10 Easy Ways To Ditch Plastic
10 Easy Ways To Ditch Plastic
Plastic Free July begins tomorrow! The first day of July. To inspire you all to take on this challenge, we’ve created this cheat sheet on how you can EASILY ditch yucky plastic! Suitable for the everyday individual!
But plastic is on EVERYTHING you may say.. unfortunately this may be true and you might be lead to believe that escaping it is just “too hard”. However, where there is a will, there is a way! Today, it is much easier to avoid plastic then just a couple of years ago, as there are plenty of companies innovating and switching to more eco-friendly alternatives (including us!). Seeing as though, we’ve kind of become experts in the field, we’ve complied a list of 10 ways you can quit plastic this Plastic Free July.
1) Choose the paper straw or bring your own reusable one! Ever heard of the quote “It’s only one straw. Said 7 billion people.”? Well, it’s still relevant! Except now, we’re close to 8 billion total population. 8 billion people multiply that by, maybe 340 days = 2.7 Trillion. Yes, It is not just ONE straw.
2) Buy from bulk food stores. Did you know, Australians generate over 40 million tonnes of waste per year! Buying bulk cuts your plastic usage by more than HALF! Not to mention, you save money and minimise your trips to the grocery store! At the Green Life Warehouse, you are encouraged to bring your own reusables for when purchasing your produce. You can visit our store located in North Lakes, Brisbane or Online HERE.
3) Try reusable food wrap. Yet another easy and simple change you can make within your kitchen. There’s nothing worse than single use plastic sandwich bags, these are discarded after just a few hours of use! Costing more money replacing them then you would think and costing the environment even more. Our favourite solution? Reusable Beeswax wraps! Made from all-natural materials and can be reused repeatedly.
4) Use a bamboo toothbrush. The average toothbrush has a life of just 3 months. The average person will throw away 300 toothbrushes in their lifetime. That’s over 90 billion toothbrushes across the globe. (Source) Switching to a bamboo toothbrush allows for this waste to instead be composted & biodegraded instead of contributing to a land fill waste heap. Our favourite toothbrush.
5) Skip plastic bottles and single-use coffee cups. Annual consumption of plastic bottles is set to top half a trillion by 2012. This is a top contributor to the growing issue of ocean pollution, jeopardising our wildlife and beautiful oceans. In a country where we are lucky enough to have clean drinking water readily available – we should be taking advantage of this and using only reusables. Coffee cups are just as bleak, the plastic lining on most ‘paper’ cups are distributed and cannot be recycled as they have been contaminated with drink.
6) Use reusable shopping and produce bags. Plastic has been found at the deepest point on earth, can you take a guess what type of plastic it was? Yes, a plastic bag. (Source) One of the deadliest pieces of plastics to our wildlife and ocean marine species. Choose our beautiful coastlines and gorgeous marine life – choose reusables. Shop reusables HERE.
7) Decline takeout cutlery and bring your own! Think back to our previous statistics on the ‘one’ plastic straw – now multiple the total number by 2/3. Those are your takeout, single use forks and knives, suffocating our environment. Cutlery Kits are super convenient, not to mention hygienic! Bring your very own with you next time you go out and decline the takeout cutlery. Go Green Cutlery Kits available HERE.
8) Make the switch to wooden pegs. We’ve all experienced how flimsy pegs can be, snapping on a moments notice. One washing load and you’re throwing away a peg each time. Choose wooden pegs and return them to the earth once unrepairable! We love THESE.
9) Use what you already have, upcycle & reuse! Above all else, use what you have! Reuse, and upcycle this is how you Reduce! It can be anything- your used, empty protein powder containers can now be used for food storage, old food tins? Perfect plant pots! Check out our Upcycling Pinterest Board HERE.
10) Don’t buy clothing which is made from plastic. For example, Polyester is a type of plastic. When buying these materials, you’re supporting the plastic industry and undoubtedly adding to the plastic waste when your garment reaches the end of its life. “More than 98% of future fibre production will be synthetics, and 95% of that synthetic fibre will be polyester.” (Tecnon Orbichem) (Source)
Begin to make the small changes today, for a massive impact for the future.
