental' in the negotiations. 'He has a very strong friendship with President Trump, and, behind the scenes, he was encouraging and pushing and looking for the right result. It was helpful, it really was.' Asked if the crown prince was pushing the Russians, Witkoff said he was more of a 'cheerleader.' 'He was a cheerleader for this rapprochement where the two leaders would come together and that's what happened, so thank God. Sometimes you don't get a good result. Here we got a very good result. Mark Fogel is the evidence of that.' American freed by Russia has spoken with family, toured Lincoln Bedroom Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for President Donald Trump, declined to reveal Marc Fogel 's whereabouts but told reporters that Fogel had spoken with his wife, his two children and his 95-year-old mother. Trump sent Witkoff to bring home the schoolteacher, who had been detained in Russia after his arrest in August 2021. Fogel was brought to the White House late Tuesday so Trump could officially welcome him home. Trump gave Fogel a tour of the Lincoln Bedroom — as he had promised, Witkoff said. The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel's release, but refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia. ▶ Read more about what Russia got from the deal Senate poised to confirm Gabbard for intelligence position The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence. The military veteran and former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii faced criticism that was initially bipartisan over comments sympathetic to Russia and her past support of government leaker Edward Snowden, as well a 2017 meeting with now-deposed Syrian leader Bashar Assad. Democrats remain opposed to her nomination, but Republican support has fallen into line following a pressure campaign by Trump allies including Elon Musk. ▶ Read more about impacts on intelligence sharing with U.S. allies CFPB layoffs begin with fill-in-the-blank firing memo The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has started laying off probationary employees by distributing a form letter that doesn't include their names. 'MEMORANDUM FOR (EmployeeFirstName) (EmployeeLastName),' the letter says. 'This is to provide notification that I am removing you from your position of (JobTitle).' 'Unfortunately, the Agency finds that that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency's current needs.' Probationary employees have less civil service protection because they've been on the job for less than a year. The bureau, which says it has obtained nearly $20 billion in financial relief for U.S. consumers, is the latest target as President Trump and Elon Musk dismantle federal regulators. ▶ Read more on Trump's effort to shut down consumer protection bureau What to expect in Trump and Modi's White House meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's longstanding relationship with Trump could be tested as the Indian leader kicks off a visit to Washington on Wednesday, eager to avoid tariffs that have been slapped on others and threats of further taxes and imports. India, a key strategic partner of the United States, has so far been spared any new tariffs, and the two leaders have cultivated a personal relationship. Modi — a nationalist criticized over India's democratic backsliding — has welcomed Trump's return to the White House, seeking to reset India's relationship with the West over his refusal to condemn Russia for its war on Ukraine. But Trump has repeatedly referred to India as a 'tariff king' and pressed the South Asian country on the deportation of migrants. In response, New Delhi has shown a willingness to lower its own tariffs on U.S. products, accept Indian citizens back and buy American oil. But as tariff threats loom, the question remains how much a good rapport between two leaders matters and how far India will go to cut a deal. ▶ Read more about what to expected ahead of Modi and Trump's meeting at the White House Musk talks DOGE at the White House Elon Musk made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he's pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more. Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk with his young son as Trump praised Musk's work with his Department of Government Efficiency, saying they've found 'shocking' evidence of wasteful spending. The Republican president signed an executive order to expand Musk's influence and continue downsizing the federal workforce. Despite concerns that he's amassing unaccountable power with little transparency, Musk described himself as an open book as he took questions from reporters for the first time since joining the Trump administration as a special government employee. He joked that the scrutiny over his sprawling influence over federal agencies was like a 'daily proctology exam.' He also claimed that DOGE's work was being shared on its website and on X, the social media platform owned by Musk. However, the DOGE website has no information, and the postings on X often lack many details, including which programs are being cut and where the organization has access. The White House has also been moving to limit independent oversight. The inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development was fired a day after warning that it had become nearly impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds after DOGE began dismantling the agency. ▶ Read more about Musk's comments on DOGE Trump teases matching tariffs on trade partners, possibly setting up a major economic showdown President Donald Trump is taking additional action to upset the world trade system, with plans to sign an order as soon as Wednesday that would require that U.S. tariffs on imports match the tax rates charged by other countries. The president had suggested that the order would come on Tuesday or Wednesday. But when Tuesday passed without the tariffs being officially announced, Trump was asked if he would sign the order on Wednesday and Trump answered: 'We'll see what happens.' A reciprocal tariffs order could amount to a substantial tax hike to be shouldered largely by U.S. consumers and businesses as the Census Bureau reported that the country had total imports of $4.1 trillion last year. The tariffs could set off retaliatory measures by trading partners that could roil growth around the globe and reset where the United States stands with allies and rivals alike. By signing the order, Trump would fulfill his long-standing pledge to raise taxes on most imported goods, a clear break with his recent White House predecessors who saw tariffs as either targeted tools to use strategically or barriers worth lowering. Trump has broken with that precedent by saying he wants to return the United States to the 1890s when taxes on imports were the government's dominant source of revenues. White House fires USAID inspector general whose office warned of $8 billion lacking oversight The White House fired the inspector general for the USAID on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, a day after his office warned that the Trump administration's dismantling of the organization had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian funds. The White House gave no reason for the firing of Inspector General Paul Martin, one of the officials said. The officials were familiar with the dismissal but were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The dismissal, which was first reported by CNN, is the latest action by the Trump administration affecting the aid agency, including efforts to pull all but a fraction of its staffers worldwide off the job. Trump and ally Elon Musk say its work is out of line with the president's agenda.
