"It's just 1 plastic bottle." said 8 billion people.
Plastic-free July is the perfect month to reduce your plastic consumption and make a change together! To help you on your journey, we've written a list of our top plastic-reducing tips.
We know life happens and it's hard to imagine cutting out plastic entirely. With a few little changes that everyone can do, let's make a positive impact together to reduce plastic for our planet and our health.
Plastic pollutes our rivers and seas, wreaks havoc on animal habitats and marine life and emits toxic gases as it breaks down. It's an extremely useful material, durable and cheap to manufacture and transport, and has made it's way into almost everything (a new study suggests that traces of microplastics have been found in human blood!). With over-consumption and mass production of plastics, plastic waste is a huge issue and we only recycle a small percentage.
Imagine if we all made simple changes- our collective efforts would reduce our plastic waste and we CAN make a difference TOGETHER.
What can you do to reduce plastics?
Loose Leaf Tea or Plastic Free Tea Bags
Unfortunately, some tea bags contain non-biodegradable plastics. Thankfully you can buy your favourite tea brands such as PG Tips and Yorkshire tea in loose-leaf form.
Tooth Paste Tablets
At just 4-6p per brush. Toothpaste tablets are a wonderful way to lessen your personal plastic footprint. Here are some affordable options: Brushd, Ecoliving
Plastic Free Lunch
Remove single-use plastics from your lunch, by avoiding cling film and single use cutlery. Try wax wraps or paper bags, or reusable containers. Avoid using plastic cutlery by bringing your own from home.
Refuse Receipts
Where possible say no to a receipt. Most receipts may look just like normal paper, but they often have a plastic BPA coating to aid in the printing process, making them impossible to recycle.
Bring Your Own Bag and Bottle
Wallet? Check. Phone? Check. Reusable bag? Check. Water bottle? Check. Whenever you leave the house, remember to bring your own bag, for those impromptu shopping trips. Saying no to plastic bags goes a long way to reducing plastic waste. Bringing your own water bottle will also stop those impulsive drink purchases that are encased in plastic.
Bars Instead Of Bottles
A classic bar of hand soap and a bar of dish soap lasts a long time, needs no plastic container and is an easy swap. Depending on the frequency of use and the number of hands in your household, a 600g bar of Marseille soap can go a surprisingly long way, which makes it an affordable and eco-conscious option for the household.
Simplify Your Skin Regime
Olive oil is one of our favourite ingredients for skincare. Massage a small amount into your skin and hair ends to moisturise. Olive oil can also be used as a cleanser, just massage into the skin and wipe clean with a warm cloth. There are many other oils you can use to care for your skin. Click on the link to find out more.
Take Your Soft Plastics to the Supermarket
Supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury's and Coop are now running recycling schemes where you can drop off your soft plastics recycling. Soft plastics are lightweight flexible plastics that are easily scrunchable but just as easily spring back out of their scrunched state. (see the scrunch test). Examples of such plastics include bread bags, crisp packets and lightweight film (+many more). If you can't avoid these plastics, the next best option is to recycle!
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