Beyond Plastic Free July

How about using your old bamboo toothbrushes as plant markers?

Plastic Free July is just about over and I’ve been feeling a bit disappointed with myself this year because I haven’t really made any major changes.

Plastic Free July is a global movement that aims to help people become part of the solution to the plastic problem by inspiring them to refuse single use plastics in July. It’s not just about buying one-off plastic free alternatives – although this is part of it – but about raising awareness of the importance of reducing our plastic use and helping us form new habits so that we will try to buy and use less plastic in the future.  New habits formed in July will hopefully continue well past that month!
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I first became aware of the Plastic Free July challenge a few years ago when people were talking about it on Instagram and I decided to join in.

Blue Planet 2 had recently been on the TV and this seemed like the beginning of new era in which we were suddenly all aware of the huge problems associated with  plastic pollution in the world. Do you remember seeing the dolphins playing with plastic bags or the poor albatross chicks that were being fed plastic? 
 
I used to think that recycling plastic was enough but after seeing the news reports of mountains of our plastic waste which had been sent to other countries to be recycled, I realised that it isn’t enough. We need to avoid using it in the first place. I challenged myself that month and was quite pleased with the progress I made! Thinking about it, maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself with my perceived lack of progress this year because those changes that I made then did become a normal part of our lives.

Empty jars returned for reusing

There are lots of easy swaps that you can make. Perhaps you’ve already got yourself a metal or strong plastic reusable water bottle or a travel mug? And paper stemmed cotton buds are now easily found in the supermarkets.
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Some things are easier than others aren't they? Things like ditching straws and taking a reusable bottle when we go out or using a bamboo toothbrush. These are fairly easy for us in the UK to do.

​One of the easiest is to swap shower gels, liquid handwash and bottled shampoos for soap and shampoo bars. Of course, as a soapmaker I would say this!!! The advantage is that it doesn’t just cut down on your plastic, if you choose bars which are natural and organic, it also reduces the amount of irritating chemicals that you are putting on your skin and hair and you may find that your skin is much happier after you have swapped.

Others are far more challenging though. Just think of all the plastic in a typical weekly shop. If you don't have local or affordable alternatives, it's difficult to know what to do. It's great to see that in Kirriemuir we have a brand new zero waste store which opened this week so I'm definitely going to be going to A Longer Table for some of my shopping. And there are zero waste / refill stores popping up in lots of different towns now.

Don’t feel guilty about buying things in single use plastics if there is no reasonable alternative. But if you can't avoid buying things in plastic then what you can do is try to reuse them as much as you can.

Ages ago I started reusing any plastic bags that came my way. Bags from fruit & veg, bread, dried food, cereal packets, frozen food bags...anything. I had a 2 pile system! The grotty ones were used for rubbish and as nappy bags. The decent ones were washed and used as sandwich / fridge / multi purpose bags. My washing line was always flapping with either cloth nappies or plastic bags. The neighbours might have thought that I was the weirdo next door but I don't care!

At that point I didn't rescue bags specifically because they were plastic, but because I don't like throwing anything away. After all, you never know when it may come in handy! Now that I know how damaging single use plastic is for our environment it is even more important to me to avoid where possible and where it's not possible, to reuse as much as I can.
 
Naturally, this extends to our business as well and, although we can’t claim to be a zero waste business, we are certainly doing what we can to reduce the amount of waste we create and avoid single use plastics as far as we possibly can. 

​If you’re looking for inspiration, check out our store pages for loads of plastic free alternatives and if you’re interested in finding more information about why cutting down on plastic is so important and useful tips and ideas, take a look at the Plastic Free July website which has loads of ideas and resources to help you reduce the amount of plastic in your life …. not just in July!!