The Guardian
12-02-2025
- General
- The Guardian
My no-plastic life: I tried to cut out single-use items for a month – and it almost broke me
The scale of plastic pollution is so terrifying, I mostly try to avoid thinking about it, but some facts stop me in my tracks. According to the UN Foundation, there is already enough plastic in the oceans to fill 5m shipping containers – and if production continues at its current rate, by the middle of this century there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. It is also indestructible – all the plastic ever made is still here, decomposing into microplastics that contaminate every corner of the planet – including our bodies. And it's not just a case of somehow finding a way to 'clean it up'. 'Plastic pollution is now altering some major processes at the scale of the entire Earth system,' the Stockholm Resilience Centre reported, chillingly, in November. In the UK alone, our plastic waste problem is mindblowing: in its 2024 Big Plastic Count, Everyday Plastic got almost 225,000 people to count their plastic waste for a week; the final tally was over 4.6m pieces. Is there anything individuals can do about a problem on this scale? I'm pessimistic, but my editor wants me to give it a try: she challenges me to eliminate single-use plastic (SUP) for a month. Uneasily, I agree. Week 1Single-use plastic is all the stuff that you use once, then throw away or recycle, from moisturiser tubes to milk cartons. Starting out, I complacently believe I don't consume that much of it. I already use York's 'weigh and pay' store, the Bishy Weigh, for refills of cleaning products, laundry stuff, shower gel, nuts and pulses; I buy bread, milk and vegetables at the market, get a veg box delivered, and have a cupboard full of plastic containers I reuse until they fall apart. Having the time and money to do that is a privilege – and living in a city with lots of similarly privileged folk means those resources are available. I'm lucky. Even so, going through my house and tallying up the SUP reveals piles of it, from the bathroom to my office and worst of all, the fridge-freezer. It's packed with plastic: mostly sachets and pots with film lids. My supermarket shop includes salads, stir-fry veg, fruit, frozen peas, chips, fruit and crisps, all encased in protective plastic cocoons. According to Alison Colclough of Everyday Plastic, this tallies with the Big Plastic Count's findings: 'The two big hitters were soft plastic from snacks and soft plastic from fresh fruit and veg.' Why is flexible plastic so ubiquitous? Because it's engineered to be excellent at its job. 'Flexible plastics save a lot of food waste,' says Mark Miodownik, professor of materials and society at UCL and founder of its Plastic Waste Innovation Hub. These wrappings are 'managing the humidity inside the package, allowing water to pass through, but they're also a barrier to oxygen, and oxygen ages food very quickly.' Adam Herriott, from waste-prevention charity Wrap, agrees that food wrapping is sometimes better than food waste. However, a 2022 Wrap study found that for apples, bananas, broccoli, cucumber and potatoes, the impact of plastic packaging on shelf life was demonstrated to be minimal. What actually made a huge difference was refrigerating at 4C. Wrap is asking supermarkets to ban plastic wrapping for 21 grocery products and to sell them loose. Appropriately inspired, I head to my nearest supermarket, M&S. Beyond tinned stuff, pickings are dismal: apart from onions, garlic and leeks, the only vegetables I find loose are two types of cabbage. Morrisons is much the same: some loose fruit, but almost all veg is wrapped. Waitrose does slightly better: we get cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts, carrots and mushrooms. It's quickly apparent in supermarkets how many aisles are off-limits – many of them entirely made up of bright, convenient, indestructible flexibles and films. Some 70% of UK food and drink is plastic wrapped – 51% of this unnecessarily so, according to one study. Emerging with a trolley of tins and loose carrots, our weekly shop is cheaper than usual, but what's for dinner? We add pasta, rice, lentils and oats at the zero-waste shop, but the real revelation is our local greengrocer, Millie's, where there is far more unpackaged fruit and veg. Meals take plastic-free shape: oats and nuts for breakfast, homemade hummus with lunch when I can be bothered, or tinned soup and toast. Green stuff isn't plentiful – and salad is basically impossible. When I was in Italy in November you could buy beautiful loose salad leaves in paper bags, I rant, boringly, to anyone who will listen. Dinner is as boring as I am: we cycle through baked potatoes and beans, brassica-based stir-fries and pasta and sauce – all fine, but not every night. Sweet treats are easy – York is 90% artisanal bakeries – but it rapidly transpires that I'm dependent on my 6pm crisps for my mental equilibrium. I trial hummus with carrot sticks (dull), plain nuts (depressing) or bougie olives in tins (ruinously expensive). None of them scratches the itch. I'm exasperated that teabags come in inner bags for 'freshness': I have open boxes that have done three house moves with me and they still taste fine (I know because I'm reduced to finishing them). Thankfully, before things get really unpleasant, I track down plastic-free teas (thank you, Clipper) in a local health food shop. Week 2Desperate for crisp-adjacent snacks, I get peanut crackers and something called 'paprika twists' at the weigh-and-pay shop. The latter are dreadful: dusty, sad, with the barest memory of crunch. I eat them all anyway. Is there actually any point to this exercise, I wonder, crispless and cross. 