If you’ve been thinking about lowering your impact on the planet, now’s the perfect time. It’s officially Plastic Free July, a month where millions of people pledge to reduce their plastic waste. If you want to join the movement, it’s a lot easier than you think. We talked to some sustainability experts to help you figure out the best ways to replace the single-use plastic in your life so you, too, can be plastic-free this July.
What is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July was founded in 2011 by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz as a grassroots campaign to raise awareness about plastic pollution. Since then, the movement has grown immensely, and in 2021 alone, participants reduced 2.1 million tons of waste.
“Plastic Free July has become a month where consumers can focus on integrating plastic-free options within their routine, or try to eliminate plastic as much as possible for a month, hopefully building habits that they can stick with throughout the year,” says Danielle Jezienicki, senior director of sustainability at Grove Collaborative. “To me, it’s a way for people to take a fresh look at the role plastic plays in our everyday lives, and as they reexamine routines and necessity, try to find alternatives that reduce our use of plastic.”
Verity Noble, co-founder of Nude Foods Market in Boulder, Colorado, says Plastic Free July is a great way to encourage people to reduce their plastic waste. “As a co-founder of a zero-waste grocery store, creating awareness around plastic consumption is key because it has become such a normal part of everyday life,” says Noble. “Many people feel too powerless or too exhausted to stop the tsunami of plastic coming their way, and this month will show us we have the power to create change.”
How to participate in Plastic Free July
Any amount of plastic you’re able to cut out of your life is helpful; that’s why Plastic Free July has created the Pesky Plastics Quiz, which helps you identify areas in your life where you can cut down on plastic.
Along with taking the online quiz, Jezienicki says it’s important to take a close look at your waste to see what kind of plastics you use on a day-to-day basis. “I always recommend a ‘waste audit,’ which is where you look at the contents of your trash and recycling bin to see where your use of plastic is the greatest,” says Jezienicki. “Don’t be fooled by what’s in your recycling and supposedly getting recycled because 1) most of what we think is getting recycled is not [the US recycling rate is below 6%], and 2) even if it is recycled, plastic can only be recycled a few times before ultimately ending up in a landfill, or as pollution.”
Through this waste audit, you’ll be able to find the worst offenders in your waste stream. Oftentimes, you might not even realize where all the plastic is coming from. “Single-use plastic is so engraved in our behavior that we most often overlook common items that do not have the level of awareness that other items have,” says Ryan Lupberger, co-founder and CEO of Cleancult. “We all know plastic straws and bags are bad, but we need to take a closer look to other items like the fresh produce area in our supermarkets, cleaning products, travel-size toiletries and beauty products.”
Noble says having zero-waste products with you at all times can help you avoid creating more waste when you’re out and about. “Create a go bag with a reusable water bottle, coffee cup, silverware and Tupperware, and if you forget it, choose to eat in rather than take out,” she says. “And also don’t forget how powerful leading by example is. Don’t be afraid to show others what you’re doing. They may not make a change immediately, but it will get them thinking.”
Jezienicki says making any change no matter how small and buying from brands that don’t use single-use plastic is critical. “While we know this topic is true all year round, prompting action through [Plastic Free] July can be a super important step towards taking one step, which leads to another and hopefully another,” she says.
If you commit to reducing your waste for July, it’s important to keep that momentum going past the end of the month too. Keep trying to lower your impact in any way you can, and Jezienicki recommends reaching out to your favorite brands and asking them to reduce plastic waste too. “Having led sustainability at multiple brands — these consumer letters often get to very senior levels of the company if not the CEO directly, and they matter,” she says. “Brands know that consumers are fed up with plastic packaging, and reaching out to them makes the pressure feel more direct.”
If you’re up to reducing your plastic waste this July, we asked our sustainability experts for their favorite products that cut plastic out of their lives. Check them out below and be sure to sign up for the official challenge on the Plastic Free July site. You’ll get more tips and tricks to help you stay motivated throughout the month, along with other news and information about ways to help reduce plastic pollution.
Plastic-free product swaps
$14.99 at Grove Collaborative
$12 at Who Gives A Crap
$15.95 at Hive Brands
$42 at Package Free
$34.95 at REI and Guppyfriend
$8.99 $6.74 at Hive Brands
$48 $32 at Bite
$172.86 $109.99 at Cleancult
$7.99 at Grove Collaborative
$12.99 at Stasher
$19.99 at Grove Collaborative
$13 at Grove Collaborative
$12.99 at Grove Collaborative
$62 at Who Gives A Crap
$24.95 $19.99 at Amazon
From $25 at W&P
$18 $14.99 at Amazon
