plastic-free July

Have you heard of plastic-free July?

Organized energy around the challenge began back in 2011 and since then it has continued to pick up steam. The idea is that for a month you take some time to be mindful of the plastic consumption in your life and reduce your plastic waste in one, or more areas.

You can reduce your plastic waste by:

1. Focusing on one single-use plastic in your life that you’re going to refuse for the month of July (ie straws, plastic cutlery, plastic bags from the grocery store, bagged salads, delivery containers, etc).

2. Focusing on reducing your consumption of the four commonly consumed single-use plastic items; grocery bags, straws, coffee cups, and water bottles.

3. Focusing on eliminating all plastic waste for a month. 

This will require some pre-planning and thinking, but since many of us are still restricted in terms of our travel, this could be a great time for some reflection. You’ve likely seen the stats in passing and know that plastic straws are ‘bad’ because of that one video of a sea turtle with a straw up its nose. The truth is, the conversation around single-use plastic is very complex.

Photo courtesy of Jon Tyson via Unsplash.

Yes, the stats are absolutely terrible and single-use plastic is a huge problem impacting our globe. Let me drop a handful of articles for you below to read through at your leisure:

1. Plastic takes a long af time to degrade

2. Why is recycling plastic not a good enough solution? (See also: Asian countries have begun to refuse the rest of the world’s plastic waste)

3. What is the deal with those garbage patches in the oceans?

4. There are microplastics in your food

5. There are microplastics in your drinking water

6. There are microplastics in the air

However, single-use plastic also arose out of a need for convenience and that need is one that our capitalist 40+ hour work week, stressed, and inaccessible societal structure reinforces. Over the next month, I plan to reduce all of my forms of disposable plastic and I will document that process along the way. 

I’d also like to take a look at why some single-use plastics were invented, the best way to curb our plastic-waste for good, and keep a tally of some of the plastic I use--even if I don’t dispose of it in the month of July and offer up more sustainable solutions moving forward (thinking about my face wash, shampoo, etc). 

To take the plastic-free pledge for the month of July, visit plasticfreejuly.org.

How do you plan to reduce your plastic-waste this month?

in solidarity,

p.s Want some extra credit (aka personal satisfaction)? Sign this petition to encourage the 7 biggest corporations contributing to single-waste plastic to end plastic pollution.