Plastic Free July 2014

This year I (and a more so reluctant husband) will be participating in plastic free July.  We first took part in 2012 and it was quite eye opening.  It really made us aware of the plastic that sneaks into your life when you are not looking.  Even though we are really aware of recycling, reusing and try to bring plastic into the house as little as possible the challenge made us really aware that we really need to try harder to find ways to reduce our plastic further. 

Here are the details of Plastic Free July.

The Challenge

The challenge is quite simple. Attempt to refuse single-use plastic during July.
"Single-use" includes plastic shopping bags, plastic cups, straws, plastic packaging...basically anything that's intended only to be used once and then discarded. If refusing ALL single-use plastic sounds too daunting this time, try the TOP 4 challenge (straws, plastic bags, plastic bottles &coffee cup lids).

The rules

1. Attempt to refuse single-use plastic during July.
2. Remember it's not going to be easy! It is a challenge, not a competition so don't worry about being perfect.
3. Collect any unavoidable single-use plastic you buy. Keep in a dilemma bag and share it with us at the end of the challenge.
4. It's up to you regarding how long you participate. You might decide to go plastic-free for a day, a week, a month or longer! However long you choose will still make a contribution.

Why you should participate

• Apart from the small amount of plastic which has been incinerated EVERY piece of plastic which was ever produced still exists on earth somewhere. In the first 10 years of this century MORE plastic was produced than the entire last century!
• Australians send 1 million tonnes of plastic waste to landfill each year. Do your part to make a change.
• Why use something for a few seconds that is going to spend the rest of your life trying to break down in landfill? We really need to change our habits.

I really encourage you to try this.  Even if you end up with a heap of plastic in your dilemma bag at the end of the month I guarantee you will learn a lot.

Check out the website for more details or to register.  I will keep you updated during the month and at the end of the month I will be posting photos of my dilemma bag.

So are you up for the challenge?