Plastic pollution is a huge environmental issue and, despite increased awareness, we don’t seem to be winning the war on single-use plastic. As Plastic Free July 2022 kicks off on Friday, let’s all commit to simple changes that will make a difference. To help you get started, today’s post has a free printable calendar of 31 easy swaps. Pick one or two, or challenge yourself to try all 31!
What is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution. It started in Australia in 2011. In just 11 years, the movement has exploded. In 2021, 140 million people around the world joined together to refuse 301 million everyday plastic items and reduce 2.1 million tons of plastic waste. (Source: Plastic Free July Impact Report 2021)
Despite the impressive progress, we still have work to do. Bottled water is still big business, and carelessly-discarded plastic waste continues to clog our oceans, threatening marine life and even our health.
How can you cut down on your plastic use?
There’s an old saying that every journey starts with a single step, and it’s true. A simple gift I received for Christmas in 2018 started me on my journey to eliminate single-use plastic and live a greener life. Since then, I’ve made dozens of small changes, and reduced thousands of single-use plastic items. And you can too!
Here are some ways you can take the first—or next—step on your plastic-free journey.
Start by taking the Pesky Plastics Quiz. It only takes 5 minutes and it will give you a good idea of your plastic use today, and will help you identify changes you can make.
Click the image below to download my free printable calendar of simple changes you can make. For more information on any of the ideas, check out my post 31 ways you can join the Plastic Free July movement.
If you need more inspiration, check out the Plastic Free July website. It’s full of great ideas and inspiring stories.
Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.
What will you commit to for Plastic Free July 2022?
This Plastic Free July, let’s win the war on single-use plastic! Whether you pick one change or try all 31, your efforts will add up.
Over the last three years, I’ve turned all 31 changes into habits. My goal every year for Plastic-Free July is to find new plastic-free learnings and innovations to share with you. Stay tuned to hear more about what I learn this year.
What will you commit to for Plastic Free July 2022? Tell me your ideas below.
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So nice written you. Way be toMore plastic free.
The one thing that annoys me most about the world we live in is that there are perfectly good plastic alternatives for almost everything we need.
For example, Lego claims they’ve started using plastic alternatives: “In 2018, we started making LEGO® elements from bio-polyethylene (bio-PE) – a soft, durable and flexible plastic derived from Brazilian sugarcane. Because we want our products to be durable and safe for generations of children, this plant-based plastic is not biodegradable (or edible!)”.
The answers to our plastic problem have existed for years. The only thing that’s stopping us is capitalism being left unchecked. If we want something done, we need a government willing to make companies make these changes.
Great post. I’ve already implemented a few of these, and I’ve been thinking of shower bars, but they’re significantly more expensive and I’m not really keen on having to wipe a bar across my body as then I wouldn’t be able to share it with others
I agree that it is so annoying that solutions exist and aren’t being widely adopted. Corporate greed is very real. We see it in Canada with the oil lobby. They deny the problem exixts and look for any way to discredit electric vehicles.
My daughters share your concern about bar soap. I refill my jugs of liquid soap at a local soap supply company. I buy my laundry soap, cadtile soap and other cleaners there as well. It’s good to see The Body Shop has a refill program now. It is getting more mainstream, but we have a long way to go.
I like a line in your opening paragraph, ‘let’s all commit to simple changes that will make a difference’. It can feel like nothing is enough, but something is better than nothing, especially if we all participate the best we can!
It’s nice to see which of the 31 changes I’ve turned into habits, but there is always another little change I could make. I think I will look into toothpaste tablets after we have finished our current toothpaste and the concept of DIY toilet cleaner.
Thank you for sharing, and thank you for the helpful links as well. 😊
Thanks for dropping by. You’re right—it’s all about small changes that add up over time. The toilet cleaner is one of my most popular posts. It gets tons of traffic from Pinterest. It’s very hard to find economical, plastic-free options for toilet cleaner. Let me know if you try it!
Love this! I’m always looking for ways to be more plastic free.
Thanks for reading Becky. I’m glad you found the tips useful!