July is a pretty special month for my family. Yes, it’s the school holidays, start of the financial year, plus family birthdays. But perhaps most importantly, July is special because of Plastic-Free July with 2018 being our sixth go at it.
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Plastic-Free July is an initiative of a local council in Western Australia and is now observed by people in 150 countries around the world. It’s a challenge that encourages households, schools and businesses to see if they can avoid single-use plastic for a whole month.
No plastic for a whole month is a difficult task, one that we didn’t fully succeed in last year but one that we’re hoping to do better with this year. In the first few years of our experiment, we chose to avoid the four big ‘baddies’ of the plastic packaging world: plastic straws, take-away coffee cup lids, plastic water bottles and plastic carry bags.
This was relatively easy for us, but it does require constant vigilance. For example, not forgetting to take the reusable bags when shopping and remembering to say “no thanks” to plastic straws before the drink is served.
For the last couple of years we have attempted to go completely plastic free in our purchasing. This task has been made easier by shopping at a number of local businesses that avoid plastic themselves, or are prepared to allow me to use my own, reusable containers.
I’m still searching for somewhere to buy cheese without plastic packaging. My daughters have dubbed this month as Cheese-Free July. Cheese, strawberries and potato chips are the main things we miss during Plastic-Free July.
Awareness of the disastrous impact of plastic on our environment has really grown in the six years we’ve been doing Plastic-Free July. Finally, the major supermarkets Australia-wide are getting rid of single-use plastic carry bags.
Although they will still have heavier, more durable bags available, this is a massive step forward for big businesses in taking responsibility for the pollution they help create. And we need to continue using our purchasing power to help those businesses move further in a more environmentally friendly direction.
I’m looking to reduce our consumption of single use packaging for Plastic-Free July and beyond. I hope you can join me. Visit www.plasticfreejuly.org for ideas.
