Top Tips for Plastic Free July 💙

With Plastic Free July just around the corner, conversation will soon turn to ways in which all of us are choosing to clean up our act. It can be pretty daunting to imagine a life completely without plastic, which is why we wanted to make a short and simple list of easy changes you can make to help reduce your plastic consumption.

We can’t do it all, but we can all give it our best try.

1. Always carry a refillable bottle with you. You’ll be cutting out buying water which will save you money, and you’ll never have to worry about being thirsty whilst you’re out. Companies like Ocean Bottle even run an initiative where each bottle purchased through them funds the collection of 1000 ocean bound plastic bottles - making the switch is a no brainer. It’s also a great idea to carry a reusable coffee cup with you if you’re often getting takeaway coffees - a lot of places will give discounts for those that provide their own cup!

2. Make sure you have a shopping bag of your choice with you each time you leave the house. This could be a tote bag, a reusable supermarket bag, or an old plastic bag. We’ve all been guilty of going out thinking we won’t be buying anything, but we’ll pop in somewhere on the way home unexpectedly and have to surrender to the plastic bag once more. Always having a bag on hand will mean you’re never a victim of that again. We absolutely love Rex London who offer a range of strong, reusable, stylish bags that last a lifetime!

3. Refill is the new recycle. So much plastic goes to waste because it’s only given one life, but plastic is built to be extremely durable and can withstand being refilled over and over again. There are refill shops all over the place, there is more than likely one where you live even if you don’t know about it yet. You can head down with your empty shower gel bottles, soap dispensers, laundry detergent bottles and get them all refilled without having to buy into anymore plastic. Making the switch to a plastic free cleaning routine can also save an average of 25 cleaning spray bottles a year, per family. Make sure to check out our Ultimate Refill Collection so you can clean the entire house with zero plastic waste!

4. Avoid plastic wrapped fruit and veg where you can. Supermarkets almost always offer both loose, and plastic wrapped fruit and veg - a lot of us naturally gravitate to those wrapped in plastic as it feels more safe and secure, but our fruit and veg is already packaged in its own skin and doesn’t need anything extra!

5. Carry reusable straws with you whenever you’re heading out for food and drinks. Although they’re small and seem insignificant, when having multiple drinks, they can accumulate pretty quickly. There are a range of alternative straws out there, and being as tiny as they are, you’ll barely notice taking them out with you. There’s stainless steel straws, glass straws and even Stroodles, straws made out of pasta!

6. Swap some of your bottled products to bars. Many people are choosing to switch from bottled shampoo, conditioner, and hand soap over to bars. This saves you from investing in a new plastic bottle each time your shampoo runs out, and bars are proven to last around 5 times longer than the bottled stuff. We recently launched a plastic free dish washing bar, which is a great alternative to bottled washing up liquid and gives you one more simple swap this Plastic Free July.

These are just our six simple tips, but there are so many more out there, and a wonderful community of people who are sharing their journeys to a more environmentally friendly life, so if in doubt head to Instagram and search the hashtags #plasticfreetips or #plasticfreejuly and you’ll be greeted with a plethora of ways you can do your bit.

At first, adapting new habits can be tricky, especially when they’re not the most convenient choice to make. But the more you keep going, the more these things will seem like second nature - and in the long run you’ll be saving money, our planet, and our ocean.