Plastic Free July
We are now well into Plastic Free July, and social media is full of related content. Most of it is genuinely useful and interesting, but I’ve see a few preachy messages that I’m not sure I agree with.
In my mind, Plastic Free July is a great time to join in with a community outlook to reduce single use plastic usage, and not necessarily to transform into a zero waste household within the space of just one month.
I have made lots of swaps to zero waste and plastic free products over the last couple of years, and have happily shared information about these swaps with friends and family online. I’ve got to the stage I’m at now by making changes gradually – for my household it would have been completely overwhelming to have made a whole household of swaps at the same time. In addition, the best time to transition to a new plastic free product, is when you run out of its plastic counterpart. Going by this logic, things run out at different times and you’re unlikely to find a household where all plastic free swaps are made in the space of a month without some old plastic products going to waste!
My personal approach to Plastic Free July this year has been to shout about plastic free products I love, test out a couple of new things, and try out my local refill shop. I’ve not gone round my house getting rid of any lingering plastic bottles and things in wrappers, but I have looked mindfully at what I’ve got, and what it can be replaced with when it needs replenishing. I’ve taken time to see which products other green living enthusiasts are recommending, and added them to a list of things to try in future.
I hope that this month will spread awareness of some of the wonderful plastic free and low waste products available at the moment, but equally, don’t want anyone to feel overwhelmed or pressured into doing lot at once. Gradual household changes really do add up and make a big difference, and imagine if the whole nation makes gradual changes – what a difference we would make!
Just this week, I marveled at how empty my little wheelie bin was when I put it out on bin day. I’ve managed to at least halve my household waste over the last few years and that’s something I’m very proud of – and it’s all through slowly swapping products for low waste alternatives when they need replacing. Now think about the impact we could make if my whole street made similar changes – we would save so much rubbish from going to landfill!
If you want to learn more about wonderful low waste products and general greener living then feel free to pop over to my Instagram and have a look – I have a lovely working relationship with eco company Babipur and talk about lots of stuff
they sell, as well as various other aspects of eco life.