Plastic Free July starts today. Even if you only reduce your reliance on single-use plastics this month, it’s an opportunity to reduce plastic pollution, CO2 emissions related to plastic production, and toxins from your life.
Simple steps applied every day in your shopping and dining decisions can make a huge difference to the world and its environment. The plastic-free movement has helped people around the world reduce their plastic consumption by 1.8 billion pounds.
Created by the Plastic Free Foundation in Australia, Plastic Free July offers guidance for eliminating single-use plastic from your life as well as examples of what others have done. The organization, which was founded in 2011, got an estimated 140 million people involved globally in 2021. This is a movement with momentum.
You can be good at plastic elimination, better, or best, based on your preference. The point is to improve and July is the month to get started — if you haven’t already. Do you need some motivation? Check out EcoWatch’s explanation about the volume of plastic in our oceans and its consequences for animal and human life.
You can get involved by signing the challenge and taking the next steps to start your plastic-free journey. The Plastic Free Foundation offers work, school, and business ideas, as well as programs for local governments. If you want to go a step further, attend or launch a local event, such as a park-cleanup day or campaign to call on local restaurants to abandon plastic straws. Be sure to practice good social distancing to protect your attendees!
Enjoy your plastic-free July, and keep the practices you develop going year-round.
Originally published on July 1, 2020, this article was updated in June 2022.