So , you may or may not have already heard about plastic free July. Although I had heard it mentioned over the last few months, I was reluctant to sign up – we have already reduced our waste, including plastic, a lot over the last year, but we are still very far from plastic free. Totally plastic free just sounded a little too scary. So I was relieved to see a post on Facebook referring to it being about the plastic you manage to avoid, not what you still use. That was just the bit of wriggle room I needed to get on board!
There is lots of information about plastic free July, and plastic free living in general over at plastic is rubbish.
We have already made changes to significantly reduce our plastic waste, some in the last year, others for longer. I have described some of these in previous posts including:
Waste and money saving since Zero Waste Week
Reducing waste in the bathroom
Now I need to think about what new swaps I can make for plastic free July, in the hope of getting the level of waste in our recycling bin down to the small level we now have in our landfill bin (thanks to our local authority taking almost all food packaging for recycling).
My initial tasks to reduce my own use of plastic here are to:
- Find plastic free alternatives to crisps/savoury snacks to help me avoid these for the month..
- Investigate local options for milk delivery ( we have used local milkman in the past but it was in plastic and they foten struggled to provide organic so more research needed here to see if there are alternatives).
If you are joining this challenge, I’d love to hear about any great plastic free finds.
I’ll be getting to grips with Instagram to share some of my plastic free swaps as I go along (@busygreenmum) as well as via the Twitter and Facebook links you can find at the top of the page.
Homegrown and Foraged - a green lifestyle blog 
Gotta love Plastic Free July! I was so thrilled that my mom signed up last year, and a friend of mine is trying it this year. For those people just starting out, it’s nice that PFJ has options; you can either go completely plastic-free for all of July, or just phase out the four main plastic culprits: straws, to-go cups, bottles, and bags. Good luck with your challenge!
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Yes! We’re all ready for Plastic Free July.
I signed up for the challenge as well. More on that on my blog this week.
I finally found a place that sells feta and mozzarella in bulk, so there’s that, and I’m gonna continue making my own tortillas as the only ones I find are wrapped in plastic.
We can do it. Each one of us. One step at a time.
– Chloe
http://consciousbychloe.com
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Yes I tried making tortillas for first time this week. A friend gave me a kit to make mozarella a while ago which I must get round to trying -though perhaps once I’ve found milk that isn’t in plastic.
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So great to see the influx of Plastic Free July posts! Thanks for sharing — maybe for the milk option, try making almond milk? Unless you’re unwilling to sacrifice dairy, which may be tough.
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I’m hearing you about finding snack and milk options. It isn’t easy! All of the milk in our local shops that I have visited so far come in plastic so I am going to have to do some really hard searching to find it in glass or cardboard.
As for snacks, popcorn is always a good option if you like it. I am able to buy the popcorn kernels from my local wholefoods store. A market near our place also sells it, but I have to expressly ask them to place it in my container or bag to avoid plastic.
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Thanks – yes I did think of popcorn originally though since forgot! Not sure I have found it without plastic but at least could make a bigger portion relative to the plastic than a bag of crisps.
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we did it last year with success. Let’s do it again to improve !
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