Plastic Free July 2021 Challenge – What new habits can you start?

Take up the Plastic Free July 2021 Challenge and make a few small changes to your buying habits…

Are you taking part in the Plastic Free July 2021 Challenge?

Everyone is at different places in their relationship with plastic products and packaging.

We are all at different places when it comes to the amount of plastic packaging we end up with as part of our normal shopping habits.

You could be at one of this points along the scale:

• Maybe it feels a bit too hard right now, with other things going on in life.

• Or you might be thinking about making some changes to reduce the amount of plastic you end up with.

• You might have made a few changes already that you can stick with. And you might want to take on a few more.

• Or you may have already excluded a lot of unnecessary plastic, and be on the way to zero waste.

Most of us end up with some plastic that ends up in landfill. I still buy things packed in plastic, as it is just so convenient. It’s hard to find products like bread, and fresh fruit and vegetables without plastic in the supermarkets. And we don’t all have time to go to different specialists shops like bakeries or to local markets. The reality is that most people are so busy with work, family and all our other commitments, so we buy from a supermarket.

But. maybe we have a little bit of capacity to make some small changes? We can try to change one or two habits, as part of the Plastic Free July worldwide challenge.

Plastic Free July

I have already dealt with a few of the main plastic polluters. I use my own coffee cup if I get a takeaway hot drink, I use refillable water bottles, use shampoo bars and soap bars, and we have metal straws that we reuse.

But, I still end up buying a lot of supermarket groceries in plastic, particularly fruit and vegetables. The reason for this – I usually buy my shopping online, so I pick pre-packaged staple items like carrots and apples, rather than going to a supermarket, vege shop or market and using my own bags. And I recycle the plastic via the soft plastic recycling collection at my usual supermarket.

So this is my challenge for Plastic Free July 2021 – can I stop buying the staple fruit and veges in plastic? And avoid that plastic packaging and the need to recycle it?

What are you going to change for Plastic Free July 2021?

What are you going to try for this challenge? My advice would be start off small, and pick one thing to change, so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Every little bit helps. And get in touch with me if you need a bit of support or encouragement!

See the website Plastic Free July for some great tips on getting started and download the ‘Get Started’ PDF here

And check out this post on Plastic Free July challenge from 2019, when I tried to reduce the amount of plastic packaging I brought home when buying bread. It was pretty difficult to reduce plastic packaging, unless I made my own bread!

For more ideas, see this post about Plastic Free July 2022, which has more ideas: