Jul 15

Jul 15 Plastic Free July - 6 easy ways to ditch plastic

There’s a month, week, day for pretty much everything isn’t there? Veganuary, Movember, Jeans for Genes, Fairtrade fortnight. I could go on. And on. Some are more….well, random, than others - apparently there’s an International Talk Like a Pirate day, who knew? Others, like Plastic Free July, have become awareness-raising initiatives that are increasingly important, indeed urgent.

Regular Heydays followers will know that I’m constantly trying to find ways to live in a more planet-kind way, and if you subscribe to the These Are The Heydays newsletter you’ll have enjoyed all manner of eco-friendly tips, hints and ideas. (If you’d like to benefit from those in the future, along with great viewing, listening and reading recommendations, tasty, easy-to-prepare recipes and exclusive entertaining content and giveaways, you can sign up by scrolling to the bottom of the page and filling in your details).

One or two of those suggestions are included in the ditch-the-plastic list below, but there are plenty of new ones too. They’re all things I’ve done myself so I can personally attest to the fact that none of them are difficult to do (because let’s be honest, as much as we’re all willing to play our planet-kind part, we’re unlikely to persevere with anything that’s too difficult), and in the same way that every vote counts, every thing we each do individually, adds up to a greater, plastic-free whole.

1 Sling the cling

I wrote about stopping using cling film in this blog post, so I won’t repeat myself. Other than to say cling film is environmentally evil and having managed for almost two years now, I can confidently confirm that it absolutely IS perfectly possible to manage without it.

2 Swap your soap

I know that liquid soap and shower dispensers can be very pretty, and a lot less messy than soap bars. But they’re also one of the more purchased, and discarded, single-use plastic items. So replacing them with solid soap is a big plastic purging step. The good news is there are masses of equally attractive soap trays/dishes/holders, like, for example, this one from Dunelm

Simple and stylish, one of the soap dishes from Dunelm range

or this one, made from 100% recycled glass, from Garden Trading

Garden Trading’s 100% recycled glass soap dish

or something altogether more delicate, like this one from H&M home

And equally large varieties and blends of soap to suit all skin types and requirements - like body and face washing, shaving and even shampooing.

3 Bring your own bags

This has become much more of a routine for all of us since shops have got rid of their plastic bags, or started charging for them. Which just goes to show how something so ingrained can be changed. We all have our own versions of the carry-it-everywhere fold up bag, so other than this being a reminder to take one with you whenever you’re out and about, this is also a shout out to the fab 8-bag set from zpm, which comes in an attractive outer bag (which can be velcroed around the trolley handle and has a handy trolley token, so no more scrabbling around for a £1 coin) and includes two net bags for fruit and veg, that I’ve been using for all my supermarket shopping for literally years. (Apologies for the promotional pic from their website, it was the best one I could find to show how the elements work)

The 8-bag Trolley-Dolley shopping set from zpm

4 Keep it loose

Whilst we’re on the subject of supermarkets - try, as best you can, to buy loose rather than packaged fresh produce. I far prefer to inspect, feel and smell the fruit and veg I’m buying, rather than having it encased in a plastic bag and, all too often, nestling in a plastic tray. You can use the paper, or now increasingly compostable bags, if they’re provided, to carry the produce in. Or just put it loose into your reusable shopping bags. And if you can buy direct from producers at a farmers market, even better.

5 Carry a cup

Or, to be more precise, a reusable cup. Or flask. The scourge of the disposable - and still too often not fully recyclable - take-away coffee cup is something that we’ve all become much more aware of, so this is another item we’ve become correspondingly better at remembering to use. I know Covid put a temporary halt on being able to use our reusable hot-drink receptacles (once the coffee shops were open again), but hopefully we’ll be back to full re-use usage very soon.

I’m afraid the thermos cup I use is one I got free from my car service garage and is far from pretty. But you might want to consider this one from Cotswold Outdoor as recommended by Wendy, creator and curator of the brilliant website Moral Fibres. I’ll certainly be giving it a go as soon as my current cup gives up the ghost.

Hydro Flask - which comes in a variety of colours - from Cotswold Outdoor

6 Ban bottles (the plastic ones) and straws (the plastic ones)

Obviously all the above also applies to the dreaded, and dreadful plastic water bottles and straws. Don’t buy ‘em, or use ‘em. Please. Your handy thermos flask or cup will keep water, or whatever else is your cold beverage of choice, chilly just as efficiently and environmentally effectively. If you’re doing this, you shouldn’t need a straw, but if you do and there’s only a plastic one on offer, try just lifting the lid off your drink instead. Works just as well.

There are lots more plastic purging ideas and ways for you to become involved in this, did I mention increasingly urgent, initiative on the Plastic Free July website. Will you take up the challenge? I do hope so!

And if you have any other plastic-free tips that you’ve tried and can recommend, please do share them in the comments.