It’s Plastic Free July and yes, it still matters even as we drown in other problems.
When I started this blog more than two years ago it was before the Covid19 pandemic, before a brainwashed and violent mob stormed our Capitol building, before Russia invaded Ukraine, before scary inflation and a shortage of baby formula, before the Supreme Court decided that everyone in the country has a right to carry guns (simply because we want to) and that women don’t have autonomy over our bodies, hence no autonomy over our lives. In early February 2020 I was worried about toxic chemicals in our food, soil, air and water. I was worried about disinformation and voter apathy. I was worried about disposable fashion and the tons of discarded clothes overflowing our landfills. I was worried about contaminated sea life from the tons of plastic in our oceans.
July is the month, all around the globe, when people take the challenge to reduce plastic in their everyday lives. It’s an international movement, and there are countless resources available to guide us on small and large changes we can make to clean up our planet. But, do we have the energy to be alarmed about plastic when so many other disasters are vying for our attention? Um, yes. And this blog is dedicated to convincing you that you have more bandwidth for outrage and activism than you think, and that small victories will give you more, not less, energy to ‘save the world every day’.
An estimated 32% of all plastic packaging in the world ends up as litter, contaminating our environment. Another 40% ends up in landfills, which is just organized litter – it’s still contaminating our environment. 14% is incinerated, emitting toxic chemicals into the air (another form of litter). Only 14% is ever recycled, and only 2% of plastic packaging is ‘effectively recycled’, meaning that it will never end up as a toxic contaminant to the planet. The documentary The Story of Plastic is a great source of data and outlines why to have hope – here’s the trailer:
Plastic poisons us from the inside out and outside in
The PBS News Hour produced an excellent documentary charting how plastic is everywhere, is out of control and is damaging not only the health of our planet but our own health as humans. This well researched and excellently presented program is well worth 55 minutes of your time.
Resources for living plastic-free
There are so many simple, gratifying and even fun ways to get plastic out of our lives – below is a list of links, to blogs that I’ve written (you will love bar shampoo, DIY deodorant, refillable glass spray bottles and so much more, I promise.) and useful ideas and information from Plastic Free July. In a world where problems seem way too hard to tackle ourselves, ditching plastic is something that all of us, in our own way, can do effectively.
Plastic Free July is a fabulous resource for inspiration from around the world for eliminating plastic. You can download this handy challenge calendar here: https://www.plasticfreejuly.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/PFJ2022_31-Days-of-Tips-Calendar.pdf?mc_cid=800fe48ab9&mc_eid=cb605d880f Our household practices 17 of the recommendations already, but this summer I need to be better about carrying my travel straw in my purse at all times as well as reaching in our take-away meals before leaving a restaurant to return the plastic cutlery. I will also encourage restaurant staff to ask customers before packing to-go orders if we really need those plastic forks. The less we use the less restaurants will order, and the less ordered means ultimately less produced.
Expert top tips – why reducing plastic is better for your health
Replacing Single-Use Plastic in your Home
Bar Shampoo and Saying No to Plastic
Why Make Your Own Deodorant? Less Plastic, It’s Economical, It’s Easy and It Works!
It’s Plastic Free July! Take the Plastic-Free Challenge,One Non-Plastic Choice at a Time.
Plastic Free is so worth it.
Taking plastic out of our lives is another way of taking garbage out of our lives. We don’t need it, we won’t miss it and we reap the benefits in our everyday lives almost immediately without it. When you replace plastic with a sustainable material, more often than not that material looks better, feels better and performs better than plastic (just try it and see) and the result is a higher quality of life. Happy Plastic Free July!
You are the best, Wanda! Thank you for once again putting this issue in the limelight and sharing such pertinent and important information. So many great ideas, most of which we try to do every day. It is great when they just become a habit, too. Aside from our assortment of reusable shopping bags, a reusable cloth bag is always at the ready (those little ones that fold into a tiny cinch sac and clip on to whatever are great), our favorite take out restaurant knows not to include plastic utensils or a plastic bag without us even asking now, and our local bartenders know to never give us a plastic straw. We know we can always do more and that the most environmentally friendly product is the one we didn’t buy.
Thank you, always, for your caring and sharing!
Thank you Lynne! “The most environmentally friendly product is the one we didn’t buy”! That really needs to be on a (recycled organic cotton) tee shirt!