Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental issues we face today. It threatens wildlife, pollutes oceans, and can take centuries to degrade. Reducing your plastic consumption not only helps the environment but also promotes a healthier lifestyle. And there is no better time to reduce your plastic consumption than Plastic Free July! This month long challenge is a great place to evaluate where you encounter plastics in your daily life. To help you get started, here are ten straightforward (and effective!) ways to cut down on your plastic use.
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bookmark_borderUnderstanding The Recycling Symbol (and Why It SUCKS!)
Hey earth muffins! Happy Plastic Free July! 🌎 🎉 This month is a great time to focus on plastic-free living to reduce your consumption of plastics in your daily life. I personally have a goal to reduce plastics as much as possible; but, I know that I will still encounter some plastics this month and beyond. So will you! To prevent these from ending up in the landfill, it is important to recycle anything that you can. Today, I will be sharing everything you need to know about the recycling symbol.
What is the Recycling Symbol?
I am 99.99% sure that you have seen this symbol before. ♻️ It seems to be everywhere in the eco community and is automatically associated with anything to do with recycling. The three arrows of the symbol represent the three steps of the recycle process:
Read More ➥bookmark_borderI Tried the Plastic Free July Challenge – My Thoughts
Hey earth muffins! Plastic Free July is over – how did you do?? 😊 This month long challenge is a great way to push yourself to reduce your plastic consumption. I have participated in this event for a few Julys now; I feel like each time I do it I learn new things! Now that the challenge is over, it is important to reflect on what went well (and what didn’t). If you were collecting all of your plastic waste during July, now would also be a great time to do a deep waste audit. These are awesome ways to identify where plastic sneaks into your daily life. Here are my thoughts on the Plastic Free July Challenge this summer!
Did I Achieve My Goals During Plastic Free July?
If you are subscribed to my newsletter, you will know I was focusing on two goals this year. First, I wanted to reduce plastic during my move. Moving across a state can create a ton of plastic waste if you aren’t careful. While I didn’t want to go into the Plastic Free July Challenge with unrealistic expectations of avoiding all of this waste, I still wanted to challenge myself! Overall, I think I did a fine job making my move as eco-friendly as possible. I reused boxes from the mail and opted for wrapping my fragiles in clothing instead of bubble wrap. But, I did use plastic tape too… Check out this guide for more tips on being sustainable during a move!
Along with the goal of reducing plastic during the move, I also wanted to stop eating out so much in July. During the move preparations, my boyfriend and I got in the habit of ordering food. This was partly because we didn’t have many groceries in the house but also because we were too tired (and lazy) from packing to want to cook meals ourselves. The week of the move, we ate out three times… Not too bad for 6 days, as we made sure to eat up all the leftovers to reduce our food waste. Now that I am living at my parents’ house, I haven’t eaten out since the move! 🎉
Why I Love this Challenge!
There are so many great things about this challenge that I listed in my “Why You Should Participate in Plastic Free July” post. For me, I love to push myself to see what I am capable of! Whether I am tracking a new habit in my planner or refusing to go on social media during Lent, I find it fun to see the positive impacts on my life during challenges like this. Plastic is an obvious problem to our environment, so I love that one month of the year the Plastic Free July Challenge inspires people to make a difference.
What Could Be Better About Plastic Free July
While a month long challenge is a great place to start reducing your plastic, it is important to remember that you should be reducing your plastic all year. I’ve seen many people join this challenge for the month and then just go right back to their typical usage of plastic when it is over. While they technically are doing the “Plastic Free July Challenge”, its main goal is to teach people about how much plastic they use – and make those lessons stick! I remember I was very new to eco-friendly living when I participated in my first challenge… And it definitely added fuel to the fire to continue my eco journey! Make sure you also strive to reduce your plastic after the challenge is over.
I think it is worth mentioning that with every popular movement, there is the opportunity for brands to take advantage of the good intentions behind it. This is true for the Plastic Free July Challenge. With so many people participating in this challenge worldwide, many companies use it as a marketing ploy to greenwash their not-so-sustainable products. It is important to look out for greenwashing during challenges like this, as you want to support the actually eco-friendly brands over ones that just flood their Instagram with green messages during the month of July. It is annoying to me that companies take advantage of newbie earth muffins during this challenge, but the best thing you can do is learn how to identify greenwashing so you can avoid it!
Final Thoughts!
I absolutely love the Plastic Free July Challenge; it is my favorite month of the summer! This year, I wasn’t able to participate as much as I would have liked. But, that just means next year I will be ready to go all in! There are many great reasons to push yourself in July, from the alarming plastic statistics to the joys of challenging yourself to accomplish something pretty cool. Fingers crossed the lessons of the month stick with you, as you don’t want to just jump right back into living with a bunch of pesky plastic. We are looking for long-term changes here, earth muffins! Did you participate in the Plastic Free July Challenge? What are your thoughts?
Love,
Jenna ♥
bookmark_borderWhy You Should Participate in Plastic Free July!
Hey earth muffins! It’s crazy to think that I’ve been participating in the Plastic Free July Challenge for a few years now! I’ve written different posts around the month-long challenge, from easy plastic-free swaps to waste audits at the end of the month. But, I haven’t actually written anything specific about why you should want to participate in Plastic Free July. I highly encourage you all to give it a try this year – what do you have to lose! 😊 Here are the top reasons you should participate in Plastic Free July!
We need to start doing something about plastic.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that plastic is a huge issue. Anywhere you look (in a city or in the middle of nowhere) there is plastic littering the planet. And that is just horrible! Regardless on your stance on climate change or sustainability, it is obvious that plastic is a problem. There are tons of statistics to back up this fact as well. While many of them cause me eco-anxiety, I’ll share some of the most eye-opening ones:
- 50% of all plastics produced are single-use.
- Plastic waste is growing at an annual rate of 9%. Just imagine how much trash our kids will have to deal with!
- Approximately 91% of plastic is not recycled
Not good stats, right? Trust me, if you do some Googling it is truly terrifying and sad. It is clearly obvious that we need to reduce our usage of plastic… So, why not challenge yourself to avoid plastics during July! 🌎
It’s easy to make changes!
Another reason why you should participate in Plastic Free July is because it is easy to start making changes. I’ve stressed this again and again on Life of an Earth Muffin. Every small swap makes a difference! It doesn’t take a lot of time, money, or energy to start reducing the plastic in your daily routine. This blog has shared a ton of great tips over the years, so I hope you can use it as a resource! If you want some other tips for making easy changes, I suggest looking at the list of ideas on the Plastic Free July website as well.
You don’t need to give up all plastics to participate!
When you sign the pledge to join in on the challenge, there is NOT the expectation that you will forever avoid plastic. There are options for every type of person! If you don’t think you are at the point in your eco journey to avoid all plastics for a month, great. Just choose a few areas of your life to focus on. Don’t think you can avoid plastics due to your job or lifestyle? I challenge you to avoid just one plastic this month! You also don’t have to do the challenge for the full month either – tailor it to your needs and comfort level! But, there is no excuse to not try… I know all you Earth Muffins can do it!
We are stronger together.
Last July, 326 MILLION people took part in this challenge! Spread out across 177 countries, that is an awesome feat and a lot of people! While small changes can make an impact, just imagine the results of 326 million people making those small changes. The number of participants is great, but there is still room for more people to join in. Only 29% of people polled online actually knew about Plastic Free July… Just imagine how much more the impact would be if 600 million people decided to join in! 🎉
Final Thoughts – I Challenge You All to Participate!!
Plastic Free July is an awesome challenge. It really opens your eyes to how much plastic subconsciously gets incorporated into your daily routine. Once you have to actively think about every choice, you realize that you can impact the world for the better with easy swaps. 😊 The stats around plastic pollution are pretty brutal, so I urge you all to push yourself this July. We are stronger together and can make a powerful difference – take the plastic-free challenge today!
Love,
Jenna ♥
bookmark_borderA Not-so-Successful Recap of Plastic Free July!
Hey earth muffins! As I mentioned in my August newsletter, my participation in Plastic Free July wasn’t that successful this year… (Which, sidenote, if you aren’t subscribed to my monthly newsletter, you should!)
My success during the challenge last year (as seen by my waste audit) was pretty incredible, so I think part of my feeling that this year wasn’t the best stems from that. BUT, it is important regardless of the success to challenge yourself to live a more sustainable lifestyle. This blog is dedicated to sharing my passion with you all, so I thought I would share my failures and successes of this Plastic Free July. As Hannah Montana famously said, “Nobody’s perfect, you live and you learn it”. 😉 So, let’s jump right into it!
The “Failings” of My Plastic Free July
As I have mentioned previously, my boyfriend and I just moved across the state into a new apartment. With moving comes a lot of plastic, paper, and other waste that I would not normally encounter in my daily life. While there are tips and tricks for avoiding some of this waste when moving, there were still unforeseen instances where I came across plastic this July. This doesn’t just include tape and packing boxes/materials; it also includes having to eat out during the move more than I thought I would have to.
When you are getting settled into a new home you also have to buy things that might result in extra plastic. While I was able to keep my plastic low in the grocery category by buying from the farmer’s market and bulk bins, I ran into some plastic in other places. A big one came from having to buy a Shark Steam Mop; all of our floors are original hardwood and there was a disgusting layer of dirt that we needed to get rid of. While the mop is amazing (and the pad is reusable/can be washed in the laundry), it came with a lot of plastic in tow. We also needed to buy a few things from Home Depot, which resulted in some plastic as well.
Successes and Looking Forward
Even though the move brought a lot of unwanted plastic into my life, it also allowed me to tackle some sustainability goals. Back in June I laid out 6 different things I wanted to achieve for this new apartment to help continue my sustainable journey. I am proud to say we made large strides on all of these during July!! In terms of decluttering, both my boyfriend and myself sold a lot of unwanted things on Facebook Marketplace. We have one box in our coat closet of items we still want to sell/donate; it is SO nice to have only the essentials in our apartment. 🎉
For goal 2, we signed up for a composting service, which I shared on my Instagram a few days ago! The local grocery store I shop at has a great bulk section to stock up our pantry; and for goal number 4, this store actually sells milk in glass. It never did the past two summers I lived here for my internship, so I am excited! With this goal I also wanted to find a local to buy eggs from; but, we might be making our apartment egg free now. My boyfriend is actually allergic to eggs, so I don’t really see the need to have them in our home… Especially since I’m not a super fan of them myself. 🤷♀️
In terms of buying secondhand, I have been slowing buying the finishing pieces for our apartment from local thrift stores. Just look at this adorable soap dish I found for our bathroom! 😍
Lastly, I have been working on my boyfriend to keep his own plastic at a minimum. He loves to drink plastic water bottles and soda; but, he actually had an old Brita in his apartment. Now he is trying to switch to that instead. Baby steps are still steps in the right direction! 👍
Overall, while I wasn’t extremely successful in avoiding plastic this July, I do think I made a lot of great sustainable steps for my journey towards living low waste. 😀 How did your Plastic Free July go?
Love,
Jenna ♥
bookmark_borderWhat To Do With Old Plastic Already in Your Home
Hey muffins, Happy Plastic Free July! 😁 I cannot believe that this is already my third year participating in the challenge. This year I will actively post on this blog AND post every single week-day on my Instagram. Make sure to follow me to never miss any of the challenge content! While I shared a waste audit last year after the challenge came to an end, I don’t think I will be able to do so this year; I am moving mid-July which will ultimately result in me using more plastic than I would like… So, it seems kinda silly to collect it all and add to the chaos of moving across the state. Regardless of what I am doing, I challenge you all to try to collect all of the new plastic you use this month! 🥰 To kickoff this challenge I would like to discuss “old plastic” that you have in your home.
When making the decision to live more sustainably, there is a huge probability that there are already plastics in your house. Even if you have been doing little things to reduce your plastic consumption, there is no doubt that there will still be plastics around. So, what are you supposed to do with them when you decide to go plastic-free, zero waste, or “green”??? Here are my suggestions for dealing with old plastic that is already in your home!
1. Use Up Your Old (Single Use) Plastic!
After I made the decision to reduce my plastic consumption, the plastics I had in my apartment at the time stuck out: Saran wrap, Ziploc bags, plastic bags, food packaging, etc. It would be foolish to just throw all of this away! So, do what you would normally do and use it up. Eat those potato chips, use those bags for lunches. If you are able, try finding second uses for something that is “single use”. Reuse the Saran wrap or Ziploc bags or use plastic grocery bags for the bathroom trash. The important thing to remember this: when the plastic has been used up, find a new sustainable alternative that is plastic-free!
2. Recycle Them Properly!
As your plastic products start to dwindle, make sure to do your research. Disposing of it in the most eco-friendly way possible is a great step for Plastic Free July! Recycling, while not the best solution, is a great option for certain plastics. It is important to check your local recycling center’s guidelines on what plastics they will accept. There are also other ways to get rid of your used-up plastics including programs like TerraCycle. Even if you don’t think something can be reused, I suggest Googling it before chucking it in the trash! I was surprised to learn that some companies like Crayola even take back used up markers and pens. If you are unable to recycle or send back to a company, I suggest trying to find a new use for it in your home. This will still prevent it from sitting in a landfill for thousands of years! 🌎
3. Keep Old Plastic and Use it!
If something is durable and will last a long time, then keep it even though it is plastic. What good is being “zero waste” if you just add to the waste of a landfill by throwing out everything that isn’t “sustainable”? I have plenty of plastic still in my apartment from my travel toiletry bag to the hairbrush I bought five years ago. I am hopeful that they will last for many more years before I dispose of them properly.
In summary, it is important to utilize the resources you have already consumed. Whether you are trying to reduce your plastic or are on a journey towards living low waste (like me!), reusing what you already have should be the number one priority. Don’t buy sustainable products just because you want the aesthetic of an environmentally friendly home; a few pieces that have been reused for a long period of time is more helpful to Mother Earth! Will you be participating in Plastic Free July this year??
Love,
Jenna ♥