Plastic Free July: 31 ways to reduce your plastic footprint

Welcome to Plastic Free July! Originally a small initiative starting in Australia, Plastic Free July is now a global event, with over two million people from 159 countries taking part in the challenge to live without single-use plastic for a whole month.

After years of campaigning by charities, NGOs and the public, it’s amazing to see governments and global organisations taking real action. But you only need to look around you in every shop, street and home to see that single-use plastic is still very much embedded in our day-to-day lives, which is why challenges like Plastic Free July are so important. Political change is necessary but SLOW, and although I will always advocate for systematic change, as individuals we can take steps right now to prevent unnecessary plastic pollution and waste.

So to kick things off, I’ve made a list of simple swaps you may want to try, one for each day of July:

1. Carrier bags for canvas bags
2. Plastic drink bottles for reusable bottles
3. Plastic toothbrushes for bamboo toothbrushes
4. Disposable takeaway coffee cups for reusable mugs
5. Plastic straws for no straws (or reusable straws!)
6. Shower gel for bar soap
7. Washing up sponges for wooden dish brushes
8. Plastic-wrapped kitchen roll for washable cloths (an old t-shirt cut into squares works fine!)
9. Facial wipes for flannels or muslin cloths
10. Single-use bottles of cleaning sprays for DIY recipes or refill-at-home products like Splosh
11. Plastic bottles of mouthwash for mouthwash tabs in glass jars
12. Little flimsy supermarket plastic bags for produce bags
13. Bottles of shampoo for shampoo bars
14. Tubes of makeup remover for glass bottles of almond oil
15. Plastic-wrapped toilet roll for Who Gives A Crap or Ecoleaf
16. Tea bags for loose leaf tea
17. Synthetic fibre clothes for natural fabrics
18. Pre-packed bags of fruit and veg for loose single items
19. Plastic bottles of laundry liquid for refill stations or large boxes of powder
20. Plastic juice bottles for delivery in returnable glass bottles
21. Ice cube bags for reusable ice cube trays
22. Plastic bags of pantry staples like rice, nuts and lentils for refills in your own packaging, or compostable bags.
23. Plastic cutlery for reusable bamboo or metal utensils
24. Plastic wrapped shop-bought sandwiches for making your own in a reusable sandwich bag
25. Plastic bottles of soft drink for DIY infusions
26. Coffee pods for bags of ground coffee and a cafetière
27. Shop bought dips and spreads for simple DIY recipes
28. Pre-packed supermarket deli products for refills in your own containers
29. Swap your plastic carton of milk for a DIY oat milk recipe
30. Disposable razors for razors with replaceable heads, or a safety razor if you’re feeling brave
31. Plastic pens for refillable cartridges and pencils

If you’re thinking this seems like a lot of effort, and you aren’t really sure if it’s worth it, I promise you that it is! Plastic is infiltrating our environment to such an extent that it’s thought that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by weight. Plastic fragments are found in the stomach of nearby every seabird on the planet. We don’t even fully yet know the long-term effects of plastic, either in the environment, or in the thousands of bits of plastic we humans consume every year.

If you’d like some further reading about how and why to reduce your own plastic footprint, please have a look at some of my previous posts here:

• Why Small Actions Matter
• A beginner’s guide to (mostly) living without single-use plastic
• The psychological problem with plastic
• A Plastic Ocean (and how you can start doing something about it): Part 1
• A Plastic Ocean (and how you can start doing something about it): Part 2

So whether you want to try one idea, a few, or all 31 from my list, I really hope you’ll join me and the Plastic Free July community over at www.plasticfreejuly.org!

Credits:

Cover photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Photo for graphic by Eric BARBEAU on Unsplash