Plastic-Free July: a Guide for Mentality

Plastic-Free July is an annual campaign launched in 2011 by the Plastic Free Foundation. This organization has helped people across the globe commit to reducing their plastic waste in the month of July and beyond. The challenge has grown every year and around 250 million people have taken part! Whether it’s signing up for a day, week, or the whole month, participants are invited to reflect on their plastic consumption and consider what single-use plastics they could cut out.

The campaign seeks to promote accessibility within the sustainability community, spreading the message that everyone can play their own role in reducing plastic pollution, regardless of their circumstances.

So in honour of the month, I wanted to share my journey into plastic waste reduction!

Starting Out

I began my journey to a plastic-free life around two years ago, when I started to notice the shocking amounts of plastic packaging my family was going through weekly. In an average supermarket shopping trolley, it is almost impossible to avoid. Whether it is fresh fruit and vegetables, toiletries, baked goods of frozen food, almost everything is encased in plastic!

Of course, this has its pros and cons. Improved shelf-life, hygiene and convenience are positives, but must of it is non-recyclable and simply goes in the bin as soon as it gets to our homes. This creates millions of tonnes of waste nationwide every year. In the UK, less than half of our plastic waste is currently recycled. Even among kerbside plastic recycling, around two-thirds of the UK’s plastic waste is shipped abroad to be recycled and is often contaminated or simply incinerated anyway.

Photo by Nareeta Martin on Unsplash

Knowing that millions of tonnes of this material are left in landfills and remain in our earth for hundreds of years, especially after such a short usage, alarmed me. So, I embarked on some research, determined to reduce this waste on a personal level.

Tip: A great thing to remember if feeling overwhelmed, is that what you do matters. Every positive action you take individually adds up to a bigger group impact!

Researching

Some of the first things I found online were guides and personal stories such as the bloggers at Waste Not Store. A technique that many recommend to begin with is making a quick plastic inventory, so you are aware of where your individual plastic usage is coming from. To do this, write down the areas in your household and list the plastic that you use there.

For example, in the kitchen you may find:

food packaging
containers and food storage wraps
carrier bags
cleaning products

In the bathroom, you may have:

cosmetics
hygiene products
items such as plastic-stemmed earbuds
disposable razors

Once you know exactly what waste you’re throwing away, it is much more manageable to work on reducing it and finding sustainable alternatives!

Tip: don’t try to do everything at once! Not only can this be overwhelming, but also living more zero-waste isn’t about buying new products or spending money. Often it’s rather an accumulation of personal habits and practices, education, and research. It looks different for every one of us!

Action

Then I began to consider what waste outputs I could reduce and avoid in the future. Once containers or products I already had (such as shampoo bottles, toothpaste, and clingfilm rolls) were used up, I found a plastic-free alternative to choose from next. See my plastic-free starter kit in next week’s blog post!

As always, individual action is a personal experience. Whilst sharing tips with friends and reading articles for guidance is a great place to start, ultimately it’s your values that should shape your choices. “Sustainable” can mean a whole range of things: vegan, cruelty-free, locally made, organic, plastic-free, packaging-free, locally grown, small business, natural ingredients etc. Products won’t always hit every point and only you can decide which values to prioritise of others.

Tip: speak to people about what you’re doing! I first reached out to a couple of friends who I knew were eco-conscious and asked for their advice. It was invaluable in guiding me to make my own plastic-free changes.

What to remember

Avoiding unnecessary plastic is often hard and sometimes impossible (especially with the global circumstances and the temporary closure of many zero-waste local shops!) BUT with time a lot of the swaps and habits have become second nature to me!

Reducing our waste is a journey of change, and it’s okay to make mistakes or adapt things depending on what’s best for your lifestyle. Enjoy the experience and the changes you’re creating, remember you don’t have to make all (or any) of these switches overnight: you can help the planet and still choose what is best for you!

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