'I'd say yes,' says Herriott. He explains that eliminating plastic is the first step towards stopping the global plastic mountain getting any bigger. Then, the waste-reduction hierarchy of reduce, reuse and recycle should kick in. 'Most people default to recycling because that's convenient,' he explains, and it's true that I rely on the fact I can put hard plastics – all those tubs and pots – in my recycling to assuage my guilt, but it's an imperfect solution. Breaking down plastics for recycling can increase their toxicity and much of the global north's plastic waste ends up in poorer countries to be dealt with. With this in mind, while the flexible-plastics recycling bins outside supermarkets seem like a step forward, it's worth remembering that they are limited in number, and also flexibles can only be 'downcycled' (used, for example, to make bin bags) not 'closed-loop' recycled (made back into food packaging). An investigation by Everyday Plastics last year placing trackers in waste in storefront containers cast doubt on the efficacy of this system, finding a proportion was being incinerated or exported. Herriott is emphatic it's worth doing anyway: 'Downcycling is necessary for things to happen,' he says, and recycling flexibles 'shows recyclers this material is here.' Still, everyone agrees that using less is the best option, so I stagger on. Crisps aren't the only head-scratcher; I struggle with household stuff. I already get washing-up and laundry liquid refills, plus paper-packed bamboo loo and kitchen roll (a decent eco option, according to the Radio 4 consumer show Sliced Bread). The compostable dish sponges the Instagram algorithm (which swiftly cottons on to my new obsession) recommends are fine. But bathroom bits are trickier: good luck sourcing plastic-free ibuprofen. Shower gel and shampoo refills are widely available if you're not fussy (I'm not) and I won't run out of moisturiser this month (Ethique and the Body Shop offer good plastic-free options if I do, according to an Instagram reel from sustainability blogger Moral Fibres). Dental stuff, though, is a nightmare. Toothpaste tablets in a glass jar are awful, like brushing your teeth with a Trebor mint. My normal floss comes in cardboard boxes, but inside, the roll is packed in a tiny plastic bag. I upgrade to a metal dispenser and silk floss and switch to bamboo-based interdental brushes (you remove and recycle bristles, compost the body); they're fine, but a further expense. So are 'recyclable' toothbrush heads, which need to be returned to the manufacturer for recycling. Researching, I realise they are recycled into walking sticks, not more toothbrush heads. The whole sector feels opaque and unsatisfactory: another 'eco' toothbrush manufacturer I'm algorithmically advertised turns out not to have recycled any of its brushes yet because they haven't reached 'critical mass'. My fail of the week: on a Sainsbury's dash, my brain switches off entirely imagining my Friday night martini and I buy a bag of ice cubes. The shame. Week 3My weekly get-out-of-vitamin-jail card is salad in 'home compostable' bioplastic bags in my Riverford veg box. Unfortunately, I discover UCL investigated home compostables in 2022 and the results were 'just bad,' as Miodownik, who conducted the research, explains. Although these bioplastics compost under lab conditions, 60% of the study participants who attempted it at home failed. 'It's just not a good solution,' says Miodownik. I can't bear to quit, but unable to guarantee my compost is up to scratch, I send the bags back to Riverford, which composts them itself (I check, and they confirm, sending me a photo of their compost heap). To vary my brassicas 'n' beans diet, I peruse my freezer, unearthing berries from last summer and long-forgotten curries. Deprived of biscuity things and other treats, we bake apples (good) and roast our own nuts (meh, they're no crisps). 'It's probably forcing you to eat a lot less processed foods,' says Herriott when we discuss the snack shortage, and I sanctimoniously tell him that, actually, I miss beansprouts and baby spinach. It's true, but I miss big Hula Hoops more. Carefully selected takeaways relieve the monotony: pizza works, and our local Korean serves bibimbap in cardboard boxes. Unfortunately, when I collect, I realise the bag I thought was paper is plastic, so that's my fail of the week. Week 4Planning a day trip, I recall that in a German study where a small group kept diaries of their attempts to reduce their SUP use, commuting and travel was one of the most challenging areas. 'You have to plan your trips differently,' Melanie Jaeger-Erben, who conducted the study, tells me. So I do, bringing my usual water bottle, but also a reusable coffee cup and snacks. My bag weighs a ton. Despite this, I end up adding to my plastic count, when the Lebanese treats I always pick up in London come in a box with a plastic window rather than their usual paper bag. Back home, I'm struggling. I'm a vegan, so easy protein is usually tofu, which is now off limits. I consider, research, then abandon the idea of making my own: I can't find soya beans that aren't in plastic and the coagulant also comes in plastic sachets. Someone tells me chickpeas and lemon juice work as substitutes, but by this point, I've lost the will. I become a lunch nihilist, joylessly chomping jars of cold lentils, like a plastic-free Huel. I'm guilted into another fail: I can't bear our baby tortoise's sulky face when presented with foraged dandelions, so treat him to the plastic-wrapped chicory he loves. He falls on it with unprecedented savagery. Week 5Trudging to the finish line, the one bright spot is the arrival of Two Farmers crisps in home-compostable bags; the catharsis of crunch returns to 6pm. Thinking guiltily of Miodownik's research, I put the empties aside to compost in spring, when I vow to get our bin up to a high enough temperature for decomposition. Despite all these efforts, my final box of plastic shame contains 20 items. It's a combination of stuff beyond my control (boxes of matches bought online arriving plastic wrapped), medical necessity (ibuprofen, HRT), 'lesser of two evils' rationalisations (I eat some tofu well past its best-before date) and the various other failures catalogued above. I can achieve a low – not a no – plastic existence, but there's a massive sacrifice of convenience and money. Online shopping is out (except for specialist sustainable suppliers) and so, more or less, is supermarket shopping. Busier people, especially those with caring responsibilities, will find that impossible. 'A packed life leads to packed things,' as Jaeger-Erben puts it. Even experts struggle: Miodownik describes his 'Jekyll and Hyde existence': weekends thoughtfully buying loose produce at markets, but a midweek dash to feed his kids ('I'm rushing to the local shop and I am not questioning'). The waste minimisation team at St Nicks, a York-based environmental charity I'm a trustee of, tried a plastic-free month in 2021; waste and recycling manager Sam Taylor says the worst bit was 'the amount of planning. You're going around three or four places trying to get your basic staples.' She ate, she recalls, 'a lot of risotto'. I'm angry with supermarkets – stop wrapping oranges! – and with governments. Consumers won't just choose to sacrifice their convenience; reducing plastic use needs to become the easy (arguably only) option. 'I always say structures need to come first,' Jaeger-Erben says. Miodownik agrees. 'If the government were to say, 'No, sorry, the environment is more important than your choice,' I think people would grumble for a couple of years then they'd just get used to it.' There are two elements, Miodownik thinks, to effecting fundamental change: 'government legislation and innovation'. He's hopeful for 'meta materials': changing the structure of a polymer so it can do all the things that currently require three to nine different materials in plastics. That would make 'closed loop' flexible-plastic recycling a reality: 'This is really exciting work,' he says, but for it to be viable at scale, non-recyclable plastics need to be taxed more. Other research is exploring replacing SUP with seaweed derivatives and various natural fibres, but reducing use will always be a vital part of the solution. Even so, I recognise the 'deep ambivalence' participants in Jaeger-Erben's study reported. 'I avoided buying snacks, potato chips or my beloved coconut water, thus reducing single-use plastic consumption,' one said. 'However, this is not a long-term option, as I already limit myself in other areas of life to reduce my ecological footprint (vegan, no flights, vacation travel only by train, no car, sharing of living space, mobility in the city only by bike, secondhand purchases whenever possible …). I'm not that virtuous, but I try hard to live low-carbon and trying to eliminate SUP is hard and boring – it fills me with a mutinous kind of, 'Why me?'' Why not me, though, since I can? The four loyalty cards I've mysteriously accumulated for the Bishy Weigh are filling fast and I'm a regular at the greengrocer now. Still, when the month ends, there's no denying the guilty thrill of chucking a six-pack of Seabrook sea salted crisps into my shopping basket. My life isn't packed, but my treats are.
