plastic free july.

At the beginning of July, I committed to doing Plastic Free July. It's an Australian initiative that aims to "raise awareness of the amount of single-use disposable plastic in our lives and challenges people to do something about it." It's been an encouraging and a hard month so far. Encouraging because I already do many plastic free things and they're things that I don't find hard anymore, they're just part of life now. However, it's hard because there are lots of things that I don't do and would like to. I like to do things well and completely, and this is a difficult battle.


So I'm going to try to share how it's been hard and how it's been easy to encourage you to start doing something, to take one step, and also to share what I've been struggling with and maybe together we can work out ways for this to develop.

EASY:

• toilet paper. You might remember this post where I shared about 'who gives a crap' toilet paper. I won't re-share all the details but the summary is: they're great and plastic free. 48 rolls of toilet paper gets delivered to my door in a cardboard box and each roll is wrapped in paper.

• plastic shopping bags. My grocery shopping is pretty irregular but when I do, I always take my bags. I have a pile of green bags (they're actually black), but if I'm ever out and need to pick up something quickly, I have a small foldable bag which lives in my handbag. My husband has a couple of bags in his car. And on the hooks at our front door, we have a collection of calico bags we can take if we think we might need to pick something up. Otherwise, I'm more than happy to carry whatever I've bought. Or you can always ask for a cardboard box.
• toothbrush. About six months ago we bought bamboo toothbrushes. They are completely biodegradable. And they're great. I'm no dentist so I'm not sure if they're doing everything those other highly marketed ones are, but I have visited my dentist since using it and there were no complaints. 
• drink bottle. Who wants to pay for a bottle of water anyway? We have a filter tap in our kitchen and I fill up my drink bottle when I go out. Sometimes I take two (if I'm going in the car). Mine are glass and metal, and I do have a plastic one – but it's not a single-use one.

These Freedom 1 litre bottles are fun! Great to have on your desk, hard to drink when you're driving. I have one in yellow!

My custom designed KeepCup

• straws. It's pretty easy to say 'no straw' when you're out and just drink it, and it's even easier at home, but sometimes the novelty is nice. I have metal straws at home (which I could take out if I wanted) which I use if I've made a smoothie or my nephews want a milkshake. They were super cheap and even came with a straw cleaner!
• dry food. I buy my dry food (flour, nuts, beans, etc) in bulk and store them in glass containers. Sure, some of the 10kg bags are plastic, but this is cutting down a lot of the plastic. 
• KeepCup. I bought a glass KeepCup this July, for my occasional takeaway coffee or when I want to take a hot drink out. When I haven't had it with me it's helped me to go without or appreciate the moment and sit down to have the coffee.
• stock/bone broth. Not only for the plastic use but also for the massive financial and health reasons, I make our own stock. I then freeze it in glass jars and I have it on hand.
• snacks. I make most (if not all) of our snacks and meals from scratch. This reduces the amount of plastic e.g. a packet of biscuits are in a plastic tray and wrapped in plastic, trail mix comes in a little plastic bag – instead make your own without the gross bits and store it in a jar, homemade muesli bars which are usually individually wrapped (wrap in baking paper). It is also much healthier and cheaper.
• tomato sauce. I make the best tomato sauce. And it's so much better than yours, Mr Masterfoods. It doesn't come in a squeezy bottle, it actually comes from tomatoes (shock, horror). I store it in a glass bottle in my fridge. Try it – there will be no turning back.
• leftovers. We ALWAYS eat our leftovers (reducing waste, saving money) and 99% of the time store them in containers in the fridge (rather than being cling wrapped). This also means they're ready to take to work. It's the little things.
• eggs. Yes, everyone buys their eggs in cardboard (well, at least I hope you do!) but when I can, I purchase 30 eggs from a farmers market and return his packaging to him. Reusing is so much better than recycling and he's always so happy!
• fruit and veg. We buy our fruit and veg in bulk. It's awesome. You get so much, for so cheap, and there is very little plastic. If I ever need to buy anything additional from the shops, I just get it and put it in my basket, I don't put it in a plastic bag first. Why do bananas need an extra plastic bag? If you think they do, use calico bags – I have a collection that shoes and sheets have come in, or make your own.

Image from @myresolve_rebecca Instagram page. She shares in our bulk fruit and veg.

"THINK ABOUT IT... WHY WOULD YOU MAKE SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE GOING TO USE FOR A FEW MINUTES OUT OF A MATERIAL THAT'S BASICALLY GOING TO LAST FOREVER. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?" - JEB BERRIER, BAGIT MOVIE 

HARD:

• packaging. It's hard to tell other people what to do, especially businesses. They have processes and products. I would like to start asking people to consider better options. But I did decide the other week to buy a book from a shop rather than Book Depository because I know they ship in plastic envelopes. I have received products from TOM and KeepCup and was very happy that they used plastic free shipping materials.
• meat. In general, we buy our meat by what's on special in the supermarket. This allows us to actually eat meat. It doesn't really follow all of my principles of buying the best quality meat from the best treatment of animals or plastic free but I really struggle with this. In an ideal world, I would purchase my meat from a butcher/deli and get them to package it in my plastic containers. Every couple of months, however, my family purchases grass-fed beef in bulk from a farmer. I LOVE this however my difficulty is freezing it in plastic-free portions for what we usually need. Same goes with mince or chicken when we get it from the supermarket... 
• other people. Ok, I know I need to stop judging other people, and this isn't what you think. This is about people who you say 'no plastic' to and then they waste it anyway. For example, I was at Woolworths the other week WITH my green bags and the lady put something in a plastic bag. I said I'd prefer if it was in a green bag. She didn't take it out so I asked my husband if he could just put it in a green bag for me. He did and then the lady scrunched up the perfectly good bag which she could have used for someone else and threw it in the bin. I was so mad. Sometimes things work me up and I'm annoyed for ages after, this was one of them!
• milk. I do make almond milk sometimes but my husband loves regular dairy milk (and it doesn't curdle in your tea!). It's difficult to find it in glass, especially at a good price point.

• cleaning products and the cleaning myself products. I'm not really into using a bar of shampoo and have never got around to making my own cleaning products (I will when they run out) but I do buy in bulk as much as possible. My shampoo, conditioner and body wash are all 1L bottles. Every bit counts.
• fruit and veg. I have talked about fruit and veg being easy but storing some of it is difficult. Because we only buy it once a fortnight, we need it to last, and it lasts much better in the fridge when it's in a bag or container. Lots of things are in containers but in order for it all to fit (and with the number of containers we own) some things need to go in bags. I'd like to make some fabric bags to store them in instead of plastic. Also, for my health I have a very specific requirement to eat stewed organic apples. All of our fruit and veg isn't organic, so I need to buy these specifically from the shops. Our local green grocer doesn't sell anything organic so Woolworths it is, who only sells organic apples in plastic boxes and plastic wrap. Annoying!
• rubbish bags. Plastic Free July suggest lining your bin with newspaper as a plastic-free alternative. We produce way too much bin juice for that! Currently we are using plastic bin bags bought from Costco over a year ago (they seem to last forever!). I'm glad to see that there are compostable and degradable garbage bags, so when the Costco ones run out, I'll have to invest in them. Many people say they use plastic shopping bags for their bin but mine always have holes in them, and as I've mentioned, we have an issue with bin juice and holey bags don't work too well.

I'm encouraged because I'm doing my part and I'm also so much more aware of what I'm using. I'm thinking about it a lot more and often going without. Awareness is key. Which thing are you going to start doing? How are you going to beat your current best? Please share below or on social media. It would be great to support one another.