This has now grown into a truly global movement, involving people across 69 countries.

The idea is simple: attempt to refuse single-use plastic during the month of July.

Also, any plastics that you don’t manage to avoid during July are kept aside in a box, so that any difficulties or dilemmas that people faced can be discussed and hopefully solved.

It’s a challenge, not a competition, so there is no judgement and no guilt. Everyone participating is trying to help everyone else by trying their best and sharing tips and knowledge.

The hope is that by challenging yourself and forcing new plastic-free living habits to form during July, these good habits will continue beyond July and become habits of a lifetime.

It’s also hoped that businesses and government will take note of the changing sentiment among consumers and voters who want to avoid plastics wherever possible. This can then lead to opportunities to innovate with alternatives made from materials like paper, cardboard, cornstarch, bamboo, and recycled plastics.

For a product that has been around in common use for only 50 years, plastic has had a devastating impact.

When we throw plastic away it doesn’t go away, it stays. It might be found in our waterways, in landfill, stuck in plants and grasses and in the ocean.

Every piece of plastic that has ever been produced still exists, either in it’s original size or broken down into smaller parts, which also won’t ever disappear. We are faced with startling new research such as the fact that, at current rates, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Recycling is not necessarily the solution either. The CEO of British supermarket chain ASDA said that no amount of recycling can keep up with the never ending tide of new plastics produced, and that it is “vital that packaging industry and supermarkets work together to turn off the tap”.

The old mantra used to be the three Rs: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’. Now a fourth R has been added, which is ‘Refuse’.