You have probably heard about Plastic Free July, but do you know what is it? And why is this movement in July and what can you do to contribute to it? In this article, I will explain everything to you.

What is Plastic Free July?

Plastic Free July is an initiative created to raise awareness of the amount of plastic in our lives. This initiative challenges and encourages people to reduce their single-use plastic consumption by one item at a time.

The first “Plastic Free July” was back in 2011 in Australia after Rebecca Prince-Ruiz visited a recycling facility where she realised that by separating her waste into recycling she was not making any difference as she saw early on that day the amount of waste we create.

She started this movement with her family and a bunch of colleagues, soon they realised how challenging it is as plastic is all around us. By sharing experiences and struggles they support each other and provide tricks and tips on how to overcome them.

This is a clear example of how a single person can make a difference. If you think, how this initiative started from a small group of people joining in a spontaneous challenge to a worldwide movement where millions of people and organizations take part nowadays. As Rebecca stated on her TEDx Talk “When lots of people come together and make small changes all at once, the impact can be extraordinary”

What is Plastic? Where Does It Come From? And Why Should We Avoid It?

I was particularly shocked to see where plastic came from and how historically we started to widely use it in our daily lives.

Do you know that plastic is made from fossil fuels? Yes, from fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and crude oil. So now you can understand there is a big correlation between plastic, air pollution and climate change.

Originally, plastic was created in 1868 by John Wasley Hyatt, however in 1907 Leo Baekeland, a Belgian chemist, started a new era as he invented the first truly synthetic plastic called Bakelite. However, plastic began to be part of our daily lives after the Second World War. During the war, plastic production increased by 300% just in the USA. Due to plastic versatility, plastic was used widely in ropes, parachutes, helmet liners, body armors, glass to make aircraft windows, and airplane cockpits, to simply insulate the radar, or to cover guns during shipping. Plastic became the “material of a thousand uses”

After the war, in 1945, there was an established plastic industry. In order to keep the same production they introduced new ways of using plastic in our daily lives without thinking of the consequences of the new “Use and throw” mentality the society was introduced to.

It’s ironic that plastic was initially created to protect nature and provide alternative materials, sparing animals from harm for their parts like horns, tusks, and tortoise shells. However, nowadays, plastic has become one of the greatest threats to the environment.

Plastic: A Material With A Mixed Legacy

We should not forget how useful plastic is. Plastic is a light and cheap material that is easily shaped, so it is useful for plenty of things like the plane seats, or as an electrical insulator. Without a shadow of a doubt, plastic development has contributed to generating technical advantages that benefit not only our medicine and transportation sectors but also the construction industry.

Plastic is not the problem per se, the use we give to it is what creates the problem. We often use plastic for single-use purposes, this means that we use it once and then throw it away. And nowadays our recycling system is not capable of coping with the plastic we produce and consume. One-single-use plastic is the major source of pollution and this type of consumption is not sustainable for our environment.

Did you know….

• 80% of all plastic ever created is still hanging out there somewhere.
• Half of the plastic we produce we use just once (single-use plastic).
• 9% of the plastic is recycled as we do not have adequate systems to collect and manage such waste.
• World plastic production has increased exponentially from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 162 million in 1993 to 448 million by 2015

Nowadays, some new plastics are made from natural or organic products making them more environmentally friendly as they will disintegrate easily. Learn more about the bioplastics revolution. But do you think these new plastics would be the solution to the problem?

Beginner Tips to Reduce Your Plastic Footprint

Plastic is everywhere, so where do we start?

Although plastic is in our daily routines, we can all play a role in tackling the plastic problem by refusing, reducing, reusing, repurposing, and recycling plastic every single day.

I know it is overwhelming when you look around, but I got you covered here:

• Let’s start with something simple: Have a look around (your house!) and ask yourself questions such as;

   

  1. Do I really know what’s inside that bottle?
  1. Could such products be purchased packaging-free?
  1. Do I use/need this product? How often do I use it?
  1. Do I have a similar product for a similar purpose?

You will be surprised how many face washes I had at home when I first did this! Or simple items like bags. How many bags do we need? I had bags for the bins, bags from the supermarkets, bags from the shops, bags from presents, tote bags… Just name it, I had it!

• Start by using everything you already own, break the bottles or add some water and take until the last drop.

• Once you’re done with them, try to find more sustainable alternatives! It is easy when you do this product by product instead of deciding to change everything at once.

In the meantime, you can implement these small changes in your routine:

Bring your own reusable bags when you go shopping. This is a simple way to reduce the number of plastic bags you use.

Use a reusable water bottle. Instead of buying bottled water, you can use a reusable water bottle. This will save you money and reduce the amount of plastic waste you produce.

Buy in bulk. It is easier to do than you think, just search for ‘Bulk shop near me’ and you will be surprised by the alternatives and options in your area. I had been passing along one every now and then and until I searched for it, I did not know it was there! When you buy in bulk, you can reduce the amount of packaging you use, and you can even reuse those bags/ packages that you previously had at home.

Choose products with less packaging. I know, it is difficult and some items are always packaged, but it is not a huge effort to buy fruit by the piece instead of the one coming in a plastic bag. Next time you go shopping, look for products with less packaging or compostable packages. This will help to reduce the amount of plastic you use.

Recycle properly. We know just 9% of the plastic that we produce is recycled, nevertheless, when you do use plastic, make sure to recycle it properly. In Ireland, it needs to be clean, dry, and loose, check mywaste.ie for more information. However in Spain, there is no need to clean them, but there is a specific bin for paper (In Ireland plastic and paper go to the same bin), for detailed information see Ecoembes.com. This will help to ensure that the plastic is reused and not sent to landfills.

Remember; do not try to make it perfect and go from 0% to 100% plastic free, you will end up frustrated. By taking small steps that are sustainable, in the long run, you will feel empowered and motivated to continue to do new things.

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.

Let’s change the world, one small change at a time.

Frequently Asked Questions