Plastic Free July: How I Found it

This year I took part in Plastic Free July…or at least I tried to!

I went into it knowing it wouldn’t be possible to stick to it 100%. The thing I find most challenging is food. My diet contains pretty much no meat, but a lot of meat replacement foods. If I was a meat eater you bet I’d be one of those people taking my plastic containers to the butchers, but there isn’t really an equivalent for veggie or plant-based products.

With this in mind, my aim was to use as little as possible and limit convenience foods that pretty much always come in plastic.

It did mean I missed out on eating some of the things I enjoy, but it also makes you think about how much plastic is used for everything. On day one I wanted a Pot Noodle…single-use plastic! I wasn’t going to fall at the first hurdle so I didn’t get one. Then I was looking at packets of crisps, but guess what?! They’re also made of plastic! It takes 80 years for a crisp packet to break down.

I acknowledged that ‘perfection’ wouldn’t be possible and decided to focus on the things I could do.

Some of our local coffee shops started opening again during July, and despite being desperate for a real coffee I kept away. I wasn’t sure if they were still following the same rules as before lockdown when you couldn’t take your own cup. A takeaway cup is one of the worst offenders when it comes to single use plastic. Especially if it’s from a chain coffee shop.

The cups might look like they’re made from paper but the lining is plastic to make it waterproof. You can’t put these into your home recycling bin.

We also switched to cans rather than bottles of juice as aluminium has an endless lifecycle – it can keep getting recycled forever! Plastic can’t. As we are true Scots, we almost exclusively drink Irn Bru. Even switching to cans of this caused a problem – multipack cans are wrapped in plastic!

I shared some really easy plastic free swaps on my Instagram and Twitter over the month:

1. Reusable water bottle – it takes around 450 years for a plastic bottle to break down! In Scotland we have lots of refill points, and (I think) they’re all hands-free so you just pop your water bottle under and it fills up. This one from Hip is perfect, it’s thin like a hip flask and fits in even my small bags.
2. Loose fruit and veg – buy loose fruit and veg, you can now buy reusable mesh food bags from most supermarkets. I eat mostly veggie so meat replacements are where I struggle most but I try to go for loose fruit and veg as often as I can. In some cases, it works out cheaper too!
3. Reusable period pads – disposable pads take over 500 years to break down!!! I started using these ones from Hey Girls last year & really like them. A plastic free period is the way forward.
4. Metal straws – I know not everyone can use them, but metal straws are a great eco-friendly swap. It takes 200 years for a plastic straw to break down and an estimated 8.3 billion of them pollute beaches all over the world!
5. Washcloth – wet wipes might look like fabric but they’re made from synthetic fibres – the same compounds as plastic. Ditch the wipes and go for a washcloth instead. I use one to take my makeup off and to wipe excess makeup off my hands when getting ready!
6. Reusable cup for hot drinks – as I mentioned above hot drinks cups are really bad for the environment. I love this Stojo cup, it folds up nicely so you can carry it in your bag.

I definitely think Plastic Free July was made harder this year because of COVID.

People are naturally reaching for single use products because they fear for their safety. There has absolutely been an increase in single use gloves, and now masks during the pandemic. As well as this, people understandably want to buy food that is pre-packaged.

I think as much as we as consumers want to be plastic free, it really comes down to companies making it easier for us. Paying more attention to our plastic use during the month really highlighted to me just how much we use. Rather than saying I’m going 100% plastic free, what I will be doing is making changes where I can.

You can read more tips on being eco friendly in this blog post.