We’ve spent a little bit of time recently talking about plastic – the ugliness and danger of plastic waste in our oceans, and ways we can reduce our use of plastic. We all know that we need to move away from this material, and there are now so many great alternatives. While its invention was met with great celebration, it was only a few decades later that we realized it was not as wonderful to have material which lasted forever as we had initially thought. And nothing cements that theory like seeing the completely decayed body of an albatross – with still perfectly formed and colored pieces of plastic where its stomach would once have been.
It’s nearly July, middle of the year, and a lovely summer month. It’s a month where you might find yourself going out more to take in the warmth and sunshine. And sometimes being out and about means we use more of one very nasty thing: single use plastic. Whether it’s a straw for your shake; cup for your cold beer; a water bottle; maybe some plastic cutlery for that picnic in the park (which may also entail plastic wrapping over your food and the items being carried in a plastic bag), we are surrounded by the stuff!
In 2011 a group of people working for a council in Perth, Australia, decided to take on the challenge of reducing their own personal use of plastics, for one month. It was a popular move, so the Plastic Free Foundation was born, and they then launched Plastic Free July as a global call to action – 2018 saw over 3 million people from 177 countries sign up! We at swrm are confident we can call on your support for this great movement, and indeed go plastic free for the month of July. And you know what I’m fairly confident of? You’ll find that once you do this for a month, it won’t be difficult to continue. It’s always the first few weeks of a new gym regime or diet that’s the hardest – after that, you’ve adjusted to this new and positive habit.
Once you’ve got some great, non-plastic reusable items, like bamboo picnic cutlery and plates; your own lovely totes (whether its for grocery shopping or souvenir hunting on vacation); a reusable coffee cup; stainless steel or glass water bottle; and a couple of fab stainless steel straws, you’ll find that suddenly you’ll use much less single use plastic! And that will continue through August, September, October, etc etc. It doesn’t even have to stop with ridding yourself of single use plastics. There are awesome alternatives for plastic kitchen utensils, food storage and cookware. And don’t even stop there…say no to plastic everywhere! When you have take out, take your own glass/pyrex container to put it in; when you order pizza, ask for them to please remove that little plastic ‘table’ from the middle of the box; take your own containers for fish and meats to go into at the grocery store or deli, so it’s not getting wrapped in plastic; and don’t be tempted to use/take the small toiletries from hotel bathrooms.
The next thing we ask of you is that as you look around, right now, and notice that you do have some plastic lurking – perhaps a random soda bottle or two – and you commit to reusing it. There are some excellent ideas here on the internet (and within our previous article from a few months back: Time to Reduce our Plastic Obsession) for upcycling or repurposing your plastic. Like making cute and effective herb or flower pots, or an interesting jewelry caddy.
So let’s start with Plastic Free July, and take on this challenge for the sake of our oceans and the animal life which is dependent on that ecosystem (although, it will benefit more than just animals from the ocean, of course!) Get your friends involved, start some friendly competition for who can come up with the most interesting non-plastic replacement of a plastic item; or who literally has the least amount of plastic at the end of the month (no cheating!). Don’t forget that removing plastic from your life (most of it’s made with petroleum) is another excellent way to reduce your carbon footprint and work towards a sustainable lifestyle. But if you need any extra motivation to #breakfreefromplastic, check out this recent report called Plastics and Climate: The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet, which extensively covers the shocking damage that plastic is causing